Commentary on Sections Part 2: Courts and Justice Section 17: Civil and family proceedings in England and Wales
283.Section 17(1), (2) and (5) create a single county court with a national jurisdiction for the whole of England and Wales, sitting at various locations within England and Wales in a similar way to the High Court and the Crown Court. The principal provision is subsection (1), which inserts into the County Courts Act 1984 (“the 1984 Act”) a new section A1, providing for the establishment of a single county court.
284.The new section A1(1) provides for there to be a county court exercising jurisdiction in England and Wales, and for the jurisdiction of that court to be that which is conferred on it by or under the 1984 Act or any other Act, or any Act or measure of the National Assembly for Wales. This mirrors the position for the individual county courts at present, but on a national basis for the single court.
285.The new section A1(2) provides for the single county court to be a court of record with a seal. This again mirrors the position for the individual county courts at present (each of which is in its own right a court of record with its own seal), but on a national basis for the single court, with a single seal.
286.Subsection (2) repeals sections 1 and 2 of the 1984 Act, which provide for there to be individual county courts, each for its own district and with its own seal. These sections are replaced by the new section A1. With their repeal the geographical jurisdictional boundaries in the existing county court structure are removed.
287.Subsection (3) inserts a new section 31A of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 to provide for the creation of a family court with jurisdiction throughout England and Wales. The family court will exercise the jurisdiction and powers conferred on it by statute, including the jurisdiction and powers currently exercised by county courts and magistrates’ courts in relation to family proceedings. The family court will be a court of record and shall have a seal.
288.Subsection (4) repeals Part 2 of, and associated provisions in, the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010 (which relates to the publication of information relating to family proceedings).
289.Subsection (5) introduces Schedule 9, which makes amendments to the 1984 Act and in numerous other statutes in connection with and in consequence of the single county court replacing the existing county courts.
290.Subsection (6) introduces Schedules 10 and 11 which make further amendments to the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 and other enactments in connection with and in consequence of the creation of the single family court.