Administration of Justice Act 1956

22 Temporary appointments of persons to act as judges

(1) If it appears to the Lord Chancellor, on representations made to him by the judge for any district, that it is expedient so to do in order to avoid delays in the administration of justice in that district, the Lord Chancellor may appoint a person to act for the judge in the despatch of business at any sitting of the court for that district, whether an ordinary sitting appointed under section thirty-five of the principal Act or an additional court.

(2) Any person appointed under this section shall, at the sitting for which he is appointed (including any adjournment thereof), have all the powers and privileges and may perform any of the duties of the judge he is appointed to act for, whether or not the judge is present, and on the day of the sitting or any adjournment thereof may exercise out of court any powers so exercisable by the judge.

(3) Where the judge is present, he may divide the judge's duties as he thinks fit between himself and the person appointed to act for him.

(4) Where the hearing of any proceedings duly commenced before a person appointed under this section is adjourned, or judgment is reserved therein, he shall have power at any subsequent sitting of the court to resume the hearing and determine the proceedings, or to deliver as the judgment of the court the judgment which he has reserved, as the case may be, as if his appointment had extended to the subsequent sitting.

(5) No person shall be qualified to be appointed under this section unless he has previously held the office of judge or is a barrister-at-law of at least seven years' standing.

(6) The Lord Chancellor may, with the approval of the Treasury, allow a person appointed under this section such remuneration as he thinks fit.

(7) Subsection (1) of section fifteen of the principal Act, in so far as it provides that during the period for which a deputy judge is appointed he shall perform all the duties of the judge for whom he is appointed to act, shall have effect subject to subsection (2) of this section, and subsection (2) of section thirty-six of the principal Act, (which requires the registrar to adjourn the court where the judge is not present at a sitting) shall not apply where a person appointed to act for the judge is present at the sitting.