The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

4.—(1) For the purposes of this Schedule—

(a) the commencement of proceedings under this Order includes the making of any application under this Order in the course of proceedings (whether or not those proceedings are proceedings under this Order); and

(b) there are three levels of court, that is to say the High Court, a county court and a court of summary jurisdiction.

(2) In this Schedule “specified” means specified by an order made under this Schedule.

(3) Any order under paragraph 1 may make provision as to the effect of commencing proceedings in contravention of any of the provisions of the order.

(4) The Lord Chancellor may by order specify county courts for the purposes of Article 166(4).

(5) An order under paragraph 2 may make provision as to the effect of a failure to comply with any of the provisions of the order.

(6) An order under this Schedule may—

(a) make such consequential, incidental or transitional provision as the Lord Chancellor considers expedient, including provision amending any other statutory provision so far as it concerns the jurisdiction of any court or person exercising the powers of a court under any statutory provision;

(b) make provision for treating proceedings which are—

(i) in part proceedings of a kind mentioned in head (a) of paragraph 2(3); and

(ii) in part proceedings of a kind mentioned in head (b) of paragraph 2(3),

as consisting entirely of proceedings of one or other of those kinds, for the purposes of the application of any order made under paragraph 2.

(7) Except to the extent that the Lord Chancellor by order otherwise provides, the jurisdiction of any specified county court under this Order shall be exercisable throughout Northern Ireland (and accordingly Article 3(3)(b) of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980(1) (jurisdiction exercisable throughout county court division) shall not apply).

(1)

1980 NI 3