Jurisdiction – County courts – Sections 23(c) and 40(2) of County Courts Act 1984 – Charging order against freehold property granted in county court – Application in High Court for order for sale of property – Sum secured exceeding county court limit for such applications – Master transferring proceedings to county court – Whether power to transfer in cases where county court not otherwise having jurisdiction
The claimant bank obtained a charging order in the county court against a freehold property owned by the defendant in order to secure the sum of £39,256 that was owed under a judgment in its favour, plus any further interest and a sum for costs. It subsequently applied to the High Court for an order for the sale of the property; the amount secured by the charge exceeded the county court limit of £30,000 that applied to proceedings to enforce a charge under section 23(c) of the County Courts Act 1984. The Chancery master made an order transferring the proceedings to the county court pursuant to section 40(2) of the 1984 Act. That section provided that “the High Court may order the transfer of any proceedings before it to a county court”. However, at a directions hearing conducted by telephone, the district judge decided that the county court still lacked jurisdiction, notwithstanding the section 40(2) order, and ordered that the case be transferred back to the High Court. At a further directions hearing in the High Court, the central issue was whether the High Court had the power, under section 40(2), to order the transfer of proceedings to a county court, notwithstanding that the proceedings would otherwise fall outside the jurisdiction of that court.
Held: The case was transferred to the county court.
The language of section 40(2) was clear and unambiguous. It empowered the High Court to order the transfer of any proceedings before it to a county court, unconstrained by the limits that would otherwise exist on a county court’s jurisdiction. If, having considered the circumstances of an individual case, the High Court decided that it was suitable for determination by a county court, it was in keeping with the modern policy of assigning cases to the appropriate tier in the court system that the case should be transferred, irrespective of the county court limit. The power of transfer was not limited to cases that would otherwise be within a county court’s jurisdiction. The master had had the power to make the order for transfer in the instant case and, as a result, the county court had jurisdiction to hear and determine it.
Paul Henton (instructed by Shoosmiths, of Northampton) appeared for the claimant; the defendant did not appear and was not represented.
Sally Dobson, barrister
