322.The Act contains provisions that change the circumstances in which costs can be awarded against justices of the peace, justices’ clerks and their assistants, General Commissioners of income tax and their clerks, and coroners.
323.The purpose of these provisions is to provide justices of the peace, General Commissioners of income tax and coroners, in the exercise of their duties, with statutory protection against personal liability for costs as a result of legal proceedings.
324.The Act will:
provide General Commissioners of income tax with immunity against legal action in respect of any act or omission arising out of the execution of their duties;
extend the immunity against legal action currently enjoyed by justices of the peace and justices’ clerks to justices’ clerks’ assistants exercising the function of a single justice;
provide justices of the peace, justices’ clerks and their assistants, and General Commissioners of income tax, statutory immunity against being ordered to pay costs in legal proceedings about the exercise of their judicial functions, except where it is proved that they acted in bad faith;
provide for the costs of other parties in such cases, which would have been awarded against a judicial officer but for the immunity described above, to be paid by the Lord Chancellor, or in the case of General Commissioners in Scotland, the Secretary of State; and
provide for justices of the peace, justices’ clerks and their assistants, General Commissioners of income tax and their clerks, and coroners, to be indemnified for any costs that they reasonably incur in legal proceedings arising out of the exercise of their judicial functions.
325.The provisions relating to General Commissioners and their clerks extend to the United Kingdom. The Act makes equivalent provisions for Northern Ireland in respect of immunity from costs for justices and their clerks, and indemnity for coroners.