The Courts Act 2003 (c.39) is an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
implementing many of the recommendations in
Sir Robin Auld's (a
Court of Appeal
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
judge
Review of the Criminal Courtsin
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
(also known as the "Auld Review"). The
White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...
which preceded the Act was published by the Home Office on the 17 July 2002 and called "Justice for All".
The Act has nine parts:
* Maintenance of the
court system
*
Justices of the Peace
*
Magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several Jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales) ...
s
* Court security
* Inspectors of court administration
*
Judges
* Procedure rules and practice directions
* Miscellaneous
* Final provisions (technical provisions)
The Act deals predominantly with criminal courts' administration, though certain sections deal with civil matters (notably creating a post of "Head of Civil Justice", enabling provisions for family procedure rules, and amendments to its civil procedure equivalent).
The Act also abolished
magistrates' courts committees, combining the magistrates' courts' administration with the Court Service, which was then renamed
Her Majesty's Courts Service
Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales.
It was created by the amalgamation of the Ma ...
. "Fines Officers" are instituted in order to strengthen the system for collecting fines after the existing system was criticised for relative ineffectiveness. Schedule 1 of the Act provided for the establishment of
courts boards.
Sections 50 to 57 of this act also provide court security officers the power of search, seizure/retention of items, restraint and removal from court when performing their duties.
The act also transfers the authority and obligation of
high sheriffs, in relation to civil
writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...
s, to
sheriff's officers; previously, high sheriffs had delegated these to the sheriff's officers, in any case, but the
Blair Ministry preferred to make this explicit, and remove the theoretical power of the high sheriff. It also renames this more-than-1000-year-old role - the sheriff's officer - to ''High court enforcement officers'', for reasons that have not been explained, except perhaps to give it a modern-sounding name.
References
External links
Department for Constitutional Affairs - The Courts - Courts Act 2003
as originally enacted, from the Office of Public Sector Information
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the U ...
.
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2003
Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales
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