Maintenance and Affiliation Orders Act (Northern Ireland) 1966

16 Interpretation of this Part. N.I.

(1) In this Part—

• “collecting officer” has the same meaning as in[F1 [F2 Article 85(4)] of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981];

• “court of registration”, in relation to an order, means the court in which the order is registered;

• “defendant”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order;

• “maintenance order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10(2);

• “order” means a maintenance order to which this Part applies;

• “original court”, in relation to an order, means the court first having jurisdiction to make the order, whether or not the order was made on appeal from that court;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by rules of court;

• “proper officer”, in relation to a court of summary jurisdiction, means the clerk of petty sessions;

• “registered” means registered in accordance with the provisions of this Part and “registration” shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Any reference in this Part to “rules of court” shall, in relation to a[F3 county court or a court of summary jurisdiction, be construed respectively as a reference to county court rules or] magistrates' courts rules[F4 and in section 11A(4) shall be construed as including a reference to Judgment Enforcement Rules made under Article 141 of the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981].

(3) Any reference in this Part to an order made by the High Court[F3 , by a county court] or by a court of summary jurisdiction includes an order made on appeal from those courts, as the case may be.

(4) Any reference in this Part to a person entitled to receive payments under a maintenance order is a reference to a person entitled to receive such payments either directly or through another person or for transmission to another person.

(5) Any reference in this Part to proceedings relating to an order includes a reference to proceedings in which the order may be made.

(6) Any reference in this Part to costs incurred in proceedings relating to a maintenance order shall be construed, in the case of a maintenance order made by the High Court[F3 or by a county court], as a reference to such costs as are included in an order for costs relating solely to that maintenance order.

F1 1981 NI 26

F2 1993 NI 6

F3 1989 NI 4

F4 1982 c. 27