§ RESTRICTION ON ENFORCEMENT IN HIGH
COURT OR COUNTY COURT OF CERTAIN
ORDERS OF MAGISTRATES' COURTS
§
At the end of section 13 of the Matrimonial Proceedings (Magistrates' Courts) Act 1960 there shall be added the following subsections:—
' (5) A person shall not be entitled to enforce through the High Court or any county court the payment of any arrears due under an order made by virtue of this Act without the leave of that court if those arrears became due more than twelve months before proceedings to enforce the payment of them are begun.
§ (6) The court hearing an application for the grant of leave under subsection (5) of this section may refuse leave, or may grant leave subject to such restrictions and conditions (including conditions as to the allowing of time for payment or the making of payment by instalments) as that court thinks proper, or may remit the payment of such arrears or any part thereof.
§ (7) An application for the grant of leave under the said subsection (5) shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed by rules of court '.—[The Solicitor-General.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
The Clause extends to maintenance orders made by a magistrates' court, and sought to be enforced through the High Court or a county court, the same restriction on the recovery of stale arrears as is imposed by Clause 10 on the recovery of stale arrears under an order made by the Divorce Court.
Clause 10 applies only to the enforcement of orders made by the Divorce Court. But a magistrates' court's maintenance order may be enforced through the High Court or a county court and, if it is, there is no justification for distinguishing, for the purpose of imposing restrictions on the recovery of stale arrears, between, on the one hand, orders made by the High Court or a county court and, on the other, orders made by a magistrates' court.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time and added to the Bill.