Courts Act 2003

64Power to alter judicial titlesE+W

This section has no associated Explanatory Notes

(1)The Lord Chancellor may by order—

(a)alter the name of an office listed in subsection (2);

(b)provide for or alter the way in which the holders of any of those offices are to be styled.

(2)The offices are—

  • Admiralty Registrar

  • F1...

  • [F2Chancellor of the High Court]

  • [F3Chief Chancery Master]

  • [F3Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge]

  • [F3Chief Taxing Master]

  • Circuit judge

  • Deputy Circuit judge

  • Deputy district judge appointed under section 102 of the 1981 Act

  • Deputy district judge [F4appointed under section 8 of the County Courts Act 1984]

  • [F5Deputy Head of Civil Justice]

  • [F6Deputy Head of Family Justice]

  • Deputy judge of the High Court

  • [F7District judge of the county court]

  • District judge of the High Court

  • District judge of the principal registry of the Family Division

  • District probate registrar

  • [F8Head of Civil Justice]

  • [F9Head of Family Justice]

  • [F10Insolvency and Companies Court Judge]

  • Lord Chief Justice

  • Master of the Chancery Division

  • F11...

  • Master of the Queen’s Bench Division

  • Master of the Rolls

  • Ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal

  • [F12President of the Courts of England and Wales]

  • [F13President of the Court of Protection,]

  • President of the Family Division

  • [F14President of the Queen's Bench Division]

  • Presiding Judge for a Circuit

  • Puisne judge of the High Court

  • Queen’s Coroner and Attorney and Master of the Crown Office and Registrar of Criminal Appeals

  • Recorder

  • F15...

  • [F3Senior District Judge of the Family Division]

  • [F16Senior Judge of the Court of Protection,]

  • [F3Senior Master of the Queen’s Bench Division]

  • Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales

  • Taxing Master of the [F17Senior Courts]

  • F18...

  • Vice-president of the Court of Appeal

  • [F19Vice-president of the Court of Protection.]

  • Vice-president of the Queen’s Bench Division.

[F20(2A)The Lord Chancellor may by order—

(a)alter the name of a relevant office;

(b)provide for or alter the way in which a relevant office is to be styled.

(2B)In subsection (2A) “a relevant office” is a sitting in retirement office under section 123 of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 for which the corresponding original office is listed in Part 1 of Schedule 3 to that Act.]

(3)The Lord Chancellor may also by order provide for or alter the way in which deputies or temporary additional officers appointed under section [F2191(1)] of the 1981 Act are to be styled.

[F22(3A)The Lord Chancellor may make an order under this section only with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice.]

(4)Before making an order under this section the Lord Chancellor must consult—

F23(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)the Master of the Rolls,

[F24(ba)the President of the Queen's Bench Division,

(c)the President of the Family Division, and

(d)the Chancellor of the High Court.]

(5)An order under this section may make such provision as the Lord Chancellor considers necessary in consequence of any provision made under subsection (1) [F25, (2A)] or (3).

(6)The provision that may be made under subsection (5) includes provision amending, repealing or revoking any enactment.

[F26(7)The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this section.]

Textual Amendments

F1Words in s. 64(2) omitted (15.7.2013) by virtue of Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22), s. 61(3), Sch. 13 para. 89(2)(i); S.I. 2013/1725, art. 2(g)

F4Words in s. 64(2) substituted (19.7.2007) by Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, (c. 39), ss. 56, 148, {Sch. 11 para. 14}

F7Words in s. 64(2) substituted (22.4.2014) by Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22), s. 61(3), Sch. 9 para. 40(b); S.I. 2014/954, art. 2(c) (with art. 3) (with transitional provisions and savings in S.I. 2014/956, arts. 3-11)

F20S. 64(2A)(2B) inserted (10.3.2022 for specified purposes, 1.10.2022 in so far as not already in force) by Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (c. 7), s. 131(1)(4)(c), Sch. 4 para. 10(2); S.I. 2022/1014, reg. 2(d) (with reg. 3)

F24S. 64(4)(ba)-(d) substituted (3.4.2006) for s. 64(4)(c)(d) by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), s. 15, Sch. 4 para. 331(4)(b); S.I. 2006/1014, art. 2(a), Sch. 1 para. 11(z)

F25Word in s. 64(5) inserted (10.3.2022 for specified purposes, 1.10.2022 in so far as not already in force) by Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (c. 7), s. 131(1)(4)(c), Sch. 4 para. 10(3); S.I. 2022/1014, reg. 2(d) (with reg. 3)