PART III.

The Circuit Court.

13. —(1) As soon as conveniently may be after the passing of this Act the Executive Council shall by order do all of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purpose of this section;

(b) divide the several counties and county boroughs in Saorstát Eireann into nine convenient groups (in this section referred to as circuits) for the purposes of the Circuit Court, but subject to the limitations that one such circuit (to be known as the Dublin Circuit) shall consist of the county borough of Dublin and the county of Dublin, and that no county or county borough shall be divided between two or more circuits;

(c) attach to every circuit, other than the Dublin Circuit, a convenient name or a number by which such circuit shall be known;

(d) assign to the Dublin Circuit two of the judges of the Circuit Court holding office on the appointed day;

(e) assign to each of the circuits other than the Dublin Circuit one of the judges of the Circuit Court holding office on the appointed day.

(2) If at the making by the Executive Council of their order under the first sub-section of this section a vacancy exists amongst the judges of the Circuit Court, the said order may be expressed and, if so expressed, shall operate to assign to a circuit the judge who shall be appointed to fill that vacancy, and if a judge assigned by such order to a circuit vacates his office by death or otherwise before the appointed day such order shall operate to assign to such circuit the judge who is appointed (whether before or after the appointed day) to fill the place of the judge so vacating his office.

(3) On the appointed day the division of Saorstát Eireann into circuits effected by Part II of the Principal Act and the Schedule to that Act shall cease to have effect and the order made by the Executive Council under the first sub-section of this section shall come into operation and have effect and the circuits created by that order shall for the purposes of the Courts of Justice Acts, 1924 to 1931, and this Act be substituted for the circuits mentioned in the Schedule to the Principal Act and all references in the Courts of Justice Acts, 1924 to 1931, and this Act to circuits in relation to the Circuit Court shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(4) On the appointed day, sub-section (2) of section 9 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 (No. 15 of 1928), shall cease to have effect.

(5) In this section, the expression “the appointed day” means the day appointed by the Executive Council under this section to be the appointed day for the purposes of this section.

14. —(1) Whenever it appears to the Executive Council that, owing to the temporary absence from duty for any cause of a judge of the Circuit Court, or an unusual and temporary increase in the business of the Circuit Court on any circuit, or any other cause, it is necessary, in order to prevent the work of the Circuit Court getting into arrear either generally or on any particular circuits or circuit, to increase temporarily the number of the judges of the Circuit Court, one or more persons who are practising barristers of at least ten years' standing at the date of appointment may be appointed to act as a judge or judges of the Circuit Court for such period as the Executive Council shall think proper in respect of each such person.

(2) Every person appointed under this section to act as a judge of the Circuit Court may, during the period for which he is so appointed, be assigned by the Minister for Justice from time to time as occasion requires to any circuit, and every person shall while so assigned to a circuit have, in relation to such circuit and concurrently with the judge permanently assigned to such circuit and any judge temporarily assigned under section 9 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 (No. 15 of 1928), to such circuit, all the privileges, powers and duties for the time being conferred or imposed by law on the judge permanently assigned to such circuit.

(3) Every person appointed under this section to act as a judge of the Circuit Court shall, during the period for which he is so appointed, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas such remuneration as the Minister for Justice shall, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, determine.

15. —(1) Every person who is appointed to be a judge of the Circuit Court shall—

(a) so long as sub-section (2) of section 9 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 (No. 15 of 1928), continues to have effect, be so appointed either to be the judge permanently assigned to a particular circuit or to be a judge who may, by virtue of the said sub-section (2), be temporarily assigned by the Minister for Justice to any circuit, and

(b) after the said sub-section (2) has ceased to have effect, be so appointed to be the judge assigned to a particular circuit.

(2) So long as the said sub-section (2) of section 9 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 , continues to have effect, the Executive Council may assign permanently to any circuit a judge of the Circuit Court who is for the time being a judge of that Court liable, by virtue of the said sub-section (2), to be temporarily assigned by the Minister for Justice to any circuit.

(3) Any judge of the Circuit Court who is for the time being permanently assigned to a particular circuit may at any time, if he so consents but not otherwise, be transferred by the Executive Council to another circuit, and shall upon such transfer become and be permanently assigned to such other circuit in lieu of the first-mentioned circuit.

16. —(1) The Minister for Justice may at any time, with the consent of the judge concerned, temporarily assign to any circuit (whether there is or is not a judge permanently assigned thereto) any judge of the Circuit Court who is permanently assigned to another circuit.

(2) A judge of the Circuit Court who is temporarily assigned under this section to a circuit shall, while so temporarily assigned, have in relation to such circuit and concurrently with the judge (if any) permanently assigned to such circuit and any judge temporarily assigned thereto under section 9 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 (No. 15 of 1928), all the privileges, powers, and duties for the time being conferred or imposed by law on the judge permanently assigned to such circuit.

(3) The temporary assignment under this section of a judge to a circuit shall not terminate or effect the permanent assignment of such judge to the circuit to which he is for the time being permanently assigned nor deprive or relieve him of any of the privileges, powers, and duties vested in or imposed on him by virtue of such permanent assignment.

17. —Where a person in receipt of a pension under section 41 of the Principal Act is employed in a situation remunerated out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, then—

(a) such pension shall not be payable in respect of any period during which the remuneration of such person in such situation is equal to or greater than his remuneration in the judicial office in respect of which he is entitled to such pension, and

(b) so much only of such pension shall be payable in respect of any period during which the remuneration of such person in such situation is less than his remuneration in the said judicial office as with his remuneration in such situation will amount to his remuneration in the said judicial office.

18. —(1) The jurisdiction in the winding-up of companies which, immediately before the passing of this Act, was exercisable by the Circuit Court shall, on the passing of this Act, cease to be exercisable by that Court.

(2) Every proceeding for the winding-up of a company which was commenced in the Circuit Court before and is pending in that Court at the passing of this Act may be proceeded with and completed as if this section had not been enacted.

19. —Where an action is pending before a judge for the time being assigned to a particular circuit and application is made by any party to such action for the transfer of such action to another circuit for hearing before the judge for the time being assigned to such other circuit, such first mentioned judge may, with the consent of such other judge, transfer such action accordingly, and thereupon such action shall be heard and determined in such other circuit by such other judge.

20. —Where an action claiming unliquidated damages is remitted or transferred by the High Court to the Circuit Court, the Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction to award damages in excess of three hundred pounds.

21. —(1) Where an action is brought in the Circuit Court which that Court has not jurisdiction to hear and determine, the judge shall, on the application of the defendant or one of the defendants or on his own motion, as soon as such want of jurisdiction becomes apparent (unless such consent as may be sufficient to cure such want of jurisdiction is duly lodged within such time as the judge shall allow) order the action to be struck out and may, if he thinks proper, make an order awarding to the defendant such costs as the Court could have awarded if it had had jurisdiction to hear and determine such action and the plaintiff: either had not appeared or had appeared and failed to prove his demand.

(2) Whenever a judge of the Circuit Court is required by the foregoing sub-section of this section to order an action to be struck out, such judge may, if he so thinks proper having regard to all the circumstances of the case, in lieu of making such order as aforesaid, transfer such action to the High Court and make such order as to the costs of the proceedings theretofore had in the Circuit Court as shall appear to him to be proper.

22. —A judge of the Circuit Court shall, if an application in that behalf is made by any party to any matter pending before him and all other parties to such matter consent, refer any question of law arising in such matter to the Supreme Court by way of case stated for the determination of the Supreme Court unless such judge is of opinion that such question of law is not of sufficient importance to justify such reference.

23. —(1) No cause of action for a liquidated sum in excess of three hundred pounds shall be split or divided, so as to be made the ground of two or more different actions, in order to bring such action within the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court and, if any cause of action is so split or divided, proceedings shall not (save as is authorised by the next following sub-section of this section) be sustainable in the Circuit Court in respect of any portion of such cause of action.

(2) A person having a cause of action for a liquidated sum in excess of three hundred pounds may institute one proceeding in the Circuit Court founded on such cause of action if the amount claimed in such proceeding does not exceed three hundred pounds and it is stated in the document originating such proceeding that the plaintiff thereby abandons all claims founded on such cause of action and not included in such proceeding.

(3) If in any such proceeding as is authorised by the next preceding sub-section of this section the Court gives judgment in favour of the plaintiff, the Court shall state in such judgment that the amount thereby awarded to the plaintiff is in full satisfaction of all claims which, in pursuance of the said sub-section, are stated in the document originating such proceeding to be thereby abandoned by the plaintiff.

24. —Every judgment made (whether before or after the passing of this Act) by the Circuit Court in a civil proceeding shall continue and, in the case of any such judgment made before the passing of this Act, be deemed always to have continued to be in force and to have effect for so long as such judgment would so continue or have so continued if it had been a judgment of the High Court.

25. —Where the Circuit Court grants under section 50 of the Principal Act a new licence for the sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises, such licence shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment, not require confirmation at any subsequent sitting of the Circuit Court.

26. — Section 48 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution, in paragraph (i) of the said section, of the words “either before or at any time during the hearing” for the words “before the hearing” now contained therein, and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

27. —Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph (vi) of section 52 of the Principal Act, any action founded on tort which is within the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court may be brought, heard, and determined (at the election of the plaintiff) either before and by the judge mentioned in the said paragraph (vi) or before and by the judge of the Circuit Court for the time being assigned to the circuit wherein the tort was alleged to have been committed.