Subbed up judges ?

NUTLEY BOY

What are the current rules about judges sitting in courts above or below the jurisdictions to which they are appointed ? e.g. besides the HC in what other court - either above or below - might a HC judge be permitted to sit on a temporary basis ?

I just wonder given recent pronouncements about the workload of the CoA.

Any takers for the idea of temporary judges like to recorders in England and Wales ?

GM228

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

What are the current rules about judges sitting in courts above or below the jurisdictions to which they are appointed ? e.g. besides the HC in what other court - either above or below - might a HC judge be permitted to sit on a temporary basis ?

I just wonder given recent pronouncements about the workload of the CoA.

An ordinary HC or SC judge can sit on the CA as follows under S1A (5) of the Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961:-

(5) Where, owing to the illness of a judge of the Court of Appeal or for any other reason, a sufficient number of judges of the Court of Appeal is not available for the transaction of the business of that Court or, on account of the volume of business to be transacted in the Court of Appeal or for any other reason arising from the state of business in that Court, it is expedient to increase temporarily the number of judges available for the purposes of the Court of Appeal—

(a) the President of the Court of Appeal may, having consulted with the President of the High Court, request any ordinary judge of the High Court, or

(b) the Chief Justice, at the request of the President of the Court of Appeal, may request any ordinary judge of the Supreme Court,

to sit in the Court of Appeal as an additional judge thereof, and every ordinary judge of the High Court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, so requested shall sit in the Court of Appeal.

(6) Whenever an ordinary judge of—

(a) the High Court, or

(b) the Supreme Court,

sits in the Court of Appeal in pursuance of subsection (5), he or she shall be an additional judge of the Court of Appeal for all the purposes of that Court.

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

Any takers for the idea of temporary judges like to recorders in England and Wales ?

We have provisions here for temporary judges, but not sure if it is/was ever used, for example under S14 and S51 of the Courts of Justice Act 1936 a solicitor or barrister with 10 years standing may act as a temporary CC or DC judge respectfully, or under S14 of the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 a Law Reform Commissioner may also be a temporary DC or CC judge.

Under S184LA of the Defence Act 1954 a CC judge can act temporarily act as a military judge.


On a slightly related matter there is also the Commissioners For Oaths Act 1889 which can be used to allow a foreign court/judge sit in an Irish court to take evidence (but only in relation to matters within that courts jurisdiction). To my knowledge this has only ever happened once when the New South Wales Supreme Court sat in the HC in 2002.

IsaacWunder

I think recorders would be an excellent idea. I've a feeling the judiciary would strongly oppose the idea, however.

Tom Young

'Acting up' happens regularly in the Court of Appeal. It is as a less frequent occurrence in the Supreme Court but I suspect the recorder model won't work here.

nuac

Tom Young wrote: »

'Acting up' happens regularly in the Court of Appeal. It is as a less frequent occurrence in the Supreme Court but I suspect the recorder model won't work here.

Agree - country too small

johnnyskeleton

Maybe give more powers to registrars/masters to hear administrative matters, motions etc. Arguably a lot of admin could be done on computer where the parties enter their availabilities or submit straightforward issues to be dealt with on a papers only basis.

As for recorders, they are useful to try someone out for he bench for a year or two as a sort of unofficial probation. But long term use is kinda pointless. They may as well just appoint more judges (which they really should do)