1(1)The Supreme Court Act 1981 is amended as follows.
(2)In section 18 (restrictions on appeals), in subsections (1A) and (1B)(a), for “Rules of the Supreme Court” there is substituted “ rules of court ”.
(3)In section 68 (exercise of High Court jurisdiction otherwise than by judges)—
(a)in subsection (1), paragraph (c) and the word “or” immediately preceding it are omitted,
(b)in subsection (2)—
(i)paragraph (a) is omitted, and
(ii)in paragraph (b), for “any such person” there is substituted “ a special referee ”,
(c)in subsection (3), for the words from “any” onwards there is substituted “ a special referee or any officer or other staff of the court ”, and
(d)in subsection (4)—
(i)after “decision of” there is inserted “ (a) ”, and
(ii)after “subsection (1)” there is inserted—
“or
(b)any officer or other staff of the court”.
(4)In section 84 (power to make rules of court)—
(a)in subsection (1), for “Supreme Court” there is substituted “ Crown Court and the criminal division of the Court of Appeal ”,
(b)subsection (4) is omitted,
(c)for subsections (5) and (6) there is substituted—
“(5)Special rules may apply—
(a)any rules made under this section, or
(b)Civil Procedure Rules,
to proceedings to which the special rules apply.
(5A)Rules made under this section may apply—
(a)any special rules, or
(b)Civil Procedure Rules,
to proceedings to which rules made under this section apply.
(6)Where rules may be applied under subsection (5) or (5A), they may be applied—
(a)to any extent,
(b)with or without modification, and
(c)as amended from time to time.”, and
(d)in subsection (9), for “Supreme Court Rule Committee” there is substituted “ Civil Procedure Rule Committee ”.
(5)Section 85 (Supreme Court Rule Committee) is omitted.
(6)In section 87 (particular matters for which rules of court may provide)—
(a)subsections (1) and (2) are omitted, and
(b)in subsection (3), for “Supreme Court” there is substituted “ Crown Court or the criminal division of the Court of Appeal ”.
(7)In section 151 (interpretation)—
(a)in subsection (3), after the second “rules of court” there is inserted “ in relation to the Supreme Court ” and for “Supreme Court Rule Committee” there is substituted “ Civil Procedure Rule Committee ”, and
(b)in subsection (4), the definition of “Rules of the Supreme Court” is omitted.
Commencement Information
I1Sch. 2 para. 1 wholly in force at 26.4.1999; Sch. 2 para. 1 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 11(2); Sch. 2 para. 1(1)(2)(4)(c) in force at 27.4.1997 by S.I. 1997/841, arts. 3, 4; Sch. 2 para. 1(3)(4)(a)(b)(d)(5)-(7) in force at 26.4.1999 by S.I. 1999/1009, art. 3(a)-(e)