Justices Act 1886

If, before the time at which a defendant is required by a summons to appear within a division, it appears to the clerk of the court for such division that—

in the case of a summons issued upon a plaint or upon a complaint of a simple offence or breach of duty—a court within such division has jurisdiction to hear and determine the plaint or complaint in question; and

—

the hearing of the plaint or complaint cannot proceed or is not likely to proceed at the time and place at which the defendant is required by the summons to appear; or

the manifest preponderance of convenience to the plaintiff or, as the case may be, complainant or to the defendant of hearing the plaint or complaint at some other time or place requires such an adjournment; or

for such other reason as the clerk of the court considers sufficient the hearing should be so adjourned;

When a hearing is so adjourned the clerk of the court shall cause the time and place to which the hearing is adjourned to be stated in the presence and hearing of every party to the proceeding concerned or of the party’s lawyer or agent who is then present and if any party to such proceeding is not then present either personally or by the party’s lawyer or agent the clerk of the court shall, forthwith after such adjournment, give notice in writing to that party or, as the clerk of the court may elect, the party’s lawyer or agent informing the person of—

the time and place to which the hearing is adjourned; and

the reason for the adjournment; and

the right of the party concerned to be heard at the adjourned hearing.

When a hearing is so adjourned the defendant shall not be obliged to appear at the time and place referred to in the summons in question but such summons shall thenceforth be read and construed as if the time and place to which such hearing is, for the time being, adjourned were appointed by such summons as the time and place at which the defendant is thereby required to appear.

The hearing as adjourned shall not commence at the appointed time and place unless the court is satisfied that the parties or their respective lawyers or agents have been given reasonable notice thereof.

A document purporting to be a certificate signed by the clerk of the court who last adjourned the hearing in question pursuant to this section as to the making of a statement in the presence and hearing of a party or the party’s lawyer or agent of the time and place to which the hearing is adjourned shall upon its production in any proceeding and without further proof be received as evidence of the matter therein contained and a document purporting to be a duplicate original or copy of a notice last directed to any person in accordance with this section and endorsed with a certificate purporting to be signed by the person who served the original of such notice or, where such notice was sent by post, by the clerk of the court who last adjourned the hearing in question that—

the document is a duplicate original or, as the case may be, copy of the notice directed to the person named therein; and

the original of such notice was served upon such person personally on a date specified or, as the case may be, was posted on a date specified to the address appearing therein and such address was the address of such person last known to such clerk of the court; and

where the original of such notice was sent by post, in the ordinary course of post such original would have been delivered at such address on a date specified;

Costs of and occasioned by any adjournment under this section may be ordered by the court hearing and determining the plaint or complaint to be paid by any party to any other party as to the court may appear just.

Where a hearing is duly adjourned under this section from one division to another division of a district—

the clerk of the court by whom the hearing is adjourned, unless the clerk is also clerk of the court for the division to which the hearing is adjourned, shall forthwith transmit to the clerk of the court for such division the plaint or complaint and summons and any other documents relating to the proceeding which have been filed with or received by the clerk of the court; and

the plaint or complaint and summons and other documents relating to the proceeding shall be kept and preserved by the clerk of the court for the division to which the hearing is adjourned as if the clerk were the clerk of the court at the place where the defendant is required by the summons to appear unless the hearing and determination of the complaint is further adjourned to another division of the district; and

the plaint or complaint may be heard and determined in the division to which the hearing is adjourned and all proceedings may be commenced, continued or completed and all acts, matters and things which are authorised, permitted or required by law to be done, executed or taken, whether for the purpose of the enforcement or variation of an order made in such a proceeding or any other purpose, may be done, executed, or taken as fully and effectually as if the hearing or order were a hearing by or, as the case may be, an order of a court at the place at which the defendant was originally required by the summons to appear.

The hearing of a plaint or complaint which has been adjourned under this section may be further adjourned from time to time under this section or any other provision of this Act or under any relevant provision of any other Act and the relevant provision, whether of this Act or such other Act, shall with all necessary adaptations, extend and apply accordingly.

A clerk of the court need not constitute a court for the purpose of exercising any power or function under this section, and may exercise in respect of a defendant to a complaint any of the powers which justices might exercise in respect of a defendant upon an adjournment under this Act apart from this division.

No provision of this section shall be construed to affect the powers or duties of a registrar of a court under the Magistrates Courts Rules 1960.