County Courts Act 1959
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1959 c. 22 |
County Courts Act, 1959
(7 & 8 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 22
An Act to consolidate, with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act, 1949, certain enactments relating to county courts.
Be it 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:—
Part I
Constitution and Administration
County Courts and Districts
1 County courts to be held for districts.
(1) For the purposes of this Act, England and Wales (excluding the City of London) shall be divided into districts, and a court shall be held under this Act for each of the said districts at one or more places therein, and throughout the whole of each district the court so held for the district shall have such jurisdiction and powers as are conferred by this Act and any other enactment for the time being in force.
(2) Every court so held shall be called a county court and shall be a court of record and shall have a seal.
2 Delimitation of districts.
(1) Subject to any alterations made in pursuance of this Act, county courts shall continue to be held for the districts and at the places and by the names appointed at the commencement of this Act under the enactments repealed by this Act.
(2) The Lord Chancellor may from time to time by order—
(a ) alter the number and boundaries of districts and the places at which courts are to be held;
(b ) discontinue the holding of any court, consolidate any two or more districts, or divide any district;
(c ) specify the name under which, and the places in which, a court is to be held in any district:
Provided that no order shall be made under this subsection with respect to a Duchy of Lancaster district except with the consent of the Chancellor of that Duchy.
(3) The power to make orders under the last foregoing subsection shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and an order under that subsection—
(a ) if it provides for the discontinuance of the holding of any court may make provision with respect to proceedings commenced in that court before the order comes into operation; and
(b ) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order thereunder.
3 Definition of Duchy of Lancaster districts.
(1) In this Act the expression ‘Duchy of Lancaster district’ means a district wholly or partly within that Duchy, being a district the judge of which is not judge of any other district wholly outside that Duchy, or, in a case where there is more than one judge of the district, being a district no judge of which is judge of any other district wholly outside that Duchy:
Provided that the Lord Chancellor may by order provide that a district adjacent to the said Duchy shall be treated for the purpose of this subsection as if it were wholly or partly within that Duchy.
(2) The power to make orders under the foregoing subsection shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and the Lord Chancellor may, with the consent of the Chancellor of the said Duchy, revoke an order under that subsection.
Judges
4 Appointment of judges for districts.
(1) There shall be at least one judge for each district, and Her Majesty shall from time to time appoint to be judges such number of fit persons as is necessary; but the number of judges shall not at any time exceed eighty.
(2) Every appointment of a person to be a judge shall be of a person recommended to Her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor:
Provided that when the judge of a Duchy of Lancaster district ceases to be the judge thereof, whether by reason of his vacating office or by reason of any alteration in the distribution of the districts among the judges made under subsection (5) of this section, the appointment of his successor shall, unless made under that subsection, be of a person recommended to Her Majesty by the Chancellor of that Duchy and not by the Lord Chancellor.
(3) The distribution of the districts among the judges, as existing at the commencement of this Act, shall continue, subject to any alterations made under subsection (5) of this section.
(4) The Lord Chancellor may from time to time direct that there shall be two judges for a district, and may make such regulations as to their respective sittings, or otherwise as to the division of their duties, as he thinks fit, and each of the judges when acting in pursuance of any such direction shall have all such powers as he would have had if he had been sole judge for the district.
(5) The Lord Chancellor may from time to time alter the distribution of the districts among the judges, and for that purpose may—
(a ) direct that any judge shall cease to be the judge of any district, or shall be transferred from all or any of the districts for which he is judge to any other district;
(b ) appoint any judge to be judge for any district in addition to the district for which he is already judge;
(c ) direct that any judge shall sit as an additional judge in any district.
(6) The Lord Chancellor shall not exercise his powers under either of the last two foregoing subsections with respect to a Duchy of Lancaster district except with the consent of the Chancellor of that Duchy.
(7) Any judge shall be capable of acting for any other judge within or without any district for which that other judge has been appointed.
5 Qualifications of judges.
(1) No person shall be qualified to be appointed a judge unless he is a barrister-at-law of at least seven years' standing.
(2) Before recommending any person to Her Majesty for appointment as a judge, the Lord Chancellor or the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as the case may be, shall take steps to satisfy himself that the health of that person is satisfactory.
6 Disqualification of judges.
6. No judge, so long as he holds office as such, shall—
7 Oaths to be taken by judges.
7. Every judge appointed after the commencement of this Act shall take in the presence of the Lord Chancellor the oath of allegiance and judicial oath; and the Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, shall have effect as if the officers named in the Second Part of the Schedule to that Act included judges so appointed.
8 Removal and retirement of judges.
(1) The Lord Chancellor or, in the case of a judge of a Duchy of Lancaster district, the Chancellor of that Duchy, may, if he thinks fit, remove a judge for inability or misbehaviour.
(2) A judge shall vacate his office at the end of the completed year of service in the course of which he attains the age of seventy-two years:
Provided that where the Lord Chancellor considers it desirable in the public interest to retain any judge in office after that judge attains the said age, he may from time to time authorise the continuance of that judge in office up to such later age (not exceeding seventy-five years) as he thinks fit.
9 Salaries of judges.
(1) There shall be paid to every judge a salary of three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds a year.
(2) Every salary payable under this section shall—
(a ) be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund;
(b ) begin from the commencement of this Act or the date of appointment (whichever is the later) and accrue due from day to day; and
(c ) be payable at such intervals, not exceeding three months, as the Treasury think fit.
(3) If at any time it appears to the Lord Chancellor that the judges' salaries ought to be increased, he may, with the consent of the Treasury, by order direct that those salaries shall be increased to such amount as may be specified in the order:
Provided that no order shall be made under this subsection unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.
(4) The power to make orders under the last foregoing subsection shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and any order under that subsection—
(a ) may contain such transitional, supplementary or incidental provisions as may appear to the Lord Chancellor to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order; and
(b ) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order under that subsection.
10 Allowances to judges.
10. The Lord Chancellor may allow to any judge such sum as the Lord Chancellor in each case, with the approval of the Treasury, thinks reasonable for the purpose of defraying the travelling expenses of the judge, regard being had to the size and circumstances of the district for which he...
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