POWERS OF HIGH COURT AND COUNTY COURT IN RELATION TO CERTAIN ORDERS UNDER PART I (Hansard, 19 May 1978)

§ Mr. John
I beg to move Amendment No. 36, in page 26, line 29, leave out from 'of' to end of line 37 and insert 'an order under this Part of this Act'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this it will be convenient to discuss also Government Amendments Nos. 37 to 40.

§ Mr. John
These amendments are technical and are designed to clarify the relationship between orders made in a magistrates' court in matrimonial proceedings under Part I and orders made 1063 by the High Court or a county court in subsequent divorce proceedings. At the moment., Clause 25 provides that if a maintenance order, a domestic order or a personal exclusion order is made, where there are subsequent proceedings, the High Court or the county court may revoke the order made by the magistrates' court but it does not enable them to revoke any other orders such as those for custody, access or supervision or one committing the care of a child to a local authority.
Often, the High Court or the county court, in order to achieve the result, then makes an order of its own, which has the unhappy and somewhat awkward effect of resulting in two orders applying at the same time. That could lead to confusion, although only one order, normally that of the divorce court, is effective.
The amendments would remove that difficulty by enabling the higher courts to revoke any order other than a lump sum order made by the magistrates in the original proceedings. We have consulted the Law Commission, the President of the Family Division and the Lord Chancellor's Office about the amendment and they agree that it would be a useful improvement.