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DISTRICT COURT (AMENDMENT) BILL 1990
NEW SOUTH WALES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This Explanatory Note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament)
The object of this Bill is to amend the District Court Act 1973 so as:
(a) to provide for appeals to the Supreme Court from decisions etc. of the District
Court in proceedings ancillary to an action brought in that Court; and
(b) to provide that the value of a matter in dispute in the District Court must be at
least $10,000 if an appeal from the Court's judgment in the matter is to lie as
of right.
The Hill also makes a minor amendment in relation to a nonsuit of the plaintiff in an
action.
Clause 1 specifies
the short title of
the proposed Act.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on a day or days to
be proclaimed
Clause 3 gives effect to the Schedule of amendments to the principal Act.
SCHEDULE 1--AMENDMENTS
Appeals from decisions etc. in ancillary proceedings
Schedule 1
(1) (c) and (d) amend section 128 to provide for an appeal to the Supreme
Court from any District Court ruling, order, direction or decision in respect of
proceedings incidental to the main proceedings. (Instances of such incidental proceed-
ings are applications to set aside default judgments. applications to strike out proceed-
ings and applications for summary judgments.)
Such an appeal requires the leave of the Supreme Court and must be made
the
manner prescribed by the Supreme Court Rules.
2
District Court (Amendment) 1990
The appeal cannot be brought in respect of any ruling etc. made after the start of the
main proceedings, except for such rulings etc. by which a judgment is set aside or by
which an application for the setting aside of a judgment is refused.
Schedule 1 (1) (a) and (2) make consequential amendments.
Appeal as of right
Schedule 1 (3) amends section 130 (1) (a) so as to provide that the value of any
property or civil right the subject of an action in the District Court must be at least
$10,000 (compared with the present $5,000) if there is to be an automatic right of appeal
from the Court's decision in the matter.
Dismissal of action
Schedule 1 (1) (b) replaces the references in section 128 (3) (a) to a "nonsuit" by a
reference to the "dismissal of the action'' (the expression now used in the Supreme
Court Rules and the District Court Rules). A nonsuit is an order for dismissal of an
action, usually for want of sufficient evidence to obtain a verdict or judgment for the
plaintiff.