County Courts Act 1888
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1888 c. 43 |
| Year | 1888 |
County Courts Act, 1888
(51 & 52 Vict.) CHAPTER 43.
An Act to consolidate and amend the County Courts Acts.
[13th August 1888]
Whereas it is desirable to consolidate and amend the County Courts Acts:
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:
Preliminary.
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theCounty Courts Act, 1888.
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act, save as in this Act otherwise expressly provided, shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act.
PART I.
Courts.
3 Existing courts continued.
3. This Act shall be in force throughout all those parts of England in which County Courts have been established; and, subject to alterations made in pursuance of this Act, the County Court districts existing at the commencement of this Act shall continue, and the County Courts for such districts shall continue to be held at the places fixed at the commencement of this Act.
4 Power to alter districts.
4. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty by Order in Council from time to time to alter the number and boundaries of the districts and the place of holding any court, and to order the discontinuance of the holding of any court, and the consolidation of any two or more districts, and the division of any district, and to order by what name and in what towns and places a court shall be held in such district.
Any such order of Her Majesty in Council may declare that a part of any county, liberty, city, borough, or district shall be within the jurisdiction of the court held under this Act for any adjoining county or district in like manner as if such part were a part of such adjoining county or district.
5 Courts to have all jurisdiction of County Courts, and to be courts of record.
5. Every court held under this Act shall have all the jurisdiction and powers at any time prior to the coining into operation of the County Courts Act, 1846, belonging to any County Court for the recovery of debts and demands as altered by this Act throughout the whole district for which it is held, and there shall be a judge for each district under this Act, and the court may be held simultaneously in all or any of such districts; and every court held under this Act shall be a court of record.
6 Lords of manors, &c. may surrender courts.
6. It shall be lawful for the lord of any hundred, or of any honor, manor, or liberty having any court in right thereof in which debts or demands may be recovered, to surrender to Her Majesty the right of holding such court for any such purpose (with the consent of any steward or other officer, if any, having a freehold office in such court, or upon the next vacancy in any such freehold office); and from and after such surrender such court shall be discontinued, and the right of holding such court shall cease, and all proceedings commenced in such court may thereafter be continued, and shall be enforced and executed as if they were commenced under the authority of this Act in a court held for the district in which the cause of action arose; but no person shall be entitled to claim any compensation under this Act by reason of any such surrender: Provided always, that the surrender of the right of holding any such court for the recovery of debts and demands shall not be deemed to infer the surrender or loss of any other franchise incident to the lordship of such hundred, honor, manor, or liberty, and that the court thereof may be held for all other purposes, if any, incident thereunto, as now by law it may.
7 Power to exclude jurisdiction of court of local jurisdiction from that of County Court in concurrent causes.
7. If the council of any city or borough, or a majority of the ratepayers of any parish, within the limits of which a court of local jurisdiction, other than a County Court, is established, or into the limits of which city, borough, or parish the jurisdiction of such court of local jurisdiction shall extend, shall petition Her Majesty in Council that the jurisdiction of such court of local jurisdiction may be excluded in any causes whereof the County Court has cognizance, and if notice of such petition shall be given two months before it is presented by public advertisement in such city, borough, or parish, and in some newspaper therein circulated, Her Majesty, by Order in Council, may declare the exclusion of the jurisdiction of such court of local jurisdiction throughout the whole or any part of the district assigned or which may hereafter be assigned to such County Court, if no petition against declaring the exclusion is presented, and no caveat entered at the Council Office; and if any counter-petition is presented, or any caveat entered, then Her Majesty may refer such petition and counter-petition to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, upon whose report Her Majesty may make such Order in Council as she shall be advised touching the matter of the said petitions in respect of excluding the jurisdiction of such court of local jurisdiction, and may award compensation to any persons entitled to appoint officers of such court, or to any officers thereof appointed before the passing of this Act, to be given by the Treasury, who are hereby empowered to pay the same.
PART II.
Judges and Officers.
8 Appointment and qualification of judges.
8. The Lord Chancellor shall from time to time appoint as many fit persons, not exceeding sixty, as are needed to be judges of the courts under this Act, each of whom shall be a barrister-at-law of at least seven years' standing: Provided that where the whole of a district is within the duchy of Lancaster the appointment of the judge for such district shall be made by the chancellor of the said duchy. No judge shall during his continuance in the office of judge be capable of being elected or of sitting as a member of the House of Commons.
9 Jurisdiction of judge within or without his districts.
9. A judge shall, whether within the district of any of his courts or not, have jurisdiction to make any order, or exercise on an ex parte application any authority or jurisdiction in any action or proceeding pending in any of the courts of which he is judge, which, if the same related to an action or proceeding pending in the High Court, might be given, made, or exercised by a Judge of the High Court in chambers, and, with the consent of both parties to an action or proceeding, to hear and decide any matter at any place, either within or without any such district.
10 Times of sittings.
10. The judge of each district shall attend and hold the court at each place where Her Majesty shall have ordered that the court shall be held within the district, at such times as he shall appoint for that purpose, so that a court shall be held at every such place once at least in every month, or at such other interval as the Lord Chancellor shall in each case order; and notice of the days on which the court will be held shall be put up in some conspicuous place in the court-house and in the office of the registrar of the court, and no other notice thereof shall be needed; and whenever any day so appointed for holding the court shall be altered, notice of such intended alteration, and of the time when it will take effect, shall be put up in some conspicuous place in the court-house and in the registrar's office, Where, by reason of death or unavoidable absence, a judge at the sitting of a court is not present the registrar, after exercising his powers where the defendant does not appear or admits the debt, or in his unavoidable absence the high bailiff shall adjourn the court to such day as he may deem convenient, and enter in the minute book the cause of such adjournment.
11 Closing of court for one month.
11. No judge shall be obliged to hold any courts during the month of September in any year, unless he shall be ordered by the Lord Chancellor so to do; and if any judge shall be desirous of holding courts in the said month of September, and of being relieved from the obligation to do so at some other period of the year, it shall be lawful for such judge, with the sanction of the Lord Chancellor, to close the courts upon his circuit for any periods of time of which the Lord Chancellor shall approve, not exceeding in the whole four weeks in any one year: Provided nevertheless, that the office of every court shall always be open for the receipt and payment out of money due under any order of the court, pursuant to the rules and orders in force for the time being or for any proceedings before the registrar.
12 Two judges of one district.
12. The Lord Chancellor may from time to time direct that there shall be two judges of a district or districts, and may make such regulations as to their respective sittings, or otherwise as to the division of their duties, as he may think right, and each of the judges when acting shall have all such powers and authorities as if he had been sole judge of such district or districts.
13 Power to re-distribute districts among judges.
13. It shall be...
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