Judicature Acts

A series of acts of parliament reforming and consolidating the English courts, and simplifying the procedure therein. St. 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, and St. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77, and amendments. Also applied to similar acts adopted by the various states. JUDICES NON TENENTUR EXPRIMERE causam sententiae suae. Judges are not bound to explain the reason of their sentence. Jenk. Cent. Cas. 75. JUDICES ORDINARII (Lat.)

In civil law. Ordinary judices; the common judices appointed to try causes, and who, according to Blackstone, determined only questions of fact. 3 Bl. Comm. 316. JUDICES PEDANEOS (Lat.)

In Roman law. Judges chosen by the parties. Among the Romans, the praetors and other great magistrates did not themselves decide the actions which arose between private individuals. These were submitted to judges chosen by the parties, and these judges were called judices pedaneos. In choosing them, the plaintiff had the right to nominate, and the defendant to accept or reject those nominated. Heinec. Ant. Rom. lib. 4, tit. 6, note 40; 7 Toullier, Dr. Civ. note 353. JUDICES SELECTI (Lat.)

In civil law. Select or selected judices or judges; those who were used in criminal causes, and between whom and modern jurors many points of resemblance have been noticed. 3 Bl. Comm. 366. JUDICI OFFICIUM SUUM EXCEDENTI non paretur. To a judge who exceeds his office or jurisdiction no obedience is due. Jenk. Cent. Cas. 139. JUDICI SATIS POENA EST QUOD Deum habet ultorem. It is punishment enough for a judge that he is responsible to God. 1 Leon. 295. JUDICIA (Lat.)

In Roman law. Judicial proceedings; trials. Judicia publica, criminal trials. Dig. 48. 1. JUDICIA IN CURIA REGIS NON ADNIHILENTUR, sed stent in robore suo quousque per errorem aut attinctum adnullentur. Judgments in the king's courts are not to be annihilated, but to stand in force until they be annulled by error or attaint. JUDICIA IN DELIBERATIONIBUS CREBRO maturescunt, in accelerato processu nunquam. Judgments frequently become matured by deliberation, never by hurried process. 3 Inst. 210. JUDICIA SUNT TANQUAM JURIS DICTA, et pro veritate accipiuntur. Judgments are, as it were, the dicta or sayings of the law, and are received as truth. 2 Inst. 537.

The English acts under which the present system of courts was organized and is continued. The statutes of 36 & 37 Viet. c. 66, and 38 & 38 Viet. c. 77, whleh went into force Nov. 1, 1876, with amendments in 1877, 40 & 41 Viet. c. 9, 1879, 42 & 48 Viet. 0. 78, and 1881, 44 & 45 Viet. c. 68, made most important changes in the organization of, and methods of procedure in, the superior courts of England. See Courts of England. These acts provide for a concurrent administration of legal and equitable remedies, according to seven rules, which substantially provide that any one of the courts, included In the acts shall give the same equitable relief to any plaintiff or defendant claiming it as would formerly have been granted by chancery; equitable relief will be granted against third persons, not parties, who shall be brought in by notice; all equitable estates, titles, rights, duties, and liabilities will be taken notice of as in chancery; no proceeding shall be restrained by injunction, but every matter of equity on which an injunction might formerly have been obtained may be relied on by way of defence, and the courts may in any cause direct a stay of proceedings. Subject to these and certain other provisions of the act, effect shall be given to all legal claims and demands, and all e.states, titles, rights, duties, obligations, and liabilities, existing by the common law, custom, or statute, as before the acts; the new courts shall grant, either absolutely or on terms, all such legal or equitable remedies as the parties may appear entitled to; so that all matters may be completely and finally determined, and multiplicity of legal proceedings avoided. Eleven new rules of law are established, which will be found in the act of 1873, c. 66. § 25, amended by the act of 1875, c. 77, § 10, of the following nature; 1. In the administration of insolvent estates, the same rules shall prevail as may be in force under the law of bankruptcy; 2. No claim of a cestui gue trust against his trustee, for property held on an express trust, shall be barred by any statute of limitations; 3. A tenant for life shall have no right to commit equitable waste, unless such right is expressly conferred by the Instrument creating the estate; 4. There shall be no merger by operation of law only, of any estate, the beneficial Interest in which would not be deemed merged in equity; 6. A mortgagor entitled for the time being to the possession of the profits of land, as to which the mortgagee shall have given no notice of his intention to take possession, may sue for such possession, or for the recovery of such profits, or to prevent or recover damages in respect of any trespass, or other wrong relative thereto, in his own nam^ only, unless the cause of action arises upon a lease or other contract made Jointly with any other person; 6. Any absolute assignment of a chose in action, of which express notice in writing shall have been given to the debtor, shall pass the legal right thereto from the date of notice, and all remedies for the same, and the power to give a good discharge: provided, that if the debtor, etc., shall have had notice of any confilcting claims to such debt, he shall be entitled to call upon such claimants to interplead; 7. Stipulations as to time or otherwise, which would not have been deemed of the essence of the contract in equity, shall receive the same construction as formerly in equity; 8. A mandamus or an injunction may be granted, or a receiver appointed by an interlocutory order, which may be made either unconditionally or on terms; and an injunction may is or is not in possession under any claim of title, or does or. does not claim a right to do the act sought to be restrained under color of title; 9. In proceedings arising from collisions at sea, where both ships are In fault, the rules hitherto in force in the court of admiralty shall prevail; 10. In questions relating to the custody of Infants, the rules of equity shall prevail; 11. Generally, In all matters in which there is any conflict between the rules of common law and the rules of equity, the latter shall prevail. By the act of 1891, c. 53, to settle doubts said to exist on the subject, it was enacted that the high court should be a prize court within the meaning of the Naval Prize Act of 1864, and the jurisdiction was assigned to the probate, divorce, and admiralty division of the court. An appeal was given only to the queen in council. By the same act the house of lords was authorized to call in the aid of assessors in admiralty cases. The act of 1894, c. 16, was directed mainly to the restricting the right of appeal. The division of the legal year into terms Is abolished, so far as relates to the administration of justice, but where they are used as a measure for determining the time at or within which any act la required to be done, they may continue to be referred to. Numerous other regulations are established for the arrangement of business and course of procedure under the new system for which reference must be had to the acts. We will merely note that nothing is to affect the law relating to jury trials, and the existing forms of procedure are to be used as far as consistent with these acts. It was provided that nothing should affect the practice or procedure in— 1. Criminal proceedings; 2. Proceedings on the crown side of the queen’s bench division; 3. Proceedings on the revenue side* of the exchequer division; 4. Proceedings for divorce and matrimonial causes. The Chancery Procedure Acts and the Common Law Procedure Acts remain in full force, except so far as impliedly or expressly repealed by the Judicature Acts. Many sections of the former Acts are repealed by subsequent legislation, all which may be found in Chitty’s English Statutes, where the acts are published together as amended See Courts op England, JUDICATURE ACTS (IRELAND). The act of 40 & 41 Viet. c. 57, which went Into operation Jan. 1, 1878, established a supreme court of judicature in Ireland, under which acts and subsequent ones a system essentially similar in its constitution to that in England is in force. See Courts OF Ireland.

The statutes of 36 & 37 Viet. c. 66, and 38 & 39 Viet. c. 77, which went into force November 1„ 1875, with amendments in 1877, c. 9; 1879, c. 78; and 1881, c. 68,
— made most important changes in the organization of, and methods of procedure in, the superior courts of England, consolidating them together so as to constitute one supreme court of judicature, consisting of two divisions,
—her majesty's high court of justice, having chiefly original jurisdiction; and her majesty's court of appeal, whose jurisdiction is chiefly appellate.

Defined under Judicature in Black's Law Dictionary.

The statutes reorganizing the English courts, particularly the statute of the 36 & 37 Vict, c. 66.

The statutes of 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, and 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77, which went into force November 1, 1875, with amendments in 1877, c. 9; 1879, c. 78; and 1881, c. 68, — made most important changes in the organization of, and methods of procedure in, the superior courts, consolidating them together so as to constitute one supreme court of judicature, consisting of two divisions, — her majesty's high court of justice, having chiefly original jurisdiction; and her majesty's court of appeal, whose jurisdiction is chiefly appellate. Judices non tenentur exprimere causam sententiae suae. Jenk. Cent. 75. Judges are not bound to explain the reason of their sentence.

The statutes regarding the Supreme Court of Judicature, and particularly the 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, changing the entire organization of the English courts, v. Court, 29. See also 37 & 38 Vict. c. 83; 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77; 39 & 40 Vict. c. 59; 40 & 41 Vict. c. 9; and, for Ireland, 40 & 41 Vict. c. 57. Judicia posteriora sunt In lege fortiora, I. The later judgments are in law the stronger.