Commentary on Sections Section 63N Power to extend jurisdiction to magistrates’ courts
63.Section 63N deals with extension of jurisdiction to the magistrates’ courts. Subsection (1) provides a power for the Lord Chancellor to extend jurisdiction for dealing with cases of forced marriage to the magistrates’ courts, following consultation with the Lord Chief Justice.
64.Subsection (2) provides that an order extending jurisdiction to the magistrates’ courts may in particular make provision which corresponds to existing legislation relating to the jurisdiction of magistrates’ courts for dealing with domestic violence (Part 4 of the FLA 1996). Many of the provisions included in section 1 of the Act are modelled on Part 4 of the FLA 1996 and closely mirror domestic violence legislation. This provision will help to ensure that domestic violence cases and forced marriage cases are dealt with consistently in the magistrates’ courts, if the forced marriage jurisdiction is extended to those courts.
65.Subsection (3) clarifies that the power to extend jurisdiction to magistrates’ courts includes making any consequential changes or modifications to provisions in Part 4A, elsewhere in the FLA or in any other enactments necessary for the magistrates’ courts to hear forced marriage cases.
66.Subsection (4) provides that the Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder as the person with whom the Lord Chancellor must consult on extending jurisdiction to magistrates’ courts. Section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 provides that a judicial office is an office as a senior judge or an office set out in Schedule 14 to that Act.