United Kingdom 1215 (rev. 2013) Subsequently amended

1. That such Act as shall be passed in Ireland to regulate the mode of summoning and returning the lords and commoners to serve in the united Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be considered as part of the treaty of union

2. That any peer of Ireland may be elected to serve in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless previously elected to sit in the House of Lords, but shall not be entitled to the privilege of peerage, etc

3. His Majesty may create peers, and make promotions in the peerage of Ireland after the union, under certain regulations

4. Peerages in abeyance to be deemed existing peerages, and no peerage to be deemed extinct but on default of claim for a year after the death of the late possessor. If a claim be after that period made and allowed, and a new creation shall have taken place in the interval, no new right of creation shall accrue to his Majesty on the next extinction of a peerage

5. Questions touching the election of members to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland shall be decided as questions touching such elections in Great Britain

6. When his Majesty shall declare his pleasure for holding a Parliament of the United Kingdom, a proclamation shall issue to cause the lords and commons, who are to serve on the part of Ireland to be returned as shall be provided by any Act of the present session in Ireland

7. The lords of Parliament on the part of Ireland shall have the same privileges as the lords on the part of Great Britain, and all lords spiritual of Ireland shall have rank next after the lords spiritual of the same rank of Great Britain, and shall enjoy the same privileges, (except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords), and the temporal peers of Ireland shall have rank next after the peers of the like rank in Great Britain at the time of the union; and all peerages of Ireland and of the United Kingdom created after the union shall have rank according to creation; and all peerages of Great Britain and of Ireland shall, in all other respects, be considered as peerages of the United Kingdom, and the peers of Ireland shall enjoy the same privileges, except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords

1. The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation, and in all treaties with foreign powers the subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges as British subject

2. From January 1, 1801, all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles the produce or manufacture of either country to the other shall cease

3. All articles the produce or manufacture of either country, not herein-after enumerated as subject to specific duties, shall be imported into each country from the other, duty free, other than the countervailing duties in the Schedule No. 1. or to such as shall hereafter be imposed by the united Parliament

4. Articles of the produce or manufacture of either country, subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials, may be subjected on importation into each country to countervailing duties, and upon their export a drawback of the duty shall be allowed

5. Articles the produce or manufacture of either country when exported through the other, shall be subject to the same charges as if exported directly from the country of which they were the produce or manufacture

1. All laws in force at the union, and all courts of jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain, subject to such alterations as may appear proper to the united Parliament. All appeals to be finally decided by the peers of the United Kingdom. There shall remain in Ireland a Court of Admiralty, and appeals therefrom shall be to the delegates in Chancery there. All laws contrary to the provisions enacted for carrying these articles into effect to be repealed

2. His Majesty having been pleased to approve of the foregoing articles, it is enacted, that they shall be the articles of union, and be in force for ever, from Jan. 1, 1801; provided that before that period an Act shall have been passed in Ireland for carrying them into effect

1. The Senior Courts

1. Structure of the courts
   The Senior Courts of England and Wales shall consist of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice and the Crown Court, each having such jurisdiction as is conferred on it by or under this or any other Act.
2. The Lord Chancellor shall be president of the Senior Courts.

2. The Court of Appeal

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The Court of Appeal shall consist of
   1. ex-officio judges, and
   2. ordinary judges, of whom the maximum full-time equivalent number is 38.
2. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The following shall be ex-officio judges of the Court of Appeal—
   1. [repealed]
   2. any person who was Lord Chancellor before 12 June 2003;
   3. any judge of the Supreme Court who at the date of his appointment was, or was qualified for appointment as, an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal or held an office within paragraphs (d) to (g);
   4. the Lord Chief Justice;
   5. the Master of the Rolls;
   6. the President of the Queen's Bench Division;
   7. the President of the Family Division;
   8. the Chancellor of the High Court;

   but a person within paragraph (b) or (c) shall not be required to sit and act as a judge of the Court of Appeal unless at the request of the Lord Chief Justice he consents to do so.

3. 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 function under subsection (2) of making requests to persons within paragraphs (b) and (c) of that subsection.
4. An ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal (including the vice-president, if any, of either division) shall be styled “Lord Justice of Appeal” or “Lady Justice of Appeal”.
5. Her Majesty may by Order in Council from time to time amend subsection (1) so as to increase or further increase the maximum full-time equivalent number of ordinary judges of the Court of Appeal.
6. It is for the Lord Chancellor to recommend to Her Majesty the making of an Order under subsection (4).
7. No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under subsection (4) unless a draft of the Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
8. The Court of Appeal shall be taken to be duly constituted notwithstanding any vacancy in the office of Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls, President of the Queen's Bench Division, President of the Family Division or Chancellor of the High Court.
9. For the purposes of this section the full-time equivalent number of ordinary judges is to be calculated by taking the number of full-time ordinary judges and adding, for each ordinary judge who is not a full-time ordinary judge, such fraction as is reasonable.

3. Divisions of Court of Appeal

1. Structure of the courts
   There shall be two divisions of the Court of Appeal, namely the criminal division and the civil division.
2. The Lord Chief Justice shall be president of the criminal division of the Court of Appeal, and the Master of the Rolls shall be president of the civil division of that court.
3. The Lord Chief Justice may, after consulting the Lord Chancellor appoint one of the ordinary judges of the Court of Appeal as vice-president of both divisions of that court, or one of those judges as vice-president of the criminal division and another of them as vice-president of the civil division.
4. When sitting in a court of either division of the Court of Appeal in which no ex-officio judge of the Court of Appeal is sitting, the vice-president (if any) of that division shall preside.
5. Any number of courts of either division of the Court of Appeal may sit at the same time.
6. 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 subsection (3).

4. The High Court

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The High Court shall consist of
   1. [repealed]
   2. the Lord Chief Justice;
   3. the President of the Queen's Bench Division;
   4. the President of the Family Division;
   5. the Chancellor of the High Court;
   6. the Senior Presiding Judge
   7. the vice-president of the Queen’s Bench Division; and
   8. the puisne judges of that court, of whom the maximum full-time equivalent number is 108.
2. The puisne judges of the High Court shall be styled “Justices of the High Court”.
3. All the judges of the High Court shall, except where this Act expressly provides otherwise, have in all respects equal power, authority and jurisdiction.
4. Her Majesty may by Order in Council from time to time amend subsection (1) so as to increase or further increase the maximum full-time equivalent number of puisne judges of the High Court.
5. It is for the Lord Chancellor to recommend to Her Majesty the making of an Order under subsection (4).
6. No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under subsection (4) unless a draft of the Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
7. The High Court shall be taken to be duly constituted notwithstanding any vacancy in the office of Lord Chief Justice, President of the Queen's Bench Division, President of the Family Division, Chancellor of the High Courtor Senior Presiding Judge and whether or not an appointment has been made to the office of vice-president of the Queen’s Bench Division.
8. For the purposes of this section the full-time equivalent number of puisne judges is to be calculated by taking the number of full-time puisne judges and adding, for each puisne judge who is not a full-time puisne judge, such fraction as is reasonable.

5. Divisions of High Court

1. Structure of the courts
   There shall be three divisions of the High Court namely—
   1. the Chancery Division, consisting of the Chancellor of the High Court, who shall be president thereof, the Vice-Chancellor, who shall be vice-president thereof, and such of the puisne judges as are for the time being attached thereto in accordance with this section;
   2. the Queen’s Bench Division, consisting of the Lord Chief Justice, the President of the Queen's Bench Division, the vice-president of the Queen’s Bench Division and such of the puisne judges as are for the time being so attached thereto; and
   3. the Family Division, consisting of the President of the Family Division and such of the puisne judges as are for the time being so attached thereto.
2. The puisne judges of the High Court shall be attached to the various Divisions by direction given by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor; and any such judge may with his consent be transferred from one Division to another by direction given by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor, but shall be so transferred only with the concurrence of the senior judge of the Division from which it is proposed to transfer him.
3. Any judge attached to any Division may act as an additional judge of any other Division at the request of the Lord Chief Justice made with the concurrence of both of the following—
   1. the senior judge of the Division to which the judge is attached;
   2. the senior judge of the Division of which the judge is to act as an additional judge.
4. Nothing in this section shall be taken to prevent a judge of any Division (whether nominated under section 6(2) or not) from sitting, whenever required, in a divisional court of another Division or for any judge of another Division.
5. Without prejudice to the provisions of this Act relating to the distribution of business in the High Court, all jurisdiction vested in the High Court under this Act shall belong to all the Divisions alike.
6. 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 subsection (2).

6. The Patents, Admiralty and Commercial Courts

1. Structure of the courts
   There shall be—
   1. as part of the Chancery Division, a Patents Court; and
   2. as parts of the Queen’s Bench Division, an Admiralty Court and a Commercial Court.
2. The judges of the Patents Court, of the Admiralty Court and of the Commercial Court shall be such of the puisne judges of the High Court as the Lord Chief Justice may, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, from time to time nominate to be judges of the Patents Court, Admiralty Judges and Commercial Judges respectively.
3. 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 subsection (2).

7. Power to alter Divisions or transfer certain courts to different Divisions

1. Her Majesty may from time to time, on a recommendation of the Lord Chancellor and the judges mentioned in subsection (2), by Order in Council direct that—
   1. any increase or reduction in the number of Divisions of the High Court; or
   2. the transfer of any of the courts mentioned in section 6(1) to a different Division,

   be carried into effect in pursuance of the recommendation.

2. Those judges are the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Queen's Bench Division, the President of the Family Division and the Chancellor of the High Court
3. An Order in Council under this section may include such incidental, supplementary or consequential provisions as appear to Her Majesty necessary or expedient, including amendments of provisions referring to particular Divisions contained in this Act or any other statutory provision.
4. Any Order in Council under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

8. The Crown Court

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The jurisdiction of the Crown Court shall be exercisable by—
   1. any judge of the High Court; or
   2. any Circuit judge , Recorder, qualifying judge advocate or District Judge (Magistrates' Courts); or
   3. subject to and in accordance with the provisions of sections 74 and 75(2), a judge of the High Court, Circuit judge or Recorder or qualifying judge advocate sitting with not more than four justices of the peace,

   and any such persons when exercising the jurisdiction of the Crown Court shall be judges of the Crown Court.

2. The jurisdiction of the Crown Court exercisable by a qualifying judge advocate by virtue of subsection (1) is the jurisdiction of the Court in relation to any criminal cause or matter other than an appeal from a youth court.
3. A justice of the peace is not disqualified from acting as a judge of the Crown Court merely because the proceedings are not at a place within the local justice area to which he is assigned or because the proceedings are not related to that area in any other way.
4. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   When the Crown Court sits in the City of London it shall be known as the Central Criminal Court; and the Lord Mayor of the City and any Alderman of the City shall be entitled to sit as judges of the Central Criminal Court with any judge of the High Court , Circuit judge, Recorder, qualifying judge advocate or District Judge (Magistrates' Courts).
5. Subsection (1A) does not affect the jurisdiction of the Crown Court exercisable by a person who holds an office mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) where that person is also a qualifying judge advocate.

9. Assistance for transaction of judicial business

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges, Ordinary court selection
   A person within any entry in column 1 of the following Table may subject to the provision at the end of that Table at any time, at the request of the appropriate authority, act—
   1. as a judge of a relevant court specified in the request; or
   2. if the request relates to a particular division of a relevant court so specified, as a judge of that court in that division.

   Table

   Key: Column 1 = Judge or ex-judge; Column 2 = Where competent to act on request

   Row 1

   Column 1

   A judge of the Court of Appeal.

   Column 2

   The High Court and the Crown Court.

   Row 2

   Column 1

   A person who has been a judge of the Court of Appeal.

   Column 2

   The Court of Appeal, the High Court, the family court, the county court and the Crown Court.

   Row 3

   Column 1

   A puisne judge of the High Court.

   Column 2

   The Court of Appeal.

   Row 4

   Column 1

   A person who has been a puisne judge of the High Court.

   Column 2

   The Court of Appeal, the High Court, the family court, the county court and the Crown Court.

   Row 4A

   Column 1

   The Senior President of Tribunals.

   Column 2

   The Court of Appeal and the High Court.

   Row 5

   Column 1

   A Circuit judge.

   Column 2

   The High Court and the Court of Appeal.

   Row 6

   Column 1

   A Recorder or a person within subsection (1ZB).

   Column 2

   The High Court.

   The entry in column 2 specifying the Court of Appeal in relation to a Circuit judge only authorises such a judge to act as a judge of a court in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal.

2. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The Senior President of Tribunals is to be treated as not being within any entry in column 1 of the Table other than entry 4A.
3. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   A person is within this subsection if the person—
   1. is a Chamber President, or a Deputy Chamber President, of a chamber of the Upper Tribunal or of a chamber of the First-tier Tribunal,
   2. is a judge of the Upper Tribunal by virtue of appointment under paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 3 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007,
   3. is a transferred-in judge of the Upper Tribunal (see section 31(2) of that Act),
   4. is a deputy judge of the Upper Tribunal (whether under paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to, or section 31(2) of, that Act), or
   5. is the President of Employment Tribunals (England and Wales) or the President of Employment Tribunals (Scotland).
4. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   A person shall not act as a judge by virtue of subsection (1) after the day on which he attains the age of 75.
5. Ordinary court selection
   In subsection (1)—
   • “the appropriate authority” means—

     “relevant court”, in the case of a person within any entry in column 1 of the Table, means a court specified in relation to that entry in column 2 of the Table.

6. Ordinary court selection
   The power of the appropriate authority to make a request under subsection (1) is subject to subsections (2B) to (2D).
7. Ordinary court selection
   In the case of a request to a person within entry 1, 3, 4A, 5 or 6 in column 1 of the Table, the appropriate authority may make the request only after consulting the Lord Chancellor.
8. Ordinary court selection
   In any other case the appropriate authority may make a request only with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.
9. Ordinary court selection
   In the case of a request to a person within entry 5 or 6 in column 1 of the Table to act as a judge of the High Court, the appropriate authority may make the request only if the person is a member of the pool for requests under subsection (1) to persons within that entry.
10. Ordinary court selection
    In the case of a request to a Circuit judge to act as a judge of the Court of Appeal, the appropriate authority may make the request only with the concurrence of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
11. Ordinary court selection
    The person to whom a request is made under subsection (1) must comply with the request, but this does not apply to—
    1. a request made to a person who has been a judge of the Court of Appeal,
    2. a request made to a person who has been a puisne judge of the High Court and is not a judge of the Court of Appeal, or
    3. a request made to the Senior President of Tribunals if the holder of that office is a judge of the Court of Session or of the High Court, or Court of Appeal, in Northern Ireland.

    it shall be the duty of the person to whom the request is made to comply with it.

12. Ordinary court selection
    Without prejudice to section 24 of the Courts Act 1971 (temporary appointment of deputy Circuit judges), if it appears to the Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor,that it is expedient as a temporary measure to make an appointment under this subsection in order to facilitate the disposal of business in the High Court or the Crown Court or any other court or tribunal to which persons appointed under this subsection may be deployed, he may appoint a person qualified for appointment as a puisne judge of the High Court to be a deputy judge of the High Court during such period or on such occasions as the Lord Chief Justice may, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, think fit; and during the period or on the occasions for which a person is appointed as a deputy judge under this subsection, he may act as a puisne judge of the High Court.
13. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
    No appointment of a person as a deputy judge of the High Court shall be such as to extend beyond the day on which he attains the age of 70, but this subsection is subject to section 26(4) to (6) of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (Lord Chancellor’s power to authorise continuance in office up to the age of 75).
14. Every person while acting under this section shall, subject to subsections (6) and (6A), be treated for all purposes as, and accordingly may perform any of the functions of, a judge of the court in which he is acting.
15. A person shall not by virtue of subsection (5)—
    1. be treated as a judge of the court in which he is acting for the purposes of section 98(2) or of any statutory provision relating to—
       1. the appointment, retirement, removal or disqualification of judges of that court;
       2. the tenure of office and oaths to be taken by such judges; or
       3. the remuneration, allowances or pensions of such judges; or
    2. subject to section 27 of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993, be treated as having been a judge of a court in which he has acted only under this section.
16. A Circuit judge or Recorder or person within subsection (1ZB) shall not by virtue of subsection (5) exercise any of the powers conferred on a single judge by sections 31 , 31B, 31C and 44 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (powers of single judge in connection with appeals to the Court of Appeal and appeals from the Court of Appeal to the Senior Courts).
17. [Repealed]
18. Such remuneration and allowances as the Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine may be paid out of money provided by Parliament—
    1. to any person who has been—
       1. a judge of the Supreme Court; or
       2. a judge of the Court of Appeal; or
       3. a judge of the High Court,

       and is by virtue of subsection (1) acting as mentioned in that subsection;

    2. to any deputy judge of the High Court appointed under subsection (4).
19. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    A person may be removed from office as a deputy judge of the High Court—
    1. only by the Lord Chancellor with the agreement of the Lord Chief Justice, and
    2. only on—
       1. the ground of inability or misbehaviour, or
       2. a ground specified in the person's terms of appointment.
20. Subject to the preceding provisions of this section, a person appointed under subsection (4) is to hold and vacate office as a deputy judge of the High Court in accordance with the terms of the person's appointment, which are to be such as the Lord Chancellor may determine.
21. The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a senior judge (as defined in section 109(5) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise functions of the Lord Chief Justice under this section.

10. Appointment of judges of Senior Courts

1. Ordinary court selection
   Whenever the office of Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls, President of the Queen's Bench Division, President of the Family Division or Chancellor of the High Court is vacant, Her Majesty may , on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, by letters patent appoint a qualified person to that office.
2. Ordinary court selection
   Subject to the limits on full-time equivalent numbers for the time being imposed by sections 2(1) and 4(1), Her Majesty may , on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, from time to time by letters patent appoint qualified persons as Lords Justices of Appeal or as puisne judges of the High Court.
3. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   No person shall be qualified for appointment—
   1. as Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls, President of the Queen's Bench Division, President of the Family Division or Chancellor of the High Court, unless he is qualified for appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal or is a judge of the Court of Appeal;
   2. as a Lord Justice of Appeal, unless—
      1. he satisfies the judicial-appointment eligibility condition on a 7-year basis; or
      2. he is a judge of the High Court; or
   3. as a puisne judge of the High Court, unless—
      1. he satisfies the judicial-appointment eligibility condition on a 7-year basis; or
      2. he is a Circuit judge who has held that office for at least 2 years.
4. Oaths to abide by constitution
   A person appointed—
   1. to any of the offices mentioned in subsection (1),
   2. as a Lord Justice of Appeal, or
   3. as a puisne judge of the High Court,

   shall take the required oaths as soon as may be after accepting office.

5. In the case of a person appointed to the office of Lord Chief Justice, the required oaths are to be taken in the presence of all of the following—
   1. the Master of the Rolls;
   2. the President of the Queen's Bench Division;
   3. the President of the Family Division;
   4. the Chancellor of the High Court.
6. Where subsection (5) applies but there is a vacancy in one or more (but not all) of the offices mentioned in that subsection, the required oaths are to be taken in the presence of the holders of such of the offices as are not vacant.
7. Where the holder of an office mentioned in subsection (5) is incapable of exercising the functions of the office, the office is to be treated as vacant for the purposes of subsection (6).
8. In the case of a person appointed other than to the office of Lord Chief Justice, the required oaths are to be taken in the presence of—
   1. the Lord Chief Justice, or
   2. a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) nominated by him for this purpose.
9. Oaths to abide by constitution
   In this section “required oaths” means—
   1. the oath of allegiance, and
   2. the judicial oath,

   as set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868.

11. Tenure of office of judges of Senior Courts

1. Mandatory retirement age for judges, Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   This section applies to the office of any judge of the Senior Courts
2. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   A person appointed to an office to which this section applies shall vacate it on the day on which he attains the age of seventy years unless by virtue of this section he has ceased to hold it before then.
3. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   A person appointed to an office to which this section applies shall hold that office during good behaviour, subject to a power of removal by Her Majesty on an address presented to Her by both Houses of Parliament.
4. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   It is for the Lord Chancellor to recommend to Her Majesty the exercise of the power of removal under subsection (3).
5. A person holding an office within section 2(2)(d) to (g) shall vacate that office on becoming a judge of the Supreme Court.
6. A Lord Justice of Appeal shall vacate that office on becoming an ex-officio judge of the Court of Appeal.
7. A puisne judge of the High Court shall vacate that office on becoming a judge of the Court of Appeal.
8. A person who holds an office to which this section applies may at any time resign it by giving the Lord Chancellor notice in writing to that effect.
9. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   The Lord Chancellor, if satisfied by means of a medical certificate that a person holding an office to which this section applies—
   1. is disabled by permanent infirmity from the performance of the duties of his office; and
   2. is for the time being incapacitated from resigning his office,

   may, subject to subsection (9), by instrument under his hand declare that person’s office to have been vacated; and the instrument shall have the like effect for all purposes as if that person had on the date of the instrument resigned his office.

10. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    A declaration under subsection (8) with respect to a person shall be of no effect unless it is made—
    1. in the case of any of the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Queen's Bench Division, the President of the Family Division and the Chancellor of the High Court, with the concurrence of two others of them;
    2. in the case of a Lord Justice of Appeal, with the concurrence of the Master of the Rolls;
    3. in the case of a puisne judge of any Division of the High Court, with the concurrence of the senior judge of that Division.
11. [Repealed]

12. Salaries etc. of judges of Senior Courts

1. Protection of judges' salaries
   Subject to subsections (2) and (3), there shall be paid to judges of the Senior Courts such salaries as may be determined by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service.
2. Protection of judges' salaries
   Until otherwise determined under this section, there shall be paid to the judges mentioned in subsection (1) the same salaries as at the commencement of this Act.
3. Protection of judges' salaries
   Any salary payable under this section may be increased, but not reduced, by a determination or further determination under this section.
4. [Repealed]
5. Salaries payable under this section shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.
6. There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament to any judge of the Court of Appeal or of the High Court, in addition to his salary, such allowances as may be determined by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service.
7. Pensions shall be payable to or in respect of the judges mentioned in subsection (1) in accordance with section 2 of the Judicial Pensions Act 1981 or, in the case of a judge who is a person to whom Part I of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 applies, in accordance with that Act.

13. Precedence of judges of Senior Courts

1. When sitting in the Court of Appeal—
   1. the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls shall rank in that order; and
   2. judges of the Supreme Court and persons who have been Lord Chancellor shall rank next after the Master of the Rolls and, among themselves, according to the priority of the dates on which they respectively became judges of the Supreme Court or Lord Chancellor, as the case may be.
2. Subject to subsection (1)(b), the President of the Queen's Bench Division shall rank next after the Master of the Rolls.
3. The President of the Family Division shall rank next after the President of the Queen's Bench Division.
4. The Chancellor of the High Court shall rank next after the President of the Family Division.
5. The vice-president or vice-presidents of the divisions of the Court of Appeal shall rank next after the Chancellor of the High Court; and if there are two vice-presidents of those divisions, they shall rank, among themselves, according to the priority of the dates on which they respectively became vice-presidents.
6. The Lords Justices of Appeal (other than the vice-president or vice-presidents of the divisions of the Court of Appeal) shall rank after the ex-officio judges of the Court of Appeal and, among themselves, according to the priority of the dates on which they respectively became judges of that court.
7. The puisne judges of the High Court shall rank next after the judges of the Court of Appeal and, among themselves, according to the priority of the dates on which they respectively became judges of the High Court.

14. Power of judge of Senior Courts or Crown Court to act in cases relating to rates and taxes

1. A judge of the Senior Courts or of the Crown Court shall not be incapable of acting as such in any proceedings by reason of being, as one of a class of ratepayers, taxpayers or persons of any other description, liable in common with others to pay, or contribute to, or benefit from, any rate or tax which may be increased, reduced or in any way affected by those proceedings.
2. In this section “rate or tax” means any rate, tax, duty or liability, whether public, general or local, and includes—
   1. any fund formed from the proceeds of any such rate, tax, duty or liability; and
   2. any fund applicable for purposes the same as, or similar to, those for which the proceeds of any such rate, tax, duty or liability are or might be applied.

15. General jurisdiction of Court of Appeal

1. Structure of the courts
   The Court of Appeal shall be a superior court of record.
2. Subject to the provisions of this Act, there shall be exercisable by the Court of Appeal—
   1. all such jurisdiction (whether civil or criminal) as is conferred on it by this or any other Act; and
   2. all such other jurisdiction (whether civil or criminal) as was exercisable by it immediately before the commencement of this Act.
3. For all purposes of or incidental to—
   1. the hearing and determination of any appeal to the civil division of the Court of Appeal; and
   2. the amendment, execution and enforcement of any judgment or order made on such an appeal,

   the Court of Appeal shall have all the authority and jurisdiction of the court or tribunal from which the appeal was brought.

4. It is hereby declared that any provision in this or any other Act which authorises or requires the taking of any steps for the execution or enforcement of a judgment or order of the High Court applies in relation to a judgment or order of the civil division of the Court of Appeal as it applies in relation to a judgment or order of the High Court.

16. Appeals from High Court

1. Subject as otherwise provided by this or any other Act (and in particular to the provision in section 13(2)(a) of the Administration of Justice Act 1969 excluding appeals to the Court of Appeal in cases where leave to appeal from the High Court directly to the Senior Courts is granted under Part II of that Act), or as provided by any order made by the Lord Chancellor under section 56(1) of the Access to Justice Act 1999, the Court of Appeal shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals from any judgment or order of the High Court.
2. An appeal from a judgment or order of the High Court when acting as a prize court shall not be to the Court of Appeal, but shall be to Her Majesty in Council in accordance with the Prize Acts 1864 to 1944.

17. Applications for new trial

1. Where any cause or matter, or any issue in any cause or matter, has been tried in the High Court, any application for a new trial thereof, or to set aside a verdict, finding or judgment therein, shall be heard and determined by the Court of Appeal except where rules of court made in pursuance of subsection (2) provide otherwise.
2. As regards cases where the trial was by a judge alone and no error of the court at the trial is alleged, or any prescribed class of such cases, rules of court may provide that any such application as is mentioned in subsection (1) shall be heard and determined by the High Court.
3. Nothing in this section shall alter the practice in bankruptcy.

18. Restrictions on appeals to Court of Appeal

1. No appeal shall lie to the Court of Appeal—
   1. except as provided by the Administration of Justice Act 1960, from any judgment of the High Court in any criminal cause or matter;
   2. from any order of the High Court or any other court or tribunal allowing an extension of time for appealing from a judgment or order;
   3. from any order, judgment or decision of the High Court or any other court or tribunal which, by virtue of any provision (however expressed) of this or any other Act, is final;
   4. from a decree absolute of divorce or nullity of marriage, by a party who, having had time and opportunity to appeal from the decree nisi on which that decree was founded, has not appealed from the decree nisi;
   5. [Repealed]
   6. [Repealed]
   7. from a dissolution order, nullity order or presumption of death order under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 that has been made final, by a party who, having had time and opportunity to appeal from the conditional order on which that final order was founded, has not appealed from the conditional order;
   8. except as provided by Part I of the Arbitration Act 1996, from any decision of the High Court under that Part;
   9. [Repealed]
2. [Repealed]
3. [Repealed]
4. [Repealed]

Subheading 1. General jurisdiction

Subheading 2. Admiralty jurisdiction

1. In this section—
   • “Her Majesty’s ships” and “Her Majesty’s aircraft” have the meanings given by section 38(2) of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947;

     “Her Majesty’s hovercraft” means hovercraft belonging to the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or Her Majesty’s Government in Northern Ireland.

Subheading 3. Other particular fields of jurisdiction

Subheading 4. Powers

Subheading 5. Other provisions

45. General jurisdiction of Crown Court

1. Structure of the courts
   The Crown Court shall be a superior court of record.
2. Subject to the provisions of this Act, there shall be exercisable by the Crown Court—
   1. all such appellate and other jurisdiction as is conferred on it by or under this or any other Act; and
   2. all such other jurisdiction as was exercisable by it immediately before the commencement of this Act.
3. Without prejudice to subsection (2), the jurisdiction of the Crown Court shall include all such powers and duties as were exercisable or fell to be performed by it immediately before the commencement of this Act.
4. Subject to section 8 of the Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965 (substitution in criminal cases of procedure in that Act for procedure by way of subpoena) and to any provision contained in or having effect under this Act, the Crown Court shall, in relation to the attendance and examination of witnesses, any contempt of court, the enforcement of its orders and all other matters incidental to its jurisdiction, have the like powers, rights, privileges and authority as the High Court.
5. The specific mention elsewhere in this Act of any jurisdiction covered by subsections (2) and (3) shall not derogate from the generality of those subsections.

46. Exclusive jurisdiction of Crown Court in trial on indictment

1. All proceedings on indictment shall be brought before the Crown Court.
2. The jurisdiction of the Crown Court with respect to proceedings on indictment shall include jurisdiction in proceedings on indictment for offences wherever committed, and in particular proceedings on indictment for offences within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England.

46A. Offences committed on ships and abroad

1. Sections 280, 281 and 282 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (offences on ships and abroad by British citizens and others) apply in relation to other offences under the law of England and Wales as they apply in relation to offences under that Act or instruments under that Act.

47. [Repealed]

48. Appeals to Crown Court

1. The Crown Court may, in the course of hearing any appeal, correct any error or mistake in the order or judgment incorporating the decision which is the subject of the appeal.
2. On the termination of the hearing of an appeal the Crown Court—
   1. may confirm, reverse or vary any part of the decision appealed against, including a determination not to impose a separate penalty in respect of an offence; or
   2. may remit the matter with its opinion thereon to the authority whose decision is appealed against; or
   3. may make such other order in the matter as the court thinks just, and by such order exercise any power which the said authority might have exercised.
3. Subsection (2) has effect subject to any enactment relating to any such appeal which expressly limits or restricts the powers of the court on the appeal.
4. Subject to section 11(6) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995, if the appeal is against a conviction or a sentence, the preceding provisions of this section shall be construed as including power to award any punishment, whether more or less severe than that awarded by the magistrates’ court whose decision is appealed against, if that is a punishment which that magistrates’ court might have awarded.
5. This section applies whether or not the appeal is against the whole of the decision.
6. In this section “sentence” includes any order made by a court when dealing with an offender, including—
   1. a hospital order under Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983, with or without a restriction order, and an interim hospital order under that Act; and
   2. a recommendation for deportation made when dealing with an offender.
7. The fact that an appeal is pending against an interim hospital order under the said Act of 1983 shall not affect the power of the magistrates’ court that made it to renew or terminate the order or to deal with the appellant on its termination; and where the Crown Court quashes such an order but does not pass any sentence or make any other order in its place the Court may direct the appellant to be kept in custody or released on bail pending his being dealt with by that magistrates’ court.
8. Where the Crown Court makes an interim hospital order by virtue of subsection (2)—
   1. the power of renewing or terminating the order and of dealing with the appellant on its termination shall be exercisable by the magistrates’ court whose decision is appealed against and not by the Crown Court; and
   2. that magistrates’ court shall be treated for the purposes of section 38(7) of the said Act of 1983 (absconding offenders) as the court that made the order.

Subheading 1. Law and equity

1. Concurrent administration of law and equity.
   1. Subject to the provisions of this or any other Act, every court exercising jurisdiction in England or Wales in any civil cause or matter shall continue to administer law and equity on the basis that, wherever there is any conflict or variance between the rules of equity and the rules of the common law with reference to the same matter, the rules of equity shall prevail.
   2. Every such court shall give the same effect as hitherto—
      1. to all equitable estates, titles, rights, reliefs, defences and counterclaims, and to all equitable duties and liabilities; and
      2. subject thereto, to all legal claims and demands and all estates, titles, rights, duties, obligations and liabilities existing by the common law or by any custom or created by any statute,and,

      subject to the provisions of this or any other Act, shall so exercise its jurisdiction in every cause or matter before it as to secure that, as far as possible, all matters in dispute between the parties are completely and finally determined, and all multiplicity of legal proceedings with respect to any of those matters is avoided.

   3. Nothing in this Act shall affect the power of the Court of Appeal or the High Court to stay any proceedings before it, where it thinks fit to do so, either of its own motion or on the application of any person, whether or not a party to the proceedings.

Subheading 2. Costs

Subheading 1. Distribution of business

Subheading 2. Composition of court

Subheading 3. Sittings and vacations

Subheading 4. Other provisions

Subheading 1. Distribution of business

Subheading 2. Divisional courts

Subheading 3. Mode of conducting business

Subheading 4. Sittings and vacations

Subheading 5. Other provisions

Subheading 1. Composition of court

Subheading 2. Distribution of business

Subheading 3. Sittings

Subheading 4. Other provisions

84. Power to make rules of court

1. Rules of court may be made by the Lord Chief Justice for the purpose of regulating and prescribing , except in relation to any criminal cause or matter, the practice and procedure to be followed in the Crown Court.
2. Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the matters about which rules of court may be made under this section include all matters of practice and procedure in the Senior Courts which were regulated or prescribed by rules of court immediately before the commencement of this Act.
3. No provision of this or any other Act, or contained in any instrument made under any Act, which—
   1. authorises or requires the making of rules of court about any particular matter or for any particular purpose; or
   2. provides (in whatever words) that the power to make rules of court under this section is to include power to make rules about any particular matter or for any particular purpose,

   shall be taken as derogating from the generality of subsection (1).

4. Rules made under this section shall have effect subject to any special rules for the time being in force in relation to proceedings in the Senior Courts of any particular kind.
5. Special rules may apply—
   1. any rules made under this section,
   2. Civil Procedure Rules,
   3. Criminal Procedure Rules, or
   4. Family Procedure Rules,

   to proceedings to which the special rules apply.

6. Rules made under this section may apply—
   1. any special rules,
   2. Civil Procedure Rules,
   3. Criminal Procedure Rules, or
   4. Family Procedure Rules,

   to proceedings to which rules made under this section apply.

7. Where rules may be applied under subsection (5) or (5A), they may be applied—
   1. to any extent,
   2. with or without modification, and
   3. as amended from time to time.
8. No rule which may involve an increase of expenditure out of public funds may be made under this section except with the concurrence of the Treasury, but the validity of any rule made under this section shall not be called in question in any proceedings in any court either by the court or by any party to the proceedings on the ground only that it was a rule as to the making of which the concurrence of the Treasury was necessary and that the Treasury did not concur or are not expressed to have concurred.
9. [Repealed]
10. In this section “special rules” means rules applying to proceedings of any particular kind in the Senior Courts, being rules made by an authority other than the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, the Family Procedure Rule Committee or the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee under any provision of this or any other Act which (in whatever words) confers on that authority power to make rules in relation to proceedings of that kind in the Senior Courts.
11. The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise the Lord Chief Justice’s functions under this section.

85. The Senior Courts Rule Committee

1. The power to make rules of court under section 84 in relation to the High Court and the civil division of the Court of Appeal shall be exercisable by the Lord Chancellor together with any four or more of the following persons, namely—
   1. the Lord Chief Justice,
   2. the Master of the Rolls,
   3. the President of the Family Division,
   4. the Vice-Chancellor,
   5. three other judges of the Senior Courts,
   6. two persons who have a Senior Courts qualification (within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990); and
   7. two persons who have been granted by an authorised body, under Part II of that Act, the right to conduct litigation in relation to all proceedings in the Senior Courts.
2. The persons mentioned in subsection (1), acting in pursuance of that subsection, shall be known as “the Senior Courts Rule Committee”.
3. The persons to act in pursuance of subsection (1) with the Lord Chancellor, other than those eligible to act by virtue of their office, shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor for such time as he may think fit.
4. Before appointing a person under paragraph (f) or (g) of subsection (1), the Lord Chancellor shall consult any authorised body with members who are eligible for appointment under that paragraph.

86. The Crown Court Rule Committee

86A. Process for making rules of court under section 84

1. Crown Court rules must be submitted to the Lord Chancellor after being made by the Lord Chief Justice.
2. The Lord Chancellor may allow or disallow rules so made.
3. If the Lord Chancellor disallows rules, he must give the Lord Chief Justice written reasons for doing so.
4. Rules so made and allowed by the Lord Chancellor—
   1. come into force on such day as the Lord Chancellor directs, and
   2. are to be contained in a statutory instrument to which the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 applies as if the instrument contained rules made by a Minister of the Crown.
5. A statutory instrument containing Crown Court rules is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
6. In this section and section 86B “Crown Court rules” means rules of court made under section 84.

86B. Rules to be made if required by Lord Chancellor

1. This section applies if the Lord Chancellor gives the Lord Chief Justice written notice that he thinks it is expedient for Crown Court rules to include provision that would achieve a purpose specified in the notice.
2. The Lord Chief Justice must make such Crown Court rules as the Lord Chief Justice considers necessary to achieve the specified purpose.
3. Those rules must be—
   1. made within a reasonable period after the Lord Chancellor gives notice to the Lord Chief Justice;
   2. made in accordance with section 86A.

87. Particular matters for which rules of court may provide

1. Rules of court may make provision for regulating the means by which particular facts may be proved, and the mode in which evidence thereof may be given, in any proceedings in the High Court or in the civil division of the Court of Appeal or on any application in connection with or at any stage of any such proceedings.
2. Rules of court may make provision—
   1. for enabling proceedings to be commenced in the High Court against the estate of a deceased person (whether by the appointment of a person to represent the estate or otherwise) where no grant of probate or administration has been made;
   2. for enabling proceedings purporting to have been commenced in that court against a person to be treated, if he was dead at their commencement, as having been commenced against his estate, whether or not a grant of probate or administration was made before their commencement; and
   3. for enabling any proceedings commenced or treated as commenced in that court against the estate of a deceased person to be maintained (whether by substitution of parties, amendment or otherwise) against a person appointed to represent the estate or, if a grant of probate or administration is or has been made, against the personal representatives.
3. Rules of court made under section 84 may amend or repeal any statutory provision relating to the practice and procedure of the Crown Court (except so far as relating to criminal causes or matters) so far as may be necessary in consequence of provision made by the rules.
4. Criminal Procedure Rules may require courts from which an appeal lies to the criminal division of the Court of Appeal to furnish that division with any assistance or information which it may request for the purpose of exercising its jurisdiction.
5. Rules of court made under section 84 may amend or repeal any statutory provision about appeals to the Crown Court so far as it relates to the practice and procedure with respect to such appeals (except so far as relating to criminal causes or matters).

88. Qualification for office

89. Masters and registrars

1. Ordinary court selection
   The power to make appointments to the offices in the Senior Courts listed in column 1 of Parts II and III of Schedule 2 shall be exercisable by Her Majesty.
2. The maximum number of appointments under subsection (1) is such as may be determined from time to time by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Treasury.
3. The person appointed to the office of Queen’s coroner and attorney and master of the Crown Office and Registrar of criminal appeals shall, by virtue of his appointment, be a master of the Queen’s Bench Division.
4. Ordinary court selection
   Her Majesty shall, on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, appoint a person to each office listed in the first column of the table in subsection (3C) (“a senior office”).
5. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   A person may be appointed to a senior office only if—
   1. he holds the office in the corresponding entry in the second column of that table (“the qualifying office”), or
   2. he does not hold the qualifying office but could be appointed to it in compliance with section 88.
6. Where a person who is to be appointed to a senior office meets the condition in subsection (3A)(b) he shall, when appointed to the senior office, also be appointed to the qualifying office.
7. This is the table referred to in subsections (3) and (3A)—
   Eligibility for ordinary court judges, Ordinary court selection

   Table

   Key: Column 1 = Senior office; Column 2 = Qualifying office

   Row 1

   Column 1

   Senior Master of the Queen's Bench Division;

   Column 2

   Master of the Queen's Bench Division

   Row 2

   Column 1

   Chief Chancery Master;

   Column 2

   Master of the Chancery Division

   Row 3

   Column 1

   Chief Taxing Master;

   Column 2

   Taxing master of the Senior Courts

   Row 4

   Column 1

   Chief Bankruptcy Registrar;

   Column 2

   Registrar in bankruptcy of the High Court

   Row 5

   Column 1

   Senior District Judge of the Family Division;

   Column 2

   Registrar of the Principal Registry of the Family Division

8. The person appointed Senior Master of the Queen's Bench Division shall hold and perform the duties of the offices of the Queen’s Remembrancer and registrar of judgments.
9. [Repealed]
10. [Repealed]
11. [Repealed]
12. Protection of judges' salaries
    A person appointed under subsection (1) is to be paid such salary, and a person appointed to a senior office is to be paid such additional salary, as may be determined by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Treasury.
13. Protection of judges' salaries
    A salary payable under or by virtue of this section—
    1. may in any case be increased, but
    2. may not, in the case of a salary payable in respect of an office listed in column 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 2 or of a senior office, be reduced,

    by a determination or further determination under this section.

14. Salaries payable under or by virtue of this section shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.

90. Official Solicitor

1. There shall continue to be an Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts, who shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor.
2. There shall be paid to the Official Solicitor out of money provided by Parliament such salary as the Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.
3. The Official Solicitor shall have such powers and perform such duties as may for the time being be conferred or imposed on the holder of that office—
   1. by or under this or any other Act; or
   2. by or in accordance with any direction given (before or after the commencement of this Act) by the Lord Chancellor.
4. The holder for the time being of the office of Official Solicitor shall have the right to conduct litigation in relation to any proceedings.
5. When acting as Official Solicitor a person who would otherwise have the right to conduct litigation by virtue of the fact that he is a person who, for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007, is an authorised person in relation to an activity which constitutes the conduct of litigation (within the meaning of that Act) shall be treated as having acquired that right solely by virtue of subsection (3A).
6. If—
   1. the Official Solicitor is not available because of his absence or for some other reason; or
   2. his office is vacant,

   then, during such unavailability or vacancy, any powers or duties of the Official Solicitor shall be exercisable or fall to be performed by any person for the time being appointed by the Lord Chancellor as deputy to the Official Solicitor (and any property vested in the Official Solicitor may accordingly be dealt with by any such person in all respects as if it were vested in him instead).

91. Deputies and temporary appointments

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges, Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   If it appears to the Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, that it is expedient to do so in order to facilitate the disposal of business in the Senior Courts or any other court or tribunal to which a person appointed under this subsection may be deployed, he may appoint a person—
   1. to act as a deputy for any person holding an office listed in column 1 of Part II of Schedule 2; or
   2. to act as a temporary additional officer in any such office,

   during such period or on such occasions as the Lord Chief Justice may, after consulting the Lord Chancellor, think fit.

2. Ordinary court selection
   The Lord Chief Justice may not appoint a holder of relevant office under subsection (1) without the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.
3. Ordinary court selection
   If it appears to the Lord Chancellor that it is expedient to do so in order to facilitate the disposal of business in the Senior Courts, he may appoint a person—
   1. to act as a deputy for any person holding an office listed in column 1 of Part 3 of Schedule 2; or
   2. to act as a temporary additional officer in any such office,

   during such period or on such occasions as the Lord Chancellor may think fit.

4. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   Subject to subsection (3), a person shall not be qualified for appointment under this section if the office in which he would act by virtue of the appointment is one to which he is not qualified for permanent appointment.
5. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   A person may be appointed under this section if he would, but for his age, be qualified for permanent appointment to the office in question and he has previously held a permanent appointment to that office or—
   1. where the office in question is listed in column 1 of Part II of Schedule 2, to any other office so listed; or
   2. where the office in question is listed in column 1 of Part III of that Schedule, to any other office listed in column 1 of either Part II or Part III; or
   3. (whatever the office in question) to the office of county court registrar,

   but no appointment by virtue of this subsection shall be such as to extend beyond the day on which the person in question attains the age of seventy-five years.

6. Every person, while acting under this section, shall have all the jurisdiction of a person permanently appointed to the office in which he is acting.
7. [Repealed]
8. The Lord Chancellor may, out of money provided by Parliament, pay to any person appointed under this section such remuneration and allowances as he may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.
9. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
   A person appointed under subsection (1) may be removed from office—
   1. only by the Lord Chancellor with the agreement of the Lord Chief Justice, and
   2. only on—
      1. the ground of inability or misbehaviour, or
      2. a ground specified in the person's terms of appointment.
10. Subject to subsection (6C), the period of a person's appointment under subsection (1) (including a period already extended under this subsection) must be extended by the Lord Chancellor before its expiry; and for this purpose a person appointed under subsection (1) to act under this section on certain occasions is to be treated as having been appointed for a period that expires when the occasions end.
11. Extension under subsection (6B)—
    1. requires the person's agreement,
    2. is to be for such period as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit, and
    3. may be refused on—
       1. the ground of inability or misbehaviour, or
       2. a ground specified in the person's terms of appointment,

       but only with any agreement of the Lord Chief Justice, or a nominee of the Lord Chief Justice, that may be required by those terms.

12. Subject to the preceding provisions of this section (but subject in the first place to the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993), a person appointed under subsection (1) is to hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of the person's appointment, which are to be such as the Lord Chancellor may determine.
13. The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a senior judge (as defined in section 109(5) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under subsection (1) or (6A)(a).

92. Tenure of office.

1. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   Subject to the following provisions of this section and to subsections (4) to (6) of section 26 of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (Lord Chancellor’s power to authorise continuance in office up to the age of 75), a person who holds an office to which this subsection applies shall vacate it on the day on which he attains the age of seventy years.
2. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   Subsection (1) applies to the offices listed in column 1 of Part II of Schedule 2.
3. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   Subject to the following provisions of this section, a person who holds an office to which this subsection applies shall vacate it at the end of the completed year of service in the course of which he attains the age of sixy-two years.
4. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   Subsection (2A) applies to the offices listed in column 1 of Part I of Schedule 2.
5. [Repealed]
6. [Repealed]
7. [Repealed]
8. [Repealed]
9. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   Where the Lord Chancellor considers it desirable in the public interest to retain in office a person who holds an office to which subsection (2A) applies after the time when he would otherwise retire in accordance with that subsection, the Lord Chancellor may from time to time authorise the continuance in office of that person until such date, not being later than the date on which he attains the age of sixty-five years, as he thinks fit.
10. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    A person appointed to an office listed in column 1 of Part 1 or 2 of Schedule 2 shall hold that office during good behaviour.
11. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    The power to remove such a person from his office on account of misbehaviour shall be exercisable by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice.
12. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    The Lord Chancellor may also , with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, remove such a person from his office on account of inability to perform the duties of his office.
13. A person appointed to an office listed in column 1 of Part III of Schedule 2 shall hold that office during Her Majesty’s pleasure.
14. It is for the Lord Chancellor to recommend to Her Majesty the exercise of any power under subsection (7).

93. Status of officers for purposes of salary and pension

1. Subject to subsection (2), any person who holds an office listed in column 1 of any Part of Schedule 2 or the office of Accountant General of the Senior Courts and is not employed in the civil service of the State shall be deemed to be so employed for the purposes of salary and pension.
2. Subsection (1), so far as it relates to pension, shall not apply to a person holding qualifying judicial office, within the meaning of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993.

94. [Repealed]

95. Property held by officers

96. Central Office

1. The Central Office of the Senior Courts shall perform such business as the Lord Chief Justice may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, direct.
2. Subject to any direction under subsection (1), the Central Office shall perform such business as it performed immediately before the commencement of this Act.
3. 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.

97. Accountant General

1. There shall continue to be an Accountant General of, and an accounting department for, the Senior Courts.
2. The Lord Chancellor shall appoint such person as he thinks fit to the office in the Senior Courts of Accountant General of the Senior Courts and the person so appointed shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of his appointment.
3. The Accountant General shall be paid such salary or fees as the Lord Chancellor determines with the consent of the Treasury.
4. If one person holds office both as the Accountant General and as the Public Trustee then, if he ceases to be the Public Trustee, he shall also cease to be the Accountant General unless the Lord Chancellor otherwise directs.
5. If a vacancy occurs in the office of Accountant General or the person appointed to hold the office is for any reason unable to act for any period such person as the Lord Chancellor appoints as deputy in that office shall, during the vacancy or that period, perform the functions of that office (and any property vested in the Accountant General may accordingly be dealt with by the deputy in all respects as if it were vested in him instead).

98. Judges’ clerks and secretaries

1. A clerk and a secretary shall be attached to each of the following judges of the Senior Courts, namely the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Queen's Bench Division, the President of the Family Division and the Chancellor of the High Court.
2. A clerk shall be attached to each of the following judges of the Senior Courts, namely the Lords Justices of Appeal and the puisne judges of the High Court.
3. Any clerk or secretary attached as mentioned in subsection (1) or (2)—
   1. shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor; and
   2. if not already employed in the civil service of the State shall be deemed for all purposes to be so employed.
4. If at any time it appears to any of the judges mentioned in subsection (1) desirable that there should be attached to him a legal secretary (that is to say a secretary with legal qualifications) in addition to the secretary provided for by that subsection, he may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, appoint a person who has a general qualification (within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990) as his legal secretary.
5. An appointment under subsection (4) may be on either a full-time or a part-time basis; and a person appointed by a judge as his legal secretary shall, except as regards remuneration, hold and vacate that office in accordance with such terms as the judge may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, determine when making the appointment.
6. A person appointed under subsection (4)—
   1. shall not be treated as employed in the civil service of the State by reason only of that appointment; and
   2. if the Lord Chancellor so determines in his case, shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament such remuneration as the Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

99. District registries

1. The Lord Chancellor may , after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, by order direct that there shall be district registries of the High Court at such places and for such districts as are specified in the order.
2. Any order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, which shall be laid before Parliament after being made.
3. 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.

100. District judges

1. Ordinary court selection
   The Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor—
   1. may assign a district judge to one or more district registries;
   2. may change an assignment so as to assign the district judge to a different district registry or registries (or to no district registry).
2. A reference in any enactment or other instrument to the district judge of a district registry is a reference to any district judge assigned to the registry concerned.
3. Every district judge is, by virtue of his office, capable of acting in any district registry whether or not assigned to it, but may do so only in accordance with arrangements made by or on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice.
4. Ordinary court selection
   Whilst a district judge is assigned to one or more district registries in accordance with subsection (1) he is a district judge of the High Court.

101. [Repealed]

102. Deputy district registrars

1. Eligibility for ordinary court judges, Ordinary court selection, Mandatory retirement age for judges
   If it appears to the Lord Chief Justice that it is expedient to do so in order to facilitate the disposal of business in the High Court or any other court or tribunal to which a person appointed under this subsection may be deployed, he may appoint a person to be a deputy district judge.
2. Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   A person is qualified for appointment under subsection (1) only if the person—
   1. is qualified for appointment as a district judge, or
   2. holds, or has held, the office of district judge.
3. Mandatory retirement age for judges, Eligibility for ordinary court judges
   The Lord Chief Justice may not appoint a person under subsection (1) without the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor if the person—
   1. holds the office of district judge, or
   2. ceased to hold the office of district judge within two years ending with the date when the appointment takes effect.
4. Section 85 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) (selection of certain office holders) does not apply to an appointment to which subsection (1B) applies.
5. [Repealed]
6. Mandatory retirement age for judges
   No appointment to which subsection (1B) applies shall be such as to extend beyond the day on which the person in question attains the age of seventy-five years.
7. Ordinary court selection
   The Lord Chief Justice, after consulting the Lord Chancellor—
   1. may assign a deputy district judge appointed under this section to one or more district registries;
   2. may change an assignment so as to assign the deputy district judge to a different district registry or registries (or to no district registry).
8. A deputy district judge appointed under this section and assigned to a district registry has, while acting under his assignment, the same jurisdiction as a district judge assigned to that registry.
9. Every deputy district judge appointed under this section is, by virtue of his office, capable of acting as a district judge in any district registry to which he is not assigned, but may act in a district registry to which he is not assigned only in accordance with arrangements made by or on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice.
10. Subsection (6) of section 91 applies in relation to a deputy district judge appointed under this section as it applies in relation to a person appointed under that section.
11. Supreme/ordinary court judge removal
    A person appointed under this section may be removed from office as a deputy district judge—
    1. only by the Lord Chancellor with the agreement of the Lord Chief Justice, and
    2. only on—
       1. the ground of inability or misbehaviour, or
       2. a ground specified in the person's terms of appointment.
12. Subject to subsection (5ZC), the term of a person's appointment under this section (including a term already extended under this subsection) must be extended by the Lord Chancellor before its expiry.
13. Extension under subsection (5ZB)—
    1. requires the person's agreement,
    2. is to be for such term as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit, and
    3. may be refused on—
       1. the ground of inability or misbehaviour, or
       2. a ground specified in the person's terms of appointment,

       but only with any agreement of the Lord Chief Justice, or a nominee of the Lord Chief Justice, that may be required by those terms.

14. Subject to the preceding provisions of this section (but subject in the first place to the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993), a person appointed under this section is to hold and vacate office as a deputy district judge in accordance with the terms of the person's appointment, which are to be such as the Lord Chancellor may determine.
15. The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a senior judge (as defined in section 109(5) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise the Lord Chief Justice's functions under subsection (1) or (5ZA)(a).
16. 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 subsection (4A).
17. [Repealed]

103. [Repealed]

104. District probate registries

1. The Lord Chancellor may , after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, by order direct that there shall be district probate registries of the High Court at such places and for such districts as are specified in the order.
2. Any order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, which shall be laid before Parliament after being made.
3. 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.

105. Applications

106. Grants by district probate registrars

1. Any grant made by a district probate registrar shall be made in the name of the High Court under the seal used in the registry.
2. [Repealed]
3. [Repealed]
4. [Repealed]

107. No grant where conflicting applications

108. Caveats

1. A caveat against a grant of probate or administration may be entered in the Principal Registry or in any district probate registry.
2. On a caveat being entered in a district probate registry, the district probate registrar shall immediately send a copy of it to the Principal Registry to be entered among the caveats in that Registry.

109. Refusal of grant where capital transfer tax unpaid

1. No grant shall be made, and no grant made outside the United Kingdom shall be resealed, except—
   1. on the production of information or documents under regulations under section 256(1)(aa) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (excepted estates); or
   2. on the production of an account prepared in pursuance of that Act showing by means of such receipt or certification as may be prescribed by the Commissioners either—
      1. that the inheritance tax payable on the delivery of the account has been paid; or
      2. that no such tax is so payable.
2. Arrangements may be made between the President of the Family Division and the Commissioners providing for the purposes of subsection (1)(b) in such cases as may be specified in the arrangements that the receipt of certification of an account may be dispensed with or that some other document may be substituted for the account required by the Capital Transfer Tax Act 1984.
3. In this section and the following section, “the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue
4. [Repealed]

110. Documents to be delivered to Commissioners of Inland Revenue

111. Records of grants

1. There shall continue to be kept records of all grants which are made in the Principal Registry or in any district probate registry.
2. Those records shall be in such form, and shall contain such particulars, as the President of the Family Division may direct.

112. Summons to executor to prove or renounce

113. Power of court to sever grant

1. Subject to subsection (2), the High Court may grant probate or administration in respect of any part of the estate of a deceased person, limited in any way the court thinks fit.
2. Where the estate of a deceased person is known to be insolvent, the grant of representation to it shall not be severed under subsection (1) except as regards a trust estate in which he had no beneficial interest.

114. Number of personal representatives

1. Probate or administration shall not be granted by the High Court to more than four persons in respect of the same part of the estate of a deceased person.
2. Where under a will or intestacy any beneficiary is a minor or a life interest arises, any grant of administration by the High Court shall be made either to a trust corporation (with or without an individual) or to not less than two individuals, unless it appears to the court to be expedient in all the circumstances to appoint an individual as sole administrator.
3. For the purpose of determining whether a minority or life interest arises in any particular case, the court may act on such evidence as may be prescribed.
4. If at any time during the minority of a beneficiary or the subsistence of a life interest under a will or intestacy there is only one personal representative (not being a trust corporation), the High Court may, on the application of any person interested or the guardian or receiver of any such person, and in accordance with probate rules, appoint one or more additional personal representatives to act while the minority or life interest subsists and until the estate is fully administered.
5. An appointment of an additional personal representative under subsection (4) to act with an executor shall not have the effect of including him in any chain of representation.

115. Grants to trust corporations

1. The High Court may—
   1. where a trust corporation is named in a will as executor, grant probate to the corporation either solely or jointly with any other person named in the will as executor, as the case may require; or
   2. grant administration to a trust corporation, either solely or jointly with another person;

   and the corporation may act accordingly as executor or administrator, as the case may be.

2. Probate or administration shall not be granted to any person as nominee of a trust corporation.
3. Any officer authorised for the purpose by a trust corporation or its directors or governing body may, on behalf of the corporation, swear affidavits, give security and do any other act which the court may require with a view to the grant to the corporation of probate or administration; and the acts of an officer so authorised shall be binding on the corporation.
4. Subsections (1) to (3) shall also apply in relation to any body which is exempt from the provisions of section 23(1) of the Solicitors Act 1974 (unqualified persons not to prepare papers for probate etc.) by virtue of any of paragraphs (e) to (h) of subsection (2) of that section.

116. Power of court to pass over prior claims to grant

1. If by reason of any special circumstances it appears to the High Court to be necessary or expedient to appoint as administrator some person other than the person who, but for this section, would in accordance with probate rules have been entitled to the grant, the court may in its discretion appoint as administrator such person as it thinks expedient.
2. Any grant of administration under this section may be limited in any way the court thinks fit.

117. Administration pending suit

1. Where any legal proceedings concerning the validity of the will of a deceased person, or for obtaining, recalling or revoking any grant, are pending, the High Court may grant administration of the estate of the deceased person in question to an administrator pending suit, who shall, subject to subsection (2), have all the rights, duties and powers of a general administrator.
2. An administrator pending suit shall be subject to the immediate control of the court and act under its direction; and, except in such circumstances as may be prescribed, no distribution of the estate, or any part of the estate, of the deceased person in question shall be made by such an administrator without the leave of the court.
3. The court may, out of the estate of the deceased, assign an administrator pending suit such reasonable remuneration as it thinks fit.

118. Effect of appointment of minor as executor

119. Administration with will annexed

1. Administration with the will annexed shall be granted, subject to and in accordance with probate rules, in every class of case in which the High Court had power to make such a grant immediately before the commencement of this Act.
2. Where administration with the will annexed is granted, the will of the deceased shall be performed and observed in the same manner as if probate of it had been granted to an executor.

120. Power to require administrators to produce sureties

1. As a condition of granting administration to any person the High Court may, subject to the following provisions of this section and subject to and in accordance with probate rules, require one or more sureties to guarantee that they will make good, within any limit imposed by the court on the total liability of the surety or sureties, any loss which any person interested in the administration of the estate of the deceased may suffer in consequence of a breach by the administrator of his duties as such.
2. A guarantee given in pursuance of any such requirement shall enure for the benefit of every person interested in the administration of the estate of the deceased as if contained in a contract under seal made by the surety or sureties with every such person and, where there are two or more sureties, as if they had bound themselves jointly and severally.
3. No action shall be brought on any such guarantee without the leave of the High Court.
4. Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any such guarantee.
5. This section does not apply where administration is granted to the Treasury Solicitor, the Official Solicitor, the Public Trustee, the Solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall or the Crown Solicitor for Northern Ireland, or to the consular officer of a foreign state to which section 1 of the Consular Conventions Act 1949 applies, or in such other cases as may be prescribed.

121. Revocation of grants and cancellation of resealing at instance of court

1. Where it appears to the High Court that a grant either ought not to have been made or contains an error, the court may call in the grant and, if satisfied that it would be revoked at the instance of a party interested, may revoke it.
2. A grant may be revoked under subsection (1) without being called in, if it cannot be called in.
3. Where it appears to the High Court that a grant resealed under the Colonial Probates Acts 1892 and 1927 ought not to have been resealed, the court may call in the relevant document and, if satisfied that the resealing would be cancelled at the instance of a party interested, may cancel the resealing. In this and the following subsection “the relevant document” means the original grant or, where some other document was sealed by the court under those Acts, that document.
4. A resealing may be cancelled under subsection (3) without the relevant document being called in, if it cannot be called in.

122. Examination of person with knowledge of testamentary document

1. Where it appears that there are reasonable grounds for believing that any person has knowledge of any document which is or purports to be a testamentary document, the High Court may, whether or not any legal proceedings are pending, order him to attend for the purpose of being examined in open court.
2. The court may—
   1. require any person who is before it in compliance with an order under subsection (1) to answer any question relating to the document concerned; and
   2. if appropriate, order him to bring in the document in such manner as the court may direct.
3. Any person who, having been required by the court to do so under this section, fails to attend for examination, answer any question or bring in any document shall be guilty of contempt of court.

123. Subpoena to bring in testamentary document

124. Place for deposit of original wills and other documents

125. Copies of wills and grants

126. Depositories for wills of living persons

1. There shall be provided, under the control and direction of the High Court, safe and convenient depositories for the custody of the wills of living persons; and any person may deposit his will in such a depository on payment of the fee prescribed by an order under section 92 of the Courts Act 2003 (fees) and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by regulations made by the President of the Family Division with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.
2. Any regulations made under this section shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be laid before Parliament after being made; and the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 shall apply to a statutory instrument containing regulations under this section in like manner as if they had been made by a Minister of the Crown.

127. Probate rules

1. Rules of court (in this Part referred to as “probate rules”) may be made in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 for regulating and prescribing the practice and procedure of the High Court with respect to non-contentious or common form probate business.
2. Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), probate rules may make provision for regulating the classes of persons entitled to grants of probate or administration in particular circumstances and the relative priorities of their claims thereto.
3. [Repealed]

128. Interpretation of Part V and other probate provisions

129. Lords Commissioners to represent Lord Chancellor when Great Seal in commission

130. Fees to be taken in Supreme Court

131. Conveyancing counsel of Senior Courts

1. The conveyancing counsel of the Senior Courts shall be persons who have a 10 year High Court qualification, within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
2. The conveyancing counsel of the court shall be not more than six, not less than three, in number, and shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice.
3. 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.

132. Proof of documents bearing seal or stamp of Senior Courts or any office thereof

133. Enrolment and engrossment of instruments

1. The Master of the Rolls may make regulations for authorising and regulating the enrolment or filing of instruments in the Senior Courts, and for prescribing the form in which certificates of enrolment or filing are to be issued.
2. Regulations under subsection (1) shall not affect the operation of any enactment requiring or authorising the enrolment of any instrument in the Senior Courts or prescribing the manner in which any instrument is to be enrolled there.
3. Any instrument which is required or authorised by or under this or any other Act to be enrolled or engrossed in the Senior Courts shall be deemed to have been duly enrolled or engrossed if it is written on material authorised or required by regulations under subsection (1) and has been filed or otherwise preserved in accordance with regulations under that subsection.
4. The Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Master of the Rolls and of the Treasury, make regulations prescribing the fees to be paid on the enrolment or filing of any instrument in the Senior Courts, including any additional fees payable on the enrolment or filing of any instrument out of time.
5. Any regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, which shall be laid before Parliament after being made; and the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 shall apply to a statutory instrument containing regulations under subsection (1) in like manner as if the regulations had been made by a Minister of the Crown.

134. Powers of attorney deposited before October 1971

1. This section applies to any instrument creating, or verifying the execution of, a power of attorney which was deposited in the Central Office of the Senior Courts before 1st October 1971.
2. A separate file of such instruments shall continue to be kept and, subject to payment of any the fee prescribed by an order under section 92 of the Courts Act 2003 (fees)—
   1. any person may search that file, and may inspect any such instrument; and
   2. an office copy of any such instrument shall be issued to any person on request.
3. A document purporting to be an office copy of any such instrument shall, in any part of the United Kingdom, without further proof be sufficient evidence of the contents of the instrument and of its having been deposited as mentioned in subsection (1).

135. Bonds given under order of court

1. A bond to be given by any person under or for the purposes of any order of the High Court or the civil division of the Court of Appeal shall be given in such form and to such officer of the court as may be prescribed and, if the court so requires, with one or more sureties.
2. An officer of the court to whom a bond is given in accordance with subsection (1) shall as such have power to enforce it or to assign it, pursuant to an order of the court under subsection (4), to some other person.
3. Where by rules of court made for the purposes of this section another officer is at any time substituted for the officer previously prescribed as the officer to whom bonds of any class are to be given, the rules may provide that bonds of that class given before the rules come into operation shall have effect as if references in the bonds to the officer previously prescribed were references to the substituted officer.
4. Where it appears to the court that the condition of a bond given in accordance with subsection (1) has been broken, the court may, on an application in that behalf, order the bond to be assigned to such person as may be specified in the order.
5. A person to whom a bond is ordered to be assigned under subsection (4) shall be entitled by virtue of the order to sue on the bond in his own name as if it had been originally given to him, and to recover on it as trustee for all persons interested the full amount recoverable in respect of the breach of condition.

136. Production of documents filed in, or in custody of, Senior Courts

1. Rules may be made in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 for providing that, in any case where a document filed in, or in the custody of, any office of the Senior Courts is required to be produced to any court or tribunal (including an umpire or arbitrator) sitting elsewhere than at the Royal Courts of Justice—
   1. it shall not be necessary for any officer, whether served with a subpoena in that behalf or not, to attend for the purpose of producing the document; but
   2. the document may be produced to the court or tribunal by sending it to the court or tribunal, in the manner prescribed in the rules, together with a certificate, in the form so prescribed, to the effect that the document has been filed in, or is in the custody of, the office;

   and any such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated in it.

2. Rules under this section may contain—
   1. provisions for securing the safe custody and return to the proper office of the Senior Courts of any document sent to a court or tribunal in pursuance of the rules; and
   2. such incidental and supplementary provisions as appear to the person making the rules to be necessary or expedient.

137. Money paid into court under enactment subsequently repealed

138. Effect of writs of execution against goods

138A. Sales under executions

138B. Protection of officer selling goods under execution

139. Attachment of National Savings Bank deposits

1. In section 27 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (attachment of moneys payable by the Crown)—
   1. in subsection (1), paragraph (c) of the proviso (which precludes the making of orders under that subsection by the High Court or a county court in respect of money payable on account of a deposit in the National Savings Bank) shall cease to have effect; and
   2. after subsection (2) there shall be added—

      "(3)In their application to England and Wales the preceding provisions of this section shall have effect subject to any order for the time being in force under section 139(2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981."

2. The Lord Chancellor may by order direct that section 27(1) and (2) of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (attachment of moneys payable by the Crown) shall not apply in relation to any money payable by the Crown to any person on account of—
   1. any deposit in the National Savings Bank; or
   2. a deposit in that Bank of any description specified in the order.
3. Any order under subsection (2) shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
4. Without prejudice to section 153(4), this section extends to England and Wales only.

140. Enforcement of fines and forfeited recognizances

1. Payment of a fine imposed, or sum due under a recognizance forfeited, by the High Court or the civil division of the Court of Appeal may be enforced upon the order of the court—
   1. in like manner as a judgment of the High Court for the payment of money; or
   2. in like manner as a fine imposed by the Crown Court.
2. Where payment of a fine or other sum falls to be enforced as mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) upon an order of the High Court or the civil division of the Court of Appeal under that subsection—
   1. the court shall, if the fine or the other sum is not paid in full forthwith or within such time as the court may allow, certify to Her Majesty’s Remembrancer the sum payable; and
   2. Her Majesty’s Remembrancer shall thereupon proceed to enforce payment of that sum as if it were due to him as a judgment debt.
3. Where payment of a fine or other sum falls to be enforced as mentioned in paragaph (b) of subsection (1) upon an order of the High Court or the civil division of the Court of Appeal under that subsection, the provisions of sections 139 and 140 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 shall apply to that fine or other sum as they apply to a fine imposed by the Crown Court.
4. Where payment of a fine or other sum has become enforceable by Her Majesty’s Remembrancer by virtue of this section or section 16 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, any payment received by him in respect of that fine or other sum shall be dealt with by him in such manner as the Lord Chancellor may direct.
5. In this section, and in sections 139 and 140 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 as extended by this section, “fine” includes a penalty imposed in civil proceedings.

141. Abolition of certain writs

142. Selection of judges for trial of election petitions

1. Ordinary court selection
   The judges to be placed on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions in England and Wales under Part III of the Representation of the People Act 1983 in each year shall be selected, in such manner as may be provided by rules of court, from the judges of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court exclusive of any who are members of the House of Lords.
2. Notwithstanding the expiry of the year for which a judge has been placed on the rota he may act as if that year had not expired for the purpose of continuing to deal with, giving judgment in, or dealing with ancillary matter relating to, any case with which he may have been concerned during that year.
3. Any judge placed on the rota shall be eligible to be placed on the rota again in the succeeding or any subsequent year.

143. [Repealed]

144. [Repealed]

145. Amendment of Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968

1. The Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968 shall be amended as follows.
2. In section 2(1)(a) (under which the judges of the Courts-Martial Appeal Court include such judges of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court as may be nominated for that purpose by the Lord Chief Justice after consultation with the Master of the Rolls), the words “of the Queen’s Bench Division” and “after consultation with the Master of the Rolls” shall be omitted.
3. In section 3(a) (under which the powers of the Courts-Martial Appeal Court may be exercised by any judge of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court), the words “of the Queen’s Bench Division” shall be omitted.
4. For section 5 (constitution of Appeal Court for particular sittings) there shall be substituted—

   "5

   (1) Subject to subsection (4) below, the Appeal Court shall be duly constituted if it consists of an uneven number of judges not less than three.

   (2) Where—

   (a)part of any proceedings before the Appeal Court has been heard by an uneven number of judges greater than three; and

   (b) one or more members of the Court as constituted for the purpose of those proceedings are unable to continue,

   then, subject to subsection (4) below, the Court shall remain duly constituted for the purpose of those proceedings so long as the number of members (whether even or uneven) is not reduced to less than three.

   (3) Subject to subsection (4) below, the Appeal Court shall, if it consists of two judges, be duly constituted for every purpose except—

   (a) determining an appeal against—

   (i) conviction; or

   (ii) a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity; or

   (iii) a finding of unfitness to stand trial;

   (b) determining an application for leave to appeal to the House of Lords; and

   (c) refusing an application for leave to appeal to the Appeal Court against conviction or any such finding as is mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii) or (iii), other than an application which has been refused by a single judge.

   (4) At least one of the judges of which the Appeal Court consists at any sitting must be a judge of the Court by virtue of section 2(1) of this Act, except that where the Court is directed to sit at a place outside the United Kingdom the Lord Chancellor may, if he thinks it expedient to do so, direct that this provision shall not apply to the Court while sitting at that place.

   (5) Where an appeal has been heard by the Appeal Court and the Court as constituted for that purpose consists of an even number of judges, then, if those judges are equally divided, the case shall be re-argued before and determined by an uneven number of judges not less than three."

5. In section 36(2) (rights of appellant on refusal of single judge to exercise certain powers in his favour) for “for the hearing and determination of appeals” there shall be substituted “for the purpose in accordance with section 5 of this Act”.

146. Amendment of Courts Act 1971

147. Amendment of Solicitors Act 1974

148. [Repealed]

149. [Repealed]

150. Admiralty jurisdiction: provisions as to Channel Islands, Isle of Man, colonies etc

1. Her Majesty may by Order in Council—
   1. direct that any of the provisions of sections 20 to 24 specified in the Order shall extend, with such exceptions, adaptations and modifications as may be so specified, to any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man; or
   2. make, for any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, provision for any purposes corresponding to the purposes of any of the provisions of those sections.
2. Her Majesty may by order in Council direct, either generally or in relation to particular courts or territories, that the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 shall have effect as if for the reference in section 2(2) of that Act to the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court in England there were substituted a reference to the Admiralty jurisdiction of that court as defined by section 20 of this Act, subject, however to such adaptations and modifications of section 20 as may be specified in the Order.
3. Her Majesty may by Order in Council direct that any of the provisions of sections 21 to 24 shall extend, with such exceptions, adaptations and modifications as may be specified in the Order, to any colony or to any country outside Her Majesty’s dominions in which Her Majesty has jurisdiction in right of the government of the United Kingdom.
4. Subsections (1) and (3) shall each have effect as if the provisions there mentioned included section 2(2) of the Hovercraft Act 1968 (application of the law relating to maritime liens in relation to hovercraft and property connected with them).

151. Interpretation of this Act, and rules of construction for other Acts and documents

1. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
   • “action” means any civil proceedings commenced by writ or in any other manner prescribed by rules of court;

     “appeal”, in the context of appeals to the civil division of the Court of Appeal, includes—

     1. an application for a new trial, and
     2. an application to set aside a verdict, finding or judgment in any cause or matter in the High Court which has been tried, or in which any issue has been tried, by a jury;

     “arbitration agreement” has the same meaning as it has in the Part I of the Arbitration Act 1996;

     “cause” means any action or any criminal proceedings;

     “Division”, where it appears with a capital letter, means a division of the High Court;

     “judgment” includes a decree;

     “jurisdiction” includes powers;

     “matter” means any proceedings in court not in a cause;

     “party”, in relation to any proceedings, includes any person who pursuant to or by virtue of rules of court or any other statutory provision has been served with notice of, or has intervened in, those proceedings;

     “prescribed” means—

     1. except in relation to fees, prescribed by rules of court;
     2. [Repealed]

     “qualifying judge advocate” means—

     1. the Judge Advocate General; or
     2. a person appointed under section 30(1)(a) or (b) of the Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1951 (assistants to the Judge Advocate General);

     “senior judge”, where the reference is to the senior judge of a Division, means the president of that Division;

     “solicitor” means a solicitor of the Senior Courts;

     “statutory provision” means any enactment, whenever passed, or any provision contained in subordinate legislation (as defined 0 in section 21(1) of the Interpretation Act 1978), whenever made;

     “this or any other Act” includes an Act passed after this Act.

2. Section 128 contains definitions of expressions used in Part V and in the other provisions of this Act relating to probate causes and matters.
3. Any reference in this Act to rules of court under section 84 includes a reference to rules of court under any provision of this or any other Act which confers on the Civil Procedure Rule Committee power to make rules of court in relation to the Senior Courts.
4. Except where the context otherwise requires, in this or any other Act—
   • “divisional court” (with or without capital letters) means a divisional court constituted under section 66;

     “judge of the Senior Courts” means—

     1. a judge of the Court of Appeal other than an ex-officio judge within paragraph (b) or (c) of section 2(2), or
     2. a judge of the High Court,

     and accordingly does not include, as such, a judge of the Crown Court;

     “official referees’ business” has the meaning given by section 68(6);

     “Rules of the Senior Courts” means rules of court made by the Senior Courts Rules Committee.

5. The provisions of Schedule 4 (construction of references to superseded courts and officers) shall have effect.

152. Amendments of other Acts, transitional provisions, savings and repeals

1. The enactments specified in Schedule 5 shall have effect subject to the amendments there specified, being amendments consequential on the provisions of this Act.
2. [Repealed]
3. This Act shall have effect subject to the transitional provisions and savings contained in Schedule 6.
4. The enactments mentioned in Schedule 7 (which include certain obsolete or unnecessary provisions) are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.
5. [Repealed]

153. Citation, commencement and extent

1. This Act may be cited as the Senior Courts Act 1981.
2. This Act, except the provisions mentioned in subsection (3), shall come into force on 1st January 1982; and references to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as references to the beginning of that day.
3. Sections 72, 143 and 152(2) and this section shall come into force on the passing of this Act.
4. Subsidiary unit government
   In this Act—
   1. the following provisions extend to Scotland, namely—
      • section 80(3);

        section 152(4) and Schedule 7, so far as they relate to the Admiralty Court Act 1861;

   2. the following provisions extend to Northern Ireland so far as they relate to the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975, namely—
      • section 152(1) and Schedule 5;

        section 152(3) and paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 6;

   3. the following provisions extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland, namely—
      • section 36;

        sections 132 and 134(3);

        section 152(1) and Schedule 5, so far as they amend—

        1. references to section 49 of the Senior Courts of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925,
        2. the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, and
        3. section 4 of the Evidence (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act 1975;

        section 152(3) and paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 6, so far as they relate to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975;

        section 152(4) and Schedule 7, so far as they relate to—

        1. provisions of the Senior Courts of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 which extend throughout the United Kingdom,
        2. the Evidence and Powers of Attorney Act 1940, and

        section 57(3)(a) of the Courts Act 1971;

   4. section 145 extends to any place to which the Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968 extends, and section 152(1) and (4) and Schedules 5 and 7, so far as they relate to any of the following enactments, namely—
      • Army Act 1955,

        Air Force Act 1955,

        section 9(2) of, and Part II of Schedule 1 to, the Criminal Appeal Act 1966,

        Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1968,

        Hovercraft Act 1968,

      extend to any place to which that enactment extends;

   but, save as aforesaid, the provisions of this Act, other than those mentioned in subsection (5), extend to England and Wales only.

5. Subsidiary unit government
   The provisions of this Act whose extent is not restricted by subsection (4) are—
   • section 27;

     section 150;

     section 151(1);

     section 152(4) and Schedule 7 as far as they relate to the Naval Prize Act 1864, the Prize Courts Act 1915 and section 56 of the Administration of Justice Act 1956;

     this section;

     paragraph 1 of Schedule 4.

5. Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly

1. Subject to sections 6 to 8, the Assembly may make laws, to be known as Acts.
2. A Bill shall become an Act when it has been passed by the Assembly and has received Royal Assent.
3. A Bill receives Royal Assent at the beginning of the day on which Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Northern Ireland signed with Her Majesty’s own hand signifying Her Assent are notified to the Presiding Officer.
4. The date of Royal Assent shall be written on the Act by the Presiding Officer, and shall form part of the Act.
5. The validity of any proceedings leading to the enactment of an Act of the Assembly shall not be called into question in any legal proceedings.
6. This section does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Northern Ireland, but an Act of the Assembly may modify any provision made by or under an Act of Parliament in so far as it is part of the law of Northern Ireland.

6. Legislative competence

1. A provision of an Act is not law if it is outside the legislative competence of the Assembly.
2. A provision is outside that competence if any of the following paragraphs apply—
   1. it would form part of the law of a country or territory other than Northern Ireland, or confer or remove functions exercisable otherwise than in or as regards Northern Ireland;
   2. it deals with an excepted matter and is not ancillary to other provisions (whether in the Act or previously enacted) dealing with reserved or transferred matters;
   3. International human rights treaties
      it is incompatible with any of the Convention rights;
   4. International organizations
      it is incompatible with EU law;
   5. it discriminates against any person or class of person on the ground of religious belief or political opinion;
   6. it modifies an enactment in breach of section 7.
3. For the purposes of this Act, a provision is ancillary to other provisions if it is a provision—
   1. which provides for the enforcement of those other provisions or is otherwise necessary or expedient for making those other provisions effective; or
   2. which is otherwise incidental to, or consequential on, those provisions;

   and references in this Act to provisions previously enacted are references to provisions contained in, or in any instrument made under, other Northern Ireland legislation or an Act of Parliament.

4. Her Majesty may by Order in Council specify functions which are to be treated, for such purposes of this Act as may be specified, as being, or as not being, functions which are exercisable in or as regards Northern Ireland.
5. No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty to make an Order in Council under subsection (4) unless a draft of the Order has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.

7. Entrenched enactments

1. Subject to subsection (2), the following enactments shall not be modified by an Act of the Assembly or subordinate legislation made, confirmed or approved by a Minister or Northern Ireland department—
   1. the European Communities Act 1972;
   2. the Human Rights Act 1998;
   3. section 43(1) to (6) and (8), section 67, sections 84 to 86B, section 95(3) and (4) and section 98; and
   4. section 1 and section 84 of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002.
2. Subsection (1) does not prevent an Act of the Assembly or subordinate legislation modifying section 3(3) or (4) or 11(1) of the European Communities Act 1972.
3. In this Act “Minister”, unless the context otherwise requires, means the First Minister, the deputy First Minister or a Northern Ireland Minister.

7A. Cross-community support required for Bill altering size of Assembly

1. The Assembly shall not pass a relevant Bill without cross-community support.
2. In this section—
   • “pass”, in relation to a Bill, means pass at the stage in the Assembly's proceedings at which the Bill falls finally to be passed or rejected;

     “relevant Bill” means a Bill containing a provision which deals with a matter falling within a description specified in paragraph 7A of Schedule 3 (size of Assembly).”

8. Consent of Secretary of State required in certain cases

9. Scrutiny by Ministers

1. A Minister in charge of a Bill shall, on or before introduction of it in the Assembly, make a statement to the effect that in his view the Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Assembly.
2. The statement shall be in writing and shall be published in such manner as the Minister making the statement considers appropriate.

10. Scrutiny by Presiding Officer

1. Standing orders shall ensure that a Bill is not introduced in the Assembly if the Presiding Officer decides that any provision of it would not be within the legislative competence of the Assembly.
2. Subject to subsection (3)—
   1. the Presiding Officer shall consider a Bill both on its introduction and before the Assembly enters on its final stage; and
   2. if he considers that the Bill contains—
      1. any provision which deals with an excepted matter and is ancillary to other provisions (whether in the Bill or previously enacted) dealing with reserved or transferred matters; or
      2. any provision which deals with a reserved matter,

      he shall refer it to the Secretary of State; and

   3. the Assembly shall not proceed with the Bill or, as the case may be, enter on its final stage unless—
      1. the Secretary of State’s consent to the consideration of the Bill by the Assembly is signified; or
      2. the Assembly is informed that in his opinion the Bill does not contain any such provision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) or (ii).
3. Subsection (2)(b) and (c) shall not apply—
   1. where, in the opinion of the Presiding Officer, each provision of the Bill which deals with an excepted or reserved matter is ancillary to other provisions (whether in the Bill or previously enacted) dealing with transferred matters only; or
   2. on the introduction of a Bill, where the Bill has been endorsed with a statement that the Secretary of State has consented to the Assembly considering the Bill.
4. In this section and section 14 “final stage”, in relation to a Bill, means the stage in the Assembly’s proceedings at which the Bill falls finally to be passed or rejected.

11. Scrutiny by the Supreme Court

1. Supreme court powers
   The Attorney General for Northern Ireland may refer the question of whether a provision of a Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Assembly to the Supreme Court for decision.
2. Subject to subsection (3), he may make a reference in relation to a provision of a Bill at any time during—
   1. the period of four weeks beginning with the passing of the Bill; and
   2. the period of four weeks beginning with any subsequent approval of the Bill in accordance with standing orders made by virtue of section 13(6).
3. If he notifies the Presiding Officer that he does not intend to make a reference in relation to a provision of a Bill, he shall not make such a reference unless, after the notification, the Bill is approved as mentioned in subsection (2)(b).
4. Supreme court powers
   If the Supreme Court decides that any provision of a Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Assembly, its decision shall be taken as applying also to that provision if contained in the Act when enacted.

12. Reconsideration where reference made to ECJ

1. This section applies where—
   1. a reference has been made under section 11 in relation to a provision of a Bill;
   2. a reference for a preliminary ruling has been made by the Supreme Court in connection with that reference; and
   3. neither of the references has been decided or otherwise disposed of.
2. If the Assembly resolves that it wishes to reconsider the Bill—
   1. the Presiding Officer shall notify the Attorney General for Northern Ireland and the Attorney General of that fact; and
   2. the Attorney General for Northern Ireland shall request the withdrawal of the reference under section 11.
3. In this section “reference for a preliminary ruling” means a reference of a question to the European Court of Justice under—
   1. Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; or
   2. [Repealed]
   3. Article 150 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community.

13. Stages of Bills

1. Standing orders shall include provision—
   1. for general debate on a Bill with an opportunity for members to vote on its general principles;
   2. for the consideration of, and an opportunity for members to vote on, the details of a Bill; and
   3. for a final stage at which a Bill can be passed or rejected but not amended.
2. Standing orders may, in relation to different types of Bill, modify provisions made in pursuance of subsection (1)(a) or (b).
3. Standing orders—
   1. shall include provision for establishing such a committee as is mentioned in paragraph 11 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement;
   2. may include provision for the details of a Bill to be considered by the committee in such circumstances as may be specified in the orders.
4. Standing orders shall include provision—
   1. requiring the Presiding Officer to send a copy of each Bill, as soon as reasonably practicable after introduction, to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission; and
   2. International human rights treaties
      enabling the Assembly to ask the Commission, where the Assembly thinks fit, to advise whether a Bill is compatible with human rights (including the Convention rights).
5. Standing orders shall provide for an opportunity for the reconsideration of a Bill after its passing if (and only if)—
   1. the Supreme Court decides that any provision of the Bill would not be within the legislative competence of the Assembly;
   2. a reference made in relation to a provision of the Bill under section 11 has been withdrawn following a request for withdrawal under section 12;
   3. a decision is made in relation to the Bill under section 14(4) or (5); or
   4. a motion under section 15(1) is passed by either House of Parliament.
6. Standing orders shall, in particular, ensure that any Bill amended on reconsideration is subject to a final stage at which it can be approved or rejected but not amended.
7. References in subsection (5) and other provisions of this Act to the passing of a Bill shall, in the case of a Bill which has been amended on reconsideration, be read as references to the approval of the Bill.

14. Submission by Secretary of State

1. It shall be the Secretary of State who submits Bills for Royal Assent.
2. The Secretary of State shall not submit a Bill for Royal Assent at any time when—
   1. the Attorney General for Northern Ireland is entitled to make a reference in relation to a provision of the Bill under section 11; or
   2. any such reference has been made but has not been decided or otherwise disposed of by the Supreme Court.
3. If—
   1. the Supreme Court has decided that any provision of a Bill would not be within the legislative competence of the Assembly; or
   2. a reference made in relation to a provision of the Bill under section 11 has been withdrawn following a request for withdrawal under section 12,

   the Secretary of State shall not submit the Bill in its unamended form for Royal Assent.

4. The Secretary of State shall not submit a Bill for Royal Assent if the Assembly has passed the Bill in contravention of section 7A (cross-community support required for Bill altering size of Assembly).
5. The Secretary of State may, unless he consents to it, decide not to submit for Royal Assent a Bill containing a provision—
   1. which the Secretary of State considers deals with an excepted matter and is ancillary to other provisions (whether in the Bill or previously enacted) dealing with reserved or transferred matters; or
   2. which the Secretary of State considers deals with a reserved matter,

   if the Bill has not been referred to him under subsection (2) of section 10 (whether by virtue of subsection (3)(a) of that section or otherwise) before the Assembly enters on its final stage.

6. The Secretary of State may decide not to submit for Royal Assent a Bill which contains a provision which he considers—
   1. International law
      would be incompatible with any international obligations, with the interests of defence or national security or with the protection of public safety or public order; or
   2. would have an adverse effect on the operation of the single market in goods and services within the United Kingdom.

15. Parliamentary control where consent given

1. Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a Bill to which the Secretary of State has consented under this Part shall not be submitted by him for Royal Assent unless he has first laid it before Parliament and either—
   1. the period of 20 days beginning with the date on which it is laid has expired without notice having been given in either House of a motion that the Bill shall not be submitted for Royal Assent; or
   2. if notice of such a motion is given within that period, the motion has been rejected or withdrawn.
2. Subsection (1) shall not apply to a Bill if the Secretary of State considers that it contains no provision which deals with an excepted or reserved matter except a provision which is ancillary to other provisions (whether in the Bill or previously enacted) dealing with transferred matters only.
3. Subsection (1) shall not apply to a Bill if the Secretary of State considers that by reason of urgency it should be submitted for Royal Assent without first being laid before Parliament.
4. Any Bill submitted by virtue of subsection (3) shall, if given Royal Assent, be laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State after Royal Assent, and if—
   1. within the period of 20 days beginning with the date on which it is laid notice is given in either House of a motion praying that the Act of the Assembly shall cease to have effect; and
   2. that motion is carried,Her Majesty may by Order in Council repeal that Act with effect from such date as may be specified in the Order.
5. An Order in Council under subsection (4) may make such consequential and transitional provisions and such savings in connection with the repeal as appear to Her Majesty to be necessary or expedient.
6. Any notice of motion for the purposes of subsection (1) or (4) must be signed by not less than 20 members of the House in which it is given; and the period mentioned in that subsection shall be computed, in relation to each House, by reference only to days on which that House sits.

16A. Appointment of First Minister, deputy First Minister and Northern Ireland Ministers following Assembly election

1. This section applies where an Assembly is elected under section 31 or 32.
2. All Northern Ireland Ministers shall cease to hold office.
3. Within a period of seven days beginning with the first meeting of the Assembly—
   1. the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister shall be filled by applying subsections (4) to (7); and
   2. the Ministerial offices to be held by Northern Ireland Ministers shall be filled by applying section 18(2) to (6).
4. The nominating officer of the largest political party of the largest political designation shall nominate a member of the Assembly to be the First Minister.
5. The nominating officer of the largest political party of the second largest political designation shall nominate a member of the Assembly to be the deputy First Minister.
6. If the persons nominated do not take up office within a period specified in standing orders, further nominations shall be made under subsections (4) and (5).
7. Subsections (4) to (6) shall be applied as many times as may be necessary to secure that the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister are filled.
8. But no person may take up office as First Minister, deputy First Minister or Northern Ireland Minister by virtue of this section after the end of the period mentioned in subsection (3) (see further section 32(3)).
9. The persons nominated under subsections (4) and (5) shall not take up office until each of them has affirmed the terms of the pledge of office.
10. Subject to the provisions of this Part, the First Minister and the deputy First Minister shall hold office until immediately before those offices are next filled by virtue of this section.
11. The holder of the office of First Minister or deputy First Minister may by notice in writing to the Presiding Officer designate a Northern Ireland Minister to exercise the functions of that office—
    1. during any absence or incapacity of the holder; or
    2. during any vacancy in that office arising otherwise than under section 16B(2),

    but a person shall not have power to act by virtue of paragraph (a) for a continuous period exceeding six weeks.

12. This section shall be construed in accordance with, and is subject to, section 16C.

16B. Vacancies in the office of First Minister or deputy First Minister

1. The First Minister or the deputy First Minister—
   1. may at any time resign by notice in writing to the Presiding Officer; and
   2. shall cease to hold office if he ceases to be a member of the Assembly otherwise than by virtue of a dissolution.
2. If either the First Minister or the deputy First Minister ceases to hold office at any time, whether by resignation or otherwise, the other—
   1. shall also cease to hold office at that time; but
   2. may continue to exercise the functions of his office until immediately before those offices are filled in accordance with this section.
3. Where the offices of the First Minister and the deputy First Minister become vacant at any time, they shall be filled by applying subsections (4) to (7) within a period of seven days beginning with that time.
4. The nominating officer of the largest political party of the largest political designation shall nominate a member of the Assembly to be the First Minister.
5. The nominating officer of the largest political party of the second largest political designation shall nominate a member of the Assembly to be the deputy First Minister.
6. If the persons nominated do not take up office within a period specified in standing orders, further nominations shall be made under subsections (4) and (5).
7. Subsections (4) to (6) shall be applied as many times as may be necessary to secure that the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister are filled.
8. But no person may take up office as First Minister or deputy First Minister under this section after the end of the period mentioned in subsection (3) (see further section 32(3)).
9. The persons nominated under subsections (4) and (5) shall not take up office until each of them has affirmed the terms of the pledge of office.
10. This section shall be construed in accordance with, and is subject to, section 16C.

16C. Sections 16A and 16B: supplementary

1. In sections 16A and 16B and this section “nominating officer”, in relation to a party, means—
   1. the person registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as the party's nominating officer; or
   2. a member of the Assembly nominated by him for the purposes of this section.
2. For the purposes of sections 16A and 16B and this section—
   1. the size of a political party is to be determined by reference to the number of seats in the Assembly which were held by members of the party on the day on which the Assembly first met following its election; but
   2. if two or more parties are taken by virtue of paragraph (a) to be of the same size, the respective sizes of those parties is to be determined by reference to the number of first preference votes cast for the parties at the last general election of members of the Assembly;

   (this is subject to subsections (7) and (8)).

3. For the purposes of sections 16A and 16B and this section, a political party to which one or more members of the Assembly belong is to be taken—
   1. to be of the political designation “Nationalist” if, at the relevant time (see subsection (11)), more than half of the members of the Assembly who belonged to the party were designated Nationalists;
   2. to be of the political designation “Unionist” if, at the relevant time, more than half of the members of the Assembly who belonged to the party were designated Unionists;
   3. otherwise, to be of the political designation “Other”.
4. For the purposes of sections 16A and 16B and this section—
   1. the size of the political designation “Nationalist” is to be taken to be equal to the number of members of the Assembly who, at the relevant time, were designated Nationalists;
   2. the size of the political designation “Unionist” is to be taken to be equal to the number of members of the Assembly who, at the relevant time, were designated Unionists;
   3. the size of the political designation “Other” is to be taken to be equal to the number of members of the Assembly who, at the relevant time, were neither designated Nationalists nor designated Unionists.
5. But if two or more political designations are taken by virtue of subsection (4) to be of the same size, the respective sizes of those designations is to be determined by reference to the aggregate number of first preference votes cast, at the last general election of members of the Assembly, for members of the Assembly who, at the relevant time, were—
   1. designated Nationalists (in the case of the political designation “Nationalist”);
   2. designated Unionists (in the case of the political designation “Unionist”); or
   3. neither designated Nationalists nor designated Unionists (in the case of the political designation “Other”).
6. If at any time the party which is the largest political party of the largest political designation is not the largest political party—
   1. any nomination to be made at that time under section 16A(4) or 16B(4) shall instead be made by the nominating officer of the largest political party; and
   2. any nomination to be made at that time under section 16A(5) or 16B(5) shall instead be made by the nominating officer of the largest political party of the largest political designation.
7. Where—
   1. the Assembly has resolved under section 30(2) that a political party does not enjoy its confidence; and
   2. the party's period of exclusion (see subsection (12)) under that provision has not come to an end,

   subsection (2)(a) above shall have effect as if the number of seats in the Assembly which were held by members of the party on the day on which the Assembly first met following its election was nil.

8. [Omitted]
9. Where—
   1. a person nominated by the nominating officer of a political party ceased to hold office as First Minister or deputy First Minister as a result of a resolution of the Assembly under section 30(2); and
   2. the party's period of exclusion under section 30(2) subsequently comes to an end otherwise than by virtue of the dissolution of the Assembly,

   the First Minister and the deputy First Minister shall cease to hold office when the party's period of exclusion under that provision comes to an end.

10. [Omitted]
11. In this section “the relevant time” means the end of the day on which the Assembly first met following its election.
12. In this section, a reference to a period of exclusion is, in the case of a period of exclusion which has been extended, a reference to that period as extended.
13. Standing orders may make further provision in connection with the making of nominations under sections 16A and 16B.
14. In this Act “the pledge of office” means the pledge of office which, together with the code of conduct to which it refers, is set out in Schedule 4.

17. Ministerial offices

1. The First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly may at any time, and shall where subsection (2) applies, determine—
   1. the number of Ministerial offices to be held by Northern Ireland Ministers; and
   2. the functions to be exercisable by the holder of each such office.
2. This subsection applies where provision is made by an Act of the Assembly for establishing a new Northern Ireland department or dissolving an existing one.
3. In making a determination under subsection (1), the First Minister and the deputy First Minister shall ensure that the functions exercisable by those in charge of the different Northern Ireland departments existing at the date of the determination are exercisable by the holders of different Ministerial offices.
4. The number of Ministerial offices shall not exceed 10 or such greater number as the Secretary of State may by order provide.
5. A determination under subsection (1) shall not have effect unless it is approved by a resolution of the Assembly passed with cross-community support.

18. Northern Ireland Ministers

1. Where—
   1. [Omitted]
   2. a determination under section 17(1) takes effect;
   3. a resolution which causes one or more Ministerial offices to become vacant is passed under section 30(2);
   4. [Omitted]
   5. a period of exclusion under section 30(2) comes to an end; or.
   6. such other circumstances obtain as may be specified in standing orders,

   all Northern Ireland Ministers shall cease to hold office and the Ministerial offices shall be filled by applying subsections (2) to (6) within a period so specified.

2. The nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (5) gives the highest figure may select a Ministerial office and nominate a person to hold it who is a member of the party and of the Assembly.
3. If—
   1. the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by subsection (2) within a period specified in standing orders; or
   2. the nominated person does not take up the selected Ministerial office within that period,

   that power shall become exercisable by the nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (5) gives the next highest figure.

4. Subsections (2) and (3) shall be applied as many times as may be necessary to secure that each of the Ministerial offices is filled.
5. The formula is—

   S/(1+M)

   where—

   • S = the number of seats in the Assembly which were held by members of the party on the day on which the Assembly first met following its election;

     M = the number of Ministerial offices (if any) which are held by members of the party.

6. Where the figures given by the formula for two or more political parties are equal, each of those figures shall be recalculated with S being equal to the number of first preference votes cast for the party at the last general election of members of the Assembly.
7. The holding of office as First Minister or deputy First Minister shall not prevent a person being nominated to hold a Ministerial office.
8. A Northern Ireland Minister shall not take up office until he has affirmed the terms of the pledge of office.
9. A Northern Ireland Minister shall cease to hold office if—
   1. he resigns by notice in writing to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister;
   2. he ceases to be a member of the Assembly otherwise than by virtue of a dissolution; or
   3. he is dismissed by the nominating officer who nominated him (or that officer’s successor) and the Presiding Officer is notified of his dismissal.
10. Where a Ministerial office is vacant otherwise than by virtue of subsection (1), the nominating officer of the party on whose behalf the previous incumbent was nominated may nominate a person to hold the office who is a member of the party and of the Assembly.
11. If—
    1. the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by subsection (10) within a period specified in standing orders; or
    2. the nominated person does not take up the office within that period,the vacancy shall be filled by applying subsections (2) to (6) within a period specified in standing orders.
12. Where—
    1. the Assembly has resolved under section 30(2) that a political party does not enjoy its confidence; and
    2. the party’s period of exclusion under that provision has not come to an end,

    the party shall be disregarded for the purposes of any application of subsections (2) to (6).

13. [Omitted]
14. [Omitted]
15. In this section “nominating officer”, in relation to a party, means—
    1. the person registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as the party's nominating officer; or
    2. a member of the Assembly nominated by him for the purposes of this section.
16. In this section, a reference to a period of exclusion is, in the case of a period of exclusion which has been extended, a reference to that period as extended.

19. Junior Ministers

1. The First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly may at any time determine—
   1. that a number of members of the Assembly specified in the determination shall be appointed as junior Ministers in accordance with such procedures for their appointment as are so specified; and
   2. that the functions exercisable by virtue of each junior Ministerial office shall be those specified in relation to that office in the determination.
2. Procedures specified in a determination under this section may apply such formulae or other rules as the First Minister and the deputy First Minister consider appropriate.
3. A determination under this section shall—
   1. make provision as to the circumstances in which a junior Minister shall cease to hold office, and for the filling of vacancies; and
   2. provide that a junior Minister shall not take up office until he has affirmed the terms of the pledge of office.
4. A determination under this section shall not take effect until it has been approved by a resolution of the Assembly.
5. Where a determination under this section takes effect—
   1. any junior Ministers previously appointed shall cease to hold office; and
   2. the procedures specified in the determination shall be applied within a period specified in standing orders.

19A. Disqualification for certain offices which may be held by members of the Assembly

1. No person may—
   1. be nominated to hold the office of First Minister or deputy First Minister or a Ministerial office to be held by a Northern Ireland Minister,
   2. [Repealed]
   3. be appointed as a junior Minister, or
   4. be nominated under paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board drawn from the Northern Ireland Assembly),

   if he is the holder of a disqualifying office.

2. A Minister or junior Minister ceases to hold that office on becoming the holder of a disqualifying office.
3. A person holding office as a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in accordance with paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 ceases to hold that office on becoming the holder of a disqualifying office.
4. In this section “disqualifying office” means—
   1. Minister of the Government of Ireland; or
   2. chairman or deputy chairman of—
      1. a committee of the Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives of Ireland);
      2. a committee of the Seanad Éireann (Senate of Ireland); or
      3. a joint committee of the Oireachtas (National Parliament of Ireland).

20. The Executive Committee

1. There shall be an Executive Committee of each Assembly consisting of the First Minister, the deputy First Minister and the Northern Ireland Ministers.
2. The First Minister and the deputy First Minister shall be chairmen of the Committee.
3. The Committee shall have the functions set out in paragraphs 19 and 20 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement.
4. The Committee shall also have the function of discussing and agreeing upon—
   1. significant or controversial matters that are clearly outside the scope of the agreed programme referred to in paragraph 20 of Strand One of that Agreement;
   2. significant or controversial matters that the First Minister and deputy First Minister acting jointly have determined to be matters that should be considered by the Executive Committee.
5. Subsections (3) and (4) are subject to subsection (6).
6. Quasi-judicial decisions may be made by the Department of Justice or the Minister in charge of that Department without recourse to the Executive Committee.

21. Northern Ireland departments

1. Subject to subsection (2), the Northern Ireland departments existing on the appointed day shall be the Northern Ireland departments for the purposes of this Act.
2. Provision may be made by Act of the Assembly for establishing new Northern Ireland departments or dissolving existing ones.
3. If an Act of the Assembly which establishes a new Northern Ireland department provides for it to be in the charge of the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly—
   1. the department shall not be regarded as a Northern Ireland department for the purposes of subsection (2) or (3) of section 17; and
   2. the office held by those Ministers as the head of the department shall not be regarded as a Ministerial office for the purposes of subsection (4) of that section or section 18.

21A. Northern Ireland department with policing and justice functions

1. An Act of the Assembly that—
   1. establishes a new Northern Ireland department; and
   2. provides that the purpose of the department is to exercise functions consisting wholly or mainly of devolved policing and justice functions,

   may (but need not) make provision of the kind mentioned in subsection (3), (3A),(4), (5) or (5A).

2. The Act may provide for the department to be in the charge of a Northern Ireland Minister appointed by virtue of a nomination—
   1. made by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly; and
   2. approved by a resolution of the Assembly passed with the support of a majority of the members voting on the motion for the resolution, a majority of the designated Nationalists voting and a majority of the designated Unionists voting.
3. The Act may provide for the department to be in the charge of a Northern Ireland Minister appointed by virtue of a nomination—
   1. made by one or more members of the Assembly, and
   2. approved by a resolution of the Assembly passed with the support of a majority of the members voting on the motion for the resolution, a majority of the designated Nationalists voting and a majority of the designated Unionists voting.
4. The Act may provide for the department to be in the charge of two Northern Ireland Ministers acting jointly.
5. The Act may provide—
   1. for the department to be in the charge of a Northern Ireland Minister who is supported by a junior Minister; and
   2. for the persons holding those offices to rotate at intervals determined by or under the Act, so that the person who was the Minister in charge of the department becomes the junior Minister and the person who was the junior Minister becomes the Minister.
6. The Act may provide—
   1. for the department to be in the charge of a Northern Ireland Minister elected by the Assembly; and
   2. for that Minister to be supported by a deputy Minister elected by the Assembly.
7. There must not, at any time, be more than one department in relation to which provision of the kind mentioned in any of subsections (3), (3A),(4) , (5) and (5A) is made by Act of the Assembly , or by Order in Council under subsection (7C).
8. Schedule 4A (provisions relating to a department with devolved policing and justice functions) shall have effect.
9. If it appears to the Secretary of State that there is no reasonable prospect that the Assembly will pass an Act of the kind described in subsection (1)(a) and (b), he may lay before Parliament the draft of an Order in Council which—
   1. establishes a new Northern Ireland department;
   2. provides that the purpose of the department is to exercise functions consisting wholly or mainly of devolved policing and justice functions;
   3. provides for the department to be in the charge of a Northern Ireland Minister elected by the Assembly and for that Minister to be supported by a deputy Minister elected by the Assembly; and
   4. provides for Part 3A of Schedule 4A to apply in relation to the department (with any necessary modifications).
10. The draft of an Order laid before Parliament under subsection (7A) may contain supplementary, incidental, consequential, transitional or saving provision.
11. If the draft of an Order laid before Parliament under subsection (7A) is approved by resolution of each House of Parliament, the Secretary of State shall submit it to Her Majesty in Council and Her Majesty in Council may make the Order.
12. No more than one department may be established by virtue of an Order under subsection (7C).
13. In this section “devolved policing and justice function” means a function relating to a matter which—
    1. is a transferred matter by virtue of an Order under section 4; and
    2. immediately before the matter became a transferred matter, was a policing and justice matter (within the meaning given by section 4(6)).

21B. Section 21A(5A) and (7C): transitional provision

1. This section has effect in relation to—
   1. the first Act of the Assembly to establish a new Northern Ireland department the purpose of which is to exercise functions consisting wholly or mainly of devolved policing and justice functions but only if the Act makes provision of the kind mentioned in section 21A(5A) (other than by virtue of paragraph 8(5) of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 2009); or
   2. an Order in Council under section 21A(7C) establishing a new Northern Ireland department.
2. The Act or the Order may include provision for or in connection with securing that the department is to be treated, for the purposes of section 17, as not having been established until the time at which devolved policing and justice functions are first transferred to, or conferred on, the department (“the time of devolution”).
3. The Act or the Order may include provision for or in connection with applying paragraph 11E(3) to (6) of Schedule 4A (with any necessary modifications) to enable elections to be held, before the time of devolution, to select—
   1. a member of the Assembly (“the relevant Minister designate”) to be the person who is to hold the relevant Ministerial office as from the time of devolution; and
   2. a member of the Assembly (“the deputy Minister designate”) to be the person who is to hold the deputy Ministerial office as from that time.
4. Where the Act or the Order includes provision by virtue of subsection (3), it shall secure that (notwithstanding paragraph 11E(1) of Schedule 4A)—
   1. if the relevant Minister designate affirms the terms of the pledge of office within a specified period after the time of devolution, he shall become the relevant Minister;
   2. if the deputy Minister designate affirms the terms of the pledge of office within that period, he shall (subject to paragraph (c)) become the deputy Minister;
   3. if the relevant Minister designate does not affirm the terms of the pledge of office within that period—
      1. he shall not become the relevant Minister; and
      2. paragraph 11E(10) and (11) of Schedule 4A shall apply as if the relevant Minister had ceased to hold office at the end of that period otherwise than by virtue of section 16A(2);
   4. if the deputy Minister designate does not affirm the terms of the pledge of office within that period—
      1. he shall not become the deputy Minister; and
      2. paragraph 11E(10) of Schedule 4A shall apply as if the deputy Minister had ceased to hold office at the end of that period otherwise than by virtue of section 16A(2).
5. In this section “devolved policing and justice function” has the same meaning as in section 21A (see subsection (8) of that section).
6. In this section “relevant Minister”, “relevant Ministerial office”, “deputy Minister” and “deputy Ministerial office” have the same meaning as in Part 3A of Schedule 4A.

21C. Section 21A(5A) and (7C): power of Assembly to secure retention or abolition of deputy Ministerial office

1. This section applies if the first Northern Ireland department the purpose of which is to exercise functions consisting wholly or mainly of devolved policing and justice functions (as defined in section 21A(8)) is established—
   1. by an Act of the Assembly which makes provision of the kind mentioned in section 21A(5A) (other than by virtue of paragraph 8(5) of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 2009); or
   2. by an Order in Council under section 21A(7C).
2. Standing orders shall require the committee established by virtue of section 29A to consider the operation of the Ministerial arrangements provided for by Part 3A of Schedule 4A.
3. The committee shall, by no later than two years and ten months after the time at which devolved policing and justice functions are first transferred to, or conferred on, the department (“the time of devolution”), make a report on the operation of the Ministerial arrangements provided for by Part 3A of Schedule 4A—
   1. to the Assembly; and
   2. to the Executive Committee,and the report must include a recommendation as to whether or not the deputy Ministerial office (see subsection (8)) should be retained.
4. If before the end of the period of three years beginning with the time of devolution (“the initial period”) the Assembly resolves that the deputy Ministerial office should be abolished at a time specified in the resolution (before the end of the initial period), the Secretary of State shall make an order abolishing the deputy Ministerial office (see subsection (9)) at, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, the time specified.
5. If—
   1. subsection (4) does not apply; and
   2. the Assembly does not resolve, before the end of the initial period, that the deputy Ministerial office should be retained for an additional period ending after the initial period,

   the Secretary of State shall make an order abolishing the deputy Ministerial office as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the initial period.

6. If—
   1. subsection (4) does not apply;
   2. the Assembly resolves that the deputy Ministerial office should be retained for an additional period ending after the initial period or for one or more further additional periods; and
   3. one of those additional periods ends without a further additional period having begun,the Secretary of State shall make an order abolishing the deputy Ministerial office as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of that period.
7. A resolution of the Assembly under this section shall not be passed without the support of—
   1. a majority of the members voting on the motion for the resolution;
   2. a majority of the designated Nationalists voting; and
   3. a majority of the designated Unionists voting.
8. In this section “deputy Ministerial office” has the same meaning as in Part 3A of Schedule 4A.
9. In this section references to an order abolishing the deputy Ministerial office are to an order amending this Act and any other enactment so far as may be necessary to secure that the Northern Ireland Minister in charge of the department for the time being—
   1. is not to be supported by a deputy Minister (within the meaning of Part 3A of Schedule 4A); and
   2. need not belong to the largest or the second largest political designation (within that meaning).
10. An order under this section—
    1. shall be made by statutory instrument; and
    2. may contain supplementary, incidental, consequential, transitional or saving provision.

22. Statutory functions

1. An Act of the Assembly or other enactment may confer functions on a Minister (but not a junior Minister) or a Northern Ireland department by name.
2. Functions conferred on a Northern Ireland department by an enactment passed or made before the appointed day shall, except as provided by an Act of the Assembly or other subsequent enactment, continue to be exercisable by that department.

23. Prerogative and executive powers

1. The executive power in Northern Ireland shall continue to be vested in Her Majesty.
2. As respects transferred matters, the prerogative and other executive powers of Her Majesty in relation to Northern Ireland shall, subject to subsections (2A) and (3), be exercisable on Her Majesty’s behalf by any Minister or Northern Ireland department.
3. So far as the Royal prerogative of mercy is exercisable on Her Majesty’s behalf under subsection (2), it is exercisable only by the Minister in charge of the Department of Justice.
4. As respects the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland, the prerogative and other executive powers of Her Majesty in relation to Northern Ireland shall be exercisable on Her Majesty’s behalf by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly.
5. The First Minister and deputy First Minister acting jointly may by prerogative order under subsection (3) direct that such of the powers mentioned in that subsection as are specified in the order shall be exercisable on Her Majesty’s behalf by a Northern Ireland Minister or Northern Ireland department so specified.

24. EU law, Convention rights etc

1. A Minister or Northern Ireland department has no power to make, confirm or approve any subordinate legislation, or to do any act, so far as the legislation or act—
   1. International human rights treaties
      is incompatible with any of the Convention rights;
   2. International organizations
      is incompatible with EU law;
   3. discriminates against a person or class of person on the ground of religious belief or political opinion;
   4. in the case of an act, aids or incites another person to discriminate against a person or class of person on that ground; or
   5. in the case of legislation, modifies an enactment in breach of section 7.
2. Subsection (1)(c) and (d) does not apply in relation to any act which is unlawful by virtue of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, or would be unlawful but for some exception made by virtue of Part VIII of that Order.

25. Excepted and reserved matters

1. If any subordinate legislation made, confirmed or approved by a Minister or Northern Ireland department contains a provision dealing with an excepted or reserved matter, the Secretary of State may by order revoke the legislation.
2. An order made under subsection (1) shall recite the reasons for revoking the legislation and may make provision having retrospective effect.

26. International obligations

1. If the Secretary of State considers that any action proposed to be taken by a Minister or Northern Ireland department would be incompatible with any international obligations, with the interests of defence or national security or with the protection of public safety or public order, he may by order direct that the proposed action shall not be taken.
2. If the Secretary of State considers that any action capable of being taken by a Minister or Northern Ireland department is required for the purpose of giving effect to any international obligations, of safeguarding the interests of defence or national security or of protecting public safety or public order, he may by order direct that the action shall be taken.
3. In subsections (1) and (2), “action” includes making, confirming or approving subordinate legislation and, in subsection (2), includes introducing a Bill in the Assembly.
4. If any subordinate legislation made, confirmed or approved by a Minister or Northern Ireland department contains a provision which the Secretary of State considers-
   1. would be incompatible with any international obligations, with the interests of defence or national security or with the protection of public safety or public order; or
   2. would have an adverse effect on the operation of the single market in goods and services within the United Kingdom,the Secretary of State may by order revoke the legislation.
5. An order under this section shall recite the reasons for making the order and may make provision having retrospective effect.

27. Quotas for purposes of international etc obligations

1. A Minister of the Crown may make an order containing provision such as is specified in subsection (2) where—
   1. an international obligation or an obligation under EU law is an obligation to achieve a result defined by reference to a quantity (whether expressed as an amount, proportion or ratio or otherwise); and
   2. the quantity relates to the United Kingdom (or to an area including the United Kingdom or to an area consisting of a part of the United Kingdom which is or includes the whole or part of Northern Ireland).
2. The provision referred to in subsection (1) is provision for the achievement by a Minister or Northern Ireland department (in the exercise of his or its functions) of so much of the result to be achieved under the international obligation or obligation under EU law as is specified in the order.
3. The order may specify the time by which any part of the result to be achieved by the Minister or department is to be achieved.
4. Where an order under subsection (1) is in force in relation to an international obligation or an obligation under EU law, the obligation shall have effect for the purposes of this Act as if it were an obligation to achieve so much of the result to be achieved under the obligation as is specified in the order by the time or times so specified.
5. No order shall be made by a Minister of the Crown under subsection (1) unless he has consulted the Minister or department concerned.

28. Agency arrangements between UK and NI departments

1. Arrangements may be made between—
   1. any department of the Government of the United Kingdom or any public body, or holder of a public office, in the United Kingdom; and
   2. any Northern Ireland department,

   for any functions of one of them to be discharged by, or by officers of, the other.

2. No such arrangements shall affect the responsibility of the person on whose behalf any functions are discharged.
3. In this section—
   1. references to a department of the Government of the United Kingdom include references to any Minister of the Crown; and
   2. references to a Northern Ireland department include references to a Minister.

28A. Ministerial Code

1. Without prejudice to the operation of section 24, a Minister or junior Minister shall act in accordance with the provisions of the Ministerial Code.
2. In this section “the Ministerial Code” means—
   1. the Ministerial Code that becomes the Ministerial Code for the purposes of this section by virtue of paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 (as from time to time amended in accordance with this section); or
   2. any replacement Ministerial Code prepared and approved in accordance with this section (as from time to time amended in accordance with this section).
3. If at any time the Executive Committee—
   1. prepares draft amendments to the Ministerial Code; or
   2. prepares a draft Ministerial Code to replace the Ministerial Code,the First Minister and deputy First Minister acting jointly shall lay the draft amendments or the draft Code before the Assembly for approval.
4. A draft Ministerial Code or a draft amendment to the Code—
   1. shall not be approved by the Assembly without cross-community support; and
   2. shall not take effect until so approved.
5. The Ministerial Code must include provision for requiring Ministers or junior Ministers to bring to the attention of the Executive Committee any matter that ought, by virtue of section 20(3) or (4), to be considered by the Committee.
6. The Ministerial Code must include provision for a procedure to enable any Minister or junior Minister to ask the Executive Committee to determine whether any decision that he is proposing to take, or has taken, relates to a matter that ought, by virtue of section 20(3) or (4), to be considered by the Committee.
7. The Ministerial Code must also include provision as to the procedures of the Executive Committee with respect to—
   1. the taking of decisions; and
   2. consideration by the Committee of decision papers that are to be considered by the North-South Ministerial Council or the British-Irish Council.
8. The Ministerial Code must in particular provide—
   1. that it is the duty of the chairmen of the Executive Committee to seek to secure that decisions of the Executive Committee are reached by consensus wherever possible;
   2. that, if consensus cannot be reached, a vote may be taken; and
   3. that, if any three members of the Executive Committee require the vote on a particular matter which is to be voted on by the Executive Committee to require cross-community support, any vote on that matter in the Executive Committee shall require cross-community support in the Executive Committee.
9. The Ministerial Code may include such other provisions as the Executive Committee thinks fit.
10. Without prejudice to the operation of section 24, a Minister or junior Minister has no Ministerial authority to take any decision in contravention of a provision of the Ministerial Code made under subsection (5).

28B. Power to refer Ministerial decision to Executive Committee

1. This section applies if 30 members petition the Assembly expressing concern that a decision taken by a Minister or junior Minister (“the Ministerial decision”)—
   1. may have been taken in contravention of section 28A(1); or
   2. relates to a matter of public importance.
2. But this section does not apply if the Ministerial decision has previously been the subject of a reference under this section.
3. If the Presiding Officer, after consulting the political parties whose members hold seats in the Assembly, certifies that the Ministerial decision relates to a matter of public importance, he shall refer the decision to the Executive Committee for its consideration.
4. Having considered the reference, the Executive Committee shall notify the Presiding Officer—
   1. whether or not the decision was, in its view, taken in contravention of section 28A(1);
   2. whether or not the decision relates, in its view, to a significant or controversial matter; and
   3. as to any action that the Executive Committee proposes to take, or has taken, in relation to the decision.
5. No reference may be made under this section after the end of the period of seven days beginning with—
   1. the day on which the Ministerial decision was taken; or
   2. if appropriate, the day on which the decision was notified to the Assembly.
6. Any consideration by the Executive Committee of a Ministerial decision under this section must be completed before the end of the period of seven days beginning with the day on which the reference is made.
7. Standing orders shall make provision with respect to the procedure to be followed—
   1. in petitioning the Assembly under subsection (1); and
   2. in making a reference under this section.
8. The periods mentioned in subsections (5) and (6) shall be computed by reference only to days on which the Assembly sits.

28C. Power of Executive Committee to call for witnesses and documents

28D. Strategies relating to Irish language and Ulster Scots language etc

1. The Executive Committee shall adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and protect the development of the Irish language.
2. The Executive Committee shall adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and develop the Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture.
3. The Executive Committee—
   1. must keep under review each of the strategies; and
   2. may from time to time adopt a new strategy or revise a strategy.

28E. Strategy relating to poverty, social exclusion etc

1. The Executive Committee shall adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation based on objective need.
2. The Executive Committee—
   1. must keep under review the strategy; and
   2. may from time to time adopt a new strategy or revise the strategy.

29. Statutory committees

1. Standing orders shall make provision—
   1. for establishing committees of members of the Assembly (“statutory committees”)
      1. to advise and assist the First Minister and the deputy First Minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within their responsibilities as Ministers jointly in charge of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and
      2. to advise and assist each Northern Ireland Minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within his responsibilities as a Minister;
   2. for enabling a committee to be so established either in relation to a single Northern Ireland Minister or in relation to more than one; and
   3. conferring on the committees the powers described in paragraph 9 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement.
2. Standing orders shall provide that—
   1. the nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (3) gives the highest figure may select a statutory committee and nominate as its chairman or deputy chairman a person who is a member of the party and of the Assembly;
   2. if the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by paragraph (a) within a period specified in standing orders, or the nominated person does not take up the selected office within that period, that power shall be exercisable instead by the nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (3) gives the next highest figure; and
   3. paragraphs (a) and (b) shall be applied as many times as may be necessary to secure that a chairman and deputy chairman are nominated for each of the statutory committees.
3. The formula is—

   S/(1+C)

   where—

   • S = the number of seats in the Assembly which were held by members of the party on the day on which the Assembly first met following its election;

     C = the number of chairmen and deputy chairmen of statutory committees (if any) who are members of the party.

4. Standing orders shall provide that, where the figures given by the formula for two or more political parties are equal, each of those figures shall be recalculated with S being equal to the number of first preference votes cast for the party at the last general election of members of the Assembly.
5. Standing orders shall provide that—
   1. a Minister or junior Minister may not be the chairman or deputy chairman of a statutory committee; and
   2. in making a selection under the provision made by virtue of subsection (2)(a), a nominating officer shall prefer a committee in which he does not have a party interest to one in which he does.
6. A member of the Assembly who is—
   1. a Minister of the Government of Ireland, or
   2. chairman or deputy chairman of—
      1. a committee of the Dáil ÿireann (House of Representatives of Ireland),
      2. a committee of the Seanad ÿireann (Senate of Ireland), or
      3. a joint committee of the Oireachtas (National Parliament of Ireland),

   may not be the chairman or deputy chairman of a statutory committee.

7. For the purposes of subsection (5) a nominating officer has a party interest in a committee if
   1. it is established to advise and assist the First Minister and the deputy First Minister and either of those Ministers is a member of his party; or
   2. it is established to advise and assist a Northern Ireland Minister and that Minister is a member of his party.
8. Standing orders shall provide that a chairman or deputy chairman shall cease to hold office if—
   1. he resigns by notice in writing to the Presiding Officer;
   2. he ceases to be a member of the Assembly; or
   3. he is dismissed by the nominating officer who nominated him (or that officer’s successor) and the Presiding Officer is notified of his dismissal.
9. Standing orders shall provide that, where an office of chairman or deputy chairman is vacant, the nominating officer of the party on whose behalf the previous incumbent was nominated may nominate a person to hold the office who is a member of the party and of the Assembly.
10. Standing orders shall provide that if—
    1. the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by subsection (8) within a period specified in standing orders; or
    2. the nominated person does not take up the selected office within that period,

    the vacancy shall be filled by applying the provision made by virtue of subsections (2) to (5).

11. In this section “nominating officer” has the same meaning as in section 18.

29A. Committee to review functioning of Assembly and Executive Committee

1. Standing orders shall make provision—
   1. for establishing a committee to examine such matters relating to the functioning of the Assembly and the Executive Committee as may be specified in the standing orders;
   2. in relation to the membership of the committee; and
   3. for regulating proceedings of the committee.
2. Standing orders shall provide for the committee to make reports—
   1. to the Assembly; and
   2. to the Executive Committee.
3. The committee shall, by no later than 1 May 2015, make a report on the operation of the provisions of Parts 3 and 4 of this Act—
   1. to the Secretary of State;
   2. to the Assembly; and
   3. to the Executive Committee.

29B. Review of operation of sections 16A to 16C

1. Standing orders shall require the committee established by virtue of section 29A to consider—
   1. the operation of sections 16A to 16C; and
   2. in particular, whether to recommend that the Secretary of State should make an order amending this Act and any other enactment so far as may be necessary to secure that they have effect, as from the date of the election of the 2011 Assembly, as if the executive selection amendments had not been made.
2. In subsection (1)—
   • “the 2011 Assembly” means the Assembly due to be elected under section 31 in 2011;

     “the executive selection amendments” means the amendments made by section 8 of, and paragraphs 1, 2(1) and (2) and 3 to 14 of Schedule 5 to, the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006.

29C. Review of functions relating to judicial appointments and removals

30. Exclusion of Ministers from office

1. If the Assembly resolves that a Minister or junior Minister no longer enjoys the confidence of the Assembly—
   1. because he is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; or
   2. because of any failure of his to observe any other terms of the pledge of office,

   he shall be excluded from holding office as a Minister or junior Minister for such period of not less than three months, and not more than twelve months, beginning with the date of the resolution as the resolution may provide.

2. The Assembly may, before a period of exclusion under subsection (1) comes to an end, by resolution extend it until the end of such period of not less than three months, and not more than twelve months, beginning with the date of the resolution as the resolution may provide.
3. If the Assembly resolves that a political party does not enjoy the confidence of the Assembly—
   1. because it is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; or
   2. because it is not committed to such of its members as are or might become Ministers or junior Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office,members of that party shall be excluded from holding office as Ministers or junior Ministers for such period of not less than six months, and not more than twelve months, beginning with the date of the resolution as the resolution may provide.
4. The Assembly may, before a period of exclusion under subsection (2) comes to an end, by resolution extend it until the end of such period of not less than six months, and not more than twelve months, beginning with the date of the resolution as the resolution may provide.
5. A period of exclusion under subsection (1) or (2) shall come to an end if the Assembly—
   1. is dissolved; or
   2. resolves to bring the exclusion to an end.
6. A motion for a resolution under this section shall not be moved unless—
   1. it is supported by at least 30 members of the Assembly;
   2. it is moved by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly; or
   3. it is moved by the Presiding Officer in pursuance of a notice under subsection (6).
7. If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the Assembly ought to consider a resolution under this section, he shall serve a notice on the Presiding Officer requiring him to move a motion for such a resolution.
8. In forming an opinion under subsection (6), the Secretary of State shall in particular take into account each of the following—
   1. whether the person or party concerned is committed to the use now and in the future of only democratic and peaceful means to achieve his or its objectives;
   2. whether he or it has ceased to be involved in any acts of violence or of preparation for violence;
   3. whether he or it is directing or promoting acts of violence by other persons;
   4. whether he or it is co-operating fully with any Commission of the kind referred to in section 7 of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 in implementing the Decommissioning section of the Belfast Agreement;
   5. [omitted]
9. A resolution under this section shall not be passed without cross-community support.
10. In this section a reference to a period of exclusion under any provision is, in the case of a period of exclusion under that provision which has been extended, a reference to that period as extended.

30A. [Repealed]

30B. Secretary of State’s powers in exceptional circumstances

1. Under exceptional circumstances the Secretary of State may by direction temporarily exclude a Minister or junior Minister.
2. An exclusion under subsection (1) shall only remain in effect until either—
   1. [Omitted]
   2. the Assembly has considered a resolution under section 30(1) or (2); or
   3. a period of two weeks has elapsed.
3. In subsection (1) “exceptional circumstances” include where—
   1. [Omitted]
   2. there is insufficient time for the Assembly to consider a resolution under section 30(1) or (2).
4. A direction made under this section shall be in writing and shall be laid before Parliament after the direction is given.]

31. Dates of elections and dissolutions

1. Subject to subsection (2), the date of the poll for the election of each Assembly shall be the first Thursday in May in the fifth calendar year following that in which its predecessor was elected; and the predecessor shall be dissolved at the beginning of the minimum period which ends with that date.
2. The date of the poll for the election of the Assembly next following the Assembly elected at the poll on 26 November 2003 shall be 7 March 2007; and the Assembly elected on 26 November 2003 shall be dissolved on 30 January 2007.
3. The Secretary of State may at any time by order direct that the date of the poll for the election of the next Assembly shall, instead of being that specified in subsection (1), be a date specified in the order being a date falling not more than two months before or after the date specified in that subsection.
4. An Assembly elected under this section or section 32 shall meet within the period of eight days beginning with the day of the poll at which it is elected.
5. For the purposes of subsection (4), a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday and any day which is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland shall be disregarded, as shall any day on which section 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 2000 is in force.
6. In this section “minimum period” means a period determined in accordance with an order of the Secretary of State.

32. Extraordinary elections

1. If the Assembly passes a resolution that it should be dissolved the Secretary of State shall propose a date for the poll for the election of the next Assembly.
2. A resolution under subsection (1) shall not be passed without the support of a number of members of the Assembly which equals or exceeds two thirds of the total number of seats in the Assembly.
3. If—
   1. the period mentioned in section 16A(3) ends without the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister and the Ministerial offices to be held by Northern Ireland Ministers having been filled; or
   2. the period mentioned in section 16B(3) ends without the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister having been filled,

   the Secretary of State shall propose a date for the poll for the election of the next Assembly.

4. If the Secretary of State proposes a date under subsection (1) or (3), Her Majesty may by Order in Council—
   1. direct that the date of the poll for the election of the next Assembly shall, instead of being determined in accordance with section 31, be the date proposed; and
   2. provide for the Assembly to be dissolved on a date specified in the Order.

33. Constituencies and numbers of members

1. The members of the Assembly shall be returned for the parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.
2. Each constituency shall return six members.
3. An Order in Council under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 changing a parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland shall have effect for the purposes of this Act in relation to—
   1. the first election under section 31 or 32 which takes place after the Order comes into force; and
   2. later elections under that section and by-elections.

34. Elections and franchise

1. This section applies to elections of members of the Assembly, including by-elections.
2. Each vote in the poll at an election shall be a single transferable vote.
3. A single transferable vote is a vote—
   1. capable of being given so as to indicate the voter’s order of preference for the candidates for election as members for the constituency; and
   2. capable of being transferred to the next choice when the vote is not needed to give a prior choice the necessary quota of votes or when a prior choice is eliminated from the list of candidates because of a deficiency in the number of votes given for him.
4. The Secretary of State may by order make provision about elections or any matter relating to them.
5. In particular, an order under subsection (4) may make—
   1. provision as to the persons entitled to vote at an election and the registration of such persons;
   2. provision for securing that no person stands as a candidate for more than one constituency at a general election;
   3. provision for determining the date of the poll at a by-election;
   4. provision about deposits.
6. An order under subsection (4) may apply (with or without modifications) any provision of, or made under, any enactment.
7. An order under subsection (4) may make different provision for different areas about the conduct of elections, including different provision about the registration of persons entitled to vote at an election.

35. Vacancies

1. The Secretary of State may by order make provision for the filling of vacancies occurring in the Assembly’s membership.
2. Such provision may be made by reference to by-elections or substitutes or such other method of filling vacancies as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
3. If a seat becomes vacant, the Presiding Officer shall as soon as reasonably practicable inform the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.
4. The validity of any proceedings of the Assembly is not affected by any vacancy in its membership.
5. An order under subsection (1) may apply (with or without modifications) any provision of, or made under, any enactment.

36. Disqualification

1. The Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 shall have effect as if any reference to the Assembly established under section 1 of the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 were a reference to the Assembly.
2. No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty to make an Order in Council under section 3(1) of the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 (power to amend Schedule 1) without the consent of the Secretary of State.
3. A person who is Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant or Lieutenant for a county or county borough in Northern Ireland is disqualified for membership of the Assembly for a constituency comprising the whole or part of the county or county borough.
4. A person is disqualified for membership of the Assembly if he is disqualified for membership of the House of Commons otherwise than under the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975.
5. [Repealed]
6. A person is not disqualified for membership of the Assembly by virtue of subsection (4) by reason only that—
   1. he is a peer; or
   2. he is a Lord Spiritual.
7. A person is not disqualified for membership of the Assembly by virtue of subsection (4) by reason only that he is disqualified under section 3 of the Act of Settlement (certain persons born out of the Kingdom) if he is a citizen of the European Union.

37. Effect of disqualification and provision for relief

1. Subject to any order made by the Assembly under this section—
   1. if any person disqualified by virtue of the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 or section 36 is returned as a member of the Assembly, his return shall be void; and
   2. if any person being a member of the Assembly becomes disqualified by virtue of that act or that section, his seat shall be vacated.
2. If, in a case which falls or is alleged to fall within subsection (1) otherwise than by virtue of section 36(4), it appears to the Assembly—
   1. that the grounds of disqualification or alleged disqualification which subsisted or arose at the material time have been removed; and
   2. that it is otherwise proper so to do,

   the Assembly may by order direct that any such disqualification incurred on those grounds at that time shall be disregarded for the purposes of this section.

3. No order under subsection (2) shall affect the proceedings on any election petition or any determination of an election court.
4. Subsection (1)(b) has effect subject to section 427 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (bankruptcy etc); and where, in consequence of that section, the seat of a disqualified member of the Assembly has not been vacated—
   1. he shall not participate in any proceedings of the Assembly; and
   2. any of his other rights and privileges as a member of the Assembly may be withdrawn by a resolution of the Assembly.
5. The validity of any proceedings of the Assembly is not affected by the disqualification of any person from being a member of the Assembly or from being a member for the constituency for which he purports to sit.

38. Disqualification: judicial proceedings

1. Any person who claims that a person purporting to be a member of the Assembly—
   1. is disqualified; or
   2. was disqualified when, or at any time since, he was returned,may apply to the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland for a declaration to that effect.
2. On an application—
   1. the person in respect of whom the application is made shall be the respondent;
   2. the applicant shall give such security for costs, not exceeding £5,000, as the court may direct; and
   3. the decision of the court shall be final.
3. A declaration made in accordance with this section shall be certified in writing to the Secretary of State by the court.
4. No such declaration shall be made in respect of a person on any grounds if an order has been made by the Assembly under subsection (2) of section 37 directing that any disqualification incurred by him on those grounds shall be disregarded for the purposes of that section.
5. No declaration shall be made in respect of any person on grounds which subsisted when he was elected if an election petition is pending or has been tried in which his disqualification on those grounds is or was in issue.
6. The Secretary of State may by order substitute for the amount specified in subsection (2)(b) such other amount as may be specified in the order.

39. Presiding Officer

1. Each Assembly shall as its first business elect from among its members a Presiding Officer and deputies.
2. A person elected Presiding Officer or deputy shall hold office until the conclusion of the next election for Presiding Officer under subsection (1) unless—
   1. he previously resigns;
   2. he ceases to be a member of the Assembly otherwise than by virtue of a dissolution; or
   3. the Assembly elects from among its members a person to hold office as Presiding Officer or deputy in his place.
3. If the Presiding Officer or a deputy ceases to hold office (otherwise than under subsection (2)(c)) before the Assembly is dissolved, the Assembly shall elect another from among its members to fill his place.
4. The Presiding Officer’s functions may be exercised by a deputy if the office of Presiding Officer is vacant or the Presiding Officer is for any reason unable to act.
5. The Presiding Officer may (subject to standing orders) authorise a deputy to exercise functions on his behalf.
6. Standing orders may include provision as to the participation (including voting) of the Presiding Officer and deputies in the proceedings of the Assembly.
7. A person shall not be elected under subsections (1) to (3) without cross-community support.

40. Commission

1. There shall be a body corporate, to be known as the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (“the Commission”), to perform—
   1. the functions conferred on the Commission by virtue of any enactment; and
   2. any functions conferred on the Commission by resolution of the Assembly.
2. The members of the Commission shall be—
   1. the Presiding Officer; and
   2. the prescribed number of members of the Assembly appointed in accordance with standing orders.
3. In subsection (2) “the prescribed number” means 5 or such other number as may be prescribed by standing orders.
4. A member of the Assembly who is—
   1. a Minister of the Government of Ireland, or
   2. chairman or deputy chairman of—
      1. a committee of the Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives of Ireland),
      2. a committee of the Seanad Éireann (Senate of Ireland), or
      3. a joint committee of the Oireachtas (National Parliament of Ireland),

   may not be appointed as a member of the Commission.

5. The Commission shall provide the Assembly, or ensure that the Assembly is provided, with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly’s purposes.
6. The Assembly may give special or general directions to the Commission for the purpose of or in connection with the exercise of the Commission’s functions.
7. Proceedings by or against the Assembly (other than proceedings on the Crown side of the Queen’s Bench Division) shall be instituted by or against the Commission on behalf of the Assembly.
8. Any property or liabilities acquired or incurred in relation to matters within the general responsibility of the Commission to which (apart from this subsection) the Assembly would be entitled or subject shall be treated for all purposes as property or liabilities of the Commission.
9. Any expenses of the Commission shall be defrayed out of money appropriated by Act of the Assembly.
10. Any sums received by the Commission shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland, subject to any provision made by Act of the Assembly for the disposal of or accounting for such sums.
11. Schedule 5 (which makes further provision about the Commission) shall have effect.

41. Standing orders

1. The proceedings of the Assembly shall be regulated by standing orders.
2. Standing orders shall not be made, amended or repealed without cross-community support.
3. Schedule 6 (which makes provision as to how certain matters are to be dealt with by standing orders) shall have effect.

42. Petitions of concern

1. If 30 members petition the Assembly expressing their concern about a matter which is to be voted on by the Assembly, the vote on that matter shall require cross-community support.
2. Standing orders shall make provision with respect to the procedure to be followed in petitioning the Assembly under this section, including provision with respect to the period of notice required.
3. Standing orders shall provide that the matter to which a petition under this section relates may be referred, in accordance with paragraphs 11 and 13 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement, to the committee established under section 13(3)(a).

43. Members’ interests

1. Standing orders shall include provision for a register of interests of members of the Assembly, and for—
   1. registrable interests (as defined in standing orders) to be registered in it; and
   2. the register to be published and made available for public inspection.
2. Standing orders shall include provision requiring that any member of the Assembly who has—
   1. a financial interest (as defined in standing orders) in any matter; or
   2. any other interest, or an interest of any other kind, specified in standing orders in any matter,declares that interest before taking part in any proceedings of the Assembly relating to that matter.
3. Standing orders made in pursuance of subsection (1) or (2) may include provision for preventing or restricting the participation in proceedings of the Assembly of a member with a registrable interest, or an interest mentioned in subsection (2), in a matter to which the proceedings relate.
4. Standing orders shall include provision prohibiting a member of the Assembly from—
   1. advocating or initiating any cause or matter on behalf of any person, by any means specified in standing orders, in consideration of any payment or benefit in kind of a description so specified; or
   2. urging, in consideration of any such payment or benefit in kind, any other member of the Assembly to advocate or initiate any cause or matter on behalf of any person by any such means.
5. Standing orders may include provision—
   1. for excluding from proceedings of the Assembly any member who fails to comply with, or contravenes, any provision made in pursuance of subsections (1) to (4); and
   2. for withdrawing his rights and privileges as a member for the period of his exclusion.
6. Any member of the Assembly who—
   1. takes part in any proceedings of the Assembly without having complied with, or in contravention of, any provision made in pursuance of subsections (1) to (3); or
   2. contravenes any provision made in pursuance of subsection (4),is guilty of an offence.
7. A person guilty of an offence under subsection (6) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
8. Proceedings for an offence under subsection (6) shall not be taken without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

44. Power to call for witnesses and documents

1. The Assembly may require any person—
   1. to attend its proceedings for the purpose of giving evidence; or
   2. to produce documents in his custody or under his control,

   relating to any of the matters mentioned in subsection (2).

2. Those matters are—
   1. transferred matters concerning Northern Ireland;
   2. other matters in relation to which statutory functions are exercisable by Ministers or the Northern Ireland departments.
3. The power in subsection (1) is exercisable in relation to a person outside Northern Ireland only in connection with the discharge by him of functions relating to matters within subsection (2).
4. That power is not exercisable in relation to a person who is or has been a Minister of the Crown, or a person who is or has been in Crown employment within the meaning of Article 236 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, in connection with the discharge of any functions prior to the appointed day or during a period when section 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 2000 was in force.
5. That power is not exercisable in relation to a person mentioned in subsection (4) in connection with the discharge, during a relevant period, of a function which relates to a matter which is a transferred matter by virtue of an Order under section 4.For this purpose “relevant period” means a period when the matter was not a transferred matter.
6. That power is not exercisable in relation to a person mentioned in subsection (4) in connection with the discharge, during a relevant period, of a statutory function which—
   1. is exercisable by a Minister or a Northern Ireland department; but
   2. was at any time exercisable by a Minister of the Crown.

   For this purpose “relevant period” means a period when the statutory function was exercisable by a Minister of the Crown.

7. That power is not exercisable in relation to—
   1. a person discharging functions of any body whose functions relate to excepted matters, in connection with the discharge by him of those functions;
   2. a person discharging functions of any body whose functions relate to reserved matters, in connection with the discharge by him of those functions;
   3. a judge of any court or a member of any tribunal which exercises the judicial power of the State.
8. That power may be exercised by a committee of the Assembly only if the committee is expressly authorised to do so by standing orders.
9. The Presiding Officer shall give the person in question notice in writing specifying—
   1. the time and place at which the person is to attend and the particular matters relating to which he is required to give evidence; or
   2. the documents, or types of documents, which he is to produce, the date by which he is to produce them and the particular matters to which they are to relate.
10. Such notice shall be given—
    1. in the case of an individual, by sending it, by registered post or the recorded delivery service, addressed to him at his usual or last known address or, where he has given an address for service, at that address;
    2. in any other case, by sending it, by registered post or the recorded delivery service, addressed to the person at the person’s registered or principal office.
11. A person is not obliged under this section to answer any question or produce any document which he would be entitled to refuse to answer or produce in proceedings in a court in Northern Ireland.
12. In this section “statutory functions” means functions conferred by virtue of any enactment.

45. Witnesses and documents: offences

1. Subject to subsection (9) of section 44, any person to whom a notice under subsection (7) of that section has been given who—
   1. refuses or fails to attend proceedings as required by the notice;
   2. refuses or fails, when attending proceedings as required by the notice, to answer any question relating to the matters specified in the notice;
   3. deliberately alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document which he is required to produce by the notice; or
   4. refuses or fails to produce any such document,

   is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

2. It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (d) to prove that he had a reasonable excuse for the refusal or failure.
3. Where an offence under this section which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of—
   1. a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate; or
   2. any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,he, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against accordingly.
4. Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not be taken without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.
5. For the purposes of section 44 and this section, a person shall be taken to comply with a requirement to produce a document if he produces a copy of, or an extract of the relevant part of, the document.

46. Witnesses: oaths

1. The Presiding Officer or such other person as may be authorised by standing orders may—
   1. administer an oath to any person giving evidence in proceedings of the Assembly; and
   2. require him to take the oath.
2. Any person who refuses to take an oath when required to do so under subsection (1)(b) is guilty of an offence.
3. A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

47. Remuneration of members

1. The Assembly shall pay to members of the Assembly such salaries as may from time to time be determined.
2. The Assembly may pay to members of the Assembly such allowances as may from time to time be determined.
3. The Assembly may make provision—
   1. determining the salaries or allowances payable to members of the Assembly under this section, or
   2. providing for those salaries or allowances to be determined by a person other than the Assembly in accordance with the provision.
4. Different provision may be made for different cases (for example, provision for higher salaries to be payable to Ministers or other office holders).
5. [Omitted]
6. Provision under subsection (2A) must ensure that, if a salary is payable to a member of the Assembly (“M”) as a member of the House of Lords or as a member of the European Parliament—
   1. if M does not hold an office within subsection (9A), no salary is payable to M under this section;
   2. f M holds an office within subsection (9A), the salary which would otherwise be payable to M under this section is reduced by the appropriate amount.
7. The appropriate amount is the amount of the salary payable under this section to members of the Assembly generally.
8. [Omitted]
9. [Omitted]
10. [Omitted]
11. Standing orders must include provision for the publication of every determination of salaries or allowances by provision under subsection (2A)(a).
12. Provision under subsection (2A)(b) must include provision for the publication of every determination of salaries or allowances under that provision.
13. For the purposes of this section—
    1. a person’s membership of the Assembly begins on the day on which he takes his seat in accordance with standing orders; and
    2. a person’s holding of an office within subsection (9A) begins on the day on which he takes up office.
14. An office is within this subsection if the salary payable under this section to a member of the Assembly holding the office is higher than the salary payable under this section to members of the Assembly generally.
15. For the purposes of this section, a person who is a member of the Assembly immediately before the Assembly is dissolved shall be treated—
    1. if he continues to hold office as a Minister or junior Minister, as Presiding Officer or deputy or as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission, as if he were a member of the Assembly until the end of the day on which he ceases to hold the office; and
    2. if he does not fall within paragraph (a) but is nominated as a candidate at the subsequent general election, as if he were a member of the Assembly until the end of the day of the poll for that election.
16. The provision which may be made by the Assembly for the purposes of this section includes provision—
    1. by a resolution of the Assembly conferring functions on the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission, or
    2. by an Act of the Assembly (which may include provision establishing an office or body, provision conferring functions on an office-holder or body and ancillary provision).
17. Any expenditure incurred by the Assembly under this section shall be defrayed out of money appropriated by Act of the Assembly.

47A. Resolutions about reduction of remuneration

1. If, in relation to the salary payable under section 47 to a Minister or junior Minister, the Assembly resolves that the whole or a specified part of the salary payable for a specified period shall not be payable—
   1. because he is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means, or
   2. because of any failure of his to observe any other terms of the pledge of office,

   the salary payable to him under that section shall be reduced accordingly.

2. If, in relation to the salaries payable under section 47 to members of the Assembly who are members of a particular political party, the Assembly resolves that the whole or a specified part of the salaries payable for a specified period shall not be payable—
   1. because that party is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means, or
   2. because it is not committed to such of its members as are or might become Ministers or junior Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office,the salaries payable to them under that section shall be reduced accordingly.
3. The Assembly may, before the end of the period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) or (2) falls to be made, by resolution extend that period.
4. [Omitted]
5. The period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) or (2) falls to be made shall come to an end if the Assembly—
   1. is dissolved; or
   2. resolves to bring the reduction to an end.
6. A motion for a resolution under this section shall not be moved unless—
   1. it is supported by at least 30 members of the Assembly;
   2. it is moved by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly; or
   3. it is moved by the Presiding Officer in pursuance of a notice under subsection (7).
7. If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the Assembly ought to consider a resolution under this section, he shall serve a notice on the Presiding Officer requiring him to move a motion for such a resolution.
8. In forming an opinion under subsection (7), the Secretary of State shall in particular take into account the matters listed in section 30(7).
9. A resolution under this section shall not be passed without cross-community support.
10. In this section a reference to—
    1. the period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) or (2) falls to be made
    2. [Omitted]

    is, where the period has been extended, a reference to the period as extended.

47B. [Repealed]

47C. Sections 47A and 47B: specified periods and extensions

1. A period specified under section 47A(1) or (2)—
   1. shall begin no earlier than the end of the day when the resolution or direction specifying it is passed or given;
   2. shall begin no later than the end of the period of one month beginning with that day; and
   3. shall not be longer than 12 months.
2. The power under section 47A(3) to extend a period is a power to extend it until the end of such period of not more than 12 months beginning with the date of the resolution, by which the power is exercised as the resolution may provide.

48. Pensions of members

1. The Assembly may make provision for the payment of pensions, gratuities or allowances to, or in respect of, any person who—
   1. has ceased to be a member of the Assembly; or
   2. has ceased to hold an office within subsection (1A) but continues to be a member of the Assembly.
2. An office is within this subsection if the salary payable under section 47 to a member of the Assembly holding the office is higher than the salary payable under that section to members of the Assembly generally.
3. Such provision may, in particular, include provision for—
   1. contributions or payments towards provision for such pensions, gratuities or allowances;
   2. the establishment and administration (whether by the Commission or otherwise) of one or more pension schemes.
4. Where any salary payable to a person under section 47 is not payable because of section 47A, any provision made under this section for the payment of pensions which has effect in relation to him shall apply as if the salary were payable.
5. In this section—
   • “the Commission” means the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission;

     “provision” includes provision—

     1. by an Act of the Assembly (which may include provision establishing an office or body, provision conferring functions on an office-holder or body and ancillary provision); or
     2. by a resolution of the Assembly conferring functions on the Commission.
6. Any expenditure incurred by the Assembly under this section shall be defrayed out of money appropriated by Act of the Assembly.

49. Letters Patent etc

1. Her Majesty may by Order in Council make provision as to—
   1. the form and manner of preparation; and
   2. the publication,

   of Letters Patent signed with Her Majesty’s own hand signifying Her Assent to a Bill passed by the Assembly.

2. If the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly so direct, impressions with the same device as the Great Seal of Northern Ireland shall be taken in such manner, of such size and on such material as is specified in the direction.
3. Each such impression—
   1. shall be known as a Wafer Great Seal of Northern Ireland; and
   2. shall be kept in accordance with directions of the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly.
4. If a Wafer Great Seal of Northern Ireland has been applied to Letters Patent mentioned in subsection (1), the document has the same validity as if it had passed under the Great Seal of Northern Ireland.

50. Privilege

1. For the purposes of the law of defamation, absolute privilege shall attach to—
   1. the making of a statement in proceedings of the Assembly; and
   2. the publication of a statement under the Assembly’s authority.
2. A person is not guilty of contempt of court under the strict liability rule as the publisher of any matter—
   1. in the course of proceedings of the Assembly which relate to a Bill or subordinate legislation; or
   2. to the extent that it consists of a fair and accurate report of such proceedings which is made in good faith.
3. In this section—
   • “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996;

     “the strict liability rule” has the same meaning as in the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

51. Resignation of members

51A. Resolutions about reduction of financial assistance

1. If the Assembly resolves that the whole or a specified part of any financial assistance payable for a specified period under the Financial Assistance for Political Parties Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 to a particular political party shall not be payable—
   1. because it is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means, or
   2. because it is not committed to such of its members as are or might become Ministers or junior Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office,the financial assistance payable to it under that Act shall be reduced accordingly.
2. The Assembly may, before the end of the period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) falls to be made, by resolution extend that period.
3. [Omitted]
4. The period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) falls to be made shall come to an end if the Assembly—
   1. is dissolved; or
   2. resolves to bring the reduction to an end.
5. A motion for a resolution under this section shall not be moved unless—
   1. it is supported by at least 30 members of the Assembly;
   2. it is moved by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly; or
   3. it is moved by the Presiding Officer in pursuance of a notice under subsection (6).
6. If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the Assembly ought to consider a resolution under this section, he shall serve a notice on the Presiding Officer requiring him to move a motion for such a resolution.
7. In forming an opinion under subsection (6), the Secretary of State shall in particular take into account the matters listed in section 30(7).
8. A resolution under this section shall not be passed without cross-community support.
9. In this section a reference to—
   1. the period by reference to which a reduction under subsection (1) falls to be made
   2. [Omitted]

   is, where the period has been extended, a reference to the period as extended.

51B. [Repealed]

51C. Sections 51A and 51B: specified periods and extensions

1. A period specified under section 51A(1)—
   1. shall begin no earlier than the end of the day when the resolution or direction specifying it is passed or given;
   2. shall begin no later than the end of the financial year in which that day falls; and
   3. shall not be longer than 12 months.
2. The power under section 51A(2) to extend a period is a power to extend it until the end of such period of not more than 12 months beginning with the date of the resolution, by which the power is exercised as the resolution may provide.

51D. Censure resolutions

1. This section applies to the following resolutions of the Assembly—
   1. a resolution censuring a Minister or junior Minister—
      1. because he is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; or
      2. because of any failure of his to observe any other terms of the pledge of office;
   2. a resolution censuring a political party—
      1. because it is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; or
      2. because it is not committed to such of its members as are or might become Ministers or junior Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office.
2. A motion for a resolution to which this section applies shall not be moved unless—
   1. it is supported by at least 30 members of the Assembly;
   2. it is moved by the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly; or
   3. it is moved by the Presiding Officer in pursuance of a notice under subsection (3).
3. If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the Assembly ought to consider a resolution to which this section applies, he shall serve a notice on the Presiding Officer requiring him to move a motion for such a resolution.
4. In forming an opinion under subsection (3), the Secretary of State shall in particular take into account the matters listed in section 30(7).
5. A resolution to which this section applies shall not be passed without cross-community support.

57. Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland

1. The Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland shall continue to exist.
2. Sums forming part of the Fund—
   1. shall be appropriated to the public service of Northern Ireland by Act of the Assembly; and
   2. shall not be applied for any purpose for which they are not appropriated.
3. Subsection (2) is subject to section 59 and to any provision which charges sums on the Fund and is made—
   1. by or under an Act of Parliament; or
   2. by an Act of the Assembly or other Northern Ireland legislation.

58. Payments into the Fund

59. Payments out of Fund without appropriation Act

1. If an Act is not passed at least three working days before the end of a financial year (“year 1”) authorising the issue out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland of sums for the service of the next financial year (“year 2”)—
   1. the authorised officer of the Department of Finance and Personnel may, subject to any Act subsequently passed, authorise the issue of sums out of that Fund for the service of year 2; and
   2. the sums so issued shall be appropriated for such services and purposes as the officer may direct.
2. The aggregate of the sums issued under subsection (1) for the service of year 2 shall not exceed 75 per cent of the total amount appropriated by Act for the service of year 1.
3. If an Act is not passed before the end of July in any financial year authorising the issue out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland of sums for the service of the year—
   1. the authorised officer of the Department of Finance and Personnel may, subject to any Act subsequently passed, authorise the issue of sums out of that Fund for the service of the year; and
   2. the sums so issued shall be appropriated for such services and purposes as the officer may direct.
4. The aggregate of the sums issued under subsection (3), and (where applicable) the sums issued under subsection (1), for the service of any financial year shall not exceed 95 per cent of the total amount appropriated by Act for the service of the preceding financial year.
5. In this section—
   • “Act” means an Act of the Assembly or, in relation to any time before the appointed day, an Order in Council under Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 1974;

     “authorised officer”, in relation to the Department of Finance and Personnel, means the Permanent Secretary or such other officer as may be nominated by him for the purpose.

60. Financial control, accounts and audit

1. In so far as such provision has not been made, an Act of the Assembly or other Northern Ireland legislation shall make provision—
   1. for proper accounts to be prepared by the Northern Ireland departments, and by other persons to whom sums are paid directly out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland, of their expenditure and receipts;
   2. for the Department of Finance and Personnel to prepare an account of payments into and out of the Fund;
   3. for the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland to exercise, or ensure the exercise by other persons of, the functions mentioned in subsection (2);
   4. for access by persons exercising those functions to such documents as they may reasonably require;
   5. for members of the Northern Ireland Civil Service designated for the purpose to be answerable to the Assembly in respect of the expenditure and receipts of each of the Northern Ireland departments; and
   6. for the publication of accounts prepared in pursuance of paragraphs (a) and (b), and of reports on such accounts, and for the laying of such accounts and reports before the Assembly.
2. The functions referred to in subsection (1)(c) are—
   1. issuing credits for the payment of sums out of the Fund;
   2. examining accounts prepared in pursuance of subsection (1)(a) and (b) (which includes determining whether sums paid out of the Fund have been paid out and applied in accordance with section 57), and certifying and reporting on them;
   3. carrying out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Northern Ireland departments have used their resources in discharging their functions; and
   4. carrying out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which other persons determined under Northern Ireland legislation to whom sums are paid directly out of the Fund have used those sums in discharging their functions.
3. Standing orders shall make provision for establishing a committee of members of the Assembly to consider accounts, and reports on accounts, laid before the Assembly in pursuance of this section or any other enactment.
4. Persons (other than the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland) charged with the exercise of any function under subsection (2) or other like function conferred by Northern Ireland legislation shall not, in the exercise of that or any ancillary function, be subject to the direction or control of any Minister or Northern Ireland department or of the Assembly.
5. Subsection (2)(b) does not apply to accounts prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland.

61. Advances by Secretary of State

1. The Secretary of State may advance to the Department of Finance and Personnel sums required for the purpose of—
   1. meeting a temporary excess of sums to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland over sums paid into the Fund; or
   2. providing a working balance in the Fund.
2. The Treasury may issue to the Secretary of State out of the National Loans Fund any sum which he requires for the making of an advance under this section.
3. The aggregate at any time outstanding in respect of the principal of sums advanced under this section shall not exceed £250 million.
4. Sums advanced under this section shall be repaid to the Secretary of State at such times and by such methods, and interest on them shall be paid to him at such rates and at such times, as the Treasury may determine.
5. Sums received by the Secretary of State under subsection (4) shall be paid into the National Loans Fund.
6. Amounts required for the repayment of, or the payment of interest on, sums advanced under this section shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland.
7. The Secretary of State may by order, with the consent of the Treasury, substitute for the amount specified in subsection (3) such increased amount as may be specified in the order.

62. Accounts

1. The Secretary of State shall, for each financial year—
   1. prepare, in such form and manner as the Treasury may direct, an account of sums paid and received by him under section 61; and
   2. send the account to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than the end of November in the following financial year.
2. The Comptroller and Auditor General shall—
   1. examine, certify and report on the account; and
   2. lay copies of it and his report before each House of Parliament.

63. Financial acts of the Assembly

1. The Assembly may not pass a vote, resolution or Act to which this subsection applies except in pursuance of a recommendation which—
   1. is made by the Minister of Finance and Personnel; and
   2. is signified to the Assembly by him or on his behalf.
2. Subsection (1) applies to a vote, resolution or Act which—
   1. imposes or increases a charge on the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland;
   2. appropriates a sum out of that Fund or increases a sum to be appropriated;
   3. releases or compounds a debt owed to the Crown; or
   4. imposes or increases a tax.
3. Standing orders shall provide that a vote, resolution or Act which—
   1. appropriates a sum out of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland or increases a sum to be appropriated; or
   2. imposes or increases a tax,shall not be passed without cross-community support.

64. Draft budgets

1. The Minister of Finance and Personnel shall, before the beginning of each financial year, lay before the Assembly a draft budget, that is to say, a programme of expenditure proposals for that year which has been agreed by the Executive Committee in accordance with paragraph 20 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement.
2. The Assembly may, with cross-community support, approve a draft budget laid before them with or without modification.

65. Audit

1. The Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland shall be appointed by Her Majesty on the nomination of the Assembly.
2. A recommendation shall not be made to Her Majesty for the removal from office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland unless—
   1. the Assembly so resolves; and
   2. the resolution is passed with the support of a number of members of the Assembly which equals or exceeds two thirds of the total number of seats in the Assembly.
3. The Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland shall not, in the exercise of any of his functions, be subject to the direction or control of any Minister or Northern Ireland department or of the Assembly; but this subsection does not apply in relation to any function conferred on him of preparing accounts.
4. The accounts of the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland in accordance with the Exchequer and Audit Act Northern Ireland) 1921.
5. Subsection (4) is subject to any provision of an Act of the Assembly or other Northern Ireland legislation.
6. The Assembly shall not have power under Article 4(1) of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 to pass at any time a resolution which reduces the salary payable to a person holding the office of Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland at that time.

66. Expenses of Northern Ireland Audit Office

1. Standing orders shall make provision for establishing a committee of members of the Assembly to exercise, in place of the Department of Finance and Personnel, the functions conferred on that Department by Article 6(2) of the Audit (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (expenses of Northern Ireland Audit Office).
2. No more than one member of the committee established under subsection (3) of section 60 may be a member of the committee established under this section.
3. The committee established under this section shall, in discharging its functions, have regard to the advice of the committee established under that subsection and of the Department of Finance and Personnel.

67. Provision of information to Treasury

1. The Treasury may require the Northern Ireland Ministers and departments to provide, within such period as the Treasury may specify, such information, in such form and prepared in such manner, as the Treasury may specify.
2. If the information is not in their possession or under their control, their duty under subsection (1) is to take all reasonable steps to comply with the requirement.

68. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

1. There shall be a body corporate to be known as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
2. The Commission shall consist of a Chief Commissioner and other Commissioners appointed by the Secretary of State.
3. In making appointments under this section, the Secretary of State shall as far as practicable secure that the Commissioners, as a group, are representative of the community in Northern Ireland.
4. Schedule 7 (which makes supplementary provision about the Commission) shall have effect.

69. The Commission’s functions

1. The Commission shall keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness in Northern Ireland of law and practice relating to the protection of human rights.
2. The Commission shall, before the end of the period of two years beginning with the commencement of this section, make to the Secretary of State such recommendations as it thinks fit for improving—
   1. its effectiveness;
   2. the adequacy and effectiveness of the functions conferred on it by this Part; and
   3. the adequacy and effectiveness of the provisions of this Part relating to it.
3. The Commission shall advise the Secretary of State and the Executive Committee of the Assembly of legislative and other measures which ought to be taken to protect human rights—
   1. as soon as reasonably practicable after receipt of a general or specific request for advice; and
   2. on such other occasions as the Commission thinks appropriate.
4. The Commission shall advise the Assembly whether a Bill is compatible with human rights—
   1. as soon as reasonably practicable after receipt of a request for advice; and
   2. on such other occasions as the Commission thinks appropriate.
5. The Commission may—
   1. give assistance to individuals in accordance with section 70; and
   2. bring proceedings involving law or practice relating to the protection of human rights.
6. The Commission shall promote understanding and awareness of the importance of human rights in Northern Ireland; and for this purpose it may undertake, commission or provide financial or other assistance for—
   1. research; and
   2. educational activities.
7. The Secretary of State shall request the Commission to provide advice