Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993

26 Retirement date for holders of certain judicial offices etc.

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a person holding any of the offices for the time being specified in Schedule 5 to this Act (a “relevant office”) shall vacate that office on the day on which he attains the age of 75 or such lower age as may for the time being be specified for the purpose in the enactments and instruments relating to that office, whenever passed or made. (2) Any reference in this section to a person’s holding an office includes a reference to his being a member of, or otherwise included in, any panel or list of persons appointed, nominated, approved or otherwise selected to serve from time to time in that office (whether or not the panel or list is required by or under any enactment); and any reference in this section or Schedule 5 to this Act to any particular office or to an office of any class or description, or to a person’s appointment to, or vacation of, an office, shall be construed accordingly. (3) Subject to the transitional provision referred to in subsection (11) below, subsection (1) above applies whether the person was appointed to the office before or after the coming into force of this section; but nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by it, shall be taken— (a) to preclude a person from vacating his office before the compulsory retirement date for that office in his case; or (b) to prevent a person’s appointment to an office coming to an end before that date, in accordance with the terms on which he was appointed. (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (7) After the day on which a person attains the age of 75, he shall not hold any relevant office nor shall he— (a) be a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . . . ; (b) act as a judge of the Supreme Court under section 38 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005; (c) act as a judge under or by virtue of section 9(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981; (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (e) sit and act as a judge under or by virtue of section 7 of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978; (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (ga) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (h) hold any office— (i) to which appointments are made by or under any Act or statutory instrument; (ii) for which there would, apart from this paragraph, be no compulsory retirement date; and (iii) for appointment to which only persons who have held relevant office are eligible; and this subsection applies whether or not the person was invited to act as a judge, or was appointed to the office in question, or to some other office by virtue of which he would (apart from this subsection) hold the office in question, before the appointed day. (8) After the day on which a person attains the age of 75, he shall not be appointed or re-appointed as— (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (c) an assessor assisting with an inquiry under section 61 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995; (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (g) an arbitrator, or (in Scotland) an arbiter, under paragraph 9(2) of Schedule 10 to the Electricity Act 1989; (h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (j) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (9) The appropriate Minister may by order— (a) amend Schedule 5 to this Act by adding offices to those for the time being specified in that Schedule; or (b) amend subsection (8) above by adding offices to those for the time being specified in that subsection. (10) As from the appointed day, the enactments and instruments mentioned in Schedule 6 to this Act shall have effect with the amendments specified in that Schedule; but those amendments are subject to section 27 below and Schedule 7 to this Act. (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12) In this section— “the appointed day” means the day appointed under section 31 below for the coming into force of this section; ... “the compulsory retirement date” for an office means the day on which a holder of that office is or, apart from any continuation power, would be required by any enactment or statutory instrument to vacate that office, being either— the day on which he attains a particular age; or a day falling to be determined by reference to his attaining a particular age; “continuation power” means a power conferred by an enactment or statutory instrument on a Minister of the Crown to authorise the holder of an office to continue in that office until a later day than that on which, apart from any exercise of the power, he would be required by any enactment or statutory instrument to vacate that office; and any reference to vacating an office includes a reference to retiring from it. (12A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (17) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .