Administration of Justice Act 1965

Amendments of Part X of County Courts Act 1959.

9 Amendment of section 168 of County Courts Act 1959, and consequential amendment of section 172 thereof.

(1) For paragraphs (a) to (h) of section 168 of the [1959 c. 22.] County Courts Act 1959 (which empowers the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Treasury, to make rules as to funds in county courts) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs:—

“(a) regulating the placing of money in court (with such exceptions as may be prescribed)—

(i) to a deposit account or a short-term investment account (that is to say, to an account of one or other of two kinds such that, in the case of an account of either kind, there will, under the rules, but subject to any prescribed exceptions, fall to accrue on moneys placed thereto interest derived from the transfer to, and investment by, the Commissioners of the moneys placed to all the accounts of those kinds); or

(ii) to a long-term investment account for transfer, under the rules, to one of the funds established by schemes made under section 1 of the Administration of Justice Act 1965 ;

and providing, in the case of money placed to a long-term investment account, for the designation of the fund to which it is to be transferred ;

(b) providing (subject to any prescribed exceptions) for the accruer of interest on moneys placed to deposit accounts and short-term investment accounts and prescribing the rate at which interest on moneys placed to deposit accounts and the rate at which interest on moneys placed to short-term investment accounts is to accrue;

(c) requiring registrars to transfer from time to time to the Accountant General all money in court that has been placed to long-term investment accounts and all other money in court which is not required by them for meeting current demands, and requiring the Accountant General—

(i) to transfer to the Commissioners all money transferred to him under the rules which is not required by him for meeting current demands, other than money placed to long-term investment accounts;

(ii) to transfer money placed to a long-term investment account to that one of the funds mentioned in paragraph (a) above which has, in pursuance of such provision of the rules as has effect by virtue of that paragraph, been designated in relation to that money;

(d) regulating the crediting of interest accruing on moneys placed to deposit accounts and on moneys placed to short-term investment accounts and the crediting of dividends accruing on shares in funds established by schemes made under section 1 of the Administration of Justice Act 1965 which have been allotted in consideration of the transfer of money in compliance with such provision of the rules as has effect by virtue of paragraph (c)(ii) above and of interest or dividends accruing on other securities in court;

(e) prescribing the time at which money in court which falls to be placed to a deposit account or short-term investment account is to be so placed and the times at which interest on money so placed is to begin and cease to accrue and the mode of computing any such interest;

(f) providing that, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, interest and dividends such as are mentioned in paragraph (d) above shall be placed to deposit accounts or short- or long-term investment accounts;

(g) requiring the annual publication of lists of accounts which have not been dealt with for such period as may be prescribed (not being less than fifteen years in the case of deposit accounts and of short- and long-term investment accounts or five years in the case of other accounts), and requiring the closing of any account included in any such list if the money standing to the credit of it (if it is other than a long-term investment account) or the money represented by shares in an investment fund allotted in consideration of the transfer to the fund of money placed to the account (if it is a long-term investment account) is not claimed within such period after the publication of the list as may be prescribed and, if it is a long-term investment account, the realisation of the shares allotted as aforesaid;”

and, in paragraph (i) of that section, after the words " the Commissioners " there shall shall be inserted the words " and the Public Trustee respectively

(2) For section 172 of the said Act of 1959 (which, while requiring the application, in redemption of debt, of moneys standing to the credit of an account closed in pursuance of rules made under section 168 of that Act, provides for the payment, to a person who subsequently proves that he would have been entitled to, or to part of, the money standing to the credit of the account had it not been closed, of the money to which he would have been entitled, together, if the court so directs, with interest thereon) there shall be substituted the following section:—

“172 (1) Where an account other than a long-term investment account is closed in pursuance of the County Court Funds Rules, the money which, immediately before it is closed, stands to its credit shall be paid to the Commissioners and applied by them in redemption of debt; and where a long-term investment account is closed in pursuance of the County Court Funds Rules, the proceeds of the realisation, on its closure, of shares in an investment fund allotted in consideration of the transfer to the fund of money placed to the account shall be so paid and applied.

(2) Where, in the case of an account that has been closed in pursuance of the County Court Funds Rules (other than a long-term investment account) a person proves to the satisfaction of the court by which the account was kept that he is entitled to, or to part of, the money that, immediately before the account was closed, stood to its credit, the court shall make an order for the payment to him of the money to which he is entitled together (if the court so directs) with all or any part of any interest which would have accrued on the money had the account not been closed; and where, in the case of a long-term investment account that has been closed as aforesaid, a person proves to the satisfaction of the court by which the account was kept that he is entitled to, or to part of, the money representing the proceeds of the realisation, upon its closure, of shares in an investment fund allotted in consideration of the transfer to the fund of money placed to the account, the court shall make an order for the payment to him of the money to which he is entitled together (if the court so directs) with all or any part of the interest which would have accrued on the money had it been placed to a short-term investment account on the date on which the said long-term investment account was closed.

(3) The amount required to comply with an order of a court under the last foregoing subsection shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund to the Accountant General”.

10 Provision of money for making good default of Accountant General with respect to funds in county courts.

If the Lord Chancellor, whether on a representation made to him by any person interested or not, certifies that the Accountant General has been guilty of any default with respect to any money or securities in a county court in England or Wales, such sum as the Lord Chancellor certifies to be necessary for making good the default shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament or, if and so far as it is not so paid, shall be charged on and issued out of the Consolidated Fund.

11 Consequential amendment with respect to Mayor's and City of London Court.

The power of the Lord Chancellor under section 169 of the [1959 c. 22.] County Courts Act 1959 to make separate funds rules for the Mayor's and City of London Court shall not include power to require the Chamberlain of the City of London to transfer money as mentioned in paragraph (c) of section 168 of that Act but shall include power to require him to transfer to the Accountant General money placed to a long-term investment account and the Accountant General to transfer it as mentioned in sub-paragraph (ii) of that paragraph.