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COUNTY COURT

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 318 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COUNTY See also:COURT , in See also:England, a See also:local court of See also:civil See also:jurisdiction. The county court, it has been said, is at once the most See also:ancient and the most See also:modern of See also:English civil tribunals. The Saxon See also:Curia Comitatus, maintained after the See also:Norman See also:Conquest, was a local court and a small debts court. It was instituted by See also:Alfred the See also:Great, its jurisdiction embracing civil, and, until the reign of See also:William I., ecclesiastical matters. The See also:officers of the court consisted of the earldorman, the See also:bishop and the See also:sheriff. The court was held once in every four See also:weeks, being presided over by the See also:earl, or, in his See also:absence, the sheriff. The suitors of the court, i.e. the freeholders, were the See also:judges, the sheriff being simply a presiding officer, pronouncing and afterwards executing the See also:judgment of the court. The court was not one of See also:record. The See also:appointment of judges of See also:assize in the reign of See also:Henry II., as well as the expensive and See also:dilatory See also:procedure of the court, brought about its See also:gradual disuse, and other local courts, termed courts of See also:request or of See also:conscience, were established. These, in turn, proved unsatisfactory, owing both to the limited nature of their jurisdiction (restricted to causes of See also:debt not exceeding 4os. in value, and to the fact that they were confined to particular places. Accordingly, with the view of making See also:justice cheaper and more accessible the County Courts See also:Act 1846 was passed. This act had the modest See also:title of " An Act for the Recovery of Small Debts and Demands in England." The See also:original limit of the jurisdiction of the new courts was £20, extended in T85o to £5o in actions of debt, and in 1903 (by an act which came into force in 1905) to £Too.

Thirteen amending acts were passed, by which new jurisdiction was from See also:

time to time conferred- on the countycourts, and in the See also:year 1888 an act was passed repealing the previous acts and consolidating their provisions, with some See also:amendment. This is now the See also:code or See also:charter of the county courts. The See also:grain of See also:mustard-See also:seed sown in 1846 has grown into a goodly See also:tree, with branches extending over the whole of England and See also:Wales; and they embrace within their ambit a more multifarious jurisdiction than is possessed by any other courts in the See also:kingdom. England and Wales were mapped out into 59 circuits (not including the See also:city of See also:London), with See also:power for the See also:crown, by See also:order in See also:council, to abolish any See also:circuit and rearrange the areas comprised in the circuits (sec. 4). There is one See also:judge to each circuit, but the See also:lord See also:chancellor is empowered to appoint two judges in a circuit, provided that the See also:total number of judges does not exceed 6o. The See also:salary of a county court judge was originally fixed at £1200, but he now receives £1500. He must at the time of his appointment be a See also:barrister-at-See also:law of at least seven years' See also:standing, and not more than sixty years of See also:age; after appointment he cannot sit as a member of See also:parliament or practise at the See also:bar. Every circuit (except in See also:Birmingham, See also:Clerkenwell, and See also:Westminster) is divided into districts, in each of which there is a court, with a registrar and bailiffs. The judges are directed to attend and hold a court in each See also:district at least once in every See also:month, unless the lord chancellor shall otherwise See also:direct (secs. 1o, 11). But in practice the judge sits several times a month in the large centres of See also:population, and less frequently than once a month in the court See also:town of sparsely inhabited districts.

By sec. 185 of the act of 1888 the judges and officers of the city of London court have the like jurisdiction, See also:

powers, and authority as those of a county court, and the county court rules apply to that court. The See also:ordinary jurisdiction of the county courts may be thus tabulated: See also:Common-law actions, with written consent of both parties . . Unlimited. Actions founded on See also:contract (except for See also:breach of promise of See also:marriage, in which the county courts have no jurisdiction) . £loo. Actions founded on See also:tort (except See also:libel, See also:slander, and See also:seduction, in which the county courts have no jurisdiction) . . £100. See also:Counter claims (unless See also:plaintiff gives written See also:notice of objection) Unlimited. See also:Ejectment or questions of title to reality . £loo See also:annual value. See also:Equity jurisdiction .

500. See also:

Probate jurisdiction £200 personalty and £300 realty. See also:Admiralty jurisdiction £300. See also:Bankruptcy jurisdiction Unlimited. See also:Replevin . Unlimited. See also:Interpleader transferred from High Court . £500. Actions in contract transferred from High Court . . . . £100. Actions in tort transferred from High Court .

Unlimited. Companies (winding up), when the paid-up See also:

capital does not exceed £10,000. There is no discoverable principle upon which these limits of the jurisdiction of the county courts have been determined. But the above table is not by any means an exhaustive statement of the jurisdiction of the county courts. For many years it has been the practice of parliament to throw on the county court judges the See also:duty of acting as judges or arbitrators for the purpose of new legislation See also:relating to social subjects. It is impossible to classify the many statutes which have been passed since 1846 and which confer some jurisdiction, apart from that under the County Courts Act, on county courts or their judges. Some of these acts impose exceptional duties on the judges of the county courts, others confer unlimited jurisdiction concurrently with the High Court or some other court, others, again, confer limited or, sometimes, exclusive jurisdiction. A See also:list of all the acts will be found in the Annual County Courts Practice. A county court judge may determine all matters of fact as well as law, but a See also:jury may be summoned at the See also:option of either plaintiff or See also:defendant when the amount in dispute exceeds £5, and in actions under £5 the judge may in his discretion, on application of either of the parties, order that the See also:action be tried by jury. The number of Subject See also:matter. Pecuniary limit of jurisdiction. jurymen impanelled and sworn at the trial was, by the County Courts Act 1903, increased from five to eight.

There is an See also:

appeal from the county courts on matters of law to a divisional court of the High Court, i.e. to the admiralty See also:division in admiralty cases and to the See also:king's See also:bench division in other cases (sec. 120 of act of 1888). The determination of the divisional court is final, unless leave be given by that court or the court of appeal (Judicature Acts 1894). (See further APPEAL.) In proceedings under the Workmen's See also:Compensation Act the appeal from a county court judge is to the court of appeal, with a subsequent appeal to the See also:House of Lords. In 1908 a See also:Committee was appointed by the lord chancellor " to inquire into certain matters of county court procedure." The committee presented a See also:report in 1909 (H.C. 71), recommending the See also:extension of existing county court jurisdiction, but a See also:bill introduced to give effect to the recommendations was not proceeded with. See Annual County Courts Practice, also " Fifty Years of the English County Courts," by County Court Judge See also:Sir T. W. Snagge, in Nineteenth See also:Century, See also:October 1897.

End of Article: COUNTY COURT

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