Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations

SUPREME COURT RULES - SECT 1.02

(1) Subject to subrule (3), this Chapter applies to every civil proceeding commenced in the Court on or after the commencement date.

(2) Subject to this Part, this Chapter, with the necessary changes, applies to a pending proceeding, and anything required or permitted to be done under this Chapter with respect to a proceeding commenced on or after the commencement date shall or may be done in a pending proceeding.

(3) This Chapter does not apply to a civil proceeding commenced in the Court on or after the commencement date to which any other Rules of the Supreme Court apply except as those other Rules provide.

(4) The repeal of the former Rules does not affect anything done or omitted to be done in a pending proceeding before the commencement date and, except as provided in this Part, anything so done or omitted to be done before the commencement date shall be taken to have been done or omitted under this Chapter.

(5) Where the time for entering an appearance in a pending proceeding is limited by the originating process in the proceeding and, before the commencement date, a defendant had not entered an appearance in the proceeding, the time limited for the purpose of the filing by the defendant of an appearance under this Chapter is the time limited in the originating process.

(6) If before the commencement date an originating process issued in a pending proceeding for service on a defendant out of the Territory had not been served on that defendant, the former Rules continue to apply with respect to the service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory as if this Chapter had not been made and, in particular:

(a) the Court may make an order authorizing service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory;

(b) nothing in this Chapter affects an order authorizing such service made before the commencement date; and

(c) if the defendant is served out of the Territory in accordance with an order of the Court and does not file an appearance within the time limited, the plaintiff is entitled to enter or apply for judgment, and Order 21, with the necessary changes, applies as if the proceeding had been commenced by writ after the commencement date and the writ had been served on the defendant within the Territory.

(6.1) Where originating process issued in a pending proceeding has not been served on a defendant who is out of the Territory, the former Rules continue to apply with respect to the service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory as if these Rules had not been made.

(7) If an endorsement of claim on a writ of summons in a pending proceeding did not stand in place of or otherwise constitute a statement of claim under the former Rules, then, in respect of a defendant to whom the plaintiff had not delivered a statement of claim before the commencement date, the plaintiff shall serve a statement of claim on that defendant:

(a) if the defendant entered an appearance before the commencement date - within 14 days after the commencement date; or

(b) if the defendant files an appearance after the commencement date - within 14 days after appearance.

(8) An endorsement of claim on a writ of summons in a pending proceeding which stood in place of or otherwise constituted a statement of claim under the former Rules shall be taken to be a statement of claim for the purposes of these Rules.