Insolvency Act 1986

Jurisdiction (England and Wales) E+W+S

117 High Court and county court jurisdiction. E+W+S

(1) The High Court has jurisdiction to wind up any company registered in England and Wales.

(2) Where the amount of a company’s share capital paid up or credited as paid up does not exceed £120,000, then (subject to this section) the county court of the district in which the company’s registered office is situated has concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court to wind up the company.

(3) The money sum for the time being specified in subsection (2) is subject to increase or reduction by order under section 416 in Part XV.

(4) The Lord Chancellor [F1 may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, by order] in a statutory instrument exclude a county court from having winding-up jurisdiction, and for the purposes of that jurisdiction may attach its district, or any part thereof, to any other county court, and may by statutory instrument revoke or vary any such order.

In exercising the powers of this section, the Lord Chancellor shall provide that a county court is not to have winding-up jurisdiction unless it has for the time being jurisdiction for the purposes of Parts VIII to XI of this Act (individual insolvency).

(5) Every court in England and Wales having winding-up jurisdiction has for the purposes of that jurisdiction all the powers of the High Court; and every prescribed officer of the court shall perform any duties which an officer of the High Court may discharge by order of a judge of that court or otherwise in relation to winding up.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a company’s “registered office” is the place which has longest been its registered office during the 6 months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for winding up.

[F2 (7) This section is subject to Article 3 of the EC Regulation (jurisdiction under EC Regulation).]

[F3 (8) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this section.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 117(4) substituted (3.4.2006) by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), ss. 15(1), 148, Sch. 4 para. 186(2); S.I. 2006/1014, art. 2(a), Sch. 1

F2 S. 117(7) inserted (31.5.2002) by S.I. 2002/1240, reg. 6

F3 S. 117(8) inserted (3.4.2006) by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), ss. 15(1), 148, Sch. 4 para. 186(3); S.I. 2006/1014, art. 2(a), Sch. 1

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 117 applied (with modifications) (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 7(3), Sch. 3 Pt. II para. 6

S. 117 applied (with modifications) (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 8(3)(9), Sch. 4 Pt. II para. 5

S. 117 applied (with modifications) (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 10(1), Sch. 6 para. 1

S. 117 applied (with modifications) (2.4.2001) by 2000 c. 39, s. 8, Sch. 4 Pt. I para. 5; S.I. 2001/766, art. 2(1)(a) (subject to art. 3)

C2 S. 117 modified (1.12.1994) by S.I. 1994/2421, art. 9(a), Sch. 5 para. 1

118 Proceedings taken in wrong court. E+W+S

(1) Nothing in section 117 invalidates a proceeding by reason of its being taken in the wrong court.

(2) The winding up of a company by the court in England and Wales, or any proceedings in the winding up, may be retained in the court in which the proceedings were commenced, although it may not be the court in which they ought to have been commenced.

119 Proceedings in county court; case stated for High Court. E+W+S

(1) If any question arises in any winding-up proceedings in a county court which all the parties to the proceedings, or which one of them and the judge of the court, desire to have determined in the first instance in the High Court, the judge shall state the facts in the form of a special case for the opinion of the High Court.

(2) Thereupon the special case and the proceedings (or such of them as may be required) shall be transmitted to the High Court for the purposes of the determination.