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| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to make provision about the courts and their procedure and practice; about judges and magistrates; about fines and the enforcement processes of the courts; about periodical payments of damages; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2003 c. 39 |
| Territorial extent |
|
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 20 November 2003 |
| Commencement | [b] |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | |
| Repeals/revokes | Justices of the Peace Act 1997 |
| Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
| Text of the Courts Act 2003 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
TheCourts Act 2003 (c.39) is anact of theParliament of the United Kingdom implementing many of the recommendations inSir Robin Auld's (aCourt of Appeal judge)Review of the Criminal Courts inEngland and Wales (also known as the "Auld Review"). TheWhite Paper which preceded the act was published by the Home Office on the 17 July 2002 and called "Justice for All".
The act has nine parts:[1]
The act deals predominantly with criminal courts' administration, though certain sections deal with civil matters (notably creating a post of "Head of Civil Justice", enabling provisions for family procedure rules, and amendments to its civil procedure equivalent).
The act also abolishedmagistrates' courts committees, combining the magistrates' courts' administration with the Court Service, which was then renamedHer Majesty's Courts Service.[2] "Fines Officers" are instituted in order to strengthen the system for collecting fines after the existing system was criticised for relative ineffectiveness. Schedule 1 of the act provided for the establishment ofcourts boards.[3]
Sections 50 to 57 of this act also provide court security officers the power of search, seizure/retention of items, restraint and removal from court when performing their duties.
The act introduces a power to make costs orders against third parties in criminal proceedings - this can be used to charge media organisations for the costs of retrial caused by media publication.[4]
The act introduced uniformed security officers with the power to search, detain, and eject people.[2]
The act also transfers the authority and obligation ofhigh sheriffs, in relation to civilwrits, tosheriff's officers; previously, high sheriffs had delegated these to the sheriff's officers, in any case, but theBlair Ministry preferred to make this explicit, and remove the theoretical power of the high sheriff. It also renames this more-than-1000-year-old role - the sheriff's officer - toHigh court enforcement officers, for reasons that have not been explained, except perhaps to give it a modern-sounding name.
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