DISTRICT COURT ACT 1973 - SECT 51 Consent jurisdiction

DISTRICT COURT ACT 1973 - SECT 51

51 Consent jurisdiction

(1) This section applies to an action or cross-claim that, but for this section, the Court would not have jurisdiction to hear and dispose of by reason only of the fact that the amount claimed exceeds the jurisdictional limit of the Court as at the time the action was commenced.

(2) The Court has, and may exercise, jurisdiction to hear and dispose of an action or cross-claim to which this section applies--

(a) if a party to the action or cross-claim files a memorandum of consent in respect of the action or cross-claim, or

(b) if no objection to the Court's jurisdiction has been raised by any of the parties prior to 3 months before the trial of the action commences.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)--

(a) the jurisdictional limit of the Court in relation to an action commenced before 1 July 1993 is taken to be $100,000, and

(b) the jurisdictional limit of the Court in relation to an action commenced on or after 1 July 1993 but before 18 July 1997 is taken to be $250,000, and

(c) the jurisdictional limit of the Court in relation to an action commenced on or after 18 July 1997 but before 16 December 2022 is taken to be $750,000.

(4) The maximum amount for which judgment may be given in relation to an action or cross-claim that is dealt with pursuant to subsection (2) (b) is an amount equivalent to 50 per cent above the jurisdictional limit of the Court as at the time the action was commenced.

(5) This section does not apply in relation to an action referred to in section 44 (1) (c).

(6) Nothing in this section limits the operation of section 140 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 .

(7) In this section,
"memorandum of consent" in relation to an action or cross-claim means a document signed by each party to the action or cross-claim, or the party's Australian legal practitioner, in which it is stated that each of those parties consents to the action or cross-claim being tried in the Court and is aware that, unless the document is filed, the Court will not have jurisdiction to dispose of the action or cross-claim.