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County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2003

S.R. 2003/272 · Made 19 May 2003

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This Statutory Rule is being issued free of charge to all known recipients of Statutory Rule 2003 No. 272 which contained an error.

COUNTY COURTS

Made 19th May 2003

Coming into operation 1st June 2003

We, the County Court Rules Committee, appointed by the Lord Chancellor under Article 46 of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980f1 in exercise of the powers conferred on us by Article 47 of that Order and all other powers enabling us in that behalf, hereby make the following Rules:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

S.I. 1980/397 (N.I. 3)

Contents

  1. 1Citation and interpretation
  2. 2Small Claims
  3. 3Appeals
  4. 4Adoption
  5. 5Costs
  6. Signature
  7. Explanatory note

1Citation and interpretation

(1)

These Rules may be cited as the County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2003.

(2)

In these Rules a reference to an Order, Rule, Form or Appendix by number is a reference to that Order, Rule or Appendix as numbered in the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981f1.

2Small Claims

In Order 26, for Rule 24 there shall be substituted the following new Rule –

“24.

An application in Form 127 or 128 may only be made with the judge’s permission –

(a)

if the claim is brought against the Crown; or

(b)

if in any such proceedings as are mentioned in section 139(1)(b) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974f1 the debtor or surety desires to have a credit agreement re-opened.”.

3Appeals

Order 32 is amended as follows –

(a)

in paragraph (4) of Rule 1, for the words “Every such notice” there shall be substituted the words “Subject to paragraphs (4A) and (4B), every such notice”; and

(b)

after paragraph (4) of Rule 1 there shall be inserted the following new paragraphs –

“(4A)

If the appeal is brought under section 35A or section 40B of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (in this Rule referred to as “the Act”)f1 against a decision of the Secretary of State to impose a penalty under section 32 of the Act or a charge under section 40 of the Act, the appeal notice must, subject to paragraph (4B), be served within twenty-eight days after receiving the penalty notice or charge notice.

(4B)

If notice of objection has been given to the Secretary of State under section 35(4) or section 40A(3) of the Actf2 within the time prescribed for doing so, the appeal notice must be served within 28 days after receiving notice of the Secretary of State’s decision in response to the notice of objection.”.

4Adoption

Order 50 and Forms 249 to 262 are hereby revoked but nothing in this Rule will effect any application commenced before this Rule comes into operation.

5Costs

In Part VIII of Appendix 2 for paragraph 2 there shall be substituted the following new paragraph –

“2.

In equity and title matters solicitor’s costs and counsel’s fees shall be determined in accordance with Tables 1 and 2 respectively.

TABLE 1

Where the value of the personalty and/or lands –Solicitor’s cost
does not exceed £5,000£450
exceeds £5,000 but not £10,000£950
exceeds £10,000 but not £15,000£1,350
exceeds £15,000 but not £20,000£1,750
exceeds £20,000 but not £25,000£2,000
exceeds £25,000 but not £35,000£2,200
exceeds £35,000 but not £45,000£2,400

TABLE 2

Where the value of the personalty and/or lands –Counsel’s fee for advising proceedings defence settling the equity civil bill and advising proofsCounsel’s fee on the hearing of every equity civil bill or petition
does not exceed £5,000£77£224
exceeds £5,000 but not £10,000£103£286
exceeds £10,000 but not £15,000£127£383
exceeds £15,000 but not £20,000£167£446
exceeds £20,000 but not £25,000£192£511
exceeds £25,000 but not £35,000£252£638
exceeds £35,000 but not £45,000£309£767

”

Signature

We, the undersigned members of the County Court Rules Committee, having by virtue of the powers vested in us in this behalf made the forgoing Rules, do hereby certify the same under our hand and submit them to the Lord Chancellor accordingly.

A. R. Hart

T. A. Burgess

Barry Valentine

Brian Kennedy

James Agnew

Brian F. Walker

P. Kelly

Dated 30th April 2003.

After consultation with the Lord Chief Justice, I allow these Rules which shall come into operation on 1st June 2003.

Irvine of Lairg, C.

Dated 19th May 2003.

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Rules.)

These Rules amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 so as to:

  • make a minor amendment to small claims procedure (Rule 2);

  • prescribe the time limit for serving notice of appeal under section 35A or section 40B of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (Rule 3);

  • revoke Order 50 and the associated Forms as the adoption procedures are now contained in the Family Proceedings Rules (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 322 as amended by S.R. 2003 No. 75) (Rule 4); and

  • substitute new Tables in relation to solicitor’s costs and counsel’s fees in equity and title proceedings (Rule 5).