Statutory Instruments
COUNTY COURTS
Made
21st May 1991
Coming into force
1st July 1991
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him bysection 38 of the County Courts Act 1984(1), hereby makes the following Regulations a draft of whichhas, in accordance with section 38(7) of that Act, been laid before andapproved by resolution of each House of Parliament:—
1. These Regulations may be cited as the County Court RemediesRegulations 1991 and shall come into force on 1st July 1991.
2. In these Regulations,“prescribed relief” means relief of any of the following kinds—
(a)an order requiring a party to admit any other party to premises forthe purpose of inspecting or removing documents or articles which mayprovide evidence in any proceedings, whether or not the proceedings havebeen commenced;
(b)an interlocutory injunction—
(i)restraining a party from removing from the jurisdiction of the HighCourt assets located within that jurisdiction; or
(ii)restraining a party from dealing with assets whether located withinthe jurisdiction of the High Court or not.
3.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a countycourt shall not grant prescribed relief or vary or revoke an order madeby the High Court granting such relief.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
(a)any county court held by a judge of the Court of Appeal or judge ofthe High Court sitting as a judge for any county court district;
(b)a patents county court held by a person nominated under section 291of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988(2) to sit as a judge of that court.
(3) A county court may grant relief of a kind referred to in regulation2(b)—
(a)when exercising jurisdiction in family proceedings within themeaning of Part V of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984(3);
(b)for the purpose of making an order for the preservation, custody ordetention of property which forms or may form the subject matter ofproceedings, or
(c)in aid of execution of a judgment or order made in proceedings in acounty court to preserve assets until execution can be levied upon them.
4 Paragraph (1) shalll not—
(a)affect or modify powers expressly conferred on a county court by orunder any enactment other than section 38 of the County Courts Act 1984;or
(b)prevent a county court from varying an order granting prescribedrelief where all the parties are agreed on the terms of the variation.
4. An application to the High Court for relief of a kind referred to inregulation 2(a) in county court proceedings shall be deemed to includean application for transfer of the proceedings to the High Court.
5.—(1) After an application for prescribed relief has been disposed of bythe High Court, the proceedings shall, unless the High Court ordersotherwise, be transferred to a county court if—
(a)they were transferred to the High Court; or
(b)apart from these Regulations, they should have been commenced in acounty court.
(2) Where an order is made on an ex parte application, the applicationshall not be treated as disposed of for the purposes of paragraph (1)until any application to set aside or vary the order has been heard, oruntil the expiry of 28 days (or such other period as the Court mayspecify) during which no such application has been made.
Mackay of Clashfern, C.
21st May 1991
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations prohibit county courts from granting—
(a)an order allowing one party to search premises for the purpose ofobtaining evidence in proceedings (an“Anton Piller” order);
(b)an interlocutory injunction preventing a party from either removingassets out of the jurisdiction of the High Court or dealing with assetswhether within the jurisdiction of the High Court or outside thatjurisdiction (a“Mareva” injunction);
except in specified circumstances (regulations 2 and 3).
The High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991 (S.I.1991/724) gives the High Court jurisdiction to grant an injunction in orin anticipation of county court proceedings where the county court hasno jurisdiction to do so and applications for Mareva injunctions shouldbe made to the High Court. These Regulations provide that theapplication to the High Court for an Anton Piller order shall be deemedto include an application for transfer of the proceedings (regulation4). Where the proceedings (and not just the application) are transferredto the High Court, the Regulations provide for transfer back again oncethe application has been dealt with (regulation 5).
1984 c. 28; a new section 38 was substituted by theCourts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41), section 3.