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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
CIVIL JUSTICE REFORM
BILL 1998
Queensland
CIVIL JUSTICE REFORM BILL 1998
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
PART 1--PRELIMINARY
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PART 2--AMENDMENT OF QUEENSLAND LAW SOCIETY
ACT 1952
3 Act amended in pt 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4 Amendment of s 3 (Definitions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5 Amendment of s 6F (Tribunal rules) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6 Insertion of new s 6FA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6FA Costs assessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7 Amendment of s 6K (Hearings involving allegations of overcharging) . . . 12
8 Insertion of new div 6A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Division 6A--Application for assessment of account under client
agreement
6ZA Application of div 6A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6ZB Effect of request for appointment of assessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6ZC Clerk may appoint costs assessor to assess account . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6ZD Fees of costs assessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6ZE When costs assessment binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6ZF Application to court after assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9 Insertion of new pts 4A and 4B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PART 4A--CLIENT AGREEMENTS
48 Usual client agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
48A Enforcement of client agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
48B Agreement may be amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
48C Provision protecting from liability or responsibility prohibited . . . . 17
48D Contingency fees and costs prohibited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
48E Interest in proceeding prohibited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
48F Effect of non-compliance or prohibited provision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
48G Disclosure of client agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
PART 4B--PAYMENT FOR WORK
Division 1--Interpretation
48H Definition for pt 4B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Division 2--General
48I Maximum payment for work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Division 3--Legal proceedings
48J Prerequisite to legal proceeding to recover payment for work . . . . . 20
48K Court may appoint costs assessor to assess account . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
48L Court may have regard to assessor's assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
48M Client may change practitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Division 4--Other provisions about costs assessors
48N Application of div 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
48O Information for costs assessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
48P Written costs assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
48Q When costs assessment concluded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
48R Protection from liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
48S Preservation of confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
48T Preservation of privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
10 Insertion of new s 56 and sch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
56 Transitional provision for costs agreements and
retainers--Civil Justice Reform Act 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
SCHEDULE
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CLIENT
PART 3--AMENDMENT OF SUPREME COURT OF
QUEENSLAND ACT 1991
11 Act amended in pt 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
12 Amendment of title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
13 Amendment and relocation of s 2 (Definitions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
14 Insertion of new s 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
15 Insertion of new pt 2, div 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Division 4--Judicial registrars
27A Judicial registrars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
27B Independence of judicial registrars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
27C Rehearing after judicial registrar's decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
27D Conditions of appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
27E Retirement of judicial registrars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
27F Preservation of rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
16 Amendment of s 56 (Single judge to constitute the court) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
17 Insertion of new pt 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
PART 7--PROVISIONS APPLYING TO SUPREME COURT,
DISTRICT COURT AND MAGISTRATES COURTS
Division 1--Preliminary
71 Application of pt 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
72 Definition for pt 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Division 2--Procedural
Subdivision 1--Constitution of court by judicial registrar
73 Judicial registrar's power to hear and decide applications . . . . . . . . 35
Subdivision 2--Removal of proceedings
74 Removal to Supreme Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
75 Removal to Magistrates Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
76 Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Division 3--Conferences
77 Resolution agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
78 Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Division 4--Orders
79 Court's power to make orders or give directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
80 Court able to impose appropriate conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
81 Amendment for new cause of action or party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
82 Order binds persons who are represented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
83 Interpleader orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
84 Effect of default judgment order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
85 Dismissal of proceedings for want of prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Division 5--Enforcement
Subdivision 1--Enforcement generally
86 Demand for compliance unnecessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
87 Interest recoverable on enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
88 Variation of order in partnership name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
89 Enforcement against partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
90 Variation of order in business name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
91 Enforcement against property of a business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Subdivision 2--Enforcement warrants
92 Period of enforcement warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
93 Payment under enforcement warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
93A Enforcement warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
93B Securities held by enforcement officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
93C Redirection of joint funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
93D State debts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
93E Redirection of partnership debts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
93F Account with financial institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
93G Enforcement against the third person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Subdivision 3--Offences
93H Employment protection if enforcement warrant for
redirection of earnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Division 6--Miscellaneous
93I Proceeding if grant of representation when originating
process issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
93J Proceeding if no grant of representation when originating
process issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
18 Insertion of new pt 8B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
PART 8B--PROVISION FROM LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT 1995
116H Relocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
19 Replacement of pt 9 heading (Rules of court) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
20 Replacement of s 117 (Rule making power) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
117 Definition for pt 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
118 Rule-making power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
118A Rules committee may approve forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
21 Insertion of new ss 118B118C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
118B Court rules are exempt from RIS requirements and
automatic expiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
118C Rules Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
22 Insertion of new ss 118D118E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
118D Practice directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
118E Directions or orders about a proceeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
23 Amendment of s 120 (Regulation-making power) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
24 Insertion of new ss 128137 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
128 No distinction between court and chambers for Supreme
Court, District Court and Magistrates Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
129 Abolition of old enforcement processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
130 Outdated references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
131 References to judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
132 Judicial registrar may exercise certain judicial or
quasi-judicial power of registrar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
133 References to taxation of costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
134 Act to prevail over Supreme Court Act 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
135 Application of Uniform Civil Procedure Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
136 Transitional--abolition of Circuit Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
137 Saving of former court rules--Civil Justice Reform Act 1998 . . . . . 56
25 Replacement of schs 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SCHEDULE 1
SUBJECT MATTER FOR RULES
PART 1--GENERAL
1 Jurisdiction generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
PART 2--CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
2 Starting civil proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3 Parties and proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 Notices of intention to defend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
5 Service of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6 Pleadings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7 Disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
8 Preservation of rights and property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
9 Ending proceedings early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
10 Court supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
11 Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
12 Jurisdiction of judicial registrars and registrars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
13 Trials and other hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
14 Particular proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
15 Probate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
16 Contempt of court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
17 Trusts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
18 Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
19 Appeals, applications and cases stated to Court of Appeal . . . . . . . 63
20 Enforcement of money orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
21 Reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
22 Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
23 Miscellaneous matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
PART 3--CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
24 Practice and procedure in criminal jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
PART 4--MISCELLANEOUS
26 Small Claims Tribunals Act 1973 amended in sch 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
27 Acts amended in sch 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
SCHEDULE 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
AMENDMENTS SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNALS ACT 1973
SCHEDULE 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
AMENDMENTS OF OTHER ACTS
DISTRICT COURT ACT 1967 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
JUSTICE LEGISLATION (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS)
ACT 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
LAND ACT 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
LAND TITLE ACT 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
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Civil Justice Reform Bill
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SUPREME COURT ACT 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
1998
A BILL
FOR
An Act to enable the making of uniform civil procedure rules for the
Supreme Court, District Court and Magistrates Courts and for
certain related reforms to the civil jurisdiction of those courts, to
reform the law regulating the relationship between solicitors and
clients concerning fees and costs, to establish a single Small
Claims Tribunal, and for other purposes
s1 10 s3
Civil Justice Reform Bill
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
ART 1--PRELIMINARY 2
P
title 3
Short
Clause 1. This Act may be cited as the Civil Justice Reform Bill 1998. 4
5
Commencement
Clause 2.(1) Sections 11 and 211 commence on the date of assent. 6
(2) Section 27 and schedule 22 (to the extent they amend the District 7
Court Act 1967, section 1183) are taken to have commenced on 8
1 August 1997. 9
(3) The other provisions of this Act commence on a day to be fixed by 10
proclamation. 11
ART 2--AMENDMENT OF QUEENSLAND LAW 12
P
SOCIETY ACT 1952 13
amended in pt 2 14
Act
Clause 3. This part amends the Queensland Law Society Act 1952. 15
1 Sections 11 (Act amended in pt 3) and 21 (Insertion of new ss 118B118C)
2 Section 27 (Acts amended in sch 2) and schedule 2 (Amendments of other Acts)
3 District Court Act 1967, section 118 (Appeal to the Court of Appeal in certain
cases)
s4 11 s5
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of s 3 (Definitions) 1
Amendment
Clause 4.(1) Section 3, definition "court"-- 2
omit. 3
(2) Section 3-- 4
insert-- 5
` "client agreement" means-- 6
(a) an agreement under section 48;4 or 7
(b) an agreement for urgent work or for work where the maximum 8
amount a practitioner or firm charges as fees for the work is $750 9
or less. 10
"costs" includes disbursements. 11
"court" means-- 12
(a) in part 2A, division 6A, and parts 4A and 4B,5 if otherwise 13
appropriate-- 14
(i) in the context of the Supreme Court--the Supreme Court; or 15
(ii) in the context of the District Court--the District Court; or 16
(iii) in the context of the Magistrates Courts--a Magistrates 17
Court; or 18
(b) otherwise--the Supreme Court. 19
"fees", for work of a practitioner or firm, means charges, other than costs. 20
"firm" means a firm of practitioners.'. 21
of s 6F (Tribunal rules) 22
Amendment
Clause 5.(1) Section 6F(3)-- 23
renumber as section 6F(4). 24
4 Section 48 (Usual client agreement)
5 Part 2A (Solicitors complaints tribunal), division 6A (Application for assessment
of account under client agreement) and parts 4A (Client agreements) and
4B (Payment for work)
s6 12 s7
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(2) Section 6F-- 1
insert-- 2
`(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the tribunal may make rules about 3
the following matters-- 4
(a) the qualifications required to be a costs assessor for the tribunal; 5
(b) the conduct of costs assessments and the matters to be considered 6
by a costs assessor; 7
(c) the fees allowable to a costs assessor for the tribunal if the 8
assessor is appointed by the clerk of the tribunal; 9
(d) the facilitation of mediations under this part.'. 10
of new s 6FA 11
Insertion
Clause 6. After section 6F-- 12
insert-- 13
osts assessors 14
`C
`6FA.(1) The chairperson of the tribunal may approve as a costs 15
assessor for the tribunal a person who has the qualifications required under 16
the rules. 17
`(2) The clerk of the tribunal must maintain a tribunal register of persons 18
approved as costs assessors for the tribunal.'. 19
of s 6K (Hearings involving allegations of overcharging) 20
Amendment
Clause 7.(1) Section 6K(3)-- 21
renumber as section 6K(4). 22
(2) Section 6K(2)-- 23
omit, insert-- 24
`(2) The tribunal may engage a costs assessor from its register of costs 25
assessors to report on the reasonableness of the practitioner's account. 26
`(3) The tribunal may-- 27
(a) set a reasonable fee to cover the cost of the costs assessor's 28
s8 13 s8
Civil Justice Reform Bill
report; and 1
(b) decide who must pay the fee. 2
3
Example--
4
The tribunal may decide it will pay the fee or the parties, or 1 of them, must pay
5
the fee.'.
of new div 6A 6
Insertion
Clause 8. After section 6Z-- 7
insert-- 8
6A--Application for assessment of account under client 9
`Division
agreement 10
of div 6A 11
`Application
`6ZA.(1) This division applies if a client-- 12
(a) is given an account that-- 13
(i) is in a form agreed to in a client agreement between the client 14
and the practitioner or firm; or 15
(ii) clearly sets out all items of work done for the client and the 16
amount charged for each item; and 17
(b) applies to the tribunal for an appointment by the clerk of the 18
tribunal of a costs assessor to assess the account. 19
`(2) However, this division does not apply if-- 20
(a) the client agreement is for a lump sum amount only; or 21
(b) the client is 1 of the following-- 22
(i) the Commonwealth or a State; 23
(ii) a public company, subsidiary of a public company, a foreign 24
company or a registered Australian body (within the 25
meaning of the Corporations Law); 26
(iii) a partnership if 1 of the partners is an entity mentioned in 27
subparagraphs (i) or (ii); 28
s8 14 s8
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(iv) a joint venture if 1 of the joint venturers is an entity 1
mentioned in subparagraphs (i) or (ii). 2
of request for appointment of assessor 3
`Effect
`6ZB.(1) A client who asks for the appointment of a costs assessor 4
under this division is taken to dispute only the amount payable under the 5
client agreement. 6
`(2) The client may not subsequently challenge the validity or 7
enforceability of the client agreement. 8
may appoint costs assessor to assess account 9
`Clerk
`6ZC. The clerk of the tribunal may appoint a costs assessor from the 10
tribunal's register of costs assessors to assess a practitioner's or firm's 11
account. 12
of costs assessor 13
`Fees
`6ZD.(1) A client and a practitioner or firm may agree about payment of 14
the fee for a costs assessor appointed by the clerk of the tribunal. 15
`(2) If there is no agreement and the practitioner's or firm's account is 16
reduced by the costs assessor by 20% or more, the practitioner or firm must 17
pay all of the assessor's fee. 18
`(3) Otherwise, the client must pay all of the assessor's fee. 19
costs assessment binding 20
`When
`6ZE.(1) A costs assessment by an assessor appointed by the clerk of 21
the tribunal is binding on the client and practitioner or firm only if-- 22
(a) the client and practitioner or firm have agreed in writing that it 23
will be; or 24
(b) at the end of 30 days after the assessment, no application has been 25
made to a court to decide the reasonableness of the fees and costs 26
s9 15 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
charged in the assessed account.6 1
`(2) A binding costs assessment may be enforced as a debt for the 2
assessed amount and the parties may not subsequently challenge the 3
amount payable. 4
to court after assessment 5
`Application
`6ZF.(1) Within 30 days after a costs assessment by an assessor 6
appointed by the clerk of the tribunal, the client or the practitioner or firm 7
may apply to a court having jurisdiction for the amount in the account for 8
the court to decide the reasonableness of the fees and costs charged in the 9
account. 10
`(2) A court having jurisdiction for the amount in the account may extend 11
the application time and order that, despite section 6ZE(1)(b), the costs 12
assessment by an assessor appointed by the clerk of the tribunal is not 13
binding. 14
`(3) If an application is made to a court, the court must decide the 15
reasonableness of the fees and costs charged in the assessed account. 16
`(4) In deciding the reasonableness of the fees and costs, the court may-- 17
(a) appoint a person from the tribunal's register of costs assessors or 18
another person to assess the account and make an order about the 19
appointee's fee; and 20
(a) receive in evidence any written costs assessment (whether by the 21
assessor appointed by the clerk of the tribunal or by the assessor 22
appointed by the court) and have regard to a matter contained in 23
the assessment. 24
`(5) The court may make any order it considers appropriate, including, 25
for example, an order that a party pay an amount to another party.'. 26
of new pts 4A and 4B 27
Insertion
Clause 9. After part 4-- 28
insert-- 29
6 Also see section 6ZF(2) (Application to court after assessment).
s9 16 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`PART 4A--CLIENT AGREEMENTS 1
client agreement 2
`Usual
`48.(1) This section does not apply to urgent work or work if the 3
maximum amount a practitioner or firm charges as fees for the work is 4
$750 or less. 5
`(2) Within a reasonable time after starting work for a client, a 6
practitioner or firm must make a written agreement with the client 7
expressed in clear plain language and specifying the following matters-- 8
(a) the work the practitioner or firm is to perform; 9
(b) the fees and costs payable by the client for the work. 10
`(3) The fees and costs payable by the client for work must specify-- 11
(a) a lump sum amount; or 12
(b) the basis on which fees and costs will be calculated (whether or 13
not including a lump sum amount). 14
`(4) The notice in the schedule 7 must be completed by the practitioner or 15
firm and given to the client before the client signs the client agreement. 16
`(5) The client agreement must not be inconsistent with the notice in the 17
schedule. 18
`(6) Subsections (4) and (5) do not apply if the client is 1 of the 19
following-- 20
(a) a public company, a subsidiary of a public company, a foreign 21
company or a registered Australian body (within the meaning of 22
the Corporations Law); 23
(b) the Commonwealth or a State; 24
(c) a partnership if 1 of the partners is an entity mentioned in 25
paragraph (a) or (b); 26
(d) a joint venture if 1 of the joint venturers is an entity mentioned in 27
paragraph (a) or (b). 28
7 Schedule (Important notice to client)
s9 17 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of client agreement 1
`Enforcement
`48A. A client agreement may be enforced in a court of competent 2
jurisdiction in the same way as another contract. 3
may be amended 4
`Agreement
`48B.(1) A client and a practitioner or firm may agree to amend a client 5
agreement at any time. 6
`(2) However, an agreement to amend a client agreement under 7
section 488 must be in writing. 8
protecting from liability or responsibility prohibited 9
`Provision
`48C.(1) A client agreement may not include a provision preventing a 10
civil liability (including liability for negligence) attaching to a practitioner or 11
firm or relieving a practitioner or firm from a responsibility the practitioner 12
or firm would otherwise have as a practitioner or firm. 13
`(2) However, subsection (1) does not prohibit the inclusion of a 14
qualified advice provision in a client agreement. 15
`(3) In this section-- 16
"qualified advice provision" means a provision to the effect that-- 17
(a) certain advice to be given to the client may be qualified by, or is 18
conditional on, information not yet available or future events; and 19
(b) if the client acts on a part of an advice that is clearly specified as 20
qualified or conditional advice, the practitioner or firm is not liable 21
in relation to the part of the advice to the extent that the 22
information or events make the part incorrect. 23
fees and costs prohibited 24
`Contingency
`48D.(1) A client agreement must not include a provision by which all or 25
part of fees or costs payable for the work are calculated by reference to the 26
amount of the award or settlement or the value of property that may be 27
8 Section 48 (Usual client agreement)
s9 18 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
recovered in a proceeding to which the work relates. 1
`(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the extent that the client agreement 2
adopts the scale for the work provided under an Act. 3
`(3) Also, subsection (1) does not prevent a solicitor or firm accepting a 4
lower fee if the actual outcome of the work is less than the outcome sought, 5
for example, the amount recovered is less than the amount sought. 6
in proceeding prohibited 7
`Interest
`48E. A client agreement must not include a provision transferring to the 8
practitioner or firm all or part of the client's interest in a proceeding instead 9
of the client being required to pay the practitioner or firm all or part of fees 10
or costs that would otherwise be payable. 11
of non-compliance or prohibited provision 12
`Effect
`48F.(1) If a client agreement to which section 489 applies does not 13
comply with that section, the client agreement is void. 14
`(2) If a provision is included in a client agreement and inclusion of the 15
provision is prohibited by this part, the provision is void. 16
of client agreement 17
`Disclosure
`48G. In a proceeding before a court or tribunal about work done, or the 18
fees or costs payable for work done, for a client, a practitioner or firm must 19
disclose any client agreement for the work between the practitioner or firm 20
and the client. 21
9 Section 48 (Usual client agreement)
s9 19 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
ART 4B--PAYMENT FOR WORK 1
`P
`Division 1--Interpretation 2
for pt 4B 3
`Definition
`48H. In this part-- 4
"tribunal costs assessor", for an assessment, means a person from the 5
tribunal's register of costs assessors who is approved for the 6
assessment by the chairperson of the tribunal. 7
2--General 8
`Division
payment for work 9
`Maximum
`48I.(1) The maximum amount of fees and costs a practitioner or firm 10
may charge and recover from a client for work done is-- 11
(a) an amount calculated in accordance with the client agreement 12
between the practitioner or firm and the client for the work; or 13
(b) if there is no client agreement and there is a scale for the work 14
provided under an Act--an amount calculated in accordance with 15
the scale; or 16
(c) if there is no client agreement and there is no scale for the work 17
provided under an Act--an amount assessed as a reasonable 18
amount for the work by a tribunal costs assessor. 19
`(2) However, a practitioner or firm may only charge and recover from 20
the client for an extraordinary item of work if the extraordinary item is 21
expressly authorised by the client. 22
`(3) Subsection (2) does not apply if there is a client agreement for the 23
work specifying a lump sum amount only. 24
`(4) In this section-- 25
"extraordinary item of work" means an item of work that would not 26
normally be incurred in doing work similar to the work done for the 27
client. 28
s9 20 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
3--Legal proceedings 1
`Division
to legal proceeding to recover payment for work 2
`Prerequisite
`48J.(1) A practitioner or firm may start a proceeding in a court to 3
recover fees or costs from a client only if the practitioner or firm has given 4
the client an account that-- 5
(a) is in a form agreed to in a client agreement between the 6
practitioner or firm and the client; or 7
(b) clearly sets out all items of work done for the client and the 8
amount charged (whether by way of fees or costs) for each item. 9
`(2) Further, the practitioner or firm must obtain the court's leave to start 10
the proceeding if-- 11
(a) it is 1 month or less since the account was given; or 12
(b) the client has applied for an appointment by the clerk of the 13
tribunal of a costs assessor to assess the account and the 14
assessment has not concluded. 15
may appoint costs assessor to assess account 16
`Court
`48K.(1) In a proceeding to recover the fees or costs, the court may-- 17
(a) appoint a tribunal costs assessor or another person to assess the 18
account; and 19
(b) make an order about payment of the appointee's fee. 20
`(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the client and the practitioner or firm 21
are bound by an assessment of the fees or costs by a costs assessor 22
appointed by the clerk of the tribunal.10 23
may have regard to assessor's assessment 24
`Court
`48L. In a proceeding to recover the fees or costs, the court may-- 25
(a) receive in evidence a written costs assessment by an assessor 26
10 See section 6ZE (When costs assessment binding).
s9 21 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
appointed under this Act by the clerk of the tribunal or a court; 1
and 2
(b) have regard to a matter contained in the assessment. 3
may change practitioner 4
`Client
`48M.(1) A client may change practitioner or firm at any time. 5
`(2) Subsection (1) applies despite any contrary provision in a client 6
agreement between a practitioner or firm and the client. 7
`(3) If a client has a client agreement with a practitioner or firm 8
(the "original practitioner or firm") and the client changes practitioner or 9
firm, the original practitioner or firm may charge and recover fees and costs 10
from the client for work done before the original practitioner or firm was 11
given notice of the change. 12
`(4) Nothing in this section affects a right a practitioner or firm may have 13
to maintain or enforce a lien or charge for unpaid fees or costs. 14
`Division 4--Other provisions about costs assessors 15
of div 4 16
`Application
`48N. This division applies for a costs assessor appointed under this Act 17
by the clerk of the tribunal or a court to assess a practitioner's or firm's 18
account. 19
for costs assessor 20
`Information
`48O.(1) The client, practitioner or firm must comply with all reasonable 21
requests for information made by the assessor if the request will facilitate 22
the assessment. 23
`(2) The client, practitioner or firm may apply, to a court having 24
jurisdiction for the amount in the account, for an order about disclosure of 25
the requested information. 26
`(3) Compliance with this section does not affect a right the practitioner 27
s9 22 s9
Civil Justice Reform Bill
or firm may have to maintain or enforce a lien or charge for unpaid fees or 1
costs. 2
costs assessment 3
`Written
`48P. The costs assessor must make a written assessment. 4
costs assessment concluded 5
`When
`48Q. The costs assessment is not concluded until the costs assessor 6
gives a copy of the assessment to the client and the practitioner or firm. 7
from liability 8
`Protection
`48R.(1) The costs assessor is not civilly liable for an act done, or 9
omission made, honestly and without negligence under this Act. 10
`(2) If subsection (1) prevents a civil liability attaching to a costs 11
assessor, the liability attaches instead to the State. 12
of confidentiality 13
`Preservation
`48S.(1) If a person gains confidential information because of being, or 14
an opportunity given by being, a costs assessor, the person must not make a 15
record of the information or intentionally or recklessly disclose the 16
information other than under subsection (2). 17
`(2) The person may make a record of confidential information, or 18
disclose it to someone else-- 19
(a) for this Act; or 20
(b) to discharge a function under another law; or 21
(c) for a proceeding in a court or tribunal; or 22
(d) if authorised under a regulation or another law; or 23
(e) if authorised by the person to whom the information relates. 24
`(3) In this section-- 25
"confidential information" includes information about a person's affairs, 26
s 10 23 s 10
Civil Justice Reform Bill
but does not include-- 1
(a) information already publicly disclosed unless further disclosure 2
of the information is prohibited by law; or 3
(b) statistical or other information that could not reasonably be 4
expected to result in the identification of the person to whom the 5
information relates. 6
of privilege 7
`Preservation
`48T. Privilege attaching to a document or thing, including, for example, 8
legal professional privilege, continues despite disclosure of the document or 9
thing to a costs assessor.'. 10
of new s 56 and sch 11
Insertion
Clause 10. After section 55-- 12
insert-- 13
provision for costs agreements and retainers--Civil 14
`Transitional
Justice Reform Act 1998 15
`56.(1) A agreement made under the Legal Practitioners Act 1995, 16
part 4, division 3 and in force immediately before the commencement of 17
this section is taken to be a client agreement under section 48 of this Act.11 18
`(2) Another retainer continues to be legally binding for work done 19
before the commencement of this section or within 3 months after the 20
commencement. 21
`(3) The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules may provide for the assessment 22
of costs under another retainer, including by a costs assessor from the 23
tribunal's register of costs assessors. 24
`(4) Any right that a person may have had under the Legal Practitioners 25
Act 1995 to taxation of costs under another retainer continues only until the 26
commencement of the provisions of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 27
11 Legal Practitioners Act 1995, part 4 (Provisions from Solicitors Act 1891),
division 3 (Agreements between solicitors and their clients) and section 48
(Usual client agreement) of this Act
s 10 24 s 10
Civil Justice Reform Bill
providing for the assessment of costs under the retainer. 1
`(5) In this section-- 2
"another retainer" means a retainer, other than an agreement made under 3
the Legal Practitioners Act 1995, part 4, division 3, that was-- 4
(a) in force immediately before the commencement of this section; 5
and 6
(b) legally binding under the Legal Practitioners Act 1995 as in force 7
immediately before the commencement. 8
s 10 25 s 10
Civil Justice Reform Bill
CHEDULE 1
`S
`IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CLIENT 2
section 48(4) 3
`Who to contact if there are problems 4
`1. You may contact the Queensland Law Society if you have a 5
complaint about the fees and costs charged or the work performed by your 6
solicitor or firm. 7
`2. Here are the phone number and postal address for the Queensland 8
Law Society-- (insert phone number and postal address). 9
`Client able to negotiate agreement and get legal advice 10
`3. You have the right to negotiate this client agreement with your 11
solicitor or firm before you sign it. 12
`4. You may obtain independent legal advice before signing this client 13
agreement. 14
`Client able to change solicitor or firm 15
`5. You may change solicitor or firm at any time even if this client 16
agreement says otherwise. 17
`6. If you change solicitor or firm, it is important for you to give your 18
original solicitor or firm notice of the change as your original solicitor or 19
firm may charge and recover fees and costs from you for work done before 20
notice is given. 21
`7. Your original solicitor or firm may keep your file until you pay all 22
fees and costs or reach an agreement about paying them. 23
s 10 26 s 10
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`Agreement about who will do legal work 1
`8. This client agreement must state the names and status (for example, 2
partner/associate/employed solicitor/articled clerk/paralegal/consultant) of 3
the people who will do legal work for you. 4
`Agreement about fees and costs payable for work 5
`9. This client agreement is the basis for determining how much you pay 6
for work done by your solicitor or firm. 7
`10. A client agreement may set a lump sum amount for fees and costs. 8
`11. Otherwise, the client agreement must state the basis on which fees 9
and costs will be calculated (whether or not including a lump sum) and give 10
either-- 11
· an estimate of the total amount of fees and costs likely to be 12
payable for the work; or 13
· if it is not reasonably practicable to estimate the total amount of 14
fees and costs likely to be payable for the work--a range of 15
estimates of the total amount of fees and costs likely to be payable 16
for the work and an explanation of the significant variables that 17
will affect the calculation of the amount. 18
`12. However, your solicitor or firm is not bound by the estimate or 19
range of estimates given in this client agreement. 20
`13. Extraordinary items of work not normally done for similar work 21
must be expressly approved by you even if this client agreement says 22
otherwise. 23
`14. Clause 13 has no application if this client agreement sets a lump 24
sum amount only for fees and costs. 25
`Agreement about type and frequency of accounts 26
`15. An account from your solicitor or firm must be in the form agreed 27
to in this client agreement or must clearly set out all items of work done for 28
you and the amount charged for each item. 29
`16. This client agreement should state the intervals for giving you 30
accounts. 31
s 10 27 s 10
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`Advice if work includes litigation 1
`17. If the work involves or is likely to involve litigation, this client 2
agreement must include an explanation and estimate of the range of costs 3
you may recover from another party if you are successful or you may be 4
required to pay the other party if you are not successful. 5
`Agreement may be amended 6
`18. This agreement may be amended if you and your solicitor or firm 7
agree to the changes in writing. 8
`When client may be sued for outstanding fees or costs 9
`19. Generally, before your solicitor or firm may sue you for outstanding 10
fees or costs, more than 1 month must have passed from the time you were 11
given the account. 12
`20. However, your solicitor or firm may ask the court for permission to 13
sue before that time. 14
`Can a client be sued for outstanding fees or costs if the client has 15
applied to the Solicitors Complaints Tribunal for an assessment? 16
`21. Generally, your solicitor or firm may not sue you for an outstanding 17
account if you have applied to the Solicitors Complaints Tribunal for the 18
appointment of a costs assessor to assess the account and the assessment 19
has not concluded. 20
`22. However, your solicitor or firm may ask the court for permission to 21
sue. 22
`Other remedies 23
`23. You may have other remedies against your solicitor or firm 24
concerning this agreement or the work done under it. 25
`24. You may obtain independent legal advice about the remedies 26
available.'. 27
s 11 28 s 13
Civil Justice Reform Bill
ART 3--AMENDMENT OF SUPREME COURT 1
P
OF QUEENSLAND ACT 1991 2
amended in pt 3 3
Act
Clause 11. This part amends the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991. 4
of title 5
Amendment
Clause 12. Title, after `Queensland'-- 6
insert-- 7
`and, for certain matters including enforcement of money orders and 8
rules of court, relating to that court, the District Court and the Magistrates 9
Courts'. 10
and relocation of s 2 (Definitions) 11
Amendment
Clause 13.(1) Section 2, heading to `In this Act--'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`SCHEDULE 2 14
`DICTIONARY 15
section 2'. 16
(2) Section 2, definitions "court", "Supreme Court Acts" and 17
"Supreme Court jurisdiction Act"-- 18
omit. 19
(3) Section 2-- 20
insert-- 21
` "approved form" means a form approved by the rules committee under 22
s 13 29 s 13
Civil Justice Reform Bill
section 118A.12 1
"condition" includes term. 2
"court"-- 3
(a) for part 7, see section 72;13 and 4
(b) for part 9, see section 117;14 and 5
(c) otherwise, means the Supreme Court of Queensland. 6
"enforcement hearing" means a hearing to obtain information to facilitate 7
the enforcement of a money order. 8
"enforcement officer", for a court, means a sheriff, deputy sheriff or bailiff 9
of the court. 10
"enforcement warrant" means a warrant to enforce a money order (but 11
not an order for the payment of an amount into court). 12
"judicial registrar" means-- 13
(a) for the Supreme Court--a judicial registrar of the Supreme Court; 14
or 15
(b) for the District Court--a judicial registrar of the District Court. 16
"minor claim" means a claim for an amount, including interest, of not 17
more than $7 500, whether as a balance or after an admitted set off, 18
reduction by any amount paid by or credited to the defendant, 19
abandonment of any excess, or otherwise. 20
"minor debt claim" means a minor claim in which the plaintiff-- 21
(a) claims to recover against a defendant a debt or liquidated demand 22
in money, with or without interest; and 23
(b) elects in the claim to have it heard and decided in a Magistrates 24
Court under the simplified procedures in the Uniform Civil 25
Procedure Rules. 26
12 Section 118A (Rules committee may approve forms)
13 Part 7 (Provisions applying to Supreme Court, District Court and Magistrates
Courts), section 72 (Definition for pt 7)
14 Part 9 (Rules of court and practice directions for the Supreme Court, the District
Court and the Magistrates Courts), section 117 (Definition for pt 9)
s 13 30 s 13
Civil Justice Reform Bill
"money order" means an order for the payment of an amount, whether or 1
not the amount includes an amount for interest or costs and whether or 2
not the order provides for another form of relief. 3
"money order debt" means the amount payable under a money order. 4
"partnership" see the Partnership Act 1891, section 5.15 5
"person under a legal incapacity" means-- 6
(a) a person with impaired capacity; or 7
(b) a young person. 8
"person with impaired capacity" means a person who is not capable of 9
making the decisions required of a litigant for conducting proceedings 10
or who is deemed by an Act to be incapable of conducting 11
proceedings. 12
"practice list" means a list to which originating or other applications are 13
assigned for hearing or another purpose, including, for example, case 14
management. 15
"registrar"-- 16
(a) includes-- 17
(i) for the Supreme Court--a deputy registrar of the Supreme 18
Court; or 19
15 Partnership Act 1891, section 5--
`Definition of "partnership"
`5.(1) Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a
business in common with a view of profit.
`(2) But the relation between members of any company or association which is--
(a) registered as a company under the Companies Act 1863 or any other Act
of Parliament for the time being in force and relating to the registration of
joint stock companies; or
(b) formed or incorporated by or in pursuance of any other Act of Parliament
or letters patent, or Royal Charter;
is not a partnership within the meaning of this Act.
`(3) A limited partnership formed under the Mercantile Act 1867 or the Partnership
(Limited Liability) Act 1988 is a partnership within the meaning of this Act...'.
s 14 31 s 15
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(ii) for the District Court--a deputy registrar of the District 1
Court; and 2
(b) does not include a judicial registrar. 3
"rules committee" see section 118C.16 4
"trial judge", for a trial, means the judge before whom the trial takes place. 5
"young person" means an individual who is under 18 years.'. 6
(4) Section 2-- 7
relocate to after schedule 1 (as inserted by this Act). 8
of new s 2 9
Insertion
Clause 14. After section 1-- 10
insert-- 11
12
`Dictionary
`2. The dictionary in schedule 2 defines particular words used in this 13
Act.'. 14
of new pt 2, div 4 15
Insertion
Clause 15. Part 2, after section 27-- 16
insert-- 17
4--Judicial registrars 18
`Division
registrars 19
`Judicial
`27A.(1) The Governor in Council may appoint judicial registrars. 20
`(2) A person may be appointed as a judicial registrar only if the person 21
is a lawyer of at least 5 years standing. 22
`(3) A judicial registrar may be removed from office only by the 23
16 Section 118C (Rules Committee)
s 15 32 s 15
Civil Justice Reform Bill
Governor in Council for proven incapacity or misbehaviour. 1
`(4) A judicial registrar is an officer of the court. 2
of judicial registrars 3
`Independence
`27B. A judicial registrar when constituting the court17 or otherwise 4
exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial power is not subject to direction or 5
control, other than as provided under this Act.18 6
after judicial registrar's decision 7
`Rehearing
`27C.(1) A party to an application who is dissatisfied with a judicial 8
registrar's decision on the application may, with the leave of the court as 9
constituted by a Supreme Court judge, have the application reheard by the 10
court as constituted by a Supreme Court judge. 11
`(2) If the court grants leave, it may do so on condition, including, for 12
example, a condition about-- 13
(a) the evidence to be adduced; or 14
(b) the submissions to be presented; or 15
(c) the nature of the rehearing. 16
of appointment 17
`Conditions
`27D.(1) A judicial registrar is to be appointed under this Act and not 18
under the Public Service Act 1996. 19
`(2) A judicial registrar is to be paid the salary and allowances decided by 20
the Governor in Council. 21
`(3) A judicial registrar holds office on the conditions not provided for by 22
this Act decided by the Governor in Council. 23
`(4) The office of judicial registrar is not subject to any industrial award, 24
industrial agreement or other industrial instrument or any decision or rule of 25
17 See section 73 (Judicial registrar's power to hear and decide applications).
18 For example, see section 13A (Administrative responsibility of Chief Justice).
s 16 33 s 16
Civil Justice Reform Bill
an industrial tribunal. 1
`(5) When a judicial registrar is appointed, the judicial registrar's salary, 2
allowances and conditions are to be published in the gazette. 3
`(6) A judicial registrar's salary and allowances may not be reduced and 4
any change to the judicial registrar's salary, allowances or conditions must 5
be published in the gazette. 6
of judicial registrars 7
`Retirement
`27E. A judicial registrar must retire on reaching 70 years of age. 8
of rights 9
`Preservation
`27F.(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as a 10
judicial registrar. 11
`(2) The person retains all rights that have accrued to the person because 12
of employment as a public service officer, or that would accrue in the future 13
to the person because of that employment, as if service as a judicial registrar 14
were a continuation of service as a public service officer. 15
`(3) If the person stops being a judicial registrar on being appointed to an 16
office of the public service, the person's service as judicial registrar is to be 17
regarded as service of a like nature in the public service for deciding the 18
person's rights as a public service officer.'. 19
of s 56 (Single judge to constitute the court) 20
Amendment
Clause 16.(1) Section 56(3) and (4)-- 21
renumber as section 56(4) and (5). 22
(2) Section 56-- 23
insert-- 24
`(3) The court, including the court as constituted by a master or judicial 25
registrar, may be constituted at any place.'. 26
(3) Section 56(4), as renumbered, after `master'-- 27
s 17 34 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
insert-- 1
`, judicial registrar, registrar'. 2
of new pt 7 3
Insertion
Clause 17. After section 70-- 4
insert-- 5
`PART 7--PROVISIONS APPLYING TO SUPREME 6
COURT, DISTRICT COURT AND MAGISTRATES 7
COURTS 8
1--Preliminary 9
`Division
of pt 7 10
`Application
`71.(1) Unless this Act otherwise expressly provides, this part applies to 11
the Supreme Court, District Court and Magistrates Courts. 12
`(2) This part applies to civil proceedings and proceedings in relation to 13
contempt of court. 14
for pt 7 15
`Definition
`72. In this part-- 16
"court" means, if otherwise appropriate-- 17
(a) in the context of the Supreme Court--the Supreme Court; or 18
(b) in the context of the District Court--the District Court; or 19
(c) in the context of the Magistrates Courts--a Magistrates Court. 20
s 17 35 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
2--Procedural 1
`Division
`Subdivision 1--Constitution of court by judicial registrar 2
registrar's power to hear and decide applications 3
`Judicial
`73.(1) A judicial registrar may hear and decide an application prescribed 4
under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules for this section. 5
`(2) For those applications, the judicial registrar constitutes, and may 6
exercise all the jurisdiction and powers of, the court. 7
`(3) However, a judicial registrar may not exercise any power of the 8
court to punish for contempt. 9
`Subdivision 2--Removal of proceedings 10
to Supreme Court 11
`Removal
`74.(1) The Supreme Court may order a proceeding pending in a 12
Magistrates Court be transferred to the Supreme Court. 13
`(2) A transfer under subsection (1) may be subject to conditions. 14
to Magistrates Court 15
`Removal
`75.(1) The Supreme Court may transfer to a Magistrates Court a 16
proceeding pending in the Supreme Court that is within the jurisdiction of a 17
Magistrates Court. 18
`(2) If a proceeding is transferred to a Magistrates Court, that court has 19
the jurisdiction to make an order (including a judgment order) within its 20
competence and the order is enforceable in the same way as another order 21
made by a Magistrates Court. 22
osts 23
`C
`76. Unless the court orders otherwise, if a proceeding is transferred 24
s 17 36 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
under this division, costs are in accordance with the scale of costs for the 1
court in which the proceeding was pending when the costs were incurred. 2
3--Conferences 3
`Division
agreement 4
`Resolution
`77.(1) If, at a relevant conference, the parties agree on a resolution of 5
their dispute or part of it, the agreement must be written down and signed 6
by or for each party and the court. 7
`(2) The agreement has the same effect as another compromise. 8
`(3) In this section-- 9
"relevant conference" means-- 10
(a) a directions conference; or 11
(b) a conference required under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 12
because there is a claim for damages for personal injury or death. 13
14
`Confidentiality
`78.(1) Evidence of anything done or said, an admission made, or a 15
document tendered, at a relevant conference about a dispute is admissible at 16
the trial of the dispute or before another civil proceeding in the court or 17
elsewhere only if-- 18
(a) all the parties to the dispute agree; or 19
(b) the evidence is a resolution agreement under section 77. 20
`(2) In subsection (1)-- 21
"civil proceeding" does not include a civil proceeding founded on fraud 22
alleged to be connected with, or to have happened during, the 23
directions conference. 24
"relevant conference" means-- 25
(a) a directions conference; or 26
(b) a conference required under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 27
because there is a claim for damages for personal injury or death. 28
s 17 37 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`Division 4--Orders 1
power to make orders or give directions 2
`Court's
`79.(1) This section applies to a court in making an order or giving a 3
direction under this Act. 4
`(2) Unless otherwise stated in this Act, the court may make the order or 5
give the direction on its own initiative or on an application made to it under 6
this Act. 7
able to impose appropriate conditions 8
`Court
`80. If a court has power to make an order, give a direction or leave, or 9
do another thing, the court may make the order, give the direction or leave, 10
or do the other thing on the conditions19 the court considers appropriate. 11
for new cause of action or party 12
`Amendment
`81.(1) This section applies to an amendment of a claim, anything written 13
on a claim, pleadings, an application or another document in a proceeding. 14
`(2) The court may order an amendment to be made, or grant leave to a 15
party to make an amendment, even though-- 16
(a) the amendment will include or substitute a cause of action or add 17
a new party; or 18
(b) the cause of action included or substituted arose after the 19
proceeding was started; or 20
(c) a relevant period of limitation, current when the proceeding was 21
started, has ended. 22
`(3) This section applies despite the Limitation of Actions Act 1974. 23
binds persons who are represented 24
`Order
`82.(1) This section applies to an order made in a proceeding started and 25
19 "Condition" includes term--schedule 2 (Dictionary).
s 17 38 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
continued by or against 1 or more persons (the "representative party") 1
who have the same interest in the proceeding as representing all of the 2
persons who have the same interest and could have been parties in the 3
proceeding. 4
`(2) Unless the court orders otherwise, in addition to binding the parties 5
to the proceeding, the order binds the persons who have the same interest as 6
the representative party and could have been parties in the proceeding. 7
`(3) The order may be enforced against a person not named as a party 8
only with the court's leave. 9
orders 10
`Interpleader
`83.(1) On an application for relief by way of interpleader, the court may 11
do 1 or more of the following-- 12
(a) if a proceeding is pending against the applicant--order a claimant 13
be included as a defendant in the proceeding in addition to or in 14
substitution for the applicant; 15
(b) order a question between the claimants be stated and tried and 16
direct which of the claimants is to be the plaintiff and which the 17
defendant and give any necessary directions for the trial; 18
(c) order the applicant to pay or transfer all or any of the property in 19
dispute or the proceeds of sale into court or otherwise dispose of 20
the property or proceeds of sale; 21
(d) if a claimant claims to be entitled to any of the property by way of 22
security for a debt--make orders for the sale of all or part of the 23
property and for the application of the proceeds of sale; 24
(e) decide summarily a question of law or fact arising on the 25
application; 26
(f) make an order it considers appropriate, including a judgment 27
order finally disposing of all issues arising in the proceeding. 28
(2) If-- 29
(a) an application for relief by way of interpleader is made; and 30
(b) several proceedings are pending in the court for or about any or 31
all of the property in dispute; and 32
s 17 39 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(c) the court makes an order in any 2 or more of the proceedings; 1
the order is binding on all the parties to all the proceedings to which it 2
applies. 3
of default judgment order 4
`Effect
`84. A default judgment order recorded and issued by a registrar has the 5
same effect as if it were a judgment order made by the court. 6
of proceedings for want of prosecution 7
`Dismissal
`85.(1) This section applies to the District Court and Magistrates 8
Courts.20 9
`(2) If 2 years have passed since the last step was taken in a proceeding, 10
the court may dismiss the proceeding. 11
`(3) For this section, an application on which no order was made is taken 12
not to be a step. 13
`Division 5--Enforcement 14
1--Enforcement generally 15
`Subdivision
for compliance unnecessary 16
`Demand
`86.(1) It is not necessary to demand compliance with an order before 17
starting enforcement proceedings for the order. 18
`(2) If, under an Act, the rules or an order of the court, an order must be 19
served on an enforcement debtor before the order may be enforced against 20
the enforcement debtor, the order may be served without a demand for 21
compliance. 22
20 The Supreme Court has inherent power to dismiss proceedings for want of
prosecution.
s 17 40 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
recoverable on enforcement 1
`Interest
`87. The rate of interest payable on a money order debt is the rate set 2
under the Supreme Court Act 1995, section 48,21 or, if the parties agree to a 3
higher rate of interest, the higher rate. 4
of order in partnership name 5
`Variation
`88. Despite section 89, the court may vary an order against a partnership 6
in the partnership name to make it an order against the persons who were 7
partners when the cause of action arose. 8
against partnership 9
`Enforcement
`89.(1) An order against partners suing or sued in the name of the 10
partnership may be enforced against any 1 or more of the following-- 11
(a) partnership property; 12
(b) a partner who filed a notice of intention to defend; 13
(c) a person who has admitted being a partner; 14
(d) a person who the court has decided is a partner; 15
(e) a person who has been individually served as a partner with the 16
originating process and who has not filed a notice of intention to 17
defend. 18
`(2) This section has effect subject to the Partnership (Limited Liability) 19
Act 1988, section 21.22 20
21 Section 48 (Interest on debt under judgment or order)
22 Partnership (Limited Liability) Act 1988, section 21--
`Legal proceedings
`21.(1) Legal proceedings other than proceedings in relation to an offence may be
brought by or against the partners in a limited partnership in the firm name in which
the partnership is registered under this Act.
`(2) Action by way of execution under or enforcement of a judgment obtained in
an action against a limited partnership sued in its firm name shall not be taken
against the property or person of a limited partner in the partnership except with the
prior leave of the Supreme Court.'.
s 17 41 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of order in business name 1
`Variation
`90. Despite section 91, the court may vary an order, in relation to a 2
business, made in the name or style under which 1 or more persons carry 3
on the business (whether or not the name or style is registered under the 4
Business Names Act 1962), to make it an order against a person carrying on 5
the business. 6
against property of a business 7
`Enforcement
`91.(1) This section applies if-- 8
(a) a proceeding is brought against a person in relation to a business 9
carried on by the person under a name or style other than the 10
person's own name (whether or not the name or style is 11
registered under the Business Names Act 1962); and 12
(b) the proceeding is started in the name or style under which the 13
person carries on business; and 14
(c) the proceeding is continued by the court's leave. 15
`(2) An order in the proceeding may be enforced against any property of 16
the person carrying on the business. 17
2--Enforcement warrants 18
`Subdivision
of enforcement warrant 19
`Period
`92. An enforcement warrant ends 1 year after it issues unless the 20
warrant states that it ends at an earlier time. 21
under enforcement warrant 22
`Payment
`93. A payment under an enforcement warrant discharges the person 23
making the payment to the extent of the payment. 24
warrant 25
`Enforcement
`93A.(1) To enforce a money order (but not an order for the payment of 26
s 17 42 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
money into court), an enforcement creditor must obtain a warrant from the 1
court. 2
`(2) An enforcement warrant may contain any order directed to enforcing 3
a money order including an order authorising-- 4
(a) an enforcement officer to seize and sell in satisfaction of the 5
money order debt all real and personal property (other than 6
property exempted under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules) in 7
which an enforcement debtor has a legal or beneficial interest; or 8
(b) redirection to an enforcement creditor of certain debts, belonging 9
to an enforcement debtor, from a third person; or 10
(c) redirection to an enforcement creditor of particular earnings, of an 11
enforcement debtor, from a third person; or 12
(d) satisfaction of the money order debt by instalment payments by 13
an enforcement debtor. 14
`(3) However, only the Supreme Court may issue an enforcement 15
warrant containing a charging order. 16
`(4) In this section-- 17
"charging order" includes an order charging all or part of an enforcement 18
debtor's legal or equitable interest in 1 or more of the following-- 19
(a) annuities; 20
(b) debentures; 21
(c) stocks; 22
(d) bonds; 23
(e) shares; 24
(f) marketable securities; 25
(g) prescribed interests; 26
(h) units of shares, marketable securities or prescribed interests. 27
held by enforcement officer 28
`Securities
`93B.(1) An enforcement officer holds seized cheques, bills of exchange, 29
promissory notes, specialties or other securities for money ("seized 30
s 17 43 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
documents") as security for the amount to be recovered under the 1
enforcement warrant, for the benefit of the enforcement creditor. 2
`(2) The enforcement officer may receive an amount payable under a 3
seized document from the person liable under it. 4
`(3) The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules may make provision about 5
proceedings to recover amounts under a seized document, including who 6
may start a proceeding. 7
of joint funds 8
`Redirection
`93C.(1) This section applies if the debt belonging to the enforcement 9
debtor is a fund of money owned by the enforcement debtor and others 10
(a "joint fund"). 11
`(2) An enforcement warrant may authorise redirection to an 12
enforcement creditor of a joint fund to the extent of the enforcement 13
debtor's entitlement. 14
`(3) Unless, on application of a fund owner or enforcement creditor, the 15
court decides the actual beneficial entitlement of each fund owner, it is 16
presumed a joint fund is owned by the fund owners in equal shares. 17
debts 18
`State
`93D.(1) If the debt belonging to an enforcement debtor is from a public 19
sector unit and payable out of public accounts (a "State debt"), an 20
application for an enforcement warrant and the enforcement warrant must 21
name the chief executive, by title, of the public sector unit as the third 22
person in whose hands the State debt is redirected. 23
`(2) Subsection (1) applies despite the Crown Proceedings Act 1980, 24
section 823. 25
`(3) In this section-- 26
23 The Crown Proceedings Act 1980, section 8(1)--
`Subject to this Act and any other Act or law, a claim by or against the Crown
may be made and enforced by a proceeding by or against the Crown under the title
the `State of Queensland'.'.
s 17 44 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
"public accounts" see Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, 1
section 10.24 2
"public sector unit" means any of the following-- 3
(a) a department or part of a department; 4
(b) a public service office or part of a public service office; 5
(c) an agency, authority, commission, corporation, instrumentality, 6
office, or other entity, established under an Act or under State 7
authorisation for a public or State purpose; 8
(d) a part of an entity mentioned in paragraph (c). 9
of partnership debts 10
`Redirection
`93E. A court may issue an enforcement warrant authorising redirection 11
to an enforcement creditor of certain debts, belonging to an enforcement 12
debtor, from a partnership carrying on business in Queensland even if a 13
partner resides outside Queensland. 14
with financial institution 15
`Account
`93F.(1) An amount standing to the credit of an enforcement debtor in an 16
account in a financial institution is, for enforcing a money order, a debt 17
payable to the enforcement debtor, even if any of the following conditions 18
applicable to the account have not been satisfied-- 19
(a) a condition requiring a demand or notice to be made before an 20
amount is withdrawn; 21
(b) a condition requiring a personal application to be made before an 22
amount is withdrawn; 23
(c) a condition requiring the production of a deposit book or a receipt 24
for an amount deposited in the account before an amount is 25
24 The Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, section 10(1)--
`The public accounts are to be kept by the Treasurer and are to consist of--
(a) the consolidated fund;
(b) the trust and special funds.'.
s 17 45 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
withdrawn; 1
(d) a similar condition. 2
`(2) Subsection (1) applies, with any changes necessary, to an amount 3
that is placed to the credit of an enforcement debtor in an account in a 4
financial institution between the date of the enforcement warrant ordering 5
the redirection and any hearing deciding the validity of the warrant. 6
against the third person 7
`Enforcement
`93G.(1) If a third person-- 8
(a) does not comply with an enforcement warrant authorising 9
redirection of a debt from the third person; and 10
(b) does not file a notice of objection; and 11
(c) fails to dispute his or her liability to pay the debt; 12
the enforcement creditor has the same entitlement to enforce the debt as the 13
enforcement debtor had. 14
`(2) To remove any doubt, it is declared that if the debt is a State debt 15
under section 93D,25 the Crown Proceedings Act 1980, section 11 16
applies.26 17
`Subdivision 3--Offences 18
protection if enforcement warrant for redirection of 19
`Employment
earnings 20
`93H. An employer must not dismiss an employee, or otherwise 21
prejudice an employee in his or her employment, because an enforcement 22
warrant authorising redirection of the employee's earnings has been made. 23
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 24
25 Section 93D (State debts)
26 Section 11 (Satisfaction of judgment)
s 17 46 s 17
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`Division 6--Miscellaneous 1
if grant of representation when originating process issues 2
`Proceeding
`93I. If-- 3
(a) an originating process names as a defendant or respondent a 4
person who is dead when the originating process issues; and 5
(b) the cause of action survives the person's death; and 6
(c) a grant of representation had been made when the originating 7
process issues; 8
then, unless the court orders otherwise, the proceeding is taken to be against 9
the person's personal representative in the personal representative's capacity 10
as personal representative of the person's estate. 11
if no grant of representation when originating process 12
`Proceeding
issues 13
`93J.(1) If-- 14
(a) an originating process names as a defendant or respondent a 15
person who is dead when the originating process issues; and 16
(b) the cause of action survives the person's death; and 17
(c) a grant of representation has not been made when the originating 18
process issues; 19
the proceeding is taken to have been brought against the person's estate. 20
`(2) However, if a grant of representation is made after the originating 21
process issues, then, unless the court orders otherwise, the proceeding is 22
afterwards taken to be against the person's personal representative in the 23
personal representative's capacity as personal representative of the person's 24
estate. 25
`(3) Even if a grant of representation has not been made when an order is 26
made in the proceeding, the order binds the estate to the same extent as if a 27
grant had been made and a personal representative of the deceased had been 28
a party to the proceeding.'. 29
s 18 47 s 20
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of new pt 8B 1
Insertion
Clause 18. After section 116G-- 2
insert-- 3
`PART 8B--PROVISION FROM LEGAL 4
PRACTITIONERS ACT 1995 5
6
`Relocation
`116H.(1) To remove any doubt, it is declared that the provision 7
relocated to this part is not repealed or re-enacted by its relocation, but 8
merely moved from the Legal Practitioners Act 1995. 9
`(2) Without limiting subsection (1) and to further remove any doubt, it 10
is also declared that the relocation to this Act of the relocated provision does 11
not affect the meaning or effect the relocated provision had because of the 12
time when it was enacted.27'. 13
of pt 9 heading (Rules of court) 14
Replacement
Clause 19. Part 9 heading-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
ART 9--RULES OF COURT AND PRACTICE 17
`P
DIRECTIONS FOR THE SUPREME COURT, THE 18
DISTRICT COURT AND THE MAGISTRATES 19
COURTS'. 20
of s 117 (Rule making power) 21
Replacement
Clause 20. Section 117-- 22
omit, insert-- 23
27 The Legal Practitioners Act 1995, section 40 (Revival of order for payment of
costs) is relocated as section 116I by the Civil Justice Reform Act 1998.
s 20 48 s 20
Civil Justice Reform Bill
for pt 9 1
`Definition
`117. In this part-- 2
"court" means, if otherwise appropriate-- 3
(a) in the context of the Supreme Court--the Supreme Court; or 4
(b) in the context of the District Court--the District Court; or 5
(c) in the context of the Magistrates Courts--a Magistrates Court. 6
power 7
`Rule-making
`118.(1) The Governor in Council may make rules of court under this 8
Act for-- 9
(a) the practices and procedures of the Supreme Court, the District 10
Court or the Magistrates Courts or their registries or another 11
matter mentioned in schedule 1;28 or 12
(b) the admission of barristers or solicitors; or 13
(c) appeals from the Mental Health Tribunal; or 14
(d) any law giving jurisdiction to the Supreme Court, the District 15
Court or the Magistrates Courts, including a law of the 16
Commonwealth. 17
`(2) A rule may only be made with the consent of the rules committee. 18
`(3) Rules of court (other than rules for a matter mentioned in subsection 19
(1)(b) or (1)(c) or a matter relevant to criminal jurisdiction or criminal 20
proceedings, other than proceedings in relation to contempt of court) are to 21
be called the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules. 22
committee may approve forms 23
`Rules
`118A. The rules committee may approve forms for use under this Act.'. 24
28 Schedule 1 (Subject matter for rules)
s 21 49 s 21
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of new ss 118B118C 1
Insertion
Clause 21. Part 9, after section 117-- 2
insert-- 3
rules are exempt from RIS requirements and automatic expiry 4
`Court
`118B.(1) The Statutory Instruments Act 1992, parts 5 and 729 do not 5
apply to rules of court. 6
`(2) However-- 7
(a) the following rules of court expire on 1 July 1998-- 8
(i) Repealing Rules 1900; 9
(ii) Rules Relating to the Admission of Conveyancers; and 10
(b) the following rules of court expire on 31 December 1998-- 11
(i) Rules of the Supreme Court; 12
(ii) Criminal Practice Rules 1900; 13
(iii) Supreme Court (Admiralty) Rules 1988; 14
(iv) Rules under and in pursuance of the Reciprocal Enforcement 15
of Judgments Act 1959; 16
(v) District Court Rules 1968; 17
(vi) Magistrates Courts Rules 1960. 18
`(3) Also, to remove any doubt, it is declared that the Uniform Civil 19
Procedure Rules may repeal any of the rules of court mentioned in 20
subsection (2)(b). 21
`(4) In this section-- 22
"rules of court" see Statutory Instruments Act 1992, section 12.30 23
29 Parts 5 (Guidelines for regulatory impact statements) and 7 (Staged automatic
expiry of subordinate legislation)
30 ` "Rules of court", in relation to a court or tribunal, are rules made by the
person or body having power to make rules regulating the practice and procedure
of the court or tribunal.'.
s 22 50 s 22
Civil Justice Reform Bill
Committee 1
`Rules
`118C.(1) The Chief Justice is to establish a Rules Committee consisting 2
of the following members-- 3
(a) the Chief Justice, or a Supreme Court judge nominated by the 4
Chief Justice; 5
(b) the President or a judge of appeal nominated by the President; 6
(c) 2 Supreme Court judges nominated by the Chief Justice; 7
(d) the Chief Judge or a District Court judge nominated by the Chief 8
Judge; 9
(e) a District Court judge nominated by the Chief Judge; 10
(f) the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate or a magistrate nominated by the 11
Chief Stipendiary Magistrate; 12
(g) a magistrate nominated by the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate. 13
`(2) The rules committee-- 14
(a) must advise the Minister about the repeal, reform or relocation of 15
the provisions of the Supreme Court Act 1995; and 16
(b) may advise the Minister about any law giving jurisdiction to the 17
Supreme Court, the District Court or the Magistrates Courts; and 18
(c) has the other functions and powers given to it under this Act or 19
another Act. 20
`(3) The rules committee may conduct its business and proceedings at 21
meetings in the way it decides. 22
`(4) However, the chairperson of the rules committee has a deliberative 23
vote and, in the event of an equality of votes, a casting vote.'. 24
of new ss 118D118E 25
Insertion
Clause 22. Part 9, after section 118C-- 26
insert-- 27
directions 28
`Practice
`118D.(1) To remove any doubt, it is declared that a practice direction is 29
s 23 51 s 23
Civil Justice Reform Bill
not subordinate legislation. 1
`(2) The appropriate person of a court may make practice directions for 2
the court about-- 3
(a) case management; or 4
(b) for the Supreme Court or District Court--applications exempted 5
from the rules of court dealing with decisions made by the court 6
on written material and submissions without the parties attending. 7
`(3) Subsection (2) does not limit any inherent or other power of a court 8
or judge to make practice directions. 9
`(4) In this section-- 10
"appropriate person", of a court, means-- 11
(a) for the Supreme Court--the Chief Justice; or 12
(b) for the District Court--the Chief Judge; or 13
(c) for the Magistrates Courts--the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate. 14
or orders about a proceeding 15
`Directions
`118E.(1) To the extent that the conduct of a proceeding is not provided 16
for by rules of court or practice directions, the court may make the orders 17
and give the directions it considers appropriate for the conduct of the 18
proceeding. 19
`(2) In making an order or giving a direction, the court may have regard 20
to practices and procedures of the court, including rules of the court, in force 21
before the commencement of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules. 22
`(3) This section does not limit any inherent or other power of a court or 23
judge to control proceedings.'. 24
of s 120 (Regulation-making power) 25
Amendment
Clause 23. Section 120-- 26
insert-- 27
`(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Governor in Council may make 28
regulations under this Act for the following matters-- 29
s 24 52 s 24
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(a) to prescribe fees and costs for the Supreme Court, District Court 1
or Magistrates Courts (the "courts"); 2
(b) to provide how fees, costs and fines are to be received and dealt 3
with in the courts; 4
(c) to provide for electronic representations or equivalents of seals, 5
stamps and signatures for the courts; 6
(d) a matter that the Supreme Court Act 1995 states may be 7
prescribed.'. 8
of new ss 128137 9
Insertion
Clause 24. After section 127-- 10
insert-- 11
distinction between court and chambers for Supreme Court, 12
`No
District Court and Magistrates Courts 13
`128.(1) This section applies to the Supreme Court, District Court and 14
Magistrates Courts. 15
`(2) The distinction between court and chambers is abolished. 16
`(3) The business of the court, wherever it is conducted, is taken to be 17
conducted in court. 18
of old enforcement processes 19
`Abolition
`129.(1) All writs in aid of enforcement are abolished. 20
`(2) For a law in force immediately before the commencement of this 21
section that expressly or impliedly refers to a writ in aid of enforcement, the 22
reference is taken to be a reference to the equivalent enforcement warrant 23
under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules if the context permits. 24
`(3) For a law in force immediately before commencement that expressly 25
or impliedly refers to a third person order nisi, third person order absolute 26
or instalment order or an order subsequent to those orders, the reference is 27
taken to be a reference to the equivalent enforcement warrant within the 28
meaning of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules if the context permits. 29
`(4) This section does not affect the validity of a writ in aid of 30
s 24 53 s 24
Civil Justice Reform Bill
enforcement issued before commencement. 1
`(5) In this section-- 2
"writ in aid of enforcement" includes a writ of capias ad respondendum, 3
writ of capias ad satisfaciendum, writ of elegit, writ or warrant of 4
execution, writ of fieri facias, writ of ne exeat colonia or a writ 5
subsequent to those writs as a procedure of enforcement. 6
references 7
`Outdated
`130.(1) In an Act or document, in the context of the Supreme Court and 8
if otherwise appropriate, a reference to a thing mentioned in column 1 of the 9
following table is taken to be a reference to the corresponding thing in 10
column 2 of the table-- 11
TABLE 12
Column 1 Column 2
writ of summons claim
notice of motion, motion, petition application 13
or originating summons
entry of appearance notice of intention to defend
chambers court
action, cause or matter proceeding
rules of the Supreme Court or Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 14
Rules of the Supreme Court
`(2) In an Act or document, in the context of the District Court or a 15
Magistrates Court and if otherwise appropriate, a reference to a thing 16
mentioned in column 1 of the following table is taken to be a reference to 17
the corresponding thing in column 2 of the table-- 18
TABLE 19
Column 1 Column 2
plaint or plaint and summons claim
chambers court
s 24 54 s 24
Civil Justice Reform Bill
action proceeding
District Court Rules 1968 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules
Magistrates Courts Rules 1960 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules
to judgment 1
`References
`131. In an Act or document, in the context of a court's civil jurisdiction 2
and if otherwise appropriate, a reference to a judgment, giving judgment or 3
entering judgment is taken to be a reference to a judgment order, making a 4
judgment order or the recording and issuing of a judgment order by the 5
court's registry. 6
registrar may exercise certain judicial or quasi-judicial power 7
`Judicial
of registrar 8
`132. If-- 9
(a) a provision of an Act provides for the exercise of a judicial or 10
quasi-judicial power by a registrar of the Supreme Court or 11
District Court; and 12
(b) the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules provide that the power may 13
be exercised by a judicial registrar of the court; 14
the power may be exercised by the registrar or the judicial registrar. 15
to taxation of costs 16
`References
`133. In an Act or document, in the context of a court and if otherwise 17
appropriate-- 18
(a) a reference to taxation of costs by the Supreme Court taxing 19
officer or an officer of another court may be taken to be a 20
reference to assessment of costs by a registrar of the court 21
approved, under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, to assess 22
costs; and 23
(b) a reference to a particular basis of taxation, for example, taxation 24
on a party and party basis, may be taken to be a reference to the 25
s 24 55 s 24
Civil Justice Reform Bill
basis of taxation specified under the Uniform Civil Procedure 1
Rules as the equivalent basis of taxation. 2
to prevail over Supreme Court Act 1995 3
`Act
`134.(1) If a provision of the Supreme Court Act 1995 is inconsistent 4
with this Act, this Act prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. 5
`(2) In this section-- 6
"inconsistency" includes-- 7
(a) direct inconsistency; and 8
(b) covering the field inconsistency. 9
"this Act" includes the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules made under this 10
Act. 11
of Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 12
`Application
`135.(1) On the commencement of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, 13
those rules apply to the next step or application in a proceeding pending in 14
the Supreme Court, District Court or a Magistrates Court that can 15
reasonably be taken in compliance with those rules. 16
`(2) If a difficulty arises in the application of subsection (1) to a particular 17
proceeding in a court, the court may, on application by a party or on its own 18
initiative, make an order it considers appropriate to resolve the difficulty. 19
of Circuit Courts 20
`Transitional--abolition
`136.(1) On the commencement of this section-- 21
(a) an order made by a Circuit Court continues to have effect as an 22
order of the Supreme Court; and 23
(b) anything done or existing in relation to a previous Circuit Court 24
continues, and is taken to be done or existing in relation to the 25
Supreme Court; and 26
(c) a process pending in a previous Circuit Court is to be continued in 27
the Supreme Court. 28
s 24 56 s 24
Civil Justice Reform Bill
`(2) In an Act, other than the Supreme Court Act 1995, or another 1
document, if the context permits, a reference to Circuit Courts or a Circuit 2
Court is taken to be a reference to the Supreme Court. 3
`(3) However, this section does not apply if its application would limit 4
the jurisdiction or power of the Supreme Court in any way. 5
of former court rules--Civil Justice Reform Act 1998 6
`Saving
`137. A rule in force immediately before the commencement of this 7
section that was made under section 117,31 as in force immediately before 8
the commencement-- 9
(a) is taken to be made under section 118,32 as inserted by the Civil 10
Justice Reform Act 1998;33 and 11
(b) is not part of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules.34'. 12
31 Section 117 (Rule making power)
32 Section 118 (Rule-making power)
33 This includes the following rules--
· Criminal Practice Rules 1900
· Solicitors' Admission Rules 1968
· Barristers' Admission Rules 1975
· General (Appeals Against Decisions of the Mental Health Tribunal) Rules
1986
34 See also section 118B (Court rules are exempt from RIS requirements and
automatic expiry), particularly subsection (2).
s 25 57 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
of schs 12 1
Replacement
Clause 25. Schedules 1 and 2-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`SCHEDULE 1 4
UBJECT MATTER FOR RULES 5
`S
section 118 6
ART 1--GENERAL 7
`P
generally 8
`Jurisdiction
`1. Jurisdiction of the courts, including civil, criminal and any appellate 9
jurisdiction. 10
ART 2--CIVIL PROCEEDINGS 11
`P
civil proceedings 12
`Starting
`2. Starting civil proceedings in the courts, including, for example, the 13
following-- 14
(a) originating process; 15
(b) where to start proceedings; 16
(c) for the Supreme Court--cross-vesting of jurisdiction. 17
and proceedings 18
`Parties
`3. Parties and proceedings, including, for example, the following-- 19
(a) several causes of action and parties in a civil proceeding, 20
including reconstitution of proceedings and representative parties; 21
s 25 58 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(b) multiple civil proceedings; 1
(c) interpleader orders; 2
(d) civil proceedings by or against a business or person under a legal 3
incapacity; 4
(e) third party procedure. 5
of intention to defend 6
`Notices
`4. Notices of intention to defend in civil proceedings. 7
of documents 8
`Service
`5. Service of documents for civil proceedings, including, for example, 9
the following-- 10
(a) the various types of service, including personal service and 11
ordinary service; 12
(b) service outside Australia and service of foreign legal process in 13
Queensland. 14
15
`Pleadings
`6. Pleadings, including, for example, the following-- 16
(a) matters in pleadings and particulars; 17
(b) progress of pleadings; 18
(c) particular pleadings, including statements of claim and 19
counterclaims. 20
21
`Disclosure
`7. In civil proceedings-- 22
(a) disclosure by parties, including disclosure and inspection of 23
documents and interrogatories; or 24
(b) non-party disclosure; or 25
(c) admissions; or 26
s 25 59 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(d) disclosure of experts' reports and other material to which legal 1
professional privilege may attach, including by direction or order 2
of the court. 3
of rights and property 4
`Preservation
`8. Preservation of rights and property in civil proceedings, including, for 5
example, the following-- 6
(a) inspection, detention and preservation of property; 7
(b) for the Supreme Court and the District Court-- 8
(i) injunctions, including Mareva injunctions and Anton Piller 9
orders; or 10
(ii) receivers; or 11
(iii) sales by court order. 12
proceedings early 13
`Ending
`9. Ending civil proceedings early, including, for example, the 14
following-- 15
(a) ending proceedings because of default; 16
(b) summary decisions; 17
(c) discontinuance and withdrawal; 18
(d) alternative dispute resolution processes, including, for example, 19
the following-- 20
(i) experience and qualifications for approval as a mediator or 21
case appraiser; 22
(ii) persons who must pay ADR costs and the way, and time 23
within which, ADR costs are to be paid; 24
(iii) jurisdiction of a case appraiser at a case appraisal; 25
(iv) ability of a mediator or case appraiser to seek independent 26
advice or information; 27
(v) time within which an ADR process should be finished 28
(which may be a time specified by the court); 29
s 25 60 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
(vi) conduct of an ADR process; 1
(vii) confidentiality of a mediated agreement or case appraiser's 2
decision; 3
(viii)applying procedures and other matters similar to those 4
applying to arbitrations under the Commercial Arbitration 5
Act 1990; 6
(ix) imposing penalties against a party who fails to cooperate in 7
an ADR process; 8
(e) offers to settle and payments by defendants; 9
(f) the referral of cases to arbitration. 10
supervision 11
`Court
`10. Court supervision of civil proceedings, including, for example, the 12
following-- 13
(a) directions about the conduct of proceedings; 14
(b) consequences of failing to comply with rules, directions or court 15
orders; 16
(c) amendments, both with and without leave; 17
(d) continuation of proceedings after delay. 18
19
`Evidence
`11. The taking of evidence generally, including, for example, the 20
following-- 21
(a) the way evidence may be given; 22
(b) dispensing with the rules of evidence; 23
(c) taking evidence out of court; 24
(d) taking evidence for future claims; 25
(e) subpoenas; 26
(f) expert evidence, including court experts; 27
(g) affidavits and the exchange of correspondence instead of affidavit 28
s 25 61 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
evidence; 1
(h) the obtaining of evidence by the court, including, for example, the 2
calling of witnesses. 3
of judicial registrars and registrars 4
`Jurisdiction
`12. Jurisdiction of judicial registrars and registrars. 5
and other hearings 6
`Trials
`13. Trials and other hearings of civil proceedings, including, for 7
example, the following-- 8
(a) practice lists; 9
(b) listing applications for hearing and setting trial dates; 10
(c) the conduct of trials; 11
(d) decisions without pleadings or without hearings; 12
(e) separate decisions on questions; 13
(f) assessors and special referees; 14
(g) assessment of damages; 15
(h) simplified procedures for minor debt claims and other claims. 16
proceedings 17
`Particular
`14. Particular civil proceedings, including, for example, the following-- 18
(a) the taking of accounts; 19
(b) proceedings for damages for personal injury or death; 20
(c) the payment of amounts into court; 21
(d) for the Supreme Court-- 22
(i) judicial review proceedings; or 23
(ii) proceedings for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus. 24
s 25 62 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
1
`Probate
`15. For the Supreme Court, probate, including, for example, the 2
following-- 3
(a) applications for grants of probate or letters of administration and 4
the documents required; 5
(b) resealing grants; 6
(c) proceedings under the Public Trustee Act 1978; 7
(d) caveats objecting to grants, orders to administer or resealing of 8
grants; 9
(e) contested proceedings. 10
of court 11
`Contempt
`16. Contempt of court, including contempt of the court as constituted by 12
a judicial registrar, and proceedings for failure to comply with an order, 13
other than an order for the payment of an amount. 14
15
`Trusts
`17. For the Supreme Court, trusts. 16
osts 17
`C
`18. Costs in civil proceedings, including, for example, the following-- 18
(a) security for costs; 19
(b) entitlement to recover costs of a proceeding; 20
(c) costs of a party in a proceeding; 21
(d) assessment of costs, including-- 22
(i) powers of registrars to assess costs; or 23
(ii) procedures; or 24
(iii) review of assessments. 25
s 25 63 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
applications and cases stated to Court of Appeal 1
`Appeals,
`19. Appeals, applications and cases stated to the Court of Appeal. 2
of money orders 3
`Enforcement
`20. Enforcement of money orders, including, for example, the 4
following-- 5
(a) enforcement hearings; 6
(b) enforcement warrants, including-- 7
(i) enforcement warrants for seizure and sale of property; or 8
(ii) enforcement warrants for redirection of debts or earnings; or 9
(iii) enforcement warrants for payment of the money order debt 10
by instalments; or 11
(iv) for the Supreme Court--enforcement warrants for charging 12
orders and stop orders; 13
(c) powers of enforcement officers. 14
enforcement of foreign judgments 15
`Reciprocal
`21. The reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments, including under a 16
Commonwealth law. 17
18
`Corporations
`22. Any law, including a Commonwealth law, under which the 19
Supreme Court exercises jurisdiction in relation to corporations or similar 20
entities. 21
matters 22
`Miscellaneous
`23. The following matters-- 23
(a) documents filed in the registries; 24
(b) filing, receipt, service, issue or transmission electronically of 25
approved forms and other documents and material for use in, or 26
s 25 64 s 25
Civil Justice Reform Bill
in connection with, proceedings, including, electronic 1
representations or equivalents of seals, stamps and signatures and 2
their validity; 3
(c) the functions of the registries generally; 4
(d) the rules applicable to solicitors acting for parties in proceedings 5
in the court; 6
(e) transitional arrangements. 7
`PART 3--CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS 8
and procedure in criminal jurisdiction 9
`Practice
`24. Practice and procedure in the courts' criminal jurisdiction (including 10
any appellate jurisdiction) generally, including, for example, the 11
following-- 12
(a) forms for proceedings; 13
(b) applications; 14
(c) practitioners' and court's duties; 15
(d) pre-trial matters, including, for example, subpoenas and pre-trial 16
directions and rulings; 17
(e) regulating trial proceedings; 18
(g) evidence; 19
(h) the custody and inspection of exhibits; 20
(i) the recording of proceedings and access to the records; 21
(j) appeals, including, appeals to the Court of Appeal and the District 22
Court; 23
(k) listing trials, sentences, applications and appeals for hearing, and 24
setting hearing dates; 25
(l) filing, receipt, service, issue or transmission electronically of 26
forms and other documents and material for use in, or in 27
s 26 65 s 27
Civil Justice Reform Bill
connection with, proceedings, including, electronic 1
representations or equivalents of seals, stamps and signatures and 2
their validity.'. 3
ART 4--MISCELLANEOUS 4
P
Claims Tribunals Act 1973 amended in sch 1 5
Small
Clause 26. Schedule 1 amends the Small Claims Tribunals Act 1973. 6
amended in sch 2 7
Acts
Clause 27. Schedule 2 amends the Acts mentioned in it. 8
9
66
Civil Justice Reform Bill
CHEDULE 1 1
¡S
MENDMENTS OF MALL CLAIMS TRIBUNALS 2
A ´S
ACT 1973 3
section 26 4
1. Title, `small claims tribunals' to `those tribunals'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`the small claims tribunal, to define the jurisdiction of the tribunal'. 7
2. Section 1, `Tribunals'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`Tribunal'. 10
3. Section 2-- 11
omit. 12
4. Section 4(1)-- 13
insert-- 14
` "central registry" see section 13(2).'. 15
5. Section 4(1), definition "claimant", `a small claims tribunal'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`the small claims tribunal'. 18
67
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
6. Section 4(1), definition "prescribed amount", `$5 000'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`$7 500'. 3
7. Section 4(1), definition "referee", `small claims tribunals pursuant 4
to'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`the small claims tribunal under'. 7
8. Section 4(1), definition "registrar", `small claims tribunals'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`the small claims tribunal'. 10
9. Section 4(1), definition "registry", from `small'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`the small claims tribunal.'. 13
10. Section 4(1), definition "respondent", `a small claims tribunal'-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`the small claims tribunal'. 16
11. Section 4(1), definition "small claims tribunal"-- 17
omit. 18
12. Section 4(1), definition "tenancy application", `a small'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`the small'. 21
68
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
13. Section 4(1)-- 1
insert-- 2
` "tribunal" means the small claims tribunal.'. 3
14. Part 2 heading, division 1, division 2 heading and sections 11 4
and 12-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`PART 2--SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNAL 7
`Division 1--The tribunal 8
`Establishment of the small claims tribunal 9
`5. The small claims tribunal is established. 10
`Members and constitution of tribunal 11
`6.(1) The members of the small claims tribunal are magistrates and 12
other persons who are appointed as referees under this Act. 13
`(2) The tribunal is constituted by a referee sitting as a referee in its 14
tenancy division or its general division.35 15
`Where the tribunal may be held 16
`7.(1) The tribunal may be constituted at any place. 17
`(2) The tribunal may sit in more than 1 place at the same time. 18
35 See section 9 (Divisions of the tribunal).
69
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
`Division 1A--Tenancy claims administrator 1
`Tenancy claims administrator 2
`8.(1) There is to be a tenancy claims administrator. 3
`(2) The tenancy claims administrator must be a magistrate and must be 4
appointed as the administrator by the Governor in Council. 5
`(3) A person qualified to be appointed as a magistrate may be appointed 6
as the tenancy claims administrator at the time of the person's appointment 7
as a magistrate. 8
`(4) To avoid any doubt, the tenancy claims administrator continues to 9
hold office as a magistrate during the administrator's term of appointment. 10
`(5) The Governor in Council may revoke the administrator's 11
appointment at any time. 12
`(6) Revocation of the administrator's appointment under subsection (5) 13
does not affect the person's appointment as a magistrate. 14
`(7) The remuneration and conditions of the tenancy claims administrator 15
are to be the same as the remuneration and conditions of a magistrate. 16
`Division 1B--Divisions of the tribunal 17
`Divisions of the tribunal 18
`9. The tribunal is divided into 2 divisions, namely, the tenancy division 19
and the general division. 20
`Administration of tenancy division 21
`10.(1) The tribunal's tenancy division is to be administered by the 22
tenancy claims administrator. 23
`(2) In particular, the tenancy claims administrator is responsible for-- 24
(a) ensuring the orderly and expeditious exercise of the tribunal's 25
jurisdiction and power in the division; and 26
70
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
(b) in consultation with the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate, assigning 1
referees to sittings of the tribunal in its tenancy division 2
throughout the State; and 3
(c) the making of practice directions about the conduct of 4
proceedings in the tenancy division, including case management 5
guidelines for the conduct of proceedings in the division; and 6
(d) the development and delivery of legal education programs about 7
tenancy law for referees; and 8
(e) supervising the work, to the extent the work relates to the 9
administration of the division, of-- 10
(i) referees, other than referees who are magistrates; and 11
(ii) the registrar and staff of the central registry; and 12
(f) monitoring the operation of registries in relation to the division 13
throughout the State; and 14
(g) reporting annually to the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate on the 15
operation of the division. 16
`Administration of general division 17
`11. The tribunal's general division is to be administered in the way 18
decided by the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate. 19
`Division 1C--Referees 20
`Referees 21
`12.(1) Each magistrate is a referee. 22
`(2) The chief executive may appoint as referees the other persons the 23
chief executive considers necessary to appoint for the proper functioning of 24
the tribunal. 25
`(3) Persons appointed under subsection (2) are to be employed under 26
the Public Service Act 1996. 27
71
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
`Functions of referees 1
`12A.(1) The function of a referee constituting the small claims tribunal 2
is to decide the issue in dispute in a proceeding in a way that is fair and 3
equitable. 4
`(2) However, a referee may mediate the issue in dispute or refer the 5
issue to a mediator under the Dispute Resolution Centres Act 1990 if the 6
referee considers it appropriate to do so in the special circumstances of the 7
case. 8
`Division 2--The registry'. 9
15. Section 13(2)-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`(2) There is to be a central registry in the metropolitan district.'. 12
16. Section 13(3), `a small'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`the small'. 15
17. Section 14, heading, `tribunals'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`tribunal'. 18
18. Section 14(1), `a small'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`the small'. 21
72
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
19. Section 14(2), `a small claims'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`the'. 3
20. Section 14(2)-- 4
insert-- 5
`(e) all other documents filed in the registry in relation to the claim.'. 6
21. Section 14(3), `a small claims'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`the'. 9
22. After section 14(3)(b)-- 10
insert-- 11
`(c) the chief executive officer of the residential tenancies authority; 12
and 13
(d) the Minister;'. 14
23. Section 15(2) and (5)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(2) A registrar and the other officers necessary for the administration of 17
the tribunal are to be employed in the central registry. 18
`(3) The persons mentioned in subsection (2) are to be employed under 19
the Public Service Act 1996.'. 20
24. Part 2, division 3, heading, `tribunals'-- 21
omit, insert-- 22
`tribunal'. 23
73
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
25. Section 16(1), `a small claims tribunal'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`the small claims tribunal'. 3
26. Section 17(1), `a small' (first mention)-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`the small'. 6
27. Section 17(1)(a), (b) and (c), `a small claims'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`the'. 9
28. Section 17(2), `a small claims'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`the'. 12
29. Section 18, heading, `tribunals'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`tribunal'. 15
30. Section 18(1), after `(2)'-- 16
insert-- 17
`and section 19'. 18
31. Section 18(1) and (2), `a small'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`the small'. 21
74
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
32. Section 19, heading-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`Limited right of review'. 3
33. Section 19, `No writ of certiorari'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`No order, the relief or remedy under which is in the nature of, and to the 6
same effect as, a writ of certiorari'. 7
34. Section 19, `a small'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`the small'. 10
35. Section 19, from `therein' (first mention)-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`by the tribunal. 13
`(2) However, a party to a dispute in a proceeding may apply to the 14
District Court for an order in relation to an order made by the tribunal in the 15
proceeding if-- 16
(a) if the tribunal has given written reasons for the making of the 17
order--the tribunal has made an error of law; or 18
(b) there has been a denial of natural justice in the proceeding; or 19
(c) the tribunal had or has no jurisdiction, or has exceeded its 20
jurisdiction, in the hearing or in making the order. 21
`(3) The application must be made within 28 days after the making of the 22
tribunal's order. 23
`(4) The application does not stay the tribunal's order unless the tribunal 24
or the court orders the order to be stayed to secure the effectiveness of the 25
application. 26
75
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
`(5) The court must not rehear the proceeding. 1
`(6) The court may direct 1 or more of the parties to attend before it for 2
the review. 3
`(7) The court may make any of the following orders-- 4
(a) dismiss the application; 5
(b) set aside the tribunal's order and remit the proceeding to the 6
tribunal, as constituted by the same or a different referee, for 7
rehearing.'. 8
36. Section 20, heading, `tribunals'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`tribunal'. 11
37. Section 20(1), `a small'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`the small'. 14
38. Section 20(2) and (3), `a small claims tribunal'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`the tribunal'. 17
39. Section 21, heading, `tribunals''-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`tribunal's'. 20
40. Section 21(1), `a small'-- 21
omit, insert-- 22
`the small'. 23
76
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
41. Section 22(1) and (5), `a small'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`the small'. 3
42. Section 22(3)(a), `registry of small claims tribunals'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`tribunal registry'. 6
43. Section 22A(1)(a)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(a) the small claims tribunal makes an order; and'. 9
44. Section 23(1), `a small'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`the small'. 12
45. Section 23(2), `a small claims'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`the'. 15
46. Section 23A(1), `a small' (first mention)-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`the small'. 18
47. Section 23A(1), `a small claims' (second mention)-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`the'. 21
77
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
48. Section 23A(2), `small claims tribunal to which application is made 1
under subsection (1)'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`tribunal'. 4
49. Section 23A(3)(c)(i), `place where small claims tribunals are 5
ordinarily constituted'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`registry'. 8
50. Section 23A(3)(g) and (h), (4) and (5), `a small claims'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`the'. 11
51. Section 23A(3)(h)(ii), `the small claims'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`the'. 14
52. Section 23A(5), `the Magistrates Courts Rules 1960'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`rules of court applicable to Magistrates Courts'. 17
53. Section 24(1), `a small'-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`the small'. 20
78
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
54. Section 24-- 1
insert-- 2
`(1B) However, if the Magistrates Court district for subsection (1A)(a) 3
or (b) is the metropolitan district of the Magistrates Court, the registry in 4
which the form must be filed is the central registry.'. 5
55. Section 24-- 6
insert-- 7
`(3) A respondent to a claim ("claimant's claim") referred to the 8
tribunal under this section who seeks to refer to the tribunal a claim arising 9
out of the same transaction or event or series of transactions or events as the 10
claimant's claim may-- 11
(a) complete the prescribed form; and 12
(b) on payment of the fee prescribed under the regulations, file the 13
form in the registry in which the claimant's claim was filed. 14
`(4) A claim filed by a respondent under subsection (3)-- 15
(a) must be heard with the claimant's claim, unless the tribunal 16
otherwise orders; and 17
(b) is not affected by the withdrawal of the claimant's claim. 18
`(5) Section 26A36 does not apply to a respondent who files a claim 19
under subsection (3) or the person who is the respondent to that claim.'. 20
56. Section 25(1)(b), `a small'-- 21
omit, insert-- 22
`the small'. 23
36 Section 26A (Respondent to notify registrar of intention to appear at hearing)
79
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
57. Section 25(3), `a small claims tribunal to which a claim has been 1
referred'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`the tribunal'. 4
58. Section 25(3), `small claims' (second mention)-- 5
omit. 6
59. Section 26, `a small'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`the small'. 9
60. After section 26-- 10
insert-- 11
`Respondent to notify registrar of intention to appear at hearing 12
`26A.(1) A respondent to whom notice of a claim is given under 13
section 25 37 must advise the registrar giving the notice in the way and 14
within the time that may be prescribed under a regulation whether the 15
respondent intends to appear at the hearing. 16
`(2) If the respondent fails to comply with subsection (1), the tribunal 17
may refer the proceeding to which the claim relates to a registrar to be dealt 18
with under section 34A.38'. 19
61. Section 27, `a small'-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`the small'. 22
37 Section 25 (Notice of claim and proceeding)
38 Section 34A (Registrar may make orders in certain cases)
80
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
62. Section 28-- 1
omit. 2
63. Section 29(1), `A'-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`The'. 5
64. Section 29(2), `a tribunal'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`the tribunal as'. 8
65. Section 30, `A'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`The'. 11
66. Section 31(1), `A'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`The'. 14
67. Section 32(1), (2), (3) and (4), `a tribunal'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`the tribunal'. 17
68. Section 33(1)-- 18
omit. 19
81
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
69. Section 33(1A), `However, a proceeding about a tenancy 1
application'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`A proceeding'. 4
70. Section 33-- 5
insert-- 6
`(1B) The tribunal may give directions about the persons who may be 7
present at a hearing held in private.'. 8
71. Section 33(2), `a tribunal'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`the tribunal'. 11
72. Section 33(2)(b)-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`(b) may be given on oath.'. 14
73. Section 33(3), `A'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`The'. 17
74. Section 34(1), `the provisions of this section'-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`this section and without limiting section 34A39'. 20
39 Section 34A (Registrar may make orders in certain cases)
82
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
75. Section 34(1), `a tribunal'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`the tribunal'. 3
76. Section 34(1), `shall be resolved'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`may be resolved'. 6
77. After section 34-- 7
insert-- 8
`Registrar may make orders in certain cases 9
`34A.(1) A registrar may act under this section if the respondent to a 10
proceeding has failed to notify the registrar of the respondent's intention to 11
appear at the hearing under section 26A.40 12
`(2)The registrar may resolve the issue in dispute in the proceeding on 13
the evidence before him or her and make any order the tribunal is 14
empowered to make. 15
`(3) An order made by a registrar under subsection (2) has effect, subject 16
to section 34(2), as if it were an order made by the tribunal.'. 17
78. Section 35(1) and (2), `a small claims'-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`the'. 20
40 Section 26A (Respondent to notify registrar of intention to appear at hearing)
83
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
79. Section 35(2), after `claimant's claim'-- 1
insert-- 2
`or another amount allowed under a regulation'. 3
80. Part 2, after section 35-- 4
insert-- 5
`Division 6--Review of certain orders of registrar 6
`Review of certain orders of registrar 7
`35A.(1) This section applies if a registrar is empowered under an Act, 8
other than this Act, to make an order in a proceeding. 9
`(2) A party to the proceeding who is dissatisfied with an order made by 10
the registrar may apply to the tribunal to have the proceeding reheard before 11
the tribunal. 12
`(3) The application must be made in the prescribed form and filed in the 13
registry within 14 days, or the longer period the tribunal allows, after the 14
registrar's order is made. 15
`(4) The proceeding must be referred to the tribunal as constituted by a 16
referee. 17
`(5) The application does not stay the registrar's order unless the tribunal 18
orders the registrar's order to be stayed to secure the effectiveness of the 19
application. 20
`(6) In this section-- 21
"registry" means the registry to which the registrar was attached when the 22
decision was made.'. 23
81. Section 36, heading, `Tribunals'-- 24
omit, insert-- 25
`Tribunal'. 26
84
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
82. Section 36, `Small claims tribunals'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`The small claims tribunal'. 3
83. Section 37, `small claims tribunals'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`the small claims tribunal'. 6
84. Section 37, `every'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`the'. 9
85. Section 38(1), `a small'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`the small'. 12
86. Section 38(1), as a penalty-- 13
insert-- 14
`Maximum penalty--10 penalty units or 14 days imprisonment.'. 15
87. Section 38(2)-- 16
omit. 17
88. Section 38(3)(b), (d) and (e), `concerned'-- 18
omit. 19
85
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
89. Section 38(3)(e), `tribunal's own view'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`view of the referee constituting the tribunal at the time of the alleged 3
contempt'. 4
90. Section 38(4), `A'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`The'. 7
91. Section 39, `a small'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`the small'. 10
92. Section 40, `a small claims tribunal'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`the small claims tribunal'. 13
93. Section 42(3)(a) and (4)(a), `a small'-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`the small'. 16
94. Section 42(3)(c)(ii) and (4)(c)(ii), `tribunals'-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`the tribunal'. 19
86
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
95. Section 44, heading-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`Regulation-making power'. 3
96. Section 44(c), `small claims tribunals'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`the small claims tribunal'. 6
97. Section 44(e) and (f)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(e) the issue of, and limiting the issue of, subpoenas by the 9
registrar.'. 10
98. Section 44, `The Governor in Council' to `with respect to--'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`(1) The Governor in Council may make regulations under this Act. 13
`(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a regulation may be made about the 14
following--'. 15
99. After section 44-- 16
insert-- 17
`PART 4--TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS 18
`Transitional--establishment of the small claims tribunal 19
`45.(1) On the commencement of this section-- 20
(a) an order made by a small claims tribunal continues to have effect 21
as an order of the small claims tribunal; and 22
87
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 1 (continued)
(b) anything done or existing in relation to a previous small claims 1
tribunal continues, and is taken to be done or existing in relation 2
to the small claims tribunal; and 3
(c) a proceeding pending in a previous small claims tribunal is to be 4
continued in the small claims tribunal; and 5
(d) a person who is a referee of small claims tribunals immediately 6
before the commencement of this section continues to be a referee 7
of the small claims tribunal on the commencement. 8
`(2) In an Act or document, if the context permits-- 9
(a) a reference to the Small Claims Tribunals Act 1973 is taken to be 10
a reference to the Small Claims Tribunal Act 1973; and 11
(b) a reference to the Small Claims Tribunals Regulation 1993 is 12
taken to be a reference to the Small Claims Tribunal Regulation 13
1993; and 14
(c) a reference to small claims tribunals is taken to be a reference to 15
the small claims tribunal; and 16
(d) a reference to a referee of a small claims tribunal is taken to be a 17
reference to a referee of the small claims tribunal; and 18
(e) a reference to a registry of small claims tribunals or a small 19
claims tribunal is taken to be a reference to a registry of the small 20
claims tribunal.'. 21
22
88
Civil Justice Reform Bill
CHEDULE 2 1
¡S
AMENDMENTS OF OTHER ACTS 2
section 27 3
ISTRICT COURT ACT 1967 4
´D
1. Section 3, definitions "registrar" and "rules"-- 5
omit. 6
2. Section 3-- 7
insert-- 8
` "judicial registrar" means a judicial registrar of the District Court. 9
"registrar" includes a deputy registrar of the District Court, but does not 10
include a judicial registrar. 11
"rules" means the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules.'. 12
3. Section 20(1)(3)-- 13
renumber as section 20(2) to (4). 14
4. Section 20-- 15
insert-- 16
`(1) The court may be constituted at any place.'. 17
5. Sections 22 and 23-- 18
omit. 19
89
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
6. Part 2, division 5, before section 36-- 1
insert-- 2
`Subdivision 1--Judicial registrars 3
`Judicial registrars 4
`35A.(1) The Governor in Council may appoint judicial registrars. 5
`(2) A person may be appointed as a judicial registrar only if the person 6
is a lawyer of at least 5 years standing. 7
`(3) A judicial registrar may be removed from office only by the 8
Governor in Council for proven incapacity or misbehaviour. 9
`(4) A judicial registrar is an officer of the court. 10
`Independence of judicial registrars 11
`35B. A judicial registrar when constituting the court or otherwise 12
exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial power is not subject to direction or 13
control, other than as provided under this Act.41 14
`Rehearing after judicial registrar's decision 15
`35C.(1) A party to an application who is dissatisfied with a judicial 16
registrar's decision on the application may, with the leave of the court as 17
constituted by a District Court judge, have the application reheard by the 18
court as constituted by a District Court judge. 19
`(2) If the court grants leave, it may do so on condition, including, for 20
example, a condition about-- 21
(a) the evidence to be adduced; or 22
(b) the submissions to be presented; or 23
(c) the nature of the rehearing. 24
41 For example, see division 2A (Powers and responsibilities of Chief Judge).
90
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
`Conditions of appointment 1
`35D.(1) A judicial registrar is to be appointed under this Act and not 2
under the Public Service Act 1996. 3
`(2) A judicial registrar is to be paid the salary and allowances decided by 4
the Governor in Council. 5
`(3) A judicial registrar holds office on the conditions not provided for by 6
this Act decided by the Governor in Council. 7
`(4) The office of judicial registrar is not subject to any industrial award, 8
industrial agreement or other industrial instrument or any decision or rule of 9
an industrial tribunal. 10
`(5) When a judicial registrar is appointed, the judicial registrar's salary, 11
allowances and conditions are to be published in the gazette. 12
`(6) A judicial registrar's salary and allowances may not be reduced and 13
any change to the judicial registrar's salary, allowances or conditions must 14
be published in the gazette. 15
`Retirement of judicial registrars 16
`35E. A judicial registrar must retire on reaching 70 years of age. 17
`Preservation of rights 18
`35F.(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as a 19
judicial registrar. 20
`(2) The person retains all rights that have accrued to the person because 21
of employment as a public service officer, or that would accrue in the future 22
to the person because of that employment, as if service as a judicial registrar 23
were a continuation of service as a public service officer. 24
`(3) If the person stops being a judicial registrar on being appointed to an 25
office of the public service, the person's service as judicial registrar is to be 26
regarded as service of a like nature in the public service for deciding the 27
person's rights as a public service officer. 28
91
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
`Subdivision 2--Other officers'. 1
7. After section 69(2)-- 2
insert-- 3
`(2A) To remove any doubt, it is declared that the District Court may 4
grant a Mareva injunction or Anton Piller order in proceedings in which 5
jurisdiction is conferred under this part.'. 6
8. Section 118(1)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`118.(1) This section-- 9
(a) does not apply to an appeal from a judgment of the District Court 10
in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction under part 4;42 but 11
(b) does apply to an appeal from other judgments of the District 12
Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction, including on an 13
appeal brought before the court under the Justices Act 1886, 14
section 222.43'. 15
9. Section 125-- 16
omit. 17
10. Part 11, division 1-- 18
omit.44 19
42 Part 4 (Criminal jurisdiction and procedure)
43 Section 222 (Appeal to a single judge)
44 The rule-making power is now located in the Supreme Court of Queensland Act
1991, section 118. For the saving of rules made under the repealed provision,
see the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, section 137 (Saving of former
court rules--Civil Justice Reform Act 1998).
92
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
11. Section 127-- 1
omit. 2
12. Section 136-- 3
omit. 4
13. Schedule-- 5
omit. 6
USTICE LEGISLATION (MISCELLANEOUS 7
´J
PROVISIONS) ACT 1996 8
1. Part 22-- 9
omit. 10
AND ACT 1994 11
´L
1. Schedule 6-- 12
insert-- 13
` "enforcement warrant" see the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, 14
section 93A.45 15
"writ of execution" means a writ or warrant of execution after judgment in 16
any court, and includes an enforcement warrant.46'. 17
45 Section 93A (Enforcement warrant)
46 See Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, section 129 (Abolition of old
enforcement processes).
93
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
LAND TITLE ACT 1994 1
´
1. Schedule 2, definition "writ of execution", after `court'-- 2
insert-- 3
`, and includes an enforcement warrant.47'. 4
2. Schedule 2-- 5
insert-- 6
` "enforcement warrant" see the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, 7
section 93A.48'. 8
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT 1995 9
´
1. Section 2(1), first and fourth dot points-- 10
omit. 11
2. Part 2-- 12
omit. 13
3. Section 40-- 14
relocate to the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, part 8B as 15
section 116I. 16
47 See Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, section 129 (Abolition of old
enforcement processes).
48 Section 93A (Enforcement warrant)
94
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
4. Part 4-- 1
omit. 2
MAGISTRATES COURTS ACT 1921 3
´
1. Section 2, definitions "action for a small debt", "Magistrates Courts 4
jurisdiction Act", "rules" and "Small Debts Court"-- 5
omit. 6
2. Section 2-- 7
insert-- 8
` "minor claim" means a claim for an amount, including interest, of not 9
more than $7 500, whether as a balance or after an admitted set off, 10
reduction by any amount paid by or credited to the defendant, 11
abandonment of any excess, or otherwise. 12
"minor debt claim" means a minor claim in which the plaintiff-- 13
(a) claims to recover against a defendant a debt or liquidated demand 14
in money, with or without interest; and 15
(b) elects in the claim to have it heard and decided in a Magistrates 16
Court under the simplified procedures in the rules. 17
"rules" means the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules.'. 18
3. After section 4-- 19
insert-- 20
`Consent jurisdiction 21
`4A.(1) If the parties to a proceeding in relation to an amount for which 22
the Supreme Court or District Court has jurisdiction agree that a Magistrates 23
Court may have jurisdiction in relation to the amount, the Magistrates Court 24
has jurisdiction for the proceeding. 25
95
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
`(2) The agreement must-- 1
(a) be written; and 2
(b) be signed by each of the parties or their solicitors; and 3
(c) include a statement that the parties know that the proceeding is not 4
otherwise within the jurisdiction of a Magistrates Court; and 5
(d) be filed in accordance with the rules.'. 6
4. Sections 12 and 13-- 7
omit. 8
5. Section 16, `, including an action for a small debt,' and `, other than 9
an action for a small debt,'-- 10
omit. 11
6. Section 19(1), `(1)'-- 12
omit. 13
7. Section 19(2)-- 14
omit. 15
8. After section 45-- 16
insert-- 17
`Limitation on appeal if minor debt claim 18
`45A.(1) No appeal lies from a judgment order made in a proceeding for 19
a minor debt claim. 20
`(2) Also, if the parties agree in writing, no appeal lies from a judgment 21
order made in a proceeding to which any of the simplified procedures 22
prescribed by the rules apply.'. 23
96
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
9. Section 48-- 1
omit. 2
10. Sections 5051-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`Contempt 5
`50.(1) A person is in contempt of a Magistrates Court if the person-- 6
(a) wilfully insults a magistrate or a registrar, bailiff, or other court 7
officer during the person's sitting or attendance in court, or in 8
going to or returning from the court; or 9
(b) wilfully interrupts the proceedings of the court or otherwise 10
misbehaves himself or herself in court; or 11
(c) unlawfully obstructs or assaults someone in attendance in court; 12
or 13
(d) without lawful excuse, disobeys a lawful order or direction of the 14
court at the hearing of any proceeding. 15
Maximum penalty--84 penalty units or 1 year's imprisonment. 16
`(2) Without limiting the court's power to punish for the contempt, the 17
court may order the person be excluded from the room or other place in 18
which the court is sitting. 19
`(3) A bailiff or other court officer acting under the court's order may, 20
using necessary and reasonable help and force, take the person into custody 21
and detain the person until the court rises. 22
`(4) Before the court rises, the court may-- 23
(a) ask the person to explain why the person should not be punished; 24
or 25
(b) adjourn the matter to be dealt with on a stated date. 26
`(5) If the court acts under subsection (4)(a), the court may deal with the 27
person immediately. 28
97
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
`Transferred proceeding 1
`51. A court to which a proceeding is transferred has jurisdiction to hear 2
and decide the proceeding and enforce any decision given in the proceeding 3
as if the proceeding had been started in the court.'. 4
11. Section 52, heading and subsection (1), `actions for small debts'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`minor debt claims'. 7
12. Section 52(1)(c), `action'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`proceeding'. 10
13. Section 52(1)(d), after `judgment'-- 11
insert-- 12
`order'. 13
14. Part 8-- 14
omit.49 15
15. Section 60-- 16
omit. 17
49 The rule-making power is now located in the Supreme Court of Queensland Act
1991, section 118. For the saving of rules made under the repealed provision,
see the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, section 137 (Saving of former
court rules--Civil Justice Reform Act 1998).
98
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
16. Schedule-- 1
omit. 2
SUPREME COURT ACT 1995 3
´
1. Part 9, division 7 4
omit. 5
2. Section 210(1)-- 6
omit. 7
3. Section 210(2), `And the'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`The'. 10
4. Section 210(2), `also have a prothonotary and'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`have a'. 13
5. Section 210(3), `master prothonotary and'-- 14
omit. 15
6. Section 210(4), `and shall be by commission'-- 16
omit. 17
99
Civil Justice Reform Bill
SCHEDULE 2 (continued)
7. Part 15-- 1
omit. 2
3
4
© State of Queensland 1998
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