Administration of Justice Act 1965

7 Rules as to funds in Supreme Court.

(1) The Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may make rules regulating, subject to the provisions of section 4 of this Act, the deposit, payment, delivery and transfer in, into and out of the Supreme Court of money, securities and effects which belong to suitors or are otherwise capable of being deposited in, or paid or transferred into, the Supreme Court or are under the custody of the Supreme Court, and regulating the evidence of such deposit, payment, delivery or transfer and, subject to the provisions of section 6 of this Act, the manner in which money, securities and effects in court are to be dealt with, and in particular—

(a) providing (subject to any exceptions prescribed by the rules) 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 ;

(b) requiring the Accountant General—

(i) to transfer to the Commissioners all money paid into the Supreme Court which is not required by him for meeting current demands, except money placed to a long-term investment account or ordered to be invested in securities other than of a kind designated by virtue of paragraph (d) below ;

(ii) to transfer money placed to a long-term investment account to that one of the funds established by common investment schemes specified in the order pursuant to which it was so placed;

(c) prescribing for the purposes of section 6(1)(b)(ii) of this Act the manner of investment of money by the Accountant General and regulating the investment, pursuant to an order under subsection (1) or (2) of that section, of money in securities;

(d) establishing in relation to securities of a kind designated by the Accountant General (in a case in which the establishment thereof appears to the Lord Chancellor expedient in the interests of economical administration) a system under which—

(i) the making of investments of moneys in securities of that kind which, in pursuance of orders of the court or the mental health authority, would, apart from the operation of the system, fall to be made by the Accountant General in an accounting year; and

(ii) the effecting of realisations of securities of that kind which, in pursuance of such orders, would, apart from the operation of the system, fall to be effected by him in that year;

are postponed so as to enable them to be contemporaneously made and effected together by means of a single transaction completed as soon as may be after the conclusion of that year, but the investments and realisations are, despite the postponement, required to be treated for all purposes as having been severally made and effected at the times at which they would, apart from the operation of the system, have fallen to be made and effected;

(e) 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 common investment schemes 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 (b)(ii) above and of interest or dividends accruing on securities in which money has been invested by the Accountant General pursuant to an order of the court or the mental health authority or to section 6(1)(b)(ii) of this Act and on other securities in court;

(f) providing—

(i) that, in such cases as may be prescribed by the rules, no sum of money (whatever its amount) shall be placed to a deposit account or a short- or long-term investment account or be invested in securities;

(ii) that, in no case, shall a sum of money of an amount less than such as may be so prescribed be placed to, or remain in, a deposit account, be placed to a short- or long-term investment account or be invested in securities;

(g) prescribing the time at which money 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;

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

(i) providing for dealing with accounts which, subject to such, if any, exceptions as may be prescribed by the rules, have not been dealt with for such period (not being less than fifteen years) as may be so prescribed ;

(j) prescribing the manner in which money is to be furnished to the Accountant General by the Commissioners and the Public Trustee respectively for the purpose of enabling him to comply with orders of the court or the mental health authority as to the payment of money out of court;

(k) providing for the discharge of the functions of the Accountant General under the rules by deputy;

(l) providing for such matters as are incidental to, or consequential on, the foregoing provisions of this subsection or are necessary for giving effect to those provisions.

(2) Rules made under the foregoing subsection may contain such provision as appears to the Lord Chancellor to be requisite or expedient for the purposes of the transition to the provisions of this Part of this Act and the rules from the law embodied in, and in rules under, the provisions of Part VI of the [1925 c. 49.] Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 repealed by this Act.

(3) Until revoked or altered under the powers of subsection (1) of this section, any rules made under Part VI of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 which are in force at the commencement of this Act shall continue in force and have effect as if made under that subsection.