Administration of Justice Act 1977^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make further provision with respect to the administration of justice and matters connected therewith, to alter the method of protecting mortgages of registered land and to amend the law relating to oaths and affirmations and to the interest of a surviving spouse in an intestate’s estate.
Citation	1977 c. 38
Dates
Royal assent	29 July 1977
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Administration of Justice Act 1977^[1] (c. 38) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Part I - General

Section 6 - Temporary additional judges for Employment Appeal Tribunal

This section was repealed by section 159(3) of, and Schedule 17 to, the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978.

Section 8 - Oaths and affirmations

This section was repealed on 31 July 1978 by Part I of the Schedule to the Oaths Act 1978.

Part II - England and Wales

Section 9 - Appeals

This section was repealed by section 152(4) of, and Schedule 7 to, the Senior Courts Act 1981.

Section 10 - Appointment to office

This section was repealed by section 152(4) of, and Schedule 7 to, the Senior Courts Act 1981.

Section 23 - Jurisdiction of ancient courts

This section, with Schedule 4 and Part V of Schedule 5, implemented recommendations made, in the report "Jurisdiction of Certain Ancient Courts",^[2] by the Law Commission. It provided that certain courts would cease to have jurisdiction to hear and determine legal proceedings, but could continue to sit and transact other business it could customarily transact.

The courts affected were:

• Courts baron
• Courts leet
• Customary courts of the manor
• Courts of pie poudre
• Courts of the staple
• Courts of the clerks of the markets (or clerk of the market)
• Hundred courts
• Law Days
• Views of frankpledge
• Common law (or sheriffs') county courts as known before the passing of the County Courts Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 95).
• The Basingstoke Court of Ancient Demesne
• The Coventry Court of Orphans
• The Great Grimsby Foreign Court
• The King's Lynn Court of Tolbooth
• The City of London Court of Husting
• The City of London Sheriffs' Court for the Poultry Compter
• The City of London Sheriffs' Court for the Giltspur Street Compter
• The Macclesfield Court of Portmote
• The Maidstone Court of Conservancy
• The Melcombe Regis Court of Husting
• The Newcastle upon Tyne Courts of Conscience or Requests and Conservancy
• The Norwich Court of Mayoralty
• The Peterborough Dean and Chapter’s Court of Common Pleas
• The Ramsey (Cambridgeshire) Court of Pleas
• The Ripon Court Military
• The Ripon Dean and Chapter’s Canon Fee Court
• The St. Albans Court of Requests
• The Court of the Hundred, Manor and Borough of Tiverton
• The York Courts of Husting
• Guildhall and Conservancy
• The Ancient Prescriptive Court of Wells
• The Cheney (or Cheyney) Court of the Bishop of Winchester.

It also limited the Court of the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and the Cambridge University Chancellor’s Court to jurisdiction under the statutes of those universities.

Section 26

From 1 February 1978,^[3] the provisions of section 26(2) relating to mortgage cautions, subject to any necessary modification, apply also to sub-mortgage cautions.^[4] The Land Registration Rules 1977 (Sl 1977/2089)^[5] are consequential on section 26.^[6]

Part III - Other provisions

Section 32 - Citation etc

The following orders were made under section 32(6):

• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 1) Order 1977 (SI 1977/1405)
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 2) Order 1977 (SI 1977/1490) (C 53)
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 3) Order 1977 (SI 1977/1589)^[7]
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 4) Order 1977 (SI 1977/2202)^[8]
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 5) Order 1978 (SI 1978/810). Made on 6 June 1978.^[9]
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 6) Order 1979 (SI 1979/972) (C 27)^[10]
• The Administration of Justice Act 1977 (Commencement No. 7) Order 1980 (SI 1980/1981)