South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts (1) In this Act,
unless the contrary intention appears—
"Chief Magistrate" means the person holding or acting in the office of
Chief Magistrate under the Magistrates Act 1983 ;
"civil action" means an action or proceeding brought in a civil division of
the Court;
"Court" or "Magistrates Court" means the Magistrates Court of South Australia;
"criminal action" means an action or proceeding brought in the criminal
division of the Court;
"evidentiary material" means any document, object or substance of evidentiary
value in proceedings before the Court and includes any document, object or
substance that should, in the opinion of the Court, be produced for the
purpose of enabling the Court to determine whether or not it has evidentiary
value;
"judgment" means a judgment, order or decision and includes an interlocutory
judgment or order;
"judicial office" means the office of Magistrate or special justice;
"Magistrate" means a person holding office as a Magistrate under the
Magistrates Act 1983 ;
"minor civil action"—See subsection (2);
"minor statutory proceeding" means—
(a) an
application under the Fences Act 1975 ; or
(b) an
application under Part 4 of the Second-hand Vehicle Dealers Act 1995 ; or
(ba) an
application under the Retail and Commercial Leases Act 1995 , other than
an application that involves a monetary claim for more than $12 000; or
(bb) an
application under section 11(8) of the Second-hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers
Act 1996 ; or
(bc) an
application under Part 5 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 ; or
(c) any
other proceeding declared by statute to be a minor statutory proceeding;
"neighbourhood dispute" means a dispute between neighbours, or the occupiers
of properties in close proximity, based on allegations of trespass or
nuisance;
"Registrar" means the Principal Registrar, or any Registrar or Deputy
Registrar of the Court;
"rules" means the rules of the Court in force under this Act;
"small claim" means a monetary claim for $6 000 or less.
(2) Subject to
subsections (3) and (4), a minor civil action is an action founded
on—
(a) a
small claim; or
(b) a
claim for relief in relation to a neighbourhood dispute; or
(c) a
minor statutory proceeding.
(3) If a claim that is
not within one of the classes referred to in subsection (2) is introduced
into a minor civil action, the action ceases to be a minor civil action unless
the Court orders that the subsequent claim be tried separately.
(4) If a
neighbourhood dispute or a minor statutory proceeding involves—
(a) a
monetary claim for more than $6 000; or
(b) a
claim for relief in the nature of an order to carry out work where the value
of the work is more than $6 000,
a party may elect, in accordance with the rules, to exclude the dispute or
proceeding from the rules governing minor civil actions 1 , and in that case,
the dispute or proceeding ceases to be a minor civil action.
(5) Proceedings for a
contempt of the Court will be regarded as a civil action or a criminal action
according to whether the contempt relates to proceedings in a civil division
or the criminal division of the Court and where the contempt is unrelated to
proceedings in the Court, the proceedings for contempt will be regarded as a
criminal action.
Notes—
2 For definition of divisional penalties (and
divisional expiation fees) see Appendix.