Court of Probate Act 1858
| Year | 1858 |
(21 & 22 Vict.) C A P. XCV.
[2d August 1858]
'WHEREAS in the last Session of Parliament all Act was passed, intituled England, herein-after designated ‘The Court of Probate Act:’ And whereas it is expedient to amend the same:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
I The Judge of the High Court of Admiralty and the Judge of the Court of Probate may sit for each other.
I. It shall be lawful for the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty to sit in open Court or in Chambers for the Judge of Her Majesty's Court of Probate, and it shall be lawful for the Judge of Her Majesty's Court of Probate to sit in open Court or in Chambers for the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty; and all Orders, Decrees, or Sentences, and other Acts whatsoever, made, decreed, pronounced, or done by either of the Judges aforesaid acting for the other, shall, in the Court Books, be stated to have been made, decreed, pronounced, or done by such Judge sitting and acting on behalf of such other Judge; and such Orders, Decrees, Sentences, and other Acts so made, decreed, pronounced, or done, shall have the same Force and Validity in Law as if they had been made, decreed, pronounced, or done by the Judge on whose Behalf they purport to have been so made, decreed, pronounced, or done.
II Serjeants, &c. may practise.
II. All Serjeants and Barristers-at-Law shall be entitled from and after the passing of this Act to practise in all Causes and Matters whatsoever in the Court of Probate.
III The Judge of the Court of Probate may sit in Chambers.
III. It shall be lawful for the Judge of the Court of Probate for the Time being to sit in Chambers for the Dispatch of such Part of the Business of the said Court as can in the Opinion of the said Judge, with Advantage to the Suitors, be heard in Chambers; and the Times at which such Sittings shall be held shall from Time to Time be fixed by the Judge: Provided always, that no Question shall be heard in Chambers which either Party shall require to be heard in open Court.
IV The Treasury to cause Chambers to be provided.
IV. The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall from Time to Time provide Chambers in which the Judge of the Court of Probate shall sit for the Dispatch of such Business as aforesaid; and until such Chambers are provided elsewhere the said Judge shall sit in Chambers in any Room which he may find convenient for the Purpose.
V Powers of Judge sitting in Chambers.
V. The Judge of the Court of Probate, when so sitting in Chambers, shall have and exercise the same Power and Jurisdiction in respect of the Business to be brought before him as if sitting in open Court.
VI Power to appoint an additional Registrar.
VI. 'Whereas there are now Three Registrars only of the Principal Registry of the said Court, that is to say,Augustus Frederic Bayford , the Senior Registrar; Charles John Middleton , the Second Registrar; and Edward Francis Jenner , the Third Registrar; And whereas the Duties of the said Principal Registry cannot be efficiently discharged by Three Registrars:' Be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Judge of the said Court to appoint a Fourth Registrar for the Principal Registry of the said Court, in addition to the Three Registrars appointed under the Court of Probate Act; and from and after the Appointment of such Fourth Registrar there shall be paid to each of the said Registrars the annual Salary mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, in lieu of the Salary provided by the Court of Probate Act, such Salaries to be paid out of any Monies provided by Parliament for the Purposes of the said Act: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to diminish the Salary of any of the Three Registrars appointed before the passing of this Act.
VII Vacancy in Office of Registrar how to be filled up.
VII. On the Death, Resignation, or Removal of any of the Four Registrars of the said Principal Registry, other than the Junior Registrar for the Time being, the Vacancy thereby occasioned shall be filled up by the Registrar next in Seniority to whom no sufficient Objection shall be made to the Satisfaction of the Judge of the said Court.
VIII Certain Clerks eligible to be Registrars, &c.
VIII. Clerks having served Five Years in the Principal Registry of the Court of Probate shall be eligible to be appointed Registrars or District Registrars of the said Court.
IX Certain Articled Clerks to be admitted Proctors of the Court of Probate.
IX. It shall be lawful for the Judge of the Court of Probate to admit any Person who at the Time of the passing of the Court of Probate Act was articled to a Proctor inDoctors Commons , or to a Proctor belonging to any Ecclesiastical Court, so soon as he shall have served the full Term for which he was articled, or within the Period of One Year therefrom, to be a Proctor of Her Majesty's Court of Probate, upon the Payment of such Fees as shall be fixed by the Judge of the said Court, with the Sanction of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.
X Where Personalty is under 200 l. County Court to have Jurisdiction.
X. Where it appears by Affidavit to the Satisfaction of a Registrar of the Principal Registry that the Testator or Intestate in respect of whose Estate a Grant or Revocation of a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is applied for had at the Time of his Death his fixed Place of Abode in One of the Districts specified in Schedule (A.) to the said ‘Court of Probate Act,’ and that the Personal Estate in respect of which such Probate or Letters of Administration are to be or have been granted, exclusive of what the Deceased may have been possessed of or entitled to as a Trustee, and not beneficially, but without deducting anything on account of the Debts due and owing from the Deceased, was at the Time of his Death under the Value of Two hundred Pounds, and that the Deceased at the Time of his Death was not seised or entitled beneficially of or to any Real Estate of the Value of Three hundred Pounds or upwards, the Judge of the County Court having Jurisdiction in the Place in which the Deceased had at the Time of his or her Death a fixed Place of Abode shall have the contentious Jurisdiction and Authority of the Court of Probate in respect of Questions as to the Grant and Revocation of Probate of the Will or Letters of Administration of the Effects of such deceased Person, in case there be any Contention in relation thereto.
XI Sect. 54. of 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77. repealed;
XI. Section Fifty-four of the said Court of Probate Act shall be and the same is hereby repealed.
XII and Sect. 59. to apply to certain Applications.
XII. The said Court of Probate Act, Section Fifty-nine, shall, so far as the County Courts or a Judge thereof are concerned, apply to an Application for the Revocation of a Grant of Probate or Administration as well as to an Application for any such Grant.
XIII Power to make Rules and Orders and frame Scales of Fees for the County Courts.
XIII. The Power and Authority to make Rules and Orders for regulating the Proceedings of the County Courts shall extend and be applicable to all Proceedings in the County Courts under this Act, and also to framing a Scale of Costs and Charges to be paid to Counsel, Proctors, Solicitors, and Attornies, in respect of Proceedings in County Courts, under the said Court of Probate Act or this Act.
XIV Noncontentious Business pending in any Ecclesiastical Court to be transferred.
XIV. All Noncontentious Business pending in any Ecclesiastical Court at the Time when ‘The Court of Probate Act’ came into operation shall be deemed to have been transferred to the Court of Probate, in the same Way as all pending Suits were transferred to the said Court under the said Act, and all Acts executed under the Authority of any such Ecclesiastical Court with reference to such Business which would have been valid if the Authority of such Court had not been abolished shall be valid, and all Oaths and Bonds sworn and executed in manner required by any such Ecclesiastical Court in reference to such Business, prior to the Eleventh Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, shall continue to have and be deemed to have had the same Force and Effect in Law as they would have had if sworn and executed in...
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