The plaintiff lived in Lincolnshire, but owned a house in Gwynnedd. She sought to serve a notice in her local County Court, appealing from an order for its demolition, but the manager of that Court refused to accept it saying that it should have been filed in Gwynnedd. The regulations said it was to be filed in the ‘local County Court’. The refiled notice was out of time.
Held: A county court manager receiving a notice of appeal was obliged to enter it on the court record. He was not entitled to reject it on the basis that the rules would say that the appeal should be lodged elsewhere. In so acting the officer carried out a formal and administrative act. The making of a decision about entering the appeal was properly a judicial decision to be made only by a judge: ‘He made a judicial determination, which he had no power to make, to the effect that he could not or should not accept the document. In my judgment this resulted in a failure by him to comply with a requirement of the rules, namely the requirement under Order 2 r 4 that he enter it in the records of the court. That failure was an irregularity but does not nullify the proceedings.’
Judges:
Henry LJ, Moylan J
Citations:
Times 30-Aug-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 1928, (2000) 32 HLR 610, [2000] 1 WLR 494, [1999] 4 All ER 304
Links:
Statutes:
County Court Rules 1981 Order 4 Rule 9, Housing Act 1985 265, The Housing (Prescribed Forms) (No.2) Regulations 1990
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Pritam Kaur v S Russell and Sons Ltd QBD 1-Jun-1972
The plaintiff sought damages following the death of her husband when working for the defendants. He had died on 5 September 1967 but the writ was not issued until Monday 7 September 1970. The applicable limitation period was 3 years, which the . .
Cited – Faulkner v Love 1977
. .
Cited – Swainston v Hetton Victory Club Ltd CA 1983
The claimant was dismissed on 7 September 1981. The time limit of three months, expired at midnight on 6 December. Other departments shared the building entrance with the Tribunal. The front door was closed over the weekend, but there was a . .
Cited – Sharma v Knight CA 1986
The court considered the situation where documents had been filed in time, but at the wrong county court.
Held: Purchas LJ said: ‘The jurisdiction of the county court is conferred on the county court under the County Courts Act 1984 and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice, Housing
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.146843