Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1881

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1881 c. 68
Year1881


Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1881

(44 & 45 Vict.) CHAPTER 68.

An Act to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts; and for other purposes.

[27th August 1881]

Whereas it is expedient to amend the constitution of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, and to make further provision concerning the Supreme Court of Judicature and the officers thereof, and such other matters as are herein-after mentioned:

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:

S-1 Short title.

1 Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as theSupreme Court of Judicature Act, 1881.

S-2 Master of the Rolls to be Judge of Appeal only.

2 Master of the Rolls to be Judge of Appeal only.

2. From and after the passing of this Act the present and every future Master of the Rolls shall cease to be a judge of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, but shall continue by virtue of his Office to be a judge of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, and shall retain the same rank, title, salary, right of pension, patronage, and powers of appointment or dismissal, and all other powers, privileges, and disqualifications now and heretofore belonging to the said office of Master of the Rolls and all other duties of the said office except that of a judge of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice: Provided that the present Master of the Rolls shall not by virtue of this Act be subject to any disqualification to which he is not by law now subject, nor shall be required to act under any commission of assize, nisi prius, oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery; and the existing personal officers of the Master of the Rolls shall continue to be attached to him and be under his authority, and to hold their respective offices upon the same tenure and in the same manner in all respects as if this Act had not passed: Provided also, that any Master of the Rolls to be hereafter appointed shall be under an obligation to go circuits and to act as a commissioner under commissions of assize, or other commissions authorised to be issued in pursuance of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, in the same manner in all respects as he would have been under the last-mentioned Act, or any Acts or Act amending the same, if he had continued to be a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice.

S-3 Existing vacancy in Court of Apple not to be filled up.

3 Existing vacancy in Court of Apple not to be filled up.

3. The vacancy now existing among the ordinary judges of the said Court of Appeal shall not be filled up, and the number of ordinary judges of that Court shall henceforth be five.

S-4 President of Probate Division to be an ex-officio judge of Court of Appeal.

4 President of Probate Division to be an ex-officio judge of Court of Appeal.

4. The President for the time being of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice shall henceforth be an ex-officio judge of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal with the same powers, and in the same manner in all respects as the other ex-officio judges thereof; he shall not be entitled in the said Court to any precedence over any existing judge to which he would not have been entitled as a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature if this Act had not passed.

S-5 New judge of High Court instead of Master of the Rolls.

5 New judge of High Court instead of Master of the Rolls.

5. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty to supply the vacancy in the High Court of Justice, to be occasioned by the removal therefrom of the Master of the Rolls, by the appointment, immediately after the passing of this Act, and from time to time afterwards, of a judge, who shall be in the same position as if he had been appointed a puisne judge of the said High Court in pursuance of the Judicature Acts, 1873and 1875; and all the provisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873and 1875, for the time being in force in relation to the qualification and appointment of puisne judges of the said High Court, and to their duties and tenure of office, and to their precedence, and to their salaries and pensions, and to the officers to be attached to the persons of such judges, and all other provisions relating to such puisne judges, or any of them, with the exception of such provisions as apply to existing judges only, shall apply to the judge appointed in pursuance of this section, in the same manner as they apply to the other puisne judges of the said High Court respectively. The judge so appointed shall be attached to the Chancery Division of the said High Court, subject to such power of transfer as is in the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, mentioned.

S-6 Judge under 40 & 41 Vict. c. 9.

6 Judge under 40 & 41 Vict. c. 9.

6. The power given to Her Majesty by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1877, to appoint a judge of the High Court of Justice in addition to the number of judges authorised to be appointed by the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875, may be exercised by Her Majesty from time to time, so as at all times to make due provision for the business of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice: Provided that no such appointment shall be made unless or until the number of judges attached for the time being to the Chancery Division of the High Court, other than the Lord Chancellor, is, by death, resignation, or otherwise, reduced below five.

S-7 Rolls Court Chambers and clerks, &c.

7 Rolls Court Chambers and clerks, &c.

7. The Lord Chancellor shall have power by order under his hand to direct that the court and chambers, heretofore used by the Master of the Rolls as a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, shall (so long as may be necessary or convenient) be used by such judge of the said Chancery Division of the said High Court as shall be in any such order in that behalf named; and the chief and other clerks, and other officers, heretofore attached to the said court and chambers respectively, shall (subject to any rules or orders of court) be and continue attached to the judge to be named in any such order, and, after such court and chambers shall have ceased to be so used, to the judge to whom the business previously transacted in such court and chambers respectively shall be for the time being assigned.

S-8 Title of justices.

8 Title of justices.

8. And whereas it is expedient to amend section four of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1877: Be it enacted that the exception of Presidents of Divisions from the enactment that the judges of the High Court of Justice shall be styled justices of the High Court shall not apply to any judge to be hereafter appointed who may be or become President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.

S-9 Appeals under Divorce Act.

9 Appeals under Divorce Act.

9. All appeals which, under section fifty-five of the Act of the twentieth and twenty-first years of Her present Majesty, chapter eighty-five, or under any other Act, might be brought to the full court established by the said first-mentioned Act, shall henceforth be brought to Her Majesty's Court of Appeal and not to the said full court.

The decision of the Court of Appeal on any question arising under the Acts relating to divorce and matrimonial causes, or to the declaration of legitimacy, shall be final except where the decision either is upon the grant or refusal of a decree on a petition for dissolution or nullity of marriage, or for a declaration of legitimacy, or is upon a question of law on which the Court of Appeal give leave to appeal; and, save as aforesaid, no appeal shall lie to the House of Lords under the said Acts.

Subject to any order made by the House of Lords, in accordance with the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, every appeal to the House of Lords against any such decision shall be brought within one month after the decision appealed against is pronounced by the Court of Appeal if the House of Lords is then sitting, or, if not within fourteen days after the House of Lords next sits.

This section, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, shall be construed as one with the said Acts.

S-10 As to appeal against decrees nisi for dissolution or nullity of marriage.

10 As to appeal against decrees nisi for dissolution or nullity of marriage.

10. No appeal from an order absolute for dissolution or nullity of marriage shall henceforth lie in favour...

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