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10 1924

THE COURTS OF JUSTICE ACT, 1924

Part II.

THE CIRCUIT COURT.

Constitution of Circuit Court.

37. —A Circuit Court of Justice (An Chúirt Bhreithiúnais Chuarda) shall be constituted under this Act consisting of not more than eight judges, each of whom shall be styled in his appointment “Judge (Breitheamh) of the Circuit Court of Justice in Saorstát Eireann.” Such judges shall discharge within the several groups of counties specified in the Schedule to this Act (which groups are hereinafter termed Circuits) such duties as are by this Act imposed upon judges of the Circuit Court. The Minister for Home Affairs may, with the consent of the Chief Justice, and the judges for the time being of the respective Circuits affected, at any time and from time to time transfer any county or part of a county from one Circuit to another Circuit, or otherwise alter the areas comprised in the several Circuits as he shall think proper, but not so as to alter the total number of Circuits.

Mode of Address and precedence of judges.

38. —All the judges of the Circuit Court (hereinafter called Circuit Judges) shall be addressed in such manner as may be determined by the rules to be made under this Part of this Act, and shall rank amongst themselves according to priority of appointment.

Tenure of office.

39. —The Circuit Judges shall hold office by the same tenure as the Judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court.

Age of retirement.

40. —The age of retirement of Circuit Judges shall be 70 years.

Salaries and pensions.

41. —Every Circuit Judge shall receive a salary of £1,700 per annum. Every Circuit Judge who resigns or otherwise for any cause vacates his office after having completed fifteen or more years' service shall be entitled for his life to a pension amounting to two-thirds of his salary at the time he resigns or vacates his office, and every Circuit Judge who vacates his office owing to age or permanent infirmity, after having completed five or more years' service and less than fifteen years' service shall be entitled for his life to a pension calculated at the rate of one-sixth of his salary at the time he vacates his office, with the addition of one-twentieth of his said salary for every completed year of service in excess of five such years.

Charge of salaries and pensions on Central Fund.

42. —The remuneration and pension payable to every Circuit Judge shall be charged upon and payable out of the Central Fund of Saorstát Eireann in like manner in all respects as the remuneration and pension payable to the judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court.

Qualification for appointment.

43. —No person shall be appointed a judge of the Circuit Court who is not at the date of his appointment a practising barrister of ten years' standing at least or has not been a Recorder or a County Court Judge in Ireland, but in the case of a barrister service as a justice of the District Court of Saorstát Eireann shall be deemed practice at the Bar for the purpose of this provision and shall be reckoned as service within the meaning of Section 41 hereof in the case of a justice of the District Court who shall be appointed a judge of the Circuit Court.

Circuits Comprising Irish speaking districts.

44. —So far as may be practicable having regard to all relevant circumstances, the Circuit Judge assigned to any Circuit which includes a district where the Irish language is in general use shall possess such a knowledge of the Irish language as would enable him to dispense with the assistance of an interpreter when evidence is given in that language.

Vacancy in office of judge: illness and deputy.

45. —The office of any Circuit Judge may be vacated by writing under his hand, and shall be vacated on his being appointed a Judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court, and thereupon, or whenever the office of any Circuit Judge shall become vacant a new Circuit Judge shall be appointed in his place. In case of the illness of any Circuit Judge, a deputy may be appointed to act in his place, on the recommendation of the Attorney-General, at such remuneration as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance: Provided however that no one other than a practising barrister of ten years' standing at least shall be qualified for appointment as deputy of a Circuit Judge.

Power to appoint temporary assistant judges.

46. —Whenever within three years after the commencement of this Part of this Act the accumulation of business so requires there may be appointed such number of temporary Assistant Circuit Judges on such terms and conditions as the Minister for Home Affairs with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance may determine: Provided that no person not qualified for appointment as a Circuit Judge shall be appointed a temporary Assistant Circuit Judge: Provided also that no temporary Assistant Circuit Judge appointed under this section shall continue to hold office after the expiration of three years from the commencement of this Part of this Act.

Circuit Court a court of record.

47. —The Circuit Court, shall be a court of record.

Jurisdiction in civil cases.

48. —The Circuit Court shall have and exercise the following jurisdiction in civil cases:—

(i) on consent—jurisdiction without any limit as to amount of claim or value of property involved in the proceedings before the court where all necessary parties sign, before the hearing, the form of consent prescribed by the rules to be made under this Part of this Act; such consent may provide that the decision of the Circuit Court shall be final and conclusive, in which case the decision shall not be appealable;

(ii) in contract and tort (save matrimonial and criminal conversation actions)—jurisdiction when the claim does not exceed £300;

(iii) in title to land and rectification of the register—jurisdiction when the Poor Law Valuation of the property in question does not exceed £60;

(iv) in probate matters and actions, and suits for administration of estates—jurisdiction when the value of the personalty does not exceed £1,000 and the Poor Law Valuation of the land does not exceed £60;

(v) in equity cases (including winding-up of companies)—jurisdiction within the same limits as in the preceding paragraph (iv) and in winding-up cases where the issued capital of the company does not exceed £10,000;

(vi) in bankruptcy—in Local Bankruptcy Courts which may be established under the Local Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1888, for which purpose that Act shall be construed and take effect as if the expressions “Executive Council,” “Order of the Executive Council,” “Minister for Finance,” and “Chief Justice” were respectively substituted for the expressions “Lord Lieutenant,” “Order in Council,” “Treasury” and “Lord Chancellor” wherever those expressions respectively occur in the said Act, and the words “in any circuit” were substituted for the words “in Londonderry, Galway, Waterford, and Limerick, respectively, or in any of those places” where those words occur in section 5 of the said Act;

(vii) in proceedings at the suit of the State or any Minister or Government Department or any officer thereof to recover any sum not exceeding £300 due to or recoverable by or on behalf of the State, whether by way of penalty, debt, or otherwise, and notwithstanding any enactment now in force requiring such sum to be sued for in any other court:

Provided that any party to an action commenced in the Circuit Court and pending therein may at any time apply to the Circuit Judge that the action may be sent forward to the High Court, and thereupon in case the action is one fit to be prosecuted in the High Court and the High Court appears to be the more appropriate tribunal in the circumstances, the Circuit Judge may send forward such action to the High Court upon such terms and subject to such conditions as to costs or otherwise as may appear to be just, and an appeal shall lie from the exercise of the discretion of the Circuit Judge in granting or refusing any such application:

Provided also that a Circuit Judge may on the application of any party or without any such application, if he thinks fit, change the venue for the trial of any action pending before him from any one place of hearing to any other within his circuit and an appeal shall lie under Section 61 of this Act from the exercise of the discretion of the Circuit Judge in making or refusing to make such an order.

Jurisdiction in criminal cases.

49. —The Circuit Court shall have the following jurisdiction in criminal cases, that is to say:—jurisdiction in all felonies and misdemeanours save in the case of persons charged with murder, attempt to murder, or conspiracy to murder, high treason, treason felony, or treasonable conspiracy, or piracy, including accessories before or after the fact.

Jurisdiction in applications for new licences.

50. —The Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction in all cases of application for a new licence entitling the applicant to sell intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises.

Jurisdiction transferred and application of Sections 21 & 22 mutatis mutandis.

51. —There shall be transferred to the Circuit Court all jurisdiction not hereinbefore expressly excepted which, at the commencement of this Act, was vested in or capable of being exercised by Recorders, County Court Judges, and Chairmen and Courts of Quarter Sessions, or any of the same in Saorstát Eireann (save such jurisdiction of Justices at or of Courts of Quarter Sessions as is hereinafter conferred on or transferred to the District Court) and the provisions of Sections 21 and 22 of this Act shall apply mutatis mutandis to the jurisdiction vested in and transferred to the Circuit Court by this Act.

Exercise of jurisdiction by judges severally in civil cases.

52. —Provided that the jurisdiction hereinbefore vested in and transferred to the Circuit Court in civil cases shall be exercised by the Circuit Judges severally as follows:—

(i) in actions relating to title to land and rectification of the register, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where the lands in question are situate, or where are situate, the lands out of or in respect of which any incorporeal hereditaments in dispute issue or arise, or where the larger portion of any such lands may be situate;

(ii) in equity cases, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where matters of such kind have been heretofore heard by the courts superseded by the Circuit Court;

(iii) in probate matters and actions, and suits for administration of estates of deceased persons, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where the testator or intestate at the time of his death had a fixed place of abode;

(iv) in lunacy, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where the lunatic or alleged lunatic ordinarily resides;

(v) if the plaintiff so elects, in any action founded on contract, whether the claim be to enforce, rescind, dissolve or annul the contract, or for damages or other relief for the breach thereof, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit within which the contract was made;

(vi) in all other cases, by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where the defendant or one of the defendants ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation.

Exercise of jurisdiction by judges severally in criminal cases.

53. —Provided that the jurisdiction hereinbefore vested in and transferred to the Circuit Court in criminal cases shall be exercised by the Circuit Judges severally as follows:—the Circuit Judge having jurisdiction shall be the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit in which the crime has been committed or in which the accused person has been arrested or ordinarily resides, and no accused person shall be tried on any criminal charge without a jury.

Cases to be sent forward to Court of High Court Circuit or Central Criminal Court.

54. —Provided that the Attorney-General or the accused person shall be entitled on application to have any case, the maximum penalty in which exceeds one year's imprisonment or five years' penal servitude, sent forward to a court of the High Court Circuit or to the Central Criminal Court.

Exercise of jurisdiction in licensing cases.

55. —Provided that the jurisdiction hereinbefore vested in and transferred to the Circuit Court in relation to the granting of new licences shall be exercised by the judge for the time being assigned to the Circuit where the premises are situate.

Exclusions from jurisdiction.

56. —The following matters shall be excluded from the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court:—

Habeas Corpus, Certiorari, Quo Warranto, Prohibition, Information and Mandamus.

Ancillary powers.

57. —The Circuit Judges shall have powers of attachment, injunction, garnishee, interpleader, and all powers (including the power to appoint a receiver) ancillary to any jurisdiction vested in transferred to or exercisable by them. They shall have power also to adjourn the hearing of any action or proceedings pending before them respectively, to any other court within their respective Circuits, and to make out of court any orders of course which they may deem to be urgent,

Powers of procuring attendance of witnesses.

58. —A Circuit Judge shall have the same powers for procuring the attendance of witnesses in the Circuit Courts as a judge of the High Court of Justice in Ireland formerly exercised for procuring the attendance of witnesses in the High Court.

Registering circuit action as lis pendens and judgment exceeding £20 over costs.

59. —Any action in the Circuit Court may be registered as a lis pendens where similar action in the High Court could at present be so registered and the judgment in any action for any sum exceeding £20 over and above costs may be registered in the Central Office of the High Court in like manner as actions and judgments of the High Court.

Service of documents and enforcement of judgments.

60. —The rules to be made under this Part of this Act shall provide for the service of all originating or other documents or notices both inside and outside the circuit of the judge before whom the matter is intended to be brought or is pending. Any judgment or order of the Circuit Court may be enforced in any part of Saorstát Eireann in any of the modes in which a like judgment or order of the High Court might be enforced.

Appeal in civil cases.

61. —Save as in this Act is otherwise expressly provided, an appeal shall lie from any judgment or order of the Circuit Court in civil cases to two judges of the High Court sitting in Dublin. If such two judges agree in their opinion, their decision, shall be final unless they certify that their decision involves a question of law or fact of such importance as to be fit to be the subject of an appeal to the Supreme Court, in which case an appeal shall lie at the instance of any party from the decision of such two judges to the Supreme Court. If such two judges differ in their opinion, they shall affirm with costs the judgment or order appealed against, and an appeal shall lie at the instance of any party from such affirmance to the Supreme Court. The appeal under this section shall be on law and fact or upon either, save that where the appeal from the exercise by the County Court of any particular statutory jurisdiction transferred by this Act to the Circuit Court is expressly or by implication limited by statute to an appeal on questions of law, the appeal from the exercise of that jurisdiction by the Circuit Court shall be similarly limited.

Appeal οn report of official stenographer and power to admit fresh evidence.

62. —Such appeal shall be grounded on the report of an official stenographer, but the court which hears such appeal may if it think fit admit fresh evidence, either oral or on affidavit, and may refer any matter arising on the report of the official stenographer to the Circuit Judge for his observations thereon and may either order a new trial or enter such judgment, in the case, as to the Court shall seem fit.

Appeal in all cases tried on indictment.

63. —An appeal shall lie from the Circuit Court in all cases tried on indictment to the Court of Criminal Appeal under like conditions and in like manner and with like incidents and subject to like provisions as are hereinbefore enacted with respect to an appeal from the Central Criminal Court or any Court of the High Court Circuit to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Section 27 to apply to indictments in Circuit Court.

64. Section 27 of this Act shall apply to indictments in the Circuit Court.

Rule making authority for Circuit Court.

65. —The rule-making authority for the Circuit Court shall be the Minister for Home Affairs with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance in respect of any matter affecting public revenue or expenditure and with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of (a) five Circuit Judges selected by the Bench of Circuit Judges; (b) two practising barristers selected by the Council of the Bar of Ireland, and (c) two solicitors selected by the Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, of whom one shall be a solicitor having his office and carrying on the practice of his profession outside the City and County of Dublin: Provided that at least two members of the committee shall be certified by the Minister for Home Affairs as possessing an adequate knowledge of the Irish language· Each member of the said committee shall hold office for five years and be eligible for re-election and casual vacancies shall be filled in accordance with the foregoing principle of selection. The Chairman of the committee shall be such one of the five Circuit Judges as the members of the committee shall elect.

Rules of Circuit Court.

66. —The rule-making authority for the Circuit Court may at any time and from time to time after the passing and before or after the commencement of this Act make rules to be styled “Rules of the Circuit Court” for carrying into effect this Part of this Act (except the hearing of appeals from the Circuit Court but including the hearing of appeals from the District Court) and may annul or alter such rules and make new rules. In particular rules may be made for all or any of the following matters:—

For regulating the sessions, vacations and circuits of the Circuit Judges and the practice, pleading and procedure generally (including liability of parties as to costs and also the entering-up of judgment and granting of summary judgment in appropriate cases) of the Circuit Court and the use of the national language of Saorstát Eireann therein and the fixing and collection of fees and the adaptation or modification of any statute that may be necessary for any of the purposes aforesaid and all subsidiary matters.