Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act 1879
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1879 c. 78 |
| Year | 1879 |
Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act, 1879
(42 & 43 Vict.) CHAPTER 78.
An Act to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts.
[15th August 1879]
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:
Preliminary.
1 Construction and short title of Act.
1. This Act shall be construed as one with the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873, 1875, and 1877, and may be cited together with those Acts as the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 to 1879, and separately as the Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers) Act, 1879.
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act shall, except where it is otherwise expressed, come into operation on the twenty-eighth day of October one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act.
3 Definition of ‘existing.’
3. In this Act ‘existing’ means existing at the commencement of this Act.
Central Office.
4 Establishment of central office.
4. There shall be established a central office of the Supreme Court of Judicature.
5 Certain offices amalgamated with central office.
5. There shall be concentrated in and amalgamated with the central office the following offices; namely,
The record and writ clerks office;
The enrolment office;
The report office;
The offices of the masters of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions, including the bills of sale office;
The offices of the associates in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions;
The Crown office of the Queen's Bench Division;
The Queen's remembrancer's office;
The office of the registrar of certificates of acknowledgments of deeds by married women;
The office of the registrar of judgments; and
Such other offices of the Supreme Court as may from time to time be amalgamated with the central office by rules of court.
6 Transfer of certain officers to central office.
6. There shall be transferred to the central office,—
The existing clerk of enrolments;
The existing clerks in the report office;
The existing masters of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions;
The existing associates in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions;
The existing Queen's remembrancer;
The existing Queen's coroner and attorney, and the existing master of the Crown office other than the Queen's coroner and attorney;
The existing registrar of certificates of acknowledgment of deeds by married women; and
The existing registrar of judgments;
with their respective clerks and messengers, or the clerks and messengers employed in their respective offices:
7 Central office to be under control of masters of Supreme Court.
7. The central office shall be under the control and superintendence of officers called masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature.
Provided that the existing clerk of enrolments shall as long as he continues to hold that office retain his control and superintendence over the business heretofore performed in his office and over the persons for the time being employed in the performance of that business.
8 First masters of Supreme Court.
(1)8. (1.) The first masters of the Supreme Court of Judicature shall be—
The existing masters of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions;
The existing Queen's coroner and attorney;
The existing master of the Crown office other than the Queen's coroner and attorney;
The existing record and writ clerks; and
The existing associates in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions.
(2) (2.) The salaries of the first masters of the Supreme Court shall be:
(a. ) In the case of each existing master of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer Division, the salary to which he is entitled as such master at the commencement of this Act:
(b. ) In the case of the existing Queen's coroner and attorney, and the existing master of the Crown office other than the Queen's coroner and attorney, the yearly sum of fifteen hundred pounds:
(c. ) In the case of every other master of the Supreme Court, the salary to which he would have been entitled if he had been appointed a master of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer Division immediately before the commencement of this Act.
(3) (3.) A vacancy in the office of any master of the Supreme Court other than a master being Queen's coroner and attorney or master of the Crown office, shall not be filled until the number of masters is reduced to eighteen.
9 Appointment and removal of officers of central office.
(1)9. (1.) The right of filling any vacancy in the office of master of the Supreme Court, or in any clerkship in the central office, shall, subject as in the next sub-section mentioned, be vested in the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Master of the Rolls, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in rotation and in such order as they by agreement among themselves determine.
(2) (2.) The right of filling any vacancy in the office of Queen's coroner and attorney and of master in the Crown Office shall be vested in the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the persons appointed to these offices respectively shall be by virtue of their appointment masters of the Supreme Court.
(3) (3.) Subject as aforesaid, the right of filling any vacancy in, and of making any new appointment in or for the purposes of, the central office shall be vested in the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Treasury.
(4) (4.) Any officer of the central office may be removed by a majority of the Judges mentioned in this section, with the approval of the Lord Chancellor, for reasons to be assigned in the order of removal.
10 Qualification of masters of Supreme Court.
10. A person shall not be qualified to be appointed a master of the Supreme Court unless he is or has been a practising barrister or solicitor of five years standing, or has practised for five years as a special pleader or as a special pleader and barrister; but nothing in this section shall affect the qualification of any existing officer of the Supreme Court to be appointed to any office dealt with by this Act.
11 Tenure of masters of Supreme Court.
11. Every master of the Supreme Court shall hold office during good behaviour.
12 Business of central office.
(1)12. (1.) The business to be performed in the central office shall, subject to rules of court, comprise all the business performed in the offices by or in pursuance of this Act amalgamated with the central office, and shall be distributed among the several officers of the central office in such manner as may be directed by rules of court.
(2) (2.) The several officers of the central office shall be interchangeable one with another and shall be capable of performing and liable to perform the duties of each other in any department of the office, and generally shall perform such duties and have such powers in relation to the business of the Supreme Court as may be directed by rules of court, subject to this qualification, that the duties required to be performed by any officer transferred to the central office by or in pursuance of this Act shall, except as far as they are modified with his consent, be the same as or analogous to those which he performed before being so transferred.
(3) (3.) Subject as aforesaid, all officers of the central office shall continue to perform the duties heretofore performed by them in their respective offices, and to have and exercise the powers heretofore vested in them, in the same manner, as nearly as may be, as if this Act had not passed.
13 Classification of clerks of central office.
13. The clerks employed in the central office shall be classified as principal clerks, first-class clerks, second-class clerks, and copying clerks, or in such other manner as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Treasury, from time to time directs,
14 Abolition of certain offices and continuance of others.
(1)14. (1.) The offices specified in the first part of the First Schedule to this Act are hereby abolished as from the commencement of this Act.
(2) (2.) Each of the offices specified in the second part of the First Schedule to this Act shall be abolished on the occurrence of the next vacancy therein.
(3) (3.) On and after the occurrence of the next vacancy in any of the offices specified in the third part of the First Schedule to this Act, the senior master for the time being of the Supreme Court shall hold and perform the duties of the office, with such additional salary in respect of the office of Queen's remembrancer as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may determine.
(4) (4.) Provided as follows:
(a. ) For the purposes of this section the...
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