Administration of Justice Act 1965

20 Increase of amount determining county court jurisdiction to make administration orders, restriction on presentation of bankruptcy petitions and minor amendments about such orders.

(1) In section 148(1) of the [1959 c. 22.] County Courts Act 1959 (which authorises a county court to make an order, hereafter in this section referred to as an " administration order", for the administration of the estate of a debtor who is unable to pay the amount of a judgment against him in that court and alleges that his whole indebtedness amounts to a sum not exceeding £50) for the words "fifty pounds" there shall be substituted the words " three hundred pounds " ; and accordingly in section 148(3) (effect on administration order of its being found that the total amount of debts exceeds £50) the like substitution shall be made.

(2) Her Majesty may by Order in Council vary the said section 148(1) and 148(3) by substituting, for the references therein to £300, references to such greater sum as may be specified in the Order.

(3) Before an administration order is made by a court, the registrar of the court shall, in accordance with rules made under section 156 of the County Courts Act 1959, send to every person whose name the debtor has notified to the appropriate county court as being a creditor of his notice that that person's name has been so notified ; and so long as the order is in force, a creditor whose name is included in the schedule to the order shall not, without the leave of that court, be entitled to present, or join in, a bankruptcy petition against the debtor unless—

(a) his name was so notified; and

(b) the debt by virtue of which he presents, or joins in, the petition exceeds £100 ; and

(c) the notice given to the creditor by the registrar in accordance with this subsection was received by the creditor within twenty-eight days immediately preceding the day on which the petition is presented.

(4) In section 150 of the [1959 c. 22.] County Courts Act 1959 (which, when an administration order is made, bars a creditor from remedies in respect of a debt which has been notified to a county court or is scheduled to the order, and requires a stay of proceedings in a county court or other inferior court in respect of such a debt)—

(a) the requirement to stay proceedings shall not operate as a requirement that a county court in which proceedings in bankruptcy against the debtor are pending shall stay those proceedings; and

(b) the reference to notification to a county court shall be construed as a reference to notification to the appropriate county court.

(5) In section 149(a) of the County Courts Act 1959, the requirement that notice of an administration order shall be sent to every creditor notified by the debtor shall be construed as a requirement that notice shall be sent to every person whose name a debtor has notified to the appropriate county court as being a creditor of his.

(6) In this section any reference to notification to the appropriate county court shall, in relation to an administration order, be construed as a reference to the giving, before the making of the order, of notice, in accordance with rules made under the said section 156, to the court which, at the time when the notification is given, has the power to make the order.

(7) The power conferred by subsection (2) above to make an Order in Council shall include power to vary the Order; and an Order in Council under the said subsection (2) shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.