(1) Nothing in this Act shall apply to proceedings by or against, or authorise proceedings in tort to be brought against, His Majesty in His private capacity.
(2) Except as therein otherwise expressly provided, nothing in this Act shall:—
(a) affect the law relating to prize salvage, or apply to proceedings in causes or matters within the jurisdiction of the High Court as a prize court or to any criminal proceedings; or
(b) authorise proceedings to be taken against the Crown under or in accordance with this Act in respect of any alleged liability of the Crown arising otherwise than in respect of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or the Scottish Administration, or affect proceedings against the Crown in respect of any such alleged liability as aforesaid; or
(c) affect any proceedings by the Crown otherwise than in right of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or the Scottish Administration; or
(d) subject the Crown to any greater liabilities in respect of the acts or omissions of any independent contractor employed by the Crown than those to which the Crown would be subject in respect of such acts or omissions if it were a private person; or
(e) subject the Crown, in its capacity as a highway authority, to any greater liability than that to which a local authority is subject in that capacity; or
(f) affect any rules of evidence or any presumption relating to the extent to which the Crown is bound by any Act of Parliament; or
(g) affect any right of the Crown to demand a trial at bar or to control or otherwise intervene in proceedings affecting its rights, property or profits; or
(h) affect any liability imposed on the public trustee or on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom by the Public Trustee Act 1906;
and, without prejudice to the general effect of the foregoing provisions, Part III of this Act shall not apply to the Crown except in right of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or the Scottish Administration.
(3) A certificate of a Secretary of State:—
(a) to the effect that any alleged liability of the Crown arises otherwise than in respect of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom;
(b) to the effect that any proceedings by the Crown are proceedings otherwise than in right of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom;
shall, for the purposes of this Act, be conclusive as to the matter so certified.
(3A) A certificate of the Scottish Ministers to the effect that—
(a) any alleged liability of the Crown arises otherwise than in respect of the Scottish Administration,
(b) any proceedings by the Crown are proceedings otherwise than in right of the Scottish Administration,
shall, for the purposes of this Act, be conclusive as to that matter.
(4) Where any property vests in the Crown by virtue of any rule of law which operates independently of the acts or the intentions of the Crown, the Crown shall not by virtue of this Act be subject to any liabilities in tort by reason only of the property being so vested; but the provisions of this subsection shall be without prejudice to the liabilities of the Crown under this Act in respect of any period after the Crown or any person acting for the Crown has in fact taken possession or control of any such property, or entered into occupation thereof.
(5) This Act shall not operate to limit the discretion of the court to grant relief by way of mandamus in cases in which such relief might have been granted before the commencement of this Act, notwithstanding that by reason of the provisions of this Act some other and further remedy is available.
Section one, Part II (except section thirteen so far as relating to proceedings mentioned in the First Schedule and section twenty-one), Part III (except section twenty-six) and section twenty-eight of this Act shall not apply to Scotland.
43 Interpretation for purposes of application to Scotland.
In the application of this Act to Scotland:—
(a) for any reference to the High Court (except a reference to that Court as a prize court) there shall be substituted a reference to the Court of Session; for any reference to the county court there shall be substituted a reference to the sheriff court; the expression “plaintiff” means pursuer; the expression “defendant” means defender; the expression “county court rules” means Act of Sederunt applying to the sheriff court; and the expression “injunction” means interdict;
(b) the expression “tort” means any wrongful or negligent act or omission giving rise to liability in reparation, and any reference to liability or right or action or proceedings in tort shall be construed accordingly; and for any reference to Part II of the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors) Act 1935, there shall be substituted a reference to section three of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1940.
44 Proceedings against the Crown in the sheriff court.
Subject to the provisions of this Act and to any enactment limiting the jurisdiction of the sheriff court (whether by reference to the subject matter of the proceedings or otherwise) civil proceedings against the Crown may be instituted in the sheriff court in like manner as if the proceedings were against a subject:
Provided that where in any proceedings against the Crown in the sheriff court a certificate by the appropriate Law Officer is produced to the effect that the proceedings may involve an important question of law, or may be decisive of other cases, or are for other reasons more fit for trial in the Court of Session, the proceedings shall be remitted to the Court of Session, and where any proceedings have been so remitted to the Court of Session, and it appears to that Court that the remit has occasioned additional expense to the pursuer, the Court shall take account of the additional expense so occasioned in deciding any question as to expenses.In this proviso, “the appropriate Law Officer” means—
(a) the Lord Advocate, where the proceedings are against any part of the Scottish Administration, and
(b) the Advocate General for Scotland, in any other case.
45 Satisfaction of orders granted against the Crown in Scotland.
(1) Where in any civil proceedings by or against the Crown or to which the Crown has been made a party, any order (including an award of expenses) is made by any court in favour of any person against the Crown or against a Government department or against an officer of the Crown as such, the clerk of court shall, on an application in that behalf made by or on behalf of that person at any time after the expiration of twenty-one days from the date of the order, or, in a case where there is an award of expenses and the expenses require to be taxed, at any time after taxation whichever is the later, issue to that person a certified copy of the order of the court.
(2) A copy of any such order may be served by the person in whose favour the order is made upon the person for the time being named in the record as the solicitor, or the person acting as solicitor, for the Crown or for the Government department or officer concerned.
(3) If the order decerns for the payment of any money by way of damages or otherwise or of any expenses, the appropriate Government department shall, subject as hereinafter provided, pay to the person entitled or to his solicitor the amount appearing from the order to be due to him together with the interest, if any, lawfully due thereon:
Provided that the court by which any such order as aforesaid is made or any court to which an appeal against the order lies may direct that pending an appeal or otherwise payment of the whole of any amount so payable, or any part thereof, shall be suspended.
(4) No such order as aforesaid shall warrant any diligence or execution against any person to enforce payment of any such money or expenses as aforesaid, and no person shall be individually liable under any order for the payment by the Crown, or any Government department or any officer of the Crown as such, of any such money or expenses.
Arrestment in the hands of the Crown or of a Government department or of any officer of the Crown as such shall be competent in any case where arrestment in the hands of a subject would have been competent:
Provided that nothing in the foregoing provisions shall warrant the arrestment of:—
(a) any earnings payable to any officer of the Crown as such except as provided by section 2 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1966;
or
(b) any money which is subject to the provisions of any enactment prohibiting or restricting assignation or charging or taking in execution; or
(c) any money payable by the Crown to any person on account of a deposit in the National Savings Bank.
Subject to and in accordance with Acts of Sederunt applying to the Court of Session and the sheriff court, commission and diligence for the recovery of documents in the possession of the Crown may be granted in any action whether or not the Crown is a party thereto, in like manner in all respects as if the documents were in the possession of a subject:
Provided that—
this subsection shall be without prejudice to any rule of law which authorises or requires the withholding of any document on the ground that its disclosure would be injurious to the public interest; and
the existence of a document shall not be disclosed if, in the opinion of a Minister of the Crown, it would be injurious to the public interest to disclose the existence thereof.
Section twenty-six of this Act shall have effect as if for subsection (2) thereof there were substituted the following subsection:—
(2) The exception in respect of taxes contained in section four of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1880, from the enactment therein contained abolishing imprisonment for debt shall apply only in respect of death duties. . . .
Section thirty-five of this Act shall have effect as if for subsection (2) thereof there were substituted the following subsection:—
(2) The following provisions shall apply as regards proceedings in the Court of Session or the sheriff court:—
(a) where decree in absence has been granted against the Crown the decree shall not be operative without the leave of the court obtained on an application of which notice has been given to the Crown;
(b) a person shall not be entitled to avail himself of any set-off or counterclaim in any proceedings by the Crown for the recovery of taxes, duties or penalties, or to avail himself in proceedings of any other nature by the Crown of any set-off or counterclaim arising out of a right or claim to repayment in respect of any taxes, duties or penalties;
(c) a person shall not be entitled without the leave of the court to avail himself of any set-off or counterclaim in any proceedings by the Crown if the subject matter of the set-off or counterclaim does not relate to the Government department on whose behalf the proceedings are brought;
(d) the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, in any proceedings against a Government department, or against the Advocate General for Scotland on behalf of a Government department(i) shall not be entitled to avail itself of any set-off or counterclaim if the subject matter thereof relates to the Scottish Administration, and (ii) shall not, without leave of the court, be entitled to avail itself of any set-off or counterclaim if the subject matter thereof does not relate to that department.(e) a part of the Scottish Administration, in any proceedings against that part or against the Lord Advocate on its behalf, shall not be entitled to avail itself of any set-off or counterclaim if the subject matter thereof relates to another part of the Scottish Administration or to the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom.
(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2) Section thirty-eight of this Act shall have effect as if in subsection (4) thereof:—
(i) there were included a reference to this Part of this Act;
(ii) for the reference to the Attorney General there were substituted a reference to the Lord Advocate or the Advocate General for Scotland;
(iii) the proviso were omitted.
Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained with respect to Northern Ireland, this Act shall not affect the law enforced in courts elsewhere than in England and Scotland, or the procedure in any such courts.
(1) His Majesty may by Order in Council provide for extending this Act to Northern Ireland with such additions, exceptions and modifications as appear to His Majesty to be expedient.
(2) An Order in Council under this section may provide for amending the law both in its application to the Crown in right of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and in its application to the Crown in right of His Majesty’s Government in Northern Ireland.
(3) An Order in Council under this section may provide for amending the law:—
(a) with respect to the right of the Crown to sue in a county court in Northern Ireland; and
(b) with respect to the award of costs to or against the Crown in Northern Ireland.
(4) An Order in Council under this section may be varied or revoked by a further Order in Council made thereunder.
(5) An Order in Council under this section may include such provisions as appear to His Majesty to be incidental to or consequential on any provisions contained in such an Order by virtue of the preceding provisions of this section.
(6) . . .
(7) An Order in Council under this section shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after it is made, and, if either House of Parliament, within the next twenty-eight days on which that House has sat after such an Order is laid before it, resolves that the Order be annulled, the Order shall thereupon cease to have effect except as respects things previously done or omitted to be done, without prejudice, however, to the making of a new Order.
. . .
Sections 13, 23.
1 (1) Latin informations and English informations.
(2) Writs of capias ad respondendum, writs of subpoena ad respondendum, and writs of appraisement.
(3) Writs of scire facias.
(4) Proceedings for the determination of any issue upon a writ of extent or of diem clausit extremum.
(5) Writs of summons under Part V of the Crown Suits Act 1865.
2 (1) Proceedings against His Majesty by way of petition of right, including proceedings by way of petition of right intituled in the Admiralty Division under section fifty-two of the Naval Prize Act 1864.
(2) Proceedings against His Majesty by way of monstrans de droit.