Western Australian Consolidated Acts

DISTRICT COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA ACT 1969 - SECT 18

18 .         Acting appointments

        (1)         Where the Chief Judge is absent from duty or there is a vacancy in the office of Chief Judge, then where no District Court judge is specifically appointed under subsection (2a) to act in the office of Chief Judge, all the duties and powers of the Chief Judge shall during such absence or vacancy devolve upon the senior District Court judge.

        (2)         In the absence or inability of the District Court judge upon whom the powers and duties of the Chief Judge devolve under subsection (1), those powers and duties shall devolve during such absence or inability upon the District Court judge who is next in seniority.

        (2a)         Where the Chief Judge is, or is expected to be, absent from duty or there is a vacancy in the office of Chief Judge, the Governor may appoint a District Court judge to act in the office of Chief Judge for such period as the Governor thinks fit and specifies in the instrument of appointment.

        (2b)         The Governor may at any time revoke the appointment of a District Court judge to act as Chief Judge.

        (3)         Where —

            (a)         a District Court judge including the Chief Judge is, or is expected to be, absent from duty, the Governor may appoint a person qualified to be appointed a District Court judge, to act as a District Court judge during the absence from duty of the first mentioned judge or until he completes the trial or hearing of any cause or matter that he had entered upon and not completed before that judge returns to duty, whichever is the later;

            (aa)         there is a vacancy in the office of a District Court judge, the Governor may appoint a person qualified to be appointed a District Court judge to act as a District Court judge until the filling of that vacancy or until that person completes the trial or hearing of any cause or matter that he or she had entered upon and not completed before the filling of that vacancy, whichever is the later; or

            (b)         for any reason the conduct of the business of the Court, in the opinion of the Governor, requires such an appointment to be made, the Governor may appoint a person so qualified to act as a District Court judge for such period as the Governor thinks fit and specifies in the instrument of appointment.

        (4)         A person appointed to be an acting District Court judge under subsection (3) —

            (a)         has the same powers and may exercise the same jurisdiction as a District Court judge; and

            (b)         is liable to be removed from office while so acting in the same manner and upon the same grounds as a District Court judge is liable to be removed from office.

        [Section 18 amended by No. 7 of 1982 s. 11; No. 122 of 1984 s. 13; No. 23 of 1997 s. 7.]