1Name of Act and commencement
(1)
This Act may be cited as the Suitors’ Fund Act
1951.
(2)
This Act shall commence upon a day to be
appointed by the Governor and notified by proclamation published in the
Gazette.
2Definitions
(1)
In this Act, unless the context or subject matter
otherwise indicates or requires:
Appeal includes any motion for a
new trial and any proceeding in the nature of an appeal.
Corporation has the same
meaning as it has in the Corporations Act 2001 of the
Commonwealth.
Costs, when used in relation to
an appeal in respect of which an indemnity certificate is granted,
includes:
(a)
the costs of the application for the indemnity
certificate but, except as provided by paragraph (b) of this definition, does
not include costs incurred in a court of first instance,
(b)
where a new trial is ordered upon the appeal, the
costs of the first trial.
Court includes such tribunals or
other bodies as are prescribed.
Director-General
means:
(a)
the Director-General of the Attorney
General’s Department, or
(b)
any person employed within that Department who is
authorised in writing by the Director-General to exercise the powers and
perform the functions of the Director-General under this
Act.
Fund means the Suitors’ Fund
established under this Act.
Indemnity
certificate means an indemnity certificate granted under
section 6 (1), (1A) or (1AA) or 6B.
Land and Environment
Court means the Land and Environment Court constituted under
the Land and Environment Court Act
1979.
Legally assisted
person has the meaning ascribed thereto in section 4 (1) of
the Legal Services Commission Act
1979.
Sequence of appeals
means a sequence of appeals in which each appeal that follows next after
another appeal in the sequence is an appeal against the decision in that other
appeal.
Supreme Court means the
Supreme Court of New South Wales or a judge thereof.
(2)
This Act applies to and in respect of:
(a)
a court,
(b)
an appeal to or from a court,
(c)
proceedings or actions before a court,
and
(d)
a decision of a court,
exercising State or federal
jurisdiction.
s 2: Am 1959 No 20,
sec 2 (a); 1960 No 8, sec 2 (a); 1970 No 10, sec 3 (1) (a); 1979 No 84, Sch 1
(1); 1985 No 64, Sch 1 (1); 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (1); 1997 No 141, Sch 1.10 [1];
2001 No 34, Sch 1.8.
3Suitors’ Fund
(1)
There is to be established in the Attorney
General’s Department Account a “Suitors’ Fund” into
which shall be paid the moneys referred to in section 5 and from which shall
be paid the amounts referred to in sections 6 (2), 6A, 6B and
6C.
(2)
In addition to the money payable out of the Fund
under this Act the following amounts shall be a charge against and shall be
paid out of the Fund:
(a)
all costs of management of the Fund as certified
by the Auditor-General,
(b)
any amount considered by the Director-General to
be surplus to the Fund’s requirements,
(c)
fees payable to consultants retained by the
Director-General to advise on the proper investment of the
Fund.
(2A)
An amount referred to in subsection (2) (b) shall
not be paid out of the Fund without the concurrence of the Attorney
General.
(2B)
An amount paid out of the Fund under subsection
(2) (b) shall be used for expenditure:
(a)
on improving (or on projects designed to lead to
improving) court facilities and services, and
(b)
towards the administrative costs incurred in
relation to the operation of Part 5 of the Civil
Procedure Act 2005.
(3)
The Fund shall, subject to this Act and the
regulations, be under the direction, control and management of the
Director-General.
(4)
All moneys payable to the Fund under this Act and
interest allowed thereon shall be made available to the Director-General for
investment or for the purpose of paying the amounts referred to in subsection
(2) of section 6 or any other amount properly payable out of the
Fund.
(5)
Interest at a rate to be determined by the
Treasurer shall be allowed on the amount at the credit of the account first
referred to in subsection (4).
(6)
The Fund shall as far as practicable be invested
in securities in which trustees are by law authorised to
invest.
(7)
Interest derived from the investment of the Fund
shall form part thereof.
(8)
The income of the Fund shall not be subject to
taxation under any Act of this State.
(9)
The Director-General may retain consultants to
advise on the proper investment of the Fund.
s 3: Am 1959 No 20,
sec 3 (a); 1970 No 10, sec 3 (1) (b); 1979 No 84, Sch 1 (2); 1983 No 153, Sch
1; 1985 No 158, Sch 1; 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (2); 1990 No 46, Sch 1; 1998 No 172,
Sch 9 [1] [2]; 2005 No 28, Sch 5.46.
4Director-General to be corporation sole
(1)
For the purposes of the exercise and discharge of
the powers, authorities, duties, functions and obligations conferred and
imposed upon the Director-General by this Act, the Director-General is hereby
declared to be a corporation sole under the name of “The
Director-General of the Attorney General’s
Department”.
The said corporation sole shall have perpetual
succession and an official seal and may in the corporate name sue and be sued
and shall be capable of purchasing, holding, granting, demising, disposing of
and alienating real and personal property and of doing and suffering all such
other acts and things as a body corporate may by law do and
suffer.
(2)
The assets of the Fund shall be vested in the
said corporation sole.
(3)
Where any property real or personal or the
interest therein or charge thereon is vested in or is acquired by the said
corporation sole, the same shall unless otherwise disposed of by the said
corporation sole pass to and devolve on and vest in its
successors.
(4)
The seal of the said corporation sole shall not
be affixed to any instrument or writing except in the presence, or by the
direction, of the Director-General who shall attest by the
Director-General’s signature the fact and date of the seal being so
affixed.
(5)
The appointment of the Director-General and the
Director-General’s official seal shall be judicially
noticed.
(6)
s 4: Am 1959 No 20,
sec 2 (b); 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (3).
5Contributions to the Fund
(1)
As soon as practicable after the last day of each
month, there shall be paid to the Fund such percentage, not exceeding in any
case ten parts per centum, of the fees of court collected in any court or in
any jurisdiction of any court which are paid into the Consolidated Revenue
Fund during the month ending on that day, as may be fixed by the Governor,
upon the recommendation of the Colonial Treasurer, by proclamation published
in the Gazette with respect thereto.
The Governor may from time to time in like manner
vary or revoke any such proclamation.
(2)
Any proclamation under subsection (1) may fix
different percentages in respect of:
(a)
different courts,
(b)
different jurisdictions of the same
court,
(c)
courts held at different
places.
(3)
Any amounts payable to the Fund under subsection
(1) shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and are hereby
specially appropriated.
6Costs of certain appeals
(1)
If an appeal against the decision of a
court:
(a)
to the Supreme Court on a question of law or
fact, or
(b)
to the High Court from a decision of the Supreme
Court on a question of law,
succeeds, the Supreme Court may, on application, grant
to the respondent to the appeal or to any one or more of several respondents
to the appeal an indemnity certificate in respect of the
appeal.
(1A)
Where an appeal against the decision of a court
to the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales or to the District
Court of New South Wales on a question of law succeeds, that Commission or
Court, as the case may be, may, upon application made in that behalf, grant to
the respondent to the appeal or to any one or more of several respondents to
the appeal an indemnity certificate in respect of the
appeal.
(1AA)
Where an appeal under section 56A of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 to
the Land and Environment Court on a question of law succeeds, that Court may,
upon application made in that behalf, grant to the respondent to the appeal or
to any one or more of several respondents to the appeal an indemnity
certificate in respect of the appeal.
(1B)
For the purposes of this section, a taxing
officer of a court shall, when acting as such a taxing officer, be deemed to
be exercising the jurisdiction of a court of first
instance.
(2)
Where a respondent to an appeal has been granted
an indemnity certificate, the certificate shall entitle the respondent to be
paid from the Fund:
(a)
an amount equal to the appellant’s costs
of:
(i)
the appeal in respect of which the certificate
was granted, and also
(ii)
where that appeal is an appeal in a sequence of
appeals, any appeal or appeals in the sequence that preceded the appeal in
respect of which the certificate was granted,
ordered to be paid and actually paid by the respondent:
Provided that where the Director-General is satisfied that the respondent is
unable through lack of means to pay the whole of those costs or part thereof
or that payment of those costs or part thereof would cause the respondent
undue hardship, or where those costs or part thereof have not been paid by the
respondent and the Director-General is satisfied that the respondent cannot be
found after such strict inquiry and search as the Director-General may require
or that the respondent unreasonably refuses or neglects to pay them, the
Director-General may, if so requested by the appellant or the respondent,
direct in writing that an amount equal to those costs or to the part of those
costs not already paid by the respondent be paid from the Fund for and on
behalf of the respondent to the appellant and thereupon the appellant shall be
entitled to payment from the Fund in accordance with the direction and the
Fund shall be discharged from liability to the respondent in respect of those
costs to the extent of the amount paid in accordance with the
direction,
(b)
fifty per centum or such other percentage as may
be prescribed (at the time when the indemnity certificate is granted) in lieu
thereof by the Governor by proclamation published in the Gazette of the amount
payable from the Fund pursuant to paragraph (a) or, where no amount is so
payable, an amount equal to the costs of:
(i)
the appeal in respect of which the certificate
was granted, and also
(ii)
where that appeal is an appeal in a sequence of
appeals, any appeal or appeals in the sequence that preceded the appeal in
respect of which the certificate was granted,
as taxed, incurred by the respondent and not ordered to
be paid by any other party: Provided that where an amount is payable from the
Fund pursuant to paragraph (a), but the Director-General directs that the
costs of the appeal or appeals referred to in subparagraph (i) or in
subparagraphs (i) and (ii) incurred by the respondent and not ordered to be
paid by any other party be taxed at the instance of the respondent or those
costs are, without such a direction, taxed at the instance of the respondent,
the amount payable from the Fund under this paragraph shall be the amount
equal to those costs as so taxed, and
(c)
where the costs referred to in paragraph (b) are
taxed at the instance of the respondent, an amount equal to the costs incurred
by the respondent in having those costs taxed.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
subsection:
(i)
where the costs referred to in paragraph (b) are
taxed at the instance of the respondent, the aggregate of the amounts payable
from the Fund pursuant to that paragraph and paragraph (c) shall not exceed
the amount payable from the Fund pursuant to paragraph
(a).
(ii)
(2A)
The maximum amount payable from the Fund for any
one appeal is:
(a)
$20,000 in the case of an appeal to the High
Court, or
(b)
$10,000 in the case of any other
appeal.
(2B)
If more than one indemnity certificate has been
issued in connection with the same appeal, the maximum amount payable from the
Fund with respect to any one indemnity certificate is:
(a)
an amount equal to the maximum amount payable
from the Fund for that appeal divided by the number of indemnity certificates
issued in connection with that appeal, or
(b)
subject to subsection (2A), such other amount as
may be determined by the court by which the indemnity certificate is
issued.
(2C)
Subsections (2A) and (2B) do not apply to appeals
lodged before the commencement of those subsections.
(3)
An indemnity certificate granted in respect of an
appeal to the respondent to the appeal, being an appeal in a sequence of
appeals, shall be vacated if:
(a)
in a later appeal in the sequence the successful
party is the one to whom the indemnity certificate was granted,
or
(b)
an indemnity certificate is granted in respect of
a later appeal in the sequence and the respondent to the earlier appeal is a
party to the later appeal.
(4)
(a)
An indemnity certificate granted in respect of an
appeal to the respondent to the appeal shall have no force or effect:
(i)
where a time is limited for appealing against the
decision in the appeal—during the time limited for appealing against the
decision in the appeal,
(ii)
where an appeal lies against the decision in the
appeal but no time is so limited—until an application for leave to
appeal against the decision in the appeal has been determined and, where leave
is granted, the appeal is instituted, or until the respondent lodges with the
Director-General an undertaking in writing by the respondent that the
respondent will not seek leave to appeal, or appeal pursuant to the leave
granted, against the decision in the appeal, whichever first
happens,
(iii)
notwithstanding anything contained in
subparagraph (ii) where the respondent gives the undertaking referred to in
that subparagraph and thereafter seeks leave to appeal, or appeals, against
the decision in the appeal—until the application for leave has been
determined and, where leave is granted, the appeal is
instituted,
(iv)
notwithstanding anything contained in the
foregoing provisions of this paragraph where the decision in the appeal is the
subject of an appeal—during the pendency of the
appeal.
Where the appeal and a later appeal or later
appeals form a sequence of appeals and the indemnity certificate has not been
vacated under subsection (3):
(v)
the reference to the decision in the appeal in
the foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall be construed as including a
reference to the decision in the later appeal or in each such later appeal, as
the case may be, and
(vi)
the reference to the pendency of the appeal in
those provisions shall be construed as including a reference to the pendency
of the later appeal or of each such later appeal, as the case may
be.
(b)
Where an undertaking has been given by a
respondent under the foregoing provisions of this subsection and thereafter
the respondent seeks leave to appeal or appeals, as the case may be, against
the decision to which the undertaking relates, the respondent shall, upon
demand made by the Director-General, pay to the Director-General any amount
paid to the respondent, or for and on behalf of the respondent, under the
indemnity certificate or, if the respondent notifies the Director-General in
writing of the respondent’s seeking leave to appeal or of the
respondent’s appeal, as the case may be, any amount paid to the
respondent, or for and on behalf of the respondent, under the indemnity
certificate before the respondent gave the notification, and the amount
concerned may be recovered by the Director-General from the respondent as a
debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Any amount paid to, or recovered by, the
Director-General under this subsection shall be paid by the Director-General
into the Fund.
(c)
Nothing in this subsection affects the operation
of subsection (3).
(5)
The grant or refusal of an indemnity certificate
shall, except as provided by subsections (5A), (6) and (7), be in the
discretion of the Supreme Court, Land and Environment Court, Industrial
Relations Commission of New South Wales or District Court of New South Wales,
as the case may be, and no appeal shall lie against any such grant or
refusal.
(5A)
Where a respondent to an appeal referred to in
subsection (1), (1A) or (1AA) is a legally assisted person, the respondent
shall, for the purpose of exercising the discretion referred to in subsection
(5) and for the purpose of determining the amount which the respondent is
entitled to be paid from the Fund:
(a)
be deemed not to be a legally assisted person,
and
(b)
be deemed to have incurred such costs as have
been incurred by any other person in the course of acting for the respondent
as a legally assisted person.
(6)
An indemnity certificate shall not be granted in
respect of any appeal from proceedings begun in a court of first instance
before the commencement of this Act.
(7)
An indemnity certificate shall not be granted in
favour of:
(a)
the Crown,
(b)
a corporation that has a paid-up share capital of
two hundred thousand dollars or more, or
(c)
a corporation that does not have such a paid-up
share capital but that, within the meaning of section 50 of the Corporations
Act 2001 of the Commonwealth, is related to a body
corporate that has such a paid-up share capital, unless the appeal to which
the certificate relates was instituted before the commencement of the Legal
Assistance and Suitors’ Fund (Amendment) Act
1970.
s 6: Subst 1959 No
20, sec 2 (c). Am 1960 No 8, sec 2 (b); 1970 No 10, sec 3 (1) (c); 1979 No 84,
Sch 1 (3); 1985 No 64, Sch 1 (2); 1986 No 16, Sch 23; 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (4);
1996 No 121, Sch 4.52; 1997 No 141, Sch 1.10 [2]; 2001 No 34, Sch 2.49
[1].
6ACosts of proceedings not completed by reason of death of
judge etc
(1)
Where on or after the day on which Her
Majesty’s assent to the Suitors’ Fund (Amendment) Act
1959 is signified:
(a)
any civil or criminal proceedings are rendered
abortive by the death or protracted illness of the judge or magistrate before
whom the proceedings were had,
(a1)
any civil or criminal proceedings are rendered
abortive for the purposes of this paragraph by section 46A (Appeal against
damages may be heard by 2 Judges) of the Supreme Court
Act 1970 or section 6AA (Appeal against sentence may be
heard by 2 judges) of the Criminal Appeal Act
1912, because the judges who heard the proceedings were
divided in opinion as to the decision determining the
proceedings,
(b)
an appeal on a question of law against the
conviction of a person (in this section referred to as the appellant)
convicted on indictment is upheld and a new trial is ordered,
or
(c)
the hearing of any civil or criminal proceedings
is discontinued and a new trial ordered by the presiding judge or magistrate
for a reason not attributable in any way to disagreement on the part of the
jury, where the proceedings were with a jury, or to the act, neglect or
default, in the case of civil proceedings, of all or of any one or more of the
parties thereto or their counsel or attorneys, or, in the case of criminal
proceedings, of the accused or the accused’s counsel or attorney, and
the presiding judge or magistrate grants a certificate (which certificate the
presiding judge or magistrate is hereby authorised to grant):
(i)
in the case of civil proceedings—to any
party thereto stating the reason why the proceedings were discontinued and a
new trial ordered and that the reason was not attributable in any way to
disagreement on the part of the jury, where the proceedings were with a jury,
or to the act, neglect or default of all or of any one or more of the parties
to the proceedings or their counsel or attorneys, or
(ii)
in the case of criminal proceedings—to the
accused stating the reason why the proceedings were discontinued and a new
trial ordered and that the reason was not attributable in any way to
disagreement on the part of the jury or to the act, neglect or default of the
accused or the accused’s counsel or attorney,
and any party to the civil proceedings or the accused in
the criminal proceedings or the appellant, as the case may be, incurs
additional costs (in this section referred to as additional costs) by
reason of the new trial that is had as a consequence of the proceedings being
so rendered abortive or as a consequence of the order for a new trial, as the
case may be, then the Director-General may, upon application made in that
behalf, authorise the payment from the Fund to the party or the accused or the
appellant, as the case may be, of the costs (in this section referred to as
original costs), or such
part thereof as the Director-General may determine, incurred by the party or
the accused or the appellant, as the case may be, in the proceedings before
they were so rendered abortive or the conviction was quashed or the hearing of
the proceedings was so discontinued, as the case may be.
(1A)
Where, in the opinion of the
Director-General:
(a)
the Director-General would, but for this
subsection, not be entitled to authorise payment of an amount to a person
under subsection (1) because that person incurred neither original costs nor
additional costs by reason only of the fact that that person was a legally
assisted person, and
(b)
that person would have incurred original costs
and additional costs had that person not been a legally assisted
person,
subsection (1) shall apply to and in respect of that
person as if that person had not been a legally assisted person and as if that
person had incurred such original costs and additional costs as the
Director-General determines:
Provided that the Director-General may, in lieu
of authorising payment under that subsection of an amount to that person,
authorise payment of that amount to such person or persons as in the
Director-General’s opinion is or are entitled to receive payment
thereof.
(1B)
If an application has been made under subsection
(1) in respect of proceedings rendered abortive, or a new trial ordered, after
the commencement of the Suitors’ Fund (Amendment) Act
1987, the amount payable under that subsection to any one
person shall, in respect of that application, not exceed:
(a)
$10,000, or
(b)
such other amount as may be prescribed (at the
time when the proceedings were rendered abortive or the new trial was
ordered).
(2)
No amount shall be paid from the Fund under this
section to:
(a)
the Crown,
(b)
a corporation that has a paid-up share capital of
two hundred thousand dollars or more, or
(c)
a corporation that does not have such a paid-up
share capital but that, within the meaning of section 50 of the Corporations
Act 2001 of the Commonwealth, is related to a body
corporate that has such a paid-up share capital, unless the proceedings were
rendered abortive or the new trial was ordered (as referred to in subsection
(1)) before the commencement of the Legal Assistance and Suitors’
Fund (Amendment) Act 1970.
s 6A: Ins 1959 No 20,
sec 3 (b). Am 1970 No 10, sec 3 (1) (d); 1970 No 37, sec 20; 1979 No 84, Sch 1
(4); 1986 No 16, Sch 23; 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (5); 1994 No 14, sec 4; 2001 No
34, Sch 2.49 [2]; 2001 No 121, Sch 2.190.
6BCosts of certain appeals on ground that damages were
excessive or inadequate
(1)
Where an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the
ground that the damages awarded in the action in respect of which the appeal
is made were excessive or inadequate succeeds, the respondent to the appeal or
any one or more of several respondents to the appeal, shall (if granted an
indemnity certificate under subsection (2)) be entitled to be paid from the
Fund:
(a)
an amount equal to the costs of the appellant in
the appeal ordered to be paid and actually paid by the respondent: Provided
that where the Director-General is satisfied that the respondent is unable
through lack of means to pay the whole of those costs or part thereof or that
payment of those costs or part thereof would cause the respondent undue
hardship, or where those costs or part thereof have not been paid by the
respondent and the Director-General is satisfied that the respondent cannot be
found after such strict inquiry and search as the Director-General may require
or that the respondent unreasonably refuses or neglects to pay them, the
Director-General may, if so requested by the appellant or the respondent,
direct in writing that an amount equal to those costs or to the part of those
costs not already paid by the respondent be paid from the Fund for and on
behalf of the respondent to the appellant and thereupon the appellant shall be
entitled to payment from the Fund in accordance with the direction and the
Fund shall be discharged from liability to the respondent in respect of those
costs to the extent of the amount paid in accordance with the
direction,
(b)
fifty per centum or such other percentage as may
be prescribed (at the time when the indemnity certificate is granted) in lieu
thereof by the Governor by proclamation published in the Gazette of the amount
payable from the Fund pursuant to paragraph (a) or, where no amount is so
payable, an amount equal to the costs of the appeal, as taxed, incurred by the
respondent and not ordered to be paid by any other party: Provided that where
an amount is payable from the Fund pursuant to paragraph (a), but the
Director-General directs that the costs of the appeal incurred by the
respondent and not ordered to be paid by any other party be taxed at the
instance of the respondent or those costs are, without such a direction, taxed
at the instance of the respondent, the amount payable from the Fund under this
paragraph shall be the amount equal to those costs as so taxed,
and
(c)
where the costs referred to in paragraph (b) are
taxed at the instance of the respondent, an amount equal to the costs incurred
by the respondent in having those costs taxed.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
subsection:
(i)
where the costs referred to in paragraph (b) are
taxed at the instance of the respondent, the aggregate of the amounts payable
from the Fund pursuant to that paragraph and paragraph (c) shall not exceed
the amount payable from the Fund pursuant to paragraph
(a),
(ii)
the amount payable from the Fund in respect of
the appeal shall not in any case exceed the sum of $10,000 or such other
amount as may be fixed (at the time when the indemnity certificate is granted)
in lieu thereof by the regulations under this Act.
(2)
If an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the ground
that the damages awarded in the action in respect of which the appeal is made
were excessive or inadequate succeeds, the Court of Appeal may, on
application, grant:
(a)
to the respondent to the appeal,
or
(b)
to any one or more of several respondents to the
appeal,
an indemnity certificate in respect of the
appeal.
(3)
The grant or refusal of an indemnity certificate
shall, except as provided by this section, be in the discretion of the Court
of Appeal and no appeal shall lie against any such grant or
refusal.
(4)
The provisions of section 6 (4) (a)
(i)–(iv) and (b) apply to and in respect of an indemnity certificate
granted under this section in the same way as they apply to and in respect of
an indemnity certificate granted under section 6.
(5)
If a respondent to an appeal is a legally
assisted person, the person shall, for the purpose of exercising the
discretion referred to in subsection (3) and for the purpose of determining
the amount which the respondent is entitled to be paid from the Fund:
(a)
be deemed not to be a legally assisted person,
and
(b)
be deemed to have incurred such costs as have
been incurred by any other person in the course of acting for the respondent
as a legally assisted person.
(6)
An indemnity certificate shall not be granted in
favour of:
(a)
the Crown,
(b)
a corporation that has a paid-up share capital of
two hundred thousand dollars or more, or
(c)
a corporation that does not have such a paid-up
share capital but that, within the meaning of section 50 of the Corporations
Act 2001 of the Commonwealth, is related to a body
corporate that has such a paid-up share capital, unless the appeal was
instituted before the commencement of the Legal Assistance and Suitors’
Fund (Amendment) Act 1970.
s 6B: Ins 1959 No 20,
sec 3 (b). Am 1970 No 10, sec 3 (1) (e); 1979 No 84, Sch 1 (5); 1986 No 16,
Sch 23; 1987 No 249, Sch 1 (6) (am 1988 No 92, Sch 26); 2001 No 34, Sch 2.49
[3].
6CPayments not otherwise authorised by this
Act
(1)
If:
(a)
a party to an appeal or other proceedings incurs
or is liable to pay costs in the appeal or proceedings,
(b)
the party is not otherwise entitled to a payment
from the Fund in respect of the costs, and
(c)
the Director-General is of the opinion that a
payment from the Fund in respect of the costs, although not authorised by
section 6, 6A or 6B, would be within the spirit and intent of those
sections,
the Director-General may, with the concurrence of the
Attorney General, pay from the Fund to the party such amount towards the costs
as is assessed by the Director-General having regard to the circumstances of
the case.
(2)
A payment under this section shall not exceed
$10,000.
s 6C: Ins 1987 No
249, Sch 1 (7).
6DReduction of payment if taxation of costs not
contested
The Director-General may, if:
(a)
an amount is payable from the Fund under this Act
in relation to costs incurred in an appeal, and
(b)
taxation of the costs was not contested by the
other party to the appeal,
reduce the amount payable to an amount that would, in
the Director-General’s opinion, have been payable had the taxation been
contested.
s 6D: Ins 1987 No
249, Sch 1 (7).
7Regulations
(1)
The Governor may make regulations not
inconsistent with this Act prescribing all matters which, by this Act, are
required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to
be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this
Act.
(2)
Without prejudice to the generality of subsection
(1) the regulations may make provision with respect to the manner of operating
on the Fund and the custody of documents evidencing investment of the Fund and
with respect to the taxation, for the purposes of this Act, of the costs of an
appeal incurred by a respondent and with respect to all matters relating
thereto, including but without limiting the generality of the foregoing
provisions of this subsection:
(a)
the specification of the principles to be
followed in the preparation of a bill of those costs and in the taxation of
such a bill,
(b)
the specification of who shall be the taxing
officer of such a bill and in relation thereto that different persons or
officers shall be the taxing officers in respect of bills that relate to
different courts or different jurisdictions of a court,
(c)
the persons to be served with a copy of such a
bill.
(3)
s 7: Am 1960 No 8,
sec 2 (c); 1987 No 48, Sch 32.
8Savings and transitional provisions
Schedule 1 has effect.
s 8: Ins 1987 No 249,
Sch 1 (8).