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The Courts Act 2003 (Amendment) Order 2017

S.I. 2017/198 · Made 22 February 2017

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

Family Proceedings

Senior Courts Of England And Wales

Family Court, England And Wales

Made 22nd February 2017

Laid before Parliament 23rd February 2017

Coming into force 27th March 2017

The Lord Chancellor makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 78(1) of the Courts Act 2003f1, after consulting in accordance with section 78(2) of that Act and with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice in accordance with section 78(1A) of that Act.

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

2003 c.39. Section 78 was amended by section 15(1) of and paragraphs 308 and 340 of Part 1 of Schedule 4 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4).

Contents

  1. 1Citation and commencement
  2. 2Amendment of the Courts Act 2003
  3. Signature
  4. Explanatory note

1Citation and commencement

This Order may be cited as the Courts Act 2003 (Amendment) Order 2017 and comes into force on 27th March 2017.

2Amendment of the Courts Act 2003

In section 77(2) of the Court Act 2003f1—

(a)

after paragraph (b), insert—

“(ba)

one judge of the family court who sits exclusively or primarily in Wales,”;

(b)

for paragraph (c) substitute—

“(c)

one person who is either a district judge of the principal registry of the Family Division or a district judge appointed under section 6 of the County Courts Act 1984f2,”;

(c)

omit “and” at the end of paragraph (n); and

(d)

after paragraph (n) insert—

“(na)

one person nominated by the Welsh Ministers to represent the interests of Welsh family proceedings officers (within the meaning given by section 35(4) of the Children Act 2004f3), and”.

Signature

Oliver Heald

Minister of State

Ministry of Justice

21st February 2017

I concur,

Thomas of Cwmgiedd

Lord Chief Justice

22nd February 2017

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends section 77(2) of the Courts Act 2003, which provides for the persons to be appointed to the Family Procedure Rule Committee, so that the Committee will have a Welsh judicial member and a member able to represent the interests of Welsh family proceedings officers; and to provide for greater flexibility in appointing members who are district judges.