Justices of the Peace Act 1949

PART I Provisions as to Individual Justices

1 Residence qualification of justices

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not be appointed justice of the peace by the commission of the peace for any area, nor act as justice of the peace by virtue of any such appointment, unless he resides in or within fifteen miles of that area.

(2) If the Lord Chancellor is of opinion that it is in the public interest for a person to act as justice of the peace for a particular area though not qualified so to do under the foregoing subsection, he may direct that so long as any conditions specified in the direction are satisfied the foregoing subsection shall not apply in relation to that person's appointment as justice by the commission of the peace for the area so specified.

(3) Subject to the next following subsection, where a person appointed justice of the peace by the commission of the peace for any area (whether so appointed before or after the coming into force of this section) is not qualified under the foregoing provisions of this section to act by virtue of the appointment, his name shall be removed from the commission if the Lord Chancellor is of opinion that the appointment ought not to continue having regard to the probable duration and other circumstances of the want of qualification.

(4) Nothing in this section shall apply in relation to the appointment of a person, as holding or having been appointed to any office mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act, to be a justice of the peace for an area specified in relation to that office in the second column of that Schedule.

(5) In the application of this section to the county palatine of Lancaster, references to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster shall be substituted for references to the Lord Chancellor.

2 The mayor as a justice

Subsections (7) and (8) of section eighteen of the Local Government Act, 1933, shall be amended as follows:—

(a) the mayor of a borough shall not under subsection (7) be a justice of the peace for the borough during the year next after he ceases to be mayor;

(b) subsection (7) shall not apply to the mayor of a borough not having a separate commission of the peace, and he shall accordingly be a justice for the county under subsection (8) but not for the borough;

(c) subsection (8) shall not apply to the mayor of a borough having a separate commission of the peace, and he shall accordingly be a justice for the borough under subsection (7) but not for the county.

3 Disqualification in certain cases of justices who are members of local authorities

(1) A justice of the peace who is a member of a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 1933, the London Government Act, 1939, or the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, shall not act as a member of a court of quarter sessions or of a magistrates' court in any proceedings brought by or against, or by way of appeal from a decision of, the authority or any committee or officer of the authority.

(2) For the purposes of the foregoing subsection—

(a) any reference to a committee of a local authority includes a joint committee, joint board, joint authority or other combined body of which that authority is a member or on which it is represented; and

(b) any reference to an officer of a local authority refers to a person employed or appointed by the authority or a committee thereof in the capacity in which he is employed or appointed to act.

(3) A justice of the peace who is a member of the common council of the City of London shall not act as a member of a court of quarter sessions or of a magistrates' court in any proceedings brought by or against, or by way of appeal from a decision of, the corporation of that City or the common council or any committee or officer of the corporation or common council; and the last foregoing subsection shall apply for the purposes of this subsection, with the substitution for references to a local authority of references to the corporation or common council.

(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent a justice acting in any proceedings for an offence by reason only of their being brought by a police officer.

(5) This section shall in its application to Scotland have effect as if in subsection (1) after the words " magistrates' court " there were inserted the words " or of a small debt court ".

4 Supplemental list

(1) The Lord Chancellor may by statutory instrument make rules directing that in connection with any commission of the peace issued by His Majesty there shall be kept a list for the purposes of this section (in this Act called " the supplemental list"), and those rules shall make provision for the entry in the supplemental list kept in connection with any commission of the name of any such person appointed a justice by the commission as is hereinafter mentioned, and for the removal of names from the list.

(2) A person who is appointed justice of the peace by the commission of the peace for any area, but whose name is for the time being entered in the supplemental list kept in connection with the commission, shall not by virtue of that appointment be qualified as a justice to do any act, except as mentioned in the next following subsection, nor by virtue of that appointment be qualified as a justice to be a member of any committee or other body.

(3) The last foregoing subsection shall not preclude a justice from doing all or any of the following acts as a justice, that is to say,—

(a) signing any document for the purpose of authenticating another person's signature;

(b) taking and authenticating by his signature any written declaration not made on oath ; and

(c) giving a certificate of facts within his knowledge or of his opinion as to any matter.

(4) Subject to the two next following subsections any rules made under this section shall provide for entering in the supplemental list the names of persons—

(a) who are of the age of seventy-five years or over and neither hold nor have held high judicial office within the meaning of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876 ; or

(b) who apply to have their names entered therein;

and the Lord Chancellor may direct that the name of any person appointed a justice of the peace by the commission of the peace for any area shall be entered in the supplemental list kept in connection with that commission if the Lord Chancellor is satisfied either—

(i) that by reason of that person's age or infirmity or other like cause it is expedient he should cease to exercise judicial functions as a justice for the area; or

(ii) that that person declines or neglects to take a proper part in the exercise of those functions.

(5) The said rules may provide that in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the rules a person's name shall not be entered in a supplemental list on his own application except with the approval of the Lord Chancellor.

(6) Until the expiration of five years from the coming into force of this section, the said rules may also provide for exceptions from the provisions relating to justices of the age of seventy-five years or over in any area where it appears to the Lord Chancellor necessary in order to have enough experienced justices.

(7) The said rules may provide that if, with respect to any commission of the peace, it appears to the Lord Chancellor that those of the persons appointed justices thereby who are to be subject to the disqualifications specified in subsection (2) of this section can be more conveniently designated in some manner other than the entry of their names in the supplemental list, they may be designated in such other manner as may be prescribed by the rules, and, where such provision is made, the rules shall provide for the application of this section, with the necessary adaptations, to the designation of such persons, and to persons so designated, in like manner in all respects as it applies to the entry of the names of persons in supplemental lists, and to persons whose names are entered in such lists, and references in any other provision of this Act to the supplemental list shall have effect accordingly.

(8) This section shall apply to a person who under the Local Government Act, 1933, the London Government Act, 1939, or the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, is a justice of the peace for any area by virtue of his office as mayor, lord provost or provost or chairman of a local authority as if his appointment as justice by that Act were an appointment by the commission of the peace for the area.

(9) In the application of this section to the county palatine of Lancaster, references to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster shall be substituted for references to the Lord Chancellor.

(10) Any rules made or other thing done under or for the purposes of the Justices (Supplemental List) Act, 1941, shall have effect as if made or done under or for the purposes of this section.

5 Saving for acts and appointments

No act or appointment shall be invalidated by reason only of the disqualification or want of qualification under any of the foregoing sections of the person acting or appointed.

6 Amendment of Fisheries Acts

In section seventy-six of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1923 (which relates to the disqualification of justices who are members of a fishery board or subscribers to a society for the protection of fish), the words " a member of a fishery board or " shall cease to have effect, and section thirty-four of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868, in so far as it directs that a justice shall not be disqualified from hearing any case arising under the said Act by reason of his being a member of a district board shall cease to have effect.

7 Restriction on right to practise as solicitor

(1) The provisions of this section shall have effect in place of section fifty-four of the Solicitors Act, 1932 (which limits the right of county justices and their partners to practise as solicitors).

(2) Subject to the following subsections, it shall not be lawful for any solicitor who is one of the justices of the peace for any area, nor for any partner of his, to act in connection with proceedings before any of those justices as solicitor or agent for the solicitor of any person concerned in those proceedings.

(3) Where a solicitor is a justice of the peace for any area, but either—

(a) his name is entered in the supplemental list for that area; or

(b) he is for the time being excluded from the exercise of his functions as a justice for that area under section four of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1906 (which relates to ex officio justices);

his being a justice for the area shall not subject him or any partner of his to any disqualification under this section.

(4) Where a solicitor is a justice of the peace for the county of London, but is so by virtue only of his office as mayor of a metropolitan borough, his being a justice for the county shall not subject any partner of his to any disqualification under this section.

8 Travelling and lodging allowances

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a justice of the peace shall be entitled to receive payments at the prescribed rates by way of travelling allowance or lodging allowance where expenditure on travelling or, as the case may be, on accommodation for the night is necessarily incurred by him for the purpose of enabling him to perform any of his duties as a justice.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a justice following a course of instruction under a scheme made in accordance with arrangements approved by the Lord Chancellor shall be deemed to be acting in the performance of his duties as a justice.

(3) A justice shall not be entitled to any payment under this section in respect of any duties—

(a) if the duties are performed not more than three miles from his usual place of residence; or

(b) if in respect of those duties a travelling or lodging allowance may be paid to him under arrangements made apart from this section or regulations provide that this section shall not apply.

(4) A stipendiary magistrate or recorder shall not be entitled to any payment under this section in respect of his duties as such, and a paid chairman or paid deputy chairman of quarter sessions shall also not be entitled as aforesaid except in so far as may be agreed between the court of quarter sessions and the authority paying his salary at the time his salary is determined.

(5) Allowances under this section shall be paid as follows:—

(a) any allowance to a justice for the City of London in respect of his duties as such shall be paid by the corporation of the City ;

(b) any allowance to a county justice or a borough justice in respect of his duties as such shall be paid by the county council or borough council, as the case may be.

(6) Regulations may make provision as to the manner in which this section is to be administered, and in particular—

(a) for prescribing the rates of allowances, and the forms to be used and the particulars to be provided for the purpose of claiming payment thereof; and

(b) for avoiding duplication between payments under this section and under other arrangements where expenditure is incurred for more than one purpose, and otherwise for preventing abuses.

(7) Regulations for the purposes of this section shall be made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument, which shall be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.

(8) This section shall in its application to Scotland have effect subject to the following modifications:—

(a) references to recorders and paid chairmen or paid deputy chairmen of quarter sessions shall be omitted;

(b) for subsection (5) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—

“(5) Section one hundred and eighty-seven of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947 (which relates to expenses of justices of the peace), shall apply to the allowances payable to justices under this section in like manner as it applies to the sums mentioned in the said section one hundred and eighty-seven”;

(c) the provisions of this section shall not apply in relation to the duties of a justice as a member of a licensing court or court of appeal under the Licensing (Scotland) Acts, 1903 to 1934.

9 Application of Part I to Scotland

In the application of this Part of this Act to Scotland—

(i) the words " not made on oath " in paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section four shall be omitted; and

(ii) for section seven there shall be substituted the following section:—

“7 Section four of the Justices (Scotland) Act, 1856, and section three of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1906, in so far as they prohibit solicitors being justices or their partners from practising shall not apply in relation to a solicitor as justice for any county or county of a city if his name is entered in the supplemental list for that county or county of a city.”

PART II Commission of the Peace, Constitution of Courts and Rules of Procedure

10 Area of commission

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, there shall be a separate commission of the peace for every county, for every county borough and for such non-county boroughs as satisfy one of the following conditions, that is to say—

(a) that at the end of December nineteen hundred and forty eight the borough had a separate commission of the peace and a population of thirty-five thousand or over ;

(b) that at the end of that month the borough had a separate commission of the peace and court of quarter sessions and a population of twenty thousand or over;

(c) that at the end of that month the borough had a separate commission of the peace and court of quarter sessions, and the Lord Chancellor makes an order under subsection (5) of this section saving the grant to the borough of its commission and quarter sessions;

(d) that after the passing of this Act His Majesty grants a separate commission of the peace to the borough under section one hundred and fifty-six of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, on a petition made by the council at a time when the borough has a population of sixty-five thousand or over,

and there shall not be a commission of the peace or justices of the peace for any other area.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the county shall be the administrative county except that, in the case of London, the county shall be the county of London as constituted under subsection (2) of section forty of the Local Government Act, 1888, unless the City of London is made subject to the jurisdiction of the county justices and court of quarter sessions under subsection (3) of that section.

(3) For the purposes of this section, an administrative county shall be deemed to include any area in a county borough not having a separate court of quarter sessions which forms part of the county for the purpose of the appointment of a coroner, but this shall not affect the commission of the peace or justices of the peace for the borough and the jurisdiction of the borough justices as respects matters within their commission shall be exclusive of that of the justices for the county to the same extent as if the area did not form part of the county.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the administrative county of Cornwall shall be deemed to include the Scilly Isles.

(5) The Lord Chancellor may make an order saving for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section the grant to a borough of its commission and quarter sessions if—

(a) the borough council applies for the order not later than two months after the date of the passing of this Act or within such further time as the Lord Chancellor may allow; and

(b) the Lord Chancellor is satisfied that it is desirable to save the grant to the borough of its commission and quarter sessions on account—

(i) of the assistance the borough court of quarter sessions has given or is likely to be able to give in the administration of justice in the county which includes the borough ; and

(ii) of historical or geographical reasons;

and it shall be the duty of the recorder for the time being of any borough named in an order under this section, before he fixes the date for holding any quarter sessions for the borough, to consult the chairman of the court of quarter sessions of the county or quarter sessions division of a county in which the borough is situated or (failing the chairman) the deputy chairman or one of the deputy chairmen of that court.

(6) The power of the Lord Chancellor to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument.

(7) The Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the preservation and adaptation of existing commissions of the peace and other purposes consequential on the changes effected by the foregoing subsections.

(8) Except as provided by that Schedule, any existing commission of the peace which is not in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, and any appointment in connection therewith of a recorder, deputy recorder, clerk or deputy clerk of the peace, justices' clerk, crier, or other officer shall become inoperative on the coming into force of this section.

(9) For the purposes of this section, the population at any time of a borough shall be ascertained according to the estimates of the registrar-general and the population at the end of December nineteen hundred and forty-eight shall be ascertained to the nearest thousand.

(10) The boroughs retaining their existing commissions of the peace by virtue of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of this section are those named in the Third Schedule to this Act.

(11) For the purposes of this section, the expression " existing " means existing immediately before the coming into force of this section.

11 Justices and courts in London

(1) Subsection (1) of the last foregoing section shall not affect the justices of the peace for the City of London or any power of His Majesty in relation to justices for the City.

(2) At either of the justice rooms of the City of London the place of the Lord Mayor or alderman may, for the purposes of the exercise of any powers of a magistrates' court, be taken by the assistant judge of the Mayor's and City of London Court appointed under the Borough and Local Courts of Record Act, 1872, or any additional judge of that court appointed under the Mayor's and City of London Court Act, 1920.

(3) At quarter sessions for the City of London the court may, for the purpose of hearing and determining any appeal from a court of summary jurisdiction or dealing with costs, recognisances and other matters preliminary to or arising out of any such appeal, consist of the recorder of the City of London (if appointed by His Majesty to exercise judicial functions) or the common serjeant of the City of London.

(4) A court constituted in accordance with subsection (2) or (3) of this section shall have the same jurisdiction and powers as if constituted in the ordinary way.

(5) The justices of the peace for the City of London shall not exercise any jurisdiction which is required to be exercised by a juvenile court, or any jurisdiction to hear and determine domestic proceedings ; and metropolitan stipendiary magistrates and other justices for the county of London may exercise in relation to the City of London—

(a) any jurisdiction which may be exercised by a juvenile court; and

(b) any jurisdiction under the Guardianship of Infants Acts, 1886 and 1925, the Summary Jurisdiction (Separation and Maintenance) Acts, 1895 to 1949, or subsection (3) of section four of the Family Allowances Act, 1945 ;

as if the City were included in the county of London.

(6) So much of Part III of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, and the Summary Procedure (Domestic Proceedings) Act, 1937, as relates specifically to courts of summary jurisdiction for the City of London shall cease to have effect, and references in the said Part III and the said Act of 1937 to the metropolitan stipendiary court area shall include the City.

(7) In subsection (5) of this section the expression " domestic proceedings " means domestic proceedings within the meaning of the Summary Procedure (Domestic Proceedings) Act, 1937, and references to the City of London include any area forming part of the administrative county of London but not forming part of the county within the meaning of the last foregoing section.

(8) Subsection (5) of this section shall not affect any jurisdiction of the justices of the peace for the City of London in relation to orders made by those justices before the coming into force of that subsection.

(9) Section forty-two of the Metropolitan Police Courts Act, 1839 (which limits the cases in which fees may be taken in proceedings before justices in the metropolitan stipendiary court area), shall cease to have effect, but justices acting for any petty sessional division of the county of London (not being metropolitan stipendiary magistrates) shall comply with any order of the Secretary of State as to the classes of case which should or should not be taken by them.

(10) Nothing done by any such justices shall be invalidated by reason of any non-compliance with an order under the last foregoing subsection.

(11) Any such order shall be made by statutory instrument and may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order.

12 Licensing authorities for non-county boroughs

(1) For the purposes of the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910, as respects licensing districts being non-county boroughs—

(a) the licensing justices shall be for all purposes the borough licensing committee;

(b) the confirming authority shall be a committee of the borough justices; and

(c) the compensation authority shall be the county confirming and compensation committee of the county in which the borough is situated.

(2) Section forty of the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910, as set out in the Second Schedule to the Licensing Act, 1949 (which relates to the disqualification of justices), and section twelve of the Licensing Act, 1949 (which relates to the constitution and procedure of licensing authorities in county boroughs), shall apply in relation to a non-county borough having a separate commission of the peace and to the confirming authority in such a borough as they apply in relation to a county borough and the confirming and compensation committee in a county borough.

(3) The justices of any non-county borough shall be entitled to appoint one of their number to act on the county confirming and compensation committee when the committee is discharging functions as compensation authority (whether for the county or for any borough situated therein), and for the purpose of those functions any justice so appointed shall be deemed to be an additional member of the committee.

(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section the confirming authority in any borough mentioned in Part III of the Third Schedule to this Act or in an order of the Lord Chancellor under section ten thereof shall be a joint committee of the borough justices and justices for the county in which the borough is situated (constituted in accordance with section four of the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910), if and so long as it appears to the borough justices expedient having regard to the small number of the borough justices available to act as members of a confirming authority constituted as provided by subsection (2) of this section.

13 Size and chairmanship of bench

(1) The number of county or borough justices sitting to deal with a case as a court of quarter sessions or as a magistrates' court shall not be greater than the number prescribed in that behalf by rules made under this section.

(2) In any petty sessions area there shall be a chairman and one or more deputy chairmen of the justices chosen from amongst themselves by the magistrates for the area by secret ballot.

(3) Subject to the next following subsection, at any meeting of justices for a petty sessions area the chairman or a deputy chairman of the justices shall preside, if present, and the mayor of a borough shall not as such have any right to preside at meetings of justices.

(4) The last foregoing subsection shall not confer on the chairman and deputy chairmen of the justices as such any right to preside at quarter sessions or in a juvenile court, or at meetings of a committee or other body of justices having its own chairman, or at meetings when any stipendiary magistrate is engaged as such in administering justice.

(5) Rules made under this section may make provision as to the manner in which this section is to be administered and in particular—

(a) as to the arrangements to be made for securing the presence on the bench of enough, but not more than enough, justices; and

(b) as to the term of office and the procedure at an election of the chairman and deputy chairmen of the justices in a petty sessions area, and the number of deputy chairmen to be elected in any such area.

(6) Rules for the purposes of this section shall be made by the Lord Chancellor by statutory instrument, which shall be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.

14 Age of bench in juvenile courts

(1) The rules with respect to the formation and revision of juvenile court panels made under paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, or section fifty-one of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, 1937, may include provision for securing that a justice shall not be a member of a panel after he has attained the retiring age prescribed by the rules.

(2) Those rules may also include provision for securing that a justice is not appointed a member of a panel after he has attained such age as may be so prescribed.

15 Rule committee and rules of procedure

(1) The Lord Chancellor may appoint a rule committee for magistrates' courts, and may on the advice of or after consultation with the rule committee make rules for regulating and prescribing the procedure and practice to be followed in magistrates' courts and by justices' clerks.

(2) The rule committee shall consist of the Lord Chief Justice, the President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court, the chief magistrate of the metropolitan stipendiary court at Bow Street and such number of other persons appointed by the Lord Chancellor as he may determine.

(3) Among the members of the committee appointed by the Lord Chancellor there shall be at least one justices' clerk, one practising barrister and one practising solicitor of the Supreme Court.

(4) The power to make rules conferred by this section shall (without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) thereof) include power to make provision as to—

(a) the practice and procedure of justices in exercising functions preliminary or incidental to proceedings before a magistrates' court;

(b) the service and execution of process issued by or for the purposes of a magistrates' court, including the service and execution in England and Wales of process issued in other parts of the United Kingdom ;

(c) the keeping of records of proceedings before magistrates' courts and the manner in which things done in the course of or as preliminary or incidental to, any such proceedings may be proved in any legal proceedings;

(d) the extent to which a justices' clerk may engage in practice as a solicitor or barrister;

(e) any other matters as to which immediately before the coming into force of this section provision is or can be made by virtue of the enactments and parts of enactments repealed by Part II of the Seventh Schedule to this Act.

(5) After the establishment of the rule committee, no rules shall be made by the Lord Chancellor under section thirteen of this Act except on the advice of or after consultation with the committee and the reference in the last foregoing section to paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, shall be taken as a reference to this section.

(6) Any Act passed before this Act, in so far as that Act relates to matters about which rules may be made under this section, shall have effect subject to any rules so made and may be amended or repealed by the rules accordingly:

Provided that nothing in this section shall authorise the rules to reduce the number of justices required for any purpose by any Act.

(7) In subsection (4) of section thirty-three of the Criminal Justice Act, 1925, for the reference to section seventeen of that Act there shall be substituted a reference to this section, and in subsection (2) of section five of the Dogs Act, 1906, and in section thirteen of the Money Payments (Justices Procedure) Act, 1935, the reference to rules shall be taken as a reference to rules under this section.

(8) Any rules, directions, forms or other instrument having effect under the enactments repealed by Part II of the Seventh Schedule to this Act shall have effect as if contained in rules made under this section.

(9) The power to make rules conferred by this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment by resolution of either House of Parliament.

(10) In this section the expression " justices' clerk " includes a clerk to a stipendiary magistrate, a clerk to a metropolitan stipendiary court and a clerk at either of the justice rooms of the City of London.

PART III Magistrates' Courts Committees and Justices' Clerks

16 Establishment of magistrates' courts committees

(1) Committees (to be called magistrates' courts committees) shall be set up in accordance with the following provisions of this section with such functions in relation to justices' clerks, to the division of counties into petty sessional divisions, to the provision of courses of instruction for justices and to other matters of an administrative character as are or may be provided by or under this Act or as they may be authorised to undertake by the Secretary of State.

(2) There shall be a magistrates' courts committee for each county and for each county borough:

Provided that—

(a) there may be a single magistrates' courts committee for an area (in this Act referred to as " a joint committee area ") consisting of two or more counties, or of two or more county boroughs, or of one or more counties and one or more county boroughs ; and

(b) a quarter sessions division of a county may be treated for the purposes of this section as a separate county; and

(c) there may be a separate magistrates' courts committee for a non-county borough having a separate commission of the peace, if at the time of the establishment of the committee the borough has a population of sixty-five thousand or over.

(3) Where a non-county borough has for the time being a separate magistrates' courts committee, the jurisdiction of the borough justices as respects matters within their commission shall be exclusive of that of the justices for the county to the same extent as if the borough did not form part of the county.

(4) The Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the procedure for establishing magistrates' courts committees and with respect to the constitution and procedure of and other matters relating to those committees.

(5) For the purpose of the provisions of this Act relating to magistrates' courts committees, the expression " county" in the case of London has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of section ten of this Act, and in any other case means the administrative county exclusive of any area in a county borough included in the county for the purposes of that section, and the administrative county of Cornwall shall be deemed to include the Scilly Isles, so, however, that references to a county, except in so far as the context otherwise requires, shall include a quarter sessions division of a county which is for the time being to be treated for the purposes of this section as a separate county.

(6) For the purposes of this section,—

(a) the expression " quarter sessions division " means part of a county, being a part for which (with or without the whole or part of one or more county boroughs) quarter sessions are ordinarily held separately by adjournment or otherwise ; and

(b) the population at any time of a borough shall be determined according to the estimates of the registrar-general.

17 Provision of courses of instruction

It shall be the duty of every magistrates' courts committee, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Lord Chancellor, to make and administer schemes providing for courses of instruction for justices of their area.

18 Powers and duties of committee as to petty sessional divisions

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a magistrates' courts committee acting for a county may at any time submit to the Secretary of State a draft order making such provision about the division of the county or any part thereof into petty sessional divisions as the committee think fit.

(2) It shall be the duty of such a committee, if directed to do so by the Secretary of State, to review the division of the county or any part thereof into petty sessional divisions and on completion of the review to submit to the Secretary of State either a draft order under the foregoing subsection or a report giving reasons for making no change.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this section—

(a) where such a committee submit a draft order to the Secretary of State under this section, he may by statutory instrument make the order either in the terms of the draft or with such modifications as he thinks fit; and

(b) where such a committee fail to comply within six months with a direction of the Secretary of State under the last foregoing subsection, or the Secretary of State is dissatisfied with the draft order or report submitted in pursuance of such a direction, he may by statutory instrument make such order as he thinks fit about the division into petty sessional divisions of the area to which the direction related.

(4) Any order under this section—

(a) may contain transitional and other consequential provisions; and

(b) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order thereunder.

(5) Before submitting to the Secretary of State a draft order or a report under this section about any area, a magistrates' courts committee—

(a) shall consult the county council and the magistrates for any existing petty sessional division in the area ; and

(b) in the case of a draft order, after complying with the foregoing paragraph shall send a copy of their proposals to every interested authority and take into consideration any objections made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time.

(6) A magistrates' courts committee submitting to the Secretary of State a draft order or a report under this section shall comply with such requirements (if any) as to notice as may be prescribed, and the Secretary of State before making an order under this section about any area otherwise than in accordance with a draft submitted to him by the magistrates' courts committee shall send a copy of his proposals to the committee, to the county council, to the magistrates for any existing petty sessional division in the area and to every interested authority.

(7) Before making any order under this section the Secretary of State shall take into consideration any objections made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time and may cause a local inquiry to be held.

(8) An order under this section may provide for a county ceasing to be divided into petty sessional divisions, and a direction under subsection (2) thereof may be given with respect to the division of a county which is not for the time being so divided.

(9) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the expression " interested authority " means, in relation to any order or draft order, the council of any borough, metropolitan borough or urban or rural district which includes the whole or any part of the area to which the order relates; and

(b) an order shall be deemed to be made in accordance with a draft order if it is made in terms of the draft order or the departures from the draft order do not, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, effect important alterations in the draft order.

(10) The powers conferred by this section shall be in substitution for any other power to create or alter petty sessional divisions in a county, except powers conferred by any other provision of this Act or by section one hundred and forty-eight of the Local Government Act, 1933.

19 Appointment and conditions of service of justices' clerks

(1) Justices' clerks shall be appointed by the magistrates' courts committee and shall hold office during the pleasure of the committee, and the committee may appoint more than one justices' clerk for any area.

(2) A justices' clerk shall be paid a salary for his personal remuneration, and the salary shall be deemed to be remuneration for all business which he may by reason of his office as justices' clerk be called upon to perform, other than any duties as secretary to a licensing planning committee under the Licensing Planning (Temporary Provisions) Acts, 1945 and 1946.

(3) A justices' clerk may be paid a single salary in respect of two or more clerkships.

(4) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, a justices' clerk shall be provided with the accommodation and staff, and the furniture, books and other things, proper to enable him to carry out his duties.

(5) A justices' clerk shall, in addition to his salary, be paid the amount of any expenses of a description specified when his salary is determined, being expenses incurred by him with the general or special authority of the magistrates' courts committee.

(6) Where a justices' clerk devotes part of his time to work other than the duties appertaining to his clerkship or clerkships, he may by arrangement with the magistrates' courts committee make use for the purpose of those duties of any accommodation, staff or equipment which he has for other purposes, and the sums payable to him under the last foregoing subsection may include payments for accommodation, staff or equipment so provided by him, whether or not he thereby incurs additional expense.

(7) Any staff provided for a justices' clerk shall be employed by the magistrates' courts committee but shall work under the direction of the clerk, and subject to this Act the committee may make any arrangements they think fit for staff to be engaged and dismissed, and the terms of their employment fixed, on behalf of the committee.

Before any such staff are engaged or dismissed (otherwise than by the clerk himself on behalf of the committee), the clerk shall be consulted.

(8) The approval of the Secretary of State shall be required—

(a) for any decision to increase the number of justices' clerks in a petty sessions area or to have more than one justices' clerk in a new petty sessions area;

(b) for any appointment of a justices' clerk;

(c) for the removal of the justices' clerk for a petty sessional division of a county where the magistrates for the division do not consent to the removal.

(9) A magistrates' courts committee shall consult the magistrates for any petty sessional division of a county on the appointment or removal of a justices' clerk for the division, and the Secretary of State before approving the appointment or removal of a justices' clerk for such a division shall consider any representations made to him by the magistrates for the division, and before approving the removal of any such clerk shall consider any representations made to him by the clerk.

(10) The two last foregoing subsections shall apply to a non-county borough having a separate commission of the peace but not a separate magistrates' courts committee, and to a county borough or county not divided into petty sessional divisions which is included in a joint committee area, as if it were a petty sessional division of a county.

(11) The magistrates' courts committee shall inform the Secretary of State of the age, qualification and experience of any person proposed to be appointed a justices' clerk and, if the Secretary of State so requires, of any other person offering himself for the appointment.

(12) Section forty-eight of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 (which provides that in a petty sessional division the duties of the clerk of a court of summary jurisdiction shall belong to the justices' clerk), shall apply in relation to any petty sessions area as it applies in relation to a petty sessional division, and references in that section to the Justices Clerks Act, 1877, or section five thereof shall be taken as including references to this section.

(13) Subsection (1) of section forty-nine of the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910 (which prohibits clerks to licensing justices from acting professionally in connection with proceedings at licensing sessions), shall apply to a clerk appointed after the coming into force of this section in relation to the general annual licensing meeting, transfer sessions and petty sessions held for any district as it applies in relation to those held for the clerk's district, and the words excepting the preparation of notices and forms from the operation of the subsection shall not have effect in the application of the subsection to a clerk appointed after the coming into force of this section.

20 Qualification of justices' clerk

(1) Except as provided by this section, no person shall be appointed a justices' clerk unless either at the time of appointment he is a barrister of not less than five years' standing or solicitor of the Supreme Court of the like standing and is within any limit of age prescribed for appointments to a clerkship of that class or description, or he then is or has previously been a justices' clerk.

(2) A lower as well as an upper limit of age may be prescribed under the foregoing subsection for appointments to any class or description of clerkship.

(3) A person who has not been bound by and served under articles as required by paragraph (a) of section fourteen of the Solicitors Act, 1932, but has served as assistant to a justices' clerk, may be admitted a solicitor of the Supreme Court, subject to the following provisions—

(a) the person to be admitted shall have had not less than ten years' service as such an assistant and, out of that service, not less than five years shall have been before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and sixty, and not less than the required number of years shall have been approved service ;

(b) for the purpose of the foregoing paragraph " approved service " means service either—

(i) as an articled clerk ; or

(ii) with respect to which the person to be admitted has obtained from the Law Society a certificate under this section on an application made after he has had five years' service as such an assistant and before the said first day of January,

and the required number of years of approved service is the number which that person would, apart from this subsection, be required by the said Act to serve under articles entered into at the date of that application ;

(c) the Law Society may grant a person a certificate with respect to service in any employment as assistant to a justices' clerk if they are satisfied that at the time of granting the certificate it is not practicable for him to serve as an articled clerk in that employment, and the certificate shall relate to any service by him in that employment after that time ;

(d) subject to the foregoing paragraphs, the Solicitors Acts, 1932 to 1941, shall apply, with any necessary modifications, in relation to a person's certificate under this section and a person applying for or obtaining such a certificate as if the certificate were articles of clerkship and the service to which it relates were service under those articles.

(4) A person not having the qualification as barrister or solicitor which is required by subsection (1) of this section may be appointed a justices' clerk—

(a) if at the time of appointment he is a solicitor of the Supreme Court and has served for not less than five years in one or more of the following capacities, that is to say, clerk to a stipendiary magistrate, clerk to a metropolitan stipendiary court, clerk at one of the justice rooms of the City of London, assistant to any such clerk as aforesaid and assistant to a justices' clerk ; or

(b) if before the time of appointment or the first day of January, nineteen hundred and sixty, whichever is the earlier, he has served for not less than ten years in one or more of the said capacities and, in the opinion of the magistrates' courts committee and of the Secretary of State, there are special circumstances making the appointment a proper one.

(5) A person may be appointed a justices' clerk notwithstanding that he is over the upper limit of age mentioned in subsection (1) of this section if he has served in one or more of the capacities mentioned in the last foregoing subsection continuously from a time when he was below that limit to the time of appointment.

(6) A person shall not be justices' clerk for any area wholly or partly comprised in an area in which he or a partner of his holds any of the following offices, namely, clerk of the peace, town clerk, clerk to the urban district council and deputy of any such clerk:

Provided that a person shall not be disqualified under this subsection for holding any justices' clerkship by reason of his or his partner's holding any of the said offices where neither appointment is made after the coming into force of this subsection.

(7) Subsection (2) of section one hundred and fifty-nine of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (which relates to the qualification for being clerk to borough justices), shall cease to have effect.

21 Functions of justices' clerk as collecting officer

(1) As from the date when section nineteen of this Act comes into force, a justices' clerk shall by virtue of his office be collecting officer of any court of summary jurisdiction of which he is the clerk, and as such—

(a) shall discharge all such functions as are conferred by any enactment on a collecting officer appointed by the justices for a petty sessional division or a borough under the Affiliation Orders Act, 1914;

(b) shall act under any order directing the payment of money to him made by any court under section thirty of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914 (which provides for periodical payments under court orders to be made through an officer of the court or other third person);

and section four of the Married Women (Maintenance) Act, 1949, shall apply to orders under any enactment directing payment to a justices' clerk as collecting officer on behalf of any person as it applies in relation to orders under the enactments mentioned in that section directing payment to him on behalf of a married woman.

(2) Any order of a court of summary jurisdiction under subsection (1) or (2) of the said section thirty shall direct payment to be made to the collecting officer of that or some other court.

(3) Where a court of summary jurisdiction makes an order for the periodical payment of money under the Summary Jurisdiction (Separation and Maintenance) Acts, 1895 to 1949, or the Guardianship of Infants Acts, 1886 and 1925, the court shall, unless upon representations expressly made in that behalf by the applicant for the order they are satisfied that it is undesirable so to do, exercise their power to direct payment to the collecting officer of that or some other court:

Provided that, in relation to an order made under section five of the Licensing Act, 1902, on the application of the husband, there shall be substituted for the reference in this subsection to the applicant for the order a reference to his wife.

(4) Any order made before the coming into force of this section in pursuance of the powers exercisable under the said section thirty or under section one of the Affiliation Orders Act, 1914—

(a) if it directs payments to be made to any officer of a court of summary jurisdiction shall have effect as if it directed them to be made to the clerk of that court in his capacity as collecting officer; and

(b) if it directs payments to be made to a person who is not an officer of a court of summary jurisdiction shall have effect as if it directed them to be made to the clerk of the court making the order in his capacity as collecting officer.

(5) The last foregoing subsection shall apply in relation to payments due at the coming into force of this section as well as to those becoming due thereafter, but until the person liable to make payments under an order to which that subsection applies has been given in the prescribed manner the prescribed notice of the effect of that subsection, he shall be deemed to have complied with the order if he makes payments in accordance with the terms thereof.

(6) This section shall apply in relation to an order made under paragraph (c) of section five of the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act, 1895, and not directing payment to the applicant personally and in relation to an order made under paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section five of the Licensing Act, 1902, and not directing payment to the applicant's wife personally as it applies in relation to an order made under subsection (1) of section thirty of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914.

(7) In this section the expression " justices' clerk " includes a clerk to a stipendiary magistrate, a clerk to a metropolitan stipendiary court and a clerk at either of the justice rooms of the City of London.

(8) Subsection (4) of section thirty of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914 (which provides for the payment of remuneration to a person through whom money is paid under that section), shall cease to have effect.

22 Superannuation of justices' clerks and their staff

(1) Subject to this Act, a justices' clerk appointed by a magistrates' courts committee, or person employed by a magistrates' courts committee to assist a justices' clerk, shall be superannuate in accordance with this section ; and section twenty of the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937 (in this and the next following section referred to as " the 1937 Act") shall cease to have effect.

(2) The 1937 Act shall have effect in relation to any such clerk or person as if magistrates' courts committees were local authorities mentioned in Part I of the First Schedule to the 1937 Act and, in the case of a clerk, as if he were employed by the committee appointing him.

(3) For the purposes of the 1937 Act a magistrates' courts committee shall be deemed to be a local Act authority in relation to any such clerk or person if the council paying his remuneration is a local Act authority.

(4) Without prejudice to subsection (3) of section forty of the 1937 Act (which treats employments under one authority as distinct where one can be given up without the other), a person who holds two or more clerkships under a magistrates' courts committee, or is employed by a magistrates' courts committee to assist a justices' clerk or clerks in two or more clerkships, shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be in separate employments under separate authorities as respects any clerkships for which the remuneration is paid by different councils.

(5) Part I of the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of adapting the 1937 Act in relation to any such clerk or person as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

(6) A magistrates' courts committee shall not be deemed to be a local Act authority for the purposes of section twenty-six of the 1937 Act (which relates to the modification or replacement of local Act superannuation schemes) but the Minister of Health shall by order modify any local Act scheme within the meaning of the 1937 Act in such manner as he thinks appropriate to secure that the scheme shall operate in relation to any such clerk or person as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section whose remuneration or any part thereof is paid by the local Act authority as it operates in relation to employees of the local Act authority, subject however to such adaptations (including any increase in the age of compulsory retirement) as may be provided by the order.

(7) Where by a local Act or otherwise provision is made for a county or borough council to make, outside the 1937 Act or any local Act scheme, payments to or in respect of their employees in the event of injury, disease or death, then, in relation to any person who is by virtue of this section a contributory employee or local Act contributor in respect of an employment for which his remuneration is paid by the council, that provision shall apply as if in that employment he were an employee of the council, subject however to such adaptations as may be provided by order of the Minister of Health.

(8) Any order under this section or under Part I of the Fifth Schedule to this Act—

(a) shall be made by statutory instrument;

(b) may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order there under ;

(c) in so far as it varies or revokes a previous order, may have retrospective effect.

(9) For the purposes of this section, any reference to a person employed by a magistrates' courts committee shall apply whether the employment is permanent or temporary, but not where it is of a casual nature.

23 Existing and former justices' clerks, etc.

(1) A justices' clerk holding office immediately before the date of the coming into force of section nineteen of this Act shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been appointed by the magistrates' courts committee and, subject to the provisions of this section, any persons then employed by him to assist him in the performance of the duties appertaining to that clerkship shall be transferred to the employment of the committee on the said date.

(2) The salary payable under the said section nineteen to a justices' clerk to whom the foregoing subsection applies shall be fixed with due regard to any additional duties imposed on him as justices' clerk by section twenty-one of this Act and to any remuneration formerly payable in respect of the duties so imposed on him.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not transfer to the employment of the magistrates' courts committee from that of a justices' clerk a person who immediately before the said date is employed by the clerk for purposes not connected with any clerkship to justices held by him, and a person employed by a justices' clerk shall not be transferred by that subsection to the employment of the committee as respects his employment by the clerk in connection with a clerkship to justices outside the area of the committee.

(4) Where immediately before the said date a person is justices' clerk and collecting officer at the same court, subsections (1) and (3) of this section shall apply in relation to persons then employed by him as if his duties as collecting officer of that court had been duties appertaining to the clerkship.

(5) Where immediately before the said date a person to whom subsection (1) of this section does not apply is collecting officer of any court and devotes substantially the whole of his time to his duties as collecting officer of that court, he shall be transferred on the said date to the employment of the magistrates' courts committee as a member of the staff provided for the clerk of that court.

(6) Where the collecting officer of any court is transferred as mentioned in the last foregoing subsection, any person who immediately before the said date is employed by him to assist him in the performance of his duties as collecting officer of that court, and who devotes substantially the whole of his time to that employment, shall also be so transferred.

(7) Where a person who immediately before the said date is employed by a justices' clerk or collecting officer is transferred by this section to the employment of a magistrates' courts committee, the terms and conditions on which he is then employed by the justices' clerk or collecting officer, so far as they remain applicable, shall apply to his employment by the committee; and the terms and conditions on which a person is transferred to the employment of a magistrates' courts committee by subsection (5) of this section shall be such as in the opinion of the magistrates' courts committee are on the whole not less beneficial to him than those on which he held office as collecting officer.

(8) In relation to any person to whom the 1937 Act applies by virtue of the last foregoing section, being either—

(a) a person who before the said date has been a justices' clerk or employed by such a clerk in connection with the clerkship; or

(b) a person who on the said date is transferred to the employment of a magistrates' courts committee by subsection (5) or (6) of this section;

the provisions set out in Part II of the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall have effect as well as those set out in Part I thereof.

(9) Paragraph (g) of Part III of the Second Schedule to the 1937 Act shall continue, notwithstanding the repeal of section twenty of that Act, to apply to a person who has been a contributory employee by virtue of the said section twenty; and in the case of such a person any rules made under section one of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1948 (which relates to national service), so far as they refer to an employment in which, immediately before he left it, he was a contributory employee by virtue of the said section twenty, shall have effect as if that section had continued in force and the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act had not been passed.

(10) Provision corresponding to subsections (8) and (9) of this section may, in relation to any local Act scheme, be made by any order modifying the scheme under the last foregoing section.

(11) For the purposes of this section, a person's employment by any justices or by the Middlesex standing joint committee to assist a justices' clerk shall be deemed employment by that clerk ; and in relation to a person who has been a contributory employee by virtue of section four hundred and eighteen of the Middlesex County Council Act, 1944, subsection (9) of this section shall apply with the substitution of references to that section for references to section twenty of the 1937 Act and of a reference to paragraph (f) of the Fifth Schedule to the said Act of 1944 for the reference to paragraph (g) of Part III of the Second Schedule to the 1937 Act.

(12) For the purposes of this section, the expression " collecting officer " means collecting officer of a court of summary jurisdiction appointed under the Affiliation Orders Act, 1914.

24 Clerk in proceedings for rates in London

The provisions of section seven of the Vestries Act, 1850, relating to the recovery of rates shall not require or authorise the town clerk of a metropolitan borough to attend on or advise any justices as their clerk.

PART IV Administrative and Financial Arrangements

25 Duties of county and borough councils

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the council of each county and of each borough having a separate commission of the peace shall provide the petty sessional court houses and other accommodation, and the furniture, books and other things, proper for the due transaction of the business, and convenient keeping of the records and documents, of the county or borough justices out of sessions or any committee of such justices, or for enabling the justices' clerk for the county or borough or any part thereof to carry out his duties.

(2) The council of each county and of each borough having a separate commission of the peace shall pay—

(a) any expenses of the magistrates' courts committee, or in the case of a committee acting for the area of more than one such council the proper proportion of those expenses; and

(b) the sums payable under Part III of this Act on account of a person's salary or expenses as justices' clerk for the county or borough or any part thereof and the remuneration of any staff employed by the magistrates' courts committee to assist him, together with any contributions for which the committee may be liable under the National Insurance Acts, 1946, as employer of the clerk or staff; and

(c) so far as they are not otherwise provided for, all other costs incurred with the general or special authority of the magistrates' courts committee by the county or borough justices out of sessions or by any of the county or borough justices in defending any legal proceedings taken against him in respect of any order made or act done out of sessions in the execution of his duty as such a justice; and

(d) any costs or damages awarded against any of the county or borough justices in such proceedings as aforesaid in so far as the magistrates' courts committee determine that they ought not to be borne by the justice personally.

(3) Any accommodation provided under this section for any justices or justices' clerk may be outside the area for which the justices act and, in the case of a petty sessional court house, shall be deemed to be in that area for the purpose of the jurisdiction of the justices when acting in the court house.

(4) Two or more councils may arrange for accommodation, furniture, books or other things provided for the purposes of this section by one of them to be used also as if provided for those purposes by the other or each of the others.

(5) Section sixty-six of the Local Government Act, 1888 (which directs certain costs to be paid out of the county fund subject to the sanction of the standing joint committee of the county council and quarter sessions), shall cease to apply to costs incurred by justices out of sessions or by a justice in defending legal proceedings in respect of an order made or act done out of sessions.

(6) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the power to appoint an occasional court house conferred by section twenty of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, or the power to appoint a petty sessional court house in the university of Oxford conferred by the Oxford University (Justices) Act, 1886.

26 Supplementary provisions as. to powers and duties of councils

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section,—

(a) the petty sessional court houses and other accommodation, furniture, books and other things to be provided by a council under the last foregoing section ; and

(b) the salary to be paid to a justices' clerk and the staff to be provided for him ; and

(c) the nature and amount of the expenses which a magistrates' courts committee may incur in the discharge of any functions or may authorise to be incurred (including the sums payable to a justices' clerk in respect of accommodation, staff or equipment provided by him);

shall be such as may from time to time be determined by the magistrates' courts committee after consultation with the council or councils concerned.

(2) Where the expenses of a magistrates' courts committee, or the sums payable to or in respect of a justices' clerk holding more than one clerkship or to or in respect of staff provided for any such clerk, fall to be borne by more than one council, any question as to the manner in which they are to be borne by the councils concerned shall be determined by agreement between those councils.

(3) Any council concerned which is aggrieved by a determination of a magistrates' courts committee under subsection (1) of this section, or under paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of the last foregoing section, may within one month from the receipt by the council of written notice of such determination appeal to the Secretary of State whose decision shall be binding upon the magistrates' courts committee and any council concerned; and any question which by the last foregoing subsection is directed to be determined by agreement shall in default of agreement be determined by the Secretary of State; and the approval of the Secretary of State shall be required for any determination under subsection (1) of this section reducing the salary of a justices' clerk, unless the clerk consents to the reduction.

27 Application of fines and fees, and payment of expenses of courts

(1) Subject to paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1) of section five of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914 (which relate to the payment or repayment of court and police fees), there shall be paid to the Secretary of State—

(a) all fines imposed by a court of summary jurisdiction, and all sums which become payable by virtue of an order of such a court and are by any enactment made applicable as fines so imposed or any class or description of such fines ; and

(b) all other sums received by a justices' clerk by reason of his office except sums to which a person other than the Secretary of State is by law entitled and which are paid to that person ;

and any enactment directing a justices' clerk to pay any sums received by him to the responsible authority or their treasurer shall cease to have effect:

Provided that—

(i) paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not apply to any such sums as are referred to in subsection (7) of this section; and

(ii) paragraph (b) of this subsection shall not apply to sums received by a justices' clerk on account of his salary or expenses as such, and any sums paid to the Secretary of State by virtue of the said paragraph (b) shall be paid to him subject to their being repaid to any person establishing his title thereto.

(2) Subject to the next following subsection, the Secretary of State shall repay to the responsible authorities the net cost to them in any year of their functions under Parts III and IV of this Act (or, in the case of responsible authorities other than county and borough councils, their corresponding functions) and of making payments under section eight of this Act otherwise than in respect of duties as chairman, deputy chairman or member of a court of quarter sessions :

Provided that a responsible authority shall not be entitled to any repayment in respect of expenditure not properly incurred.

(3) The last foregoing subsection shall not require the Secretary of State to pay in respect of the aggregate cost to responsible authorities in any year an amount exceeding the balance of the sums received by him in respect of that year under subsection (1) of this section after deducting from those sums any Exchequer moneys included therein.

(4) Where in any year the balance referred to in the last foregoing subsection is less than the aggregate cost so referred to, the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury pay to the responsible authorities an additional amount not exceeding two-thirds of the deficiency, and the aggregate amount payable by him under this section shall be divided between the responsible authorities in proportion to their shares of that aggregate cost.

(5) The Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may by statutory instrument make regulations as to the manner in which income and expenditure of responsible authorities are to be taken into account in determining the net cost to them in any year of the matters mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, and for the purposes of this section any question as to that cost shall (subject to any such regulations) be determined by the Secretary of State and any question whether expenditure was properly incurred shall also be so determined.

(6) The sums payable by the Secretary of State under this section shall be paid at such times, in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury determine.

(7) The sums payable to the Secretary of State by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section shall not include—

(a) any sums which by or in pursuance of any provision in the enactments relating to those sums are directed to be paid to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise or to any officer of theirs or person appointed by them ; or

(b) any sums which by or in pursuance of any such provision are directed to be paid to or for the benefit of the party aggrieved, party injured or a person described in similar terms or to or for the benefit of the family or relatives of a person described in any such terms or of a person dying in consequence of an act or event which constituted or was the occasion of an offence ; or

(c) any sums which by or in pursuance of any such provision are directed to be applied in making good any default or repairing any damage or paying or reimbursing any expenses (other than those of the prosecution) ; or

(d) any sums which are directed to be paid to any person by or in pursuance of any such provision referring in terms to awarding or reimbursing a loss, or to damages, compensation or satisfaction for loss, damage, injury or wrong.

(8) The sums payable to the Secretary of State by virtue of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section (notwithstanding proviso (ii) to that subsection) shall include any sums paid to a justices' clerk, not being a clerk to county justices, out of the compensation fund under the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910, in respect of work done by him as clerk to the compensation authority under that Act.

(9) The Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may by statutory instrument make regulations as to the times at which and manner in which justices' clerks shall account for and pay the sums payable to him under subsection (1) of this section, and as to the keeping, inspection and audit of accounts of justices' clerks whether for the purposes of this section or otherwise.

(10) In this section the following expressions have the following meanings respectively:—

(a) " Exchequer moneys" means moneys which, if this section had not been passed, would be paid into the Exchequer or to any Government department or person on behalf of His Majesty by virtue of a specific provision to that effect made by or under any Act or would be so paid but for any local or other special right or privilege of whatever origin;

(b) " fine" has the same meaning as in the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, but any reference to a fine imposed by a court of summary jurisdiction includes also any non-pecuniary forfeiture on conviction by, or under an order of, such a court so far as the forfeiture is converted into or consists of money;

(c) " justices' clerk" includes a clerk to a stipendiary magistrate, a clerk to a metropolitan stipendiary court, a clerk at either of the justice rooms of the City of London and a clerk of special sessions;

(d) " responsible authority " means any of the following authorities, namely, the corporation of the City of London, the council of any county or any borough having a separate commission of the peace, the receiver of the metropolitan police district and the commissioners under any of the Staffordshire Stipendiary Acts ;

(e) " the Staffordshire Stipendiary Acts" means the Staffordshire Potteries Stipendiary Justice Acts, 1839 to 1895, and the South Staffordshire Stipendiary Justice Act, 1899.

(11) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that sums paid to a county court registrar which section one hundred and seventy of the County Courts Act, 1934, directs to be dealt with as directed by the Lord Chancellor are to be treated for the purposes of this section as paid to the registrar on behalf of His Majesty.

(12) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, anything done by a court of quarter sessions on appeal from a court of summary jurisdiction shall be treated as done by the court of summary jurisdiction.

28 Making good defaults of justices' clerks

(1) Where a justices' clerk does not duly pay to the Secretary of State or other person entitled thereto any sums received by him by reason of his office (other than sums received on account of his salary or expenses as justices' clerk), or a person employed to assist a justices' clerk does not duly pay to the clerk or some person on his behalf any sums received in the course of that employment, the responsible authority shall pay the amount of those sums to the Secretary of State or other person entitled to receive them from the clerk.

(2) A county or borough council shall have the same power under subsection (2) of section one hundred and nineteen of the Local Government Act, 1933 (or in the case of the London County Council subsection (2) of section eighty-six of the London Government Act, 1939), to take security with respect to the sums referred to in the foregoing subsection as they have with respect to money belonging to the council which is entrusted to the custody or control of a person not employed by them.

(3) The reference in subsection (2) of the last foregoing section to the functions of county and borough councils under this Part of this Act shall include the taking of security by virtue of the last foregoing subsection, but not the making of payments under subsection (1) of this section.

(4) In this section the expression " justices' clerk " has the same meaning as in the last foregoing section, and references to the responsible authority shall, in relation to sums payable to a clerk by reason of any office, be taken as references to the responsible authority within the meaning of that section who pay his salary in that office or (if he receives a single salary for that and some other office) who bear the part of his salary attributable to that office.

PART V Stipendiary Magistrates

29 Appointments outside London

(1) It shall be lawful for His Majesty to appoint a barrister of not less than seven years' standing or a solicitor of the Supreme Court of the like standing to be a stipendiary magistrate for any of the following areas—

(a) any borough having a separate commission of the peace ;

(b) the whole or part of any county exclusive of any such borough as aforesaid;

(c) a district (in this section referred to as a " joint district ") comprising two or more areas for which separate appointments might be made under the foregoing paragraphs.

(2) A stipendiary magistrate appointed under this section shall hold office during His Majesty's pleasure and shall by virtue of his office be a justice of the peace for any county, and for any borough having a separate commission of the peace, which includes his area or any part of it.

(3) Any appointment of a stipendiary magistrate under this section shall be of a person recommended to His Majesty by the Lord Chancellor, and a stipendiary magistrate appointed under this section shall not be removed from office except on the Lord Chancellor's recommendation.

(4) No appointment (whether original or on a vacancy) of a stipendiary magistrate under this section—

(a) shall be made for a borough having a separate commission of the peace except on a petition presented to the Secretary of State by the borough council; or

(b) shall be made for the whole or part of a county exclusive of any such borough except on a petition so presented by the county council; or

(c) shall be made for a joint district except on a joint petition so presented by the borough and county councils who might present separate petitions under the foregoing paragraphs for the several parts of the joint district.

(5) The salary of a stipendiary magistrate appointed under this section shall be paid by the council or councils on whose petition he was appointed; and, where he was appointed on a joint petition, each of the councils shall be liable to him for the whole salary but it shall be borne by them in the shares from time to time agreed, and the joint petition shall specify the shares agreed at the time of its presentation.

(6) Before presenting a petition under this section a council shall consult the magistrates' courts committee acting for their area, and the Secretary of State before submitting the petition to His Majesty shall take into account any representations made to him by the committee.

(7) Where a stipendiary magistrate is appointed under this section on a petition presented by a county council (whether alone or jointly with other councils), the Secretary of State shall (where necessary) by statutory instrument make an order constituting the area for which he is appointed, or that part in which the county justices have jurisdiction, a petty sessional division or divisions of the county and making consequential provisions as to the remainder of the county, and subsections (4), (6) and (7) of section eighteen of this Act shall apply as if the order were an order under that section.

(8) A stipendiary magistrate appointed under this section for an area consisting of or including the whole or part of a county shall not act as a member of any court of quarter sessions for the county, nor act for any petty sessional division of the county other than the division or divisions in his area.

(9) The grant of a commission of the peace to a borough forming part of an area for which a stipendiary magistrate has been appointed under this section shall not affect the appointment of the magistrate or the liability for his salary of the council of the county which includes that borough.

(10) More than one magistrate may be appointed under this section for the same area.

(11) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to the City of London or the county of London.

(12) Section one hundred and sixty-one of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, shall cease to have effect and this section shall apply to any magistrate appointed on a petition under that section who is in office at the coming into force of this section as if the petition had been a petition under this section.

30 Local Act stipendiaries

(1) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Act shall affect the continuance in office or a new appointment of a stipendiary magistrate under any of the following enactments, namely,—

(a) the Staffordshire Potteries Stipendiary Justice Acts, 1839 to 1895;

(b) the South Staffordshire Stipendiary Justice Act, 1899;

(c) the Merthyr Tydfil Stipendiary Justice Acts, 1843 to 1907 ;

(d) the Pontypridd Stipendiary Magistrate Act, 1920 ;

(e) Part II (which relates to the county borough of Salford) of the Manchester Division and Borough of Salford (Stipendiary Justices) Act, 1878 ;

but no new appointment of a stipendiary magistrate shall be made under the Chatham and Sheerness Stipendiary Magistrate Act, 1867.

(2) The consequential and other provisions set out in the Sixth Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the enactments referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e) of the foregoing subsection and stipendiary magistrates thereunder.

31 Appointments under previous Acts

(1) A solicitor of the Supreme Court of not less than seven years' standing may be appointed stipendiary magistrate under any Act passed before this Act.

(2) A barrister of not less than seven years' standing may be appointed a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate notwithstanding that he has not practised as a barrister during the seven years immediately preceding his appointment as required by section three of the Metropolitan Police Courts Act, 1839.

(3) A person may be appointed a magistrate's deputy under section two of the Stipendiary Magistrates Act, 1869, if he has the qualification required by law for appointment to the magistrate's office, notwithstanding that he is not a person who has practised as a barrister for at least seven years.

(4) Any appointment of a stipendiary magistrate under any Act passed before this Act except the Manchester Division and Borough of Salford (Stipendiary Justices) Act, 1878, shall be of a person recommended to His Majesty by the Lord Chancellor and a stipendiary magistrate appointed under any Act so passed shall hold office during His Majesty's pleasure but shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor or, in the case of a magistrate appointed under the said Act of 1878, the recommendation of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

32 Salary of stipendiary magistrates

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a stipendiary magistrate other than a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate shall be paid a salary of such amount as the Secretary of State may from time to time direct after consultation with the authority or authorities liable to pay the salary.

(2) The amount of the salary shall not be greater than that of the salary for the time being payable to a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate other than the chief magistrate.

(3) The amount of the salary shall not at any time be reduced without the consent of the stipendiary magistrate.

(4) A stipendiary magistrate in office at the coming into force of this section shall, until the Secretary of State otherwise directs under subsection (1) of this section, continue to receive the salary to which he is then entitled.

33 Compulsory retirement and superannuation

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a stipendiary magistrate—

(a) shall vacate his office at the end of the completed year of service in the course of which he attains the age of seventy-two; but

(b) shall, from the date on which he ceases to serve as a stipendiary magistrate, be entitled to be paid an annual sum by way of pension by the authority paying his salary in the office or last office in which he so served.

(2) Where the Secretary of State considers it desirable in the public interest to retain a stipendiary magistrate in office after the time for the magistrate's office to be vacated under the foregoing subsection, he may from time to time authorise the magistrate to continue in office up to such age (not exceeding seventy-five years) as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

(3) A person shall not be entitled to a pension under this section on ceasing to serve as a stipendiary magistrate unless—

(a) his office is vacated under this section ; or

(b) he retires from the office after five years' service as a stipendiary magistrate, whether in that or any other office, and either—

(i) at the time of retirement he has attained the age of sixty-five years ; or

(ii) the authority liable for his pension are satisfied by means of a medical certificate that, by reason of infirmity of mind or body, he is incapable of discharging the duties of the office, and that the incapacity is likely to be permanent.

(4) The pension payable to any person under this section on ceasing to serve in any office shall be of an amount equal to fifteen-sixtieths of his salary in that office, together with an addition for each complete year of his service as a stipendiary magistrate (as well in any other office as in that office) after the first five years equal to one-sixtieth or, in the case of any year of service after the first ten years, two-sixtieths of that salary ; but the pension shall in no case exceed two-thirds of that salary.

(5) The pension payable to any person under this section shall be calculated on the salary he was receiving in the office in question immediately before ceasing to serve therein, except that where he had been in receipt of that salary for less than three years it shall be calculated on the average rate of the salary received by him in that office during the three years immediately preceding that date or during the part of those three years for which he served therein.

(6) Where the amount of a person's pension under this section is calculated by reference to his service in more than one office, the authority liable for the pension shall be entitled to such contributions as may be just in respect of the service in any office other than his last office, and the contribution in respect of service in any office shall be paid by the same authority as his salary in that office.

(7) The pension payable to any person under this section shall cease on his resuming service as a stipendiary magistrate ; and a person who becomes entitled to such a pension on his retirement on a medical certificate shall until he attains the age of sixty-five years be liable to be called on to serve as a stipendiary magistrate at a salary not less than that on which his pension is calculated, and if when called on he declines so to do, or declines or neglects to execute the duties of a stipendiary magistrate satisfactorily, being in a competent state of health, he shall forfeit any right to pension in respect of service as a stipendiary magistrate.

(8) Any question whether a pension is payable under this section, or as to the amount of any such pension or any contribution in respect thereof, shall be determined by the Secretary of State.

(9) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a stipendiary magistrate who held office before the coming into force of this section unless he is serving at the coming into force thereof and within six months thereafter gives notice in writing to the authority paying his salary of his desire that the subsection should apply to him.

(10) Where subsection (1) of this section applies to a stipendiary magistrate by virtue of a notice given under the last foregoing subsection, half only of his service before the coming into force of this section shall be taken into account for the purpose of calculating the amount of any pension under this section, and if he has attained the age of seventy-two before giving the notice the said subsection (1) shall apply to him with the substitution of a reference to the year of service in the course of which he gives the notice for the reference to that in the course of which he attains the said age:

Provided that this subsection so far as it relates to the extent to which any service is to be taken into account shall have effect subject to any determination under the next following subsection that the whole of the service or a part of it larger than a half shall be taken into account.

(11) A determination for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection with respect to the stipendiary magistrate serving in any office at the date when this section comes into force may be given—

(a) at any time on or after the said date and before he ceases to serve in that office, by the authority paying his salary in that office ; or

(b) on his ceasing to serve as a stipendiary magistrate, by the authority liable for any pension payable to him under this section ;

and a determination under paragraph (a) of this subsection may be varied by a subsequent determination (whether under that paragraph or under paragraph (b) of this subsection) so as to increase, but not so as to reduce, the extent to which any service is to be taken into account.

(12) Where a stipendiary magistrate has held office in a joint district within the meaning of section twenty-nine of this Act, then—

(a) each of the authorities paying his salary in that office shall be liable for any pension payable to him on his retirement therefrom or for any contributions in respect of his service therein to a pension payable to him on his retirement from any other office as a stipendiary magistrate; and

(b) where they are liable for his pension,—

(i) they shall together determine anything which under this section is a matter for the decision of the authority so liable;

(ii) they, or the one paying the pension, shall be entitled to contributions thereto under subsection (6) of this section in respect of his service in any previous office; and

(c) they shall share among themselves the net liability for the pension (after allowing for any contributions received under the said subsection (6)), or the liability for contributions payable under that subsection, as the case may be, in such manner as they may agree or as in default of agreement may be determined by the Secretary of State.

(13) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate, but for the purposes of the Police Magistrates (Superannuation) Acts, 1915 and 1929, in their application to any such magistrate retiring after the coming into force of this section any service as a stipendiary magistrate shall be taken into account as if it were service as a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate, and contributions to his superannuation allowance under those Acts shall be payable in respect of that service under subsection (6) of this section as in the case of a pension under this section:

Provided that half only of any service before the coming into force of this section shall be taken into account by virtue of this subsection and, in the case of a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate appointed before the coming into force thereof, no contributions shall be payable in respect of that service.

(14) A stipendiary magistrate to whom subsection (1) of this section applies shall not be entitled to any payment under any other enactment providing for the superannuation of stipendiary magistrates or be a contributory employee under the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937, as applied by any local Act or other instrument; and, where a stipendiary magistrate holding office at the coming into force of this section gives notice of his desire that subsection (1) thereof should apply to him, any contributions previously paid by him as stipendiary magistrate under the said Act of 1937 as so applied shall be returned to him.

34 Sittings of stipendiary magistrates

(1) A stipendiary magistrate shall sit at such petty sessional court houses, on such days and at such times as may be determined by or in accordance with directions given by the Secretary of State from time to time:

Provided that the number of days in a week on which a stipendiary magistrate may be required to attend shall not, without the consent of the magistrate, be increased beyond that determined by the directions given on his appointment.

(2) In the case of a stipendiary magistrate appointed under a local Act, the foregoing subsection shall be subject to any provision in any such Act limiting the number of days in a week on which he may be required to attend.

(3) This section shall not apply to a stipendiary magistrate appointed before the coming into force thereof or to any metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

35 Remuneration of deputies

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of section one of the Recorders, Stipendiary Magistrates, and Clerks of the Peace Act, 1906 (which relates to deputies continuing to act after the death of the office holder), any deputy appointed by a magistrate under the Stipendiary Magistrates Act, 1869, shall be paid such remuneration as the Secretary of State may assign in approving the appointment.

(2) Any remuneration of a magistrate's deputy, whether appointed as aforesaid or by the Secretary of State instead of the magistrate under subsection (1) of section one of the said Act of 1906, shall be paid by the authority paying the magistrate's salary and not by the magistrate or out of his salary ; and accordingly in subsection (1) of section one of the said Act of 1906, the words " out of his salary or stipend " shall not apply in the case of a magistrate's deputy.

(3) Where a stipendiary magistrate has been appointed for a joint district within the meaning of section twenty-nine of this Act, each of the authorities paying his salary in that office shall be liable under the last foregoing subsection for the remuneration of the magistrates' deputy, but it shall be borne by them in the shares agreed or last agreed for the magistrate's salary.

PART VI Miscellaneous and General

36 Travelling and lodging allowances of members of probation committees and case committees

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a member of a probation committee or case committee constituted under the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, shall be entitled to receive payments at the prescribed rates by way of travelling allowance or lodging allowance where expenditure on travelling or, as the case may be, on accommodation for the night is necessarily incurred by him for the purpose of enabling him to perform any of his duties as a member of the committee.

(2) A member of a committee shall not be entitled to any payment under this section in respect of any duties if the duties are performed not more than three miles from his usual place of residence.

(3) Allowances under this section to a member of a committee shall be defrayed as part of the expenses of the committee.

(4) Rules made under the Fifth Schedule to the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, may make provision as to the manner in which this section is to be administered, and in particular—

(a) for prescribing the rates of allowances and the forms to be used and the particulars to be provided for the purpose of claiming payment thereof; and

(b) for avoiding duplication between payments under this section and under other arrangements where expenditure is incurred for more than one purpose, and otherwise for preventing abuses.

(5) This section shall apply to committees constituted for the metropolitan stipendiary court area or any part thereof under paragraph 7 of the said Fifth Schedule as it applies to probation committees and case committees.

37 Incorporation of probation committees

(1) A probation committee constituted under the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, shall be a body corporate and shall have power to hold land without licence in mortmain.

(2) Any contract made or other thing done by or on behalf of a probation committee before the coming into force of this section shall have effect as if made or done by or on behalf of the body corporate constituted by this section.

(3) Notwithstanding this section any provision applying to employees of justices shall, unless the contrary intention appears, apply to employees of a probation committee.

38 Place for holding county quarter sessions

Courts of quarter sessions for a county may be held in any borough forming part of, surrounded by or adjoining the county, notwithstanding that the borough is not part of the area for which the courts are held.

39 Transfer to Lord Chancellor of certain functions of Secretary of State

(1) Any appointment of a recorder under section one hundred and sixty-three of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and any appointment of a paid chairman or deputy chairman of the quarter sessions for the county of London under section forty-two of the Local Government Act, 1888, shall be made by His Majesty on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.

(2) The Lord Chancellor, instead of the Secretary of State, shall give the approval required by subsection (6) of section one hundred and sixty-eight of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, in the case of a barrister to be appointed assistant recorder under that section, but any such approval given by the Secretary of State before the coming into force of this subsection shall have effect as if given by the Lord Chancellor.

(3) The Lord Chancellor shall take the place of the Secretary of State—

(a) as the authority to approve a resolution increasing a recorder's salary under section one hundred and sixty-three of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, to give any direction under section one hundred and sixty-five of that Act for holding borough quarter sessions oftener than once a quarter, and to sanction a resolution increasing the number of days for which an assistant recorder may receive remuneration under the Fourth Schedule to that Act; and

(b) as the authority having power to appoint to the office of recorder within the meaning of the Recorders, Stipendiary Magistrates and Clerks of the Peace Act, 1906 (which provides for the appointment and removal of a deputy when it cannot be done by the recorder).

(4) In section two of the Quarter Sessions (London) Act, 1896 (which relates to the appointment of persons to act temporarily in the office of paid chairman or deputy chairman of the quarter sessions for the county of London), references to the Lord Chancellor shall be substituted for the references to the Secretary of State.

40 Appointment of interim clerk of the peace in Scotland

In the event of the clerk of the peace for any county or county of a city in Scotland being by reason of ill-health or other cause temporarily unable to discharge the duties of his office or in the event of a vacancy in the office of any such clerk of the peace, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State on the recommendation of the Lord Advocate to appoint a person to act ad interim in the place of such clerk during his incapacity or until such vacancy be filled.

41 Authentication of certain licences

(1) A billiard licence or music and dancing licence granted at the general annual licensing meeting, transfer sessions or other special sessions for any area may, instead of being signed or signed and sealed by the majority of the justices, be authenticated in accordance with the next following subsection by means of any seal or stamp used in that area to authenticate justices' licences under the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910.

(2) The seal or stamp shall be affixed under the authority, given at the meeting or sessions at which the licence is granted, of the justices attending that meeting or sessions and shall be verified by the signature of their clerk, and any seal or stamp purporting to be so affixed and verified shall be received in evidence without further proof.

(3) Where a billiard licence is authenticated by means of a seal or stamp, the necessary adaptations shall be made in the form of licence as set out in the Third Schedule to the Gaming Act, 1845.

(4) In this section, the expression " billiard licence " means a licence under section ten of the Gaming Act, 1845, and the expression " music and dancing licence " means a licence under subsection (2) of section fifty-one of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, or any similar provision in a local Act.

(5) It is hereby declared—

(a) that licences granted by justices at petty sessions under subsection (11) of section fifty-one of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890 (which relates to fourteen-day licences for music, dancing, etc.) do not require to be authenticated in the way directed by subsection (2) of that section for licences granted under the said subsection (2); and

(b) that licences granted by justices at petty sessions under section five of the Theatres Act, 1843, by virtue of powers delegated to them by a county council under section twenty-eight of the Local Government Act, 1888, do not require to be authenticated or publicly read as originally provided by the said section five for licences granted at a special sessions held thereunder.

42 Compensation for loss of office

(1) The Secretary of State shall by statutory instrument make regulations providing, subject to any exceptions or conditions provided for by the regulations, for the payment of compensation to persons suffering any loss of office or employment, or loss or diminution of emoluments, which is attributable to the coming into force of any of the provisions of Parts II and III of this Act or to anything done under any of those provisions.

(2) The regulations shall not apply to any person unless at the date of the passing of this Act—

(a) he is the holder of an office or employment in respect of which he is paid a salary by a county or borough council; or

(b) he is employed by the holder of such an office or employment to assist him in the performance of the duties of that office or employment; or

(c) he would be within one of the foregoing paragraphs but for any national service (as defined by the regulations) in which he has been engaged.

(3) The compensation payable under the regulations shall be paid by such county or borough council as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(4) The regulations may include provision as to the manner in which, and the persons to whom, any claim for compensation thereunder is to be made and for the determination of questions arising thereunder.

(5) In relation to any such person as is referred to in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of this section, any reference in this section to loss of office or employment shall include loss of the prospect of re-appointment or re-employment.

43 Expenses and payments into Exchequer

(1) There shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament any expenses of the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State under this Act and any increase resulting from the provisions of this Act in the sums which under Part I or Part II of the Local Government Act, 1948, or under section seventy-seven of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, fall to be paid out of moneys so provided.

(2) There shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund or the growing produce thereof—

(a) any increase resulting from the provisions of this Act in any superannuation allowance payable under the Police Magistrates (Superannuation) Acts, 1915 and 1929;

(b) any contributions towards the pension under this Act of a stipendiary magistrate which are payable in respect of any service as a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

(3) There shall be paid into the Exchequer—

(a) all sums received by the Secretary of State under subsection (1) of section twenty-seven of this Act; and

(b) any contributions under this Act towards the pension of a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

44 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, except in so far as the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively:—

• " county " has the meaning assigned to it by section ten of this Act or that assigned to it by section sixteen thereof according to the context;

• " county justice " does not include a justice for the City of London or, in relation to the county of London, a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate;

• " court of quarter sessions " includes any committee by which the powers and duties of such a court are exercisable by virtue of any Act;

• " justices' clerk " means a clerk to the justices for a petty sessions area and in relation to a time before the coming into force of section ten of this Act includes a clerk to any of the justices for a riding or division of a county, for the Isle of Ely or for the Soke of Peterborough;

• " magistrate " means in relation to a county or a borough having a separate commission of the peace a justice of the peace for the county or borough, but does not include a justice whose name is entered in the supplemental list kept in connection with the county or borough commission, and in relation to a part of a county (other than a borough having a separate commission of the peace) means a magistrate for the county who ordinarily acts in and for that part;

• " magistrates' court " means a court of summary jurisdiction or examining justices, and includes a single examining justice;

• " metropolitan stipendiary magistrate " means a metropolitan police magistrate;

• " metropolitan stipendiary court " means a metropolitan police court;

• " metropolitan stipendiary court area " means the metropolitan police court area;

• " petty sessions area " means any of the following areas, that is to say, a borough having a separate commission of the peace, a county not divided into petty sessional divisions and a petty sessional division of a county;

• " prescribed " in Part III of this Act means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument;

• " stipendiary magistrate " includes a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

(2) Any Order in Council under this Act may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in Council thereunder.

(3) References in this Act to any enactment shall, except in so far as the context otherwise requires, include a reference to that enactment as amended, extended or applied by any other enactment, including this Act.

(4) Save as expressly provided by this Act, it shall have effect notwithstanding any local or other special right or privilege of whatever origin.

(5) The inclusion in this Act of any express saving or amendment shall not be taken as prejudicing the operation of section thirty-eight of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (which relates to the effect of repeals).

45 Commencement

(1) This Act shall come into force on such day as His Majesty may by Order in Council appoint.

(2) Except in so far as this Act provides to the contrary, different days may be appointed under this section for the purpose of different provisions of this Act and for different purposes of the same provision.

(3) Any Order in Council under this section may make such transitional provision as appears to His Majesty to be necessary or expedient in connection with the provisions thereby brought into force, including such adaptations of those provisions or of any provisions of this Act then in force as appear to His Majesty necessary or expedient in consequence of the partial operation of this Act (whether before or after the day appointed by the Order).

(4) Provision shall be made by Order in Council under this section for securing that so far as practicable questions as to the salaries under section nineteen of this Act of justices' clerks holding office immediately before the date when that section comes into force, and other questions arising under that section on its coming into force, shall be determined before it comes into force and, so far as it is not practicable for any such clerk's salary to be determined as aforesaid, for securing either that the subsequent determination thereof shall have effect from the coming into force of section nineteen of this Act or that pending the determination thereof subsections (2) to (6) of section nineteen and subsection (8) of section twenty-one of this Act shall apply to him only to such extent and subject to such modifications as may be determined by or in accordance with the Order.

46 Citation, repeal and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Justices of the Peace Act, 1949.

(2) The enactments mentioned in the Seventh Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule:

Provided that the repeal by this subsection of any enactment relating to petty sessional divisions shall not affect the division of a county into petty sessional divisions as it exists at the coming into force of the repeal.

(3) This Act extends to England and Wales only except that the following provisions shall extend to Scotland, videlicet:—

(a) sections one, three to six, eight, nine, fourteen, forty, forty-three to forty-five, and subsection (1) of this section;

(b) the First Schedule ;

(c) subsection (2) of this section and Part I of the Seventh Schedule, so far as relating to the Justices of the Peace Act, 1906, and the Justices (Supplemental List) Act, 1941 ; and

(d) any other provision so far as it affects section thirty-eight of the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937 (which relates to reciprocal arrangements between England and Scotland).