District Court Act 1991

Subject to this section, the Court, when sitting to adjudicate on any matter, may be constituted of—

a Judge; or

if the matter lies within a jurisdiction of the Court conferred by statute or the rules on Associate Judges—an Associate Judge (but the jurisdiction of Associate Judges is not exclusive; such a jurisdiction may also be exercised by a Judge); or

if the matter lies within a jurisdiction of the Court assigned to

If a matter lies within the criminal jurisdiction of the Court and is to be tried by jury, the Court will be constituted of a Judge sitting with a jury.

If under an Act conferring a jurisdiction on the Court in its Civil

in any proceedings in which a party seeks the exercise of the relevant jurisdiction the Court will, subject to paragraph (ab), sit with assessors selected in accordance with the Act conferring the jurisdiction;

the Court is not required to sit with assessors—

for the purposes of—

dealing with preliminary, interlocutory or procedural matters;

dealing with questions of costs; or

entering consent orders; or

for a part of the proceedings relating only to questions of law, and may, for that purpose or as a consequence, while sitting without assessors, make any ruling, order or judgment (including a final judgment) it considers appropriate;

where the Court sits with assessors—

questions of law or procedure will be determined by the Judge presiding at the proceedings; and

other questions will be determined by majority opinion.

The Court may, at any one time, be separately constituted in accordance with this section for the hearing and determination of any number of separate matters.

A Judge, Associate Judge or Judicial Registrar may sit in any