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Explanatory note
This explanatory note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament.
Bill provides for consequential amendments to the De Facto
Relationships Act 1984, the Family Provision Act 1982, the Supreme Court
Act 1970 and the Testator 's Family Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants
Act 1916.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on a day or
days to be appointed by proclamation.
Clause 3 is a formal provision giving effect to the amendments to the
District Court Act 1973 set out in Schedule 1
Clause 4 is a formal provision giving effect to the amendments to the De
Facto Relationships Act 1984, the Family Provision Act 1982, the Supreme
Court Act 1970 and the Testator's Family Maintenance and Guardianship of
Infants Act 1916 set out in Schedule 2.
Schedule 1
Amendment of District Court Act 1993
Civil jurisdiction of the District Court
Schedule 1 [2] amends section 44 of the Act to provide that any personal
action for an amount not exceeding $750,000 may be brought in the District
Court. (Currently the Court's jurisdiction is limited to amounts not exceeding
$250,000.)
Schedule 1 [3] makes consequential amendments to several provisions of the
Act.
Motor accident claims
Schedule 1 [ 1 ] amends section 4 of the Act to insert a definition of motor
accident claim. The term is defined to mean a claim for damages to which
Part 6 of the Motor Accidents Act 1988 applies. The provisions of that Part
apply to claims involving death or injury caused by road vehicles, City and
State Rail trains, or ferries or other public transport watercraft.
Schedule 1 [4] amends section 44 of the Act to provide that any motor
accident claim may be brought in the District Court, irrespective of the
amount claimed. (Currently such claims are within the Court's general civil
jurisdiction-that is, the Court's jurisdiction in such matters is limited to
claims in amounts not exceeding $250,000.)
Schedule 1 [5] and [6] amend section 79 of the Act (which deals with the
circumstances in which the Court may order a trial by jury) to make it clear
that an application under that section may be made in respect of a motor
accident that occurred otherwise than on a public street.
Explanatory note page 2
Equitable jurisdiction of the Court
Schedule 1 [7] amends section 134 of the Act to provide that any equitable
claim for debt or damages in an amount not exceeding $750,000 may be
brought in the District Court. (Currently the Court has no jurisdiction in this
area.)
Claims under the De Facto Relationships Act 1984, the Family
Provision Act 1982 and the Testator's Family Maintenance and
Guardianship of Infants Act 1916
Schedule 1 [7]-[9] amend section 134 of the Act to provide that a claim
under the De Facto Relationships Act 1984, the Family Provision Act 1982 or
the Testator's Family Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants Act 1916
involving not more than $250,000 may be brought in the District Court.
(Currently the Court has jurisdiction to hear matters under the Family
Provision Act or the Testator's Family Maintenance and Guardianship of
Infants Act involving amounts not greater than $20,000, but has no
jurisdiction to hear matters under the De Facto Relationships Act.)
Transfer of proceedings
Schedule 1 [10] amends section 143 (3) of the Act to make its meaning a
little clearer. When the Supreme Court is considering whether a matter listed
before it should be transferred to the District Court, it is obliged to consider
whether the matter might properly have been commenced in that Court. As
the jurisdiction of the District Court is from time to time increased (as, for
example, in the manner proposed by this Bill), the Supreme Court is to
imagine that the District Court had had the increased jurisdiction at the time
the matter was commenced. (In the context of this Bill, for example, the
intention is that the Supreme Court may consider whether a civil claim worth,
say, $500,000, which could not previously be transferred to the District
Court, may now be transferred because the Court's jurisdiction will have
been increased.)
Schedule 1 [11] amends section 143 of the Act to provide that, where a
plaintiff in the Supreme Court applies to have the matter transferred to the
District Court, the defendant is not permitted to oppose the application. The
Supreme Court may, for reasons appearing to it to be sufficient, decline to
order the transfer. The amendment also makes it the duty of the Supreme
Court to consider, before setting it down for hearing, each action for damages
in respect of personal injury or death, to see whether an order transferring the
Explanatory note page 3
proceedings to the District Court should be made, and requires the Supreme
Court to make an order effecting the transfer unless it is satisfied, on criteria
specified by the proposed amendment, that the matter should be retained in
the Supreme Court. (The criteria are similar to those on which the Supreme
Court decides on an application to transfer a similar action from the District
Court to the Supreme Court-see the note on Schedule 1 [12] below.)
Schedule 1 [12] amends section 145 of the Act with respect to the
circumstances in which a case listed in the District Court may be transferred
to the Supreme Court. A personal injury or death claim (other than a motor
accident claim) may only be transferred if the Supreme Court is satisfied that
the likely verdict in the case will exceed $750,000 or that there is other
sufficient reason why the matter should be tried in the Supreme Court. A
motor accident claim may only be transferred if the Supreme Court is
satisfied that the likely verdict in the case will exceed $1,000,000 and that the
case is of sufficient legal complexity or public interest to justify the transfer.
'Transitional provisions
Schedule 1 [13] inserts a new section 183C, which is a formal provision
giving effect to Schedule 3 to the Act.
Schedule 1 [14] inserts a new Schedule 3 containing provisions governing
the transitional application of the amendments proposed by the Bill.
Schedule 2
Consequential amendment of other Acts
The Schedule amends the De Facto Relationships Act 1984, the Family
Provision Act 1982, the Supreme Court Act 1970 and the Testator's Family
Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants Act 1916, as a consequence of the
amendments contained in Schedule 1. The amendments to the Supreme Court
Act make explicit the power of the Supreme Court to restrict or otherwise
regulate the costs recoverable in matters brought before it that, in the Court's
opinion, might properly have been dealt with in a court of limited
jurisdiction.
Explanatory note page 4