This Act may be called "The Bombay Civil Courts' Act, 1869," and extends only to the territories (other than Sind) under the Government of the Governor of Bombay in Council in which the Code of Civil Procedure is now in force. But the Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the Government Gazette, extend this Act to any other of the territories under such Government in which the said Code is not in force, or to Sind.
| Year | Description | Hindi Description | Files(Eng) | Files(Hindi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-12-2011 | The Bombay Civil Courts, 1869 |
[Repeal of enactments].--Rep. by the Obsolete Enactments Act, 1870 (14 of 1870), s. 1 and Schedule, Part II (w.e.f. 5-4-1870).
The Governor of Bombay in Council may from time to time, by notification in the Government Gazette, alter the limits of existing Zilas (which. shall hereafter be called Districts) and create new Districts for the purposes of this Act.
The Governor of Bombay in Council may also from time to time, by notification in the Government Gazette, alter the position of the Sadar station in any District, and fix the position of the Sadr station in any new District.
There shall be in each District a District Court presided over by a Judge to be called the District Judge. He shall be appointed by the Governor of Bombay in Council by whose authority only he shall be liable to be suspended or removed from his appointment.
The District Judge shall ordinarily hold the District Court at the Sadr station in his District, but may, with the previous sanction of the High Court, hold it elsewhere within the District.
The District Court shall be the principal Court of original civil jurisdiction in the District, within the meaning of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Except as provided in sections sixteen, seventeen and twenty-six, the District Court shall be the Court of Appeal from all decrees and orders passed by the Subordinate Courts from which an appeal lies under any law for the time being in force.
The District Judge shall have general control over all the Civil Courts and their establishments within the District, and it shall be his duty to inspect, or to cause one of his Assistants to inspect, the proceedings of all the Courts subordinate to him, and to give such directions with respect to matters not provided for by law as he may think necessary. The District Judge shall also refer to the High Court all such matters as appear to him to require that a rule of that Court should be made thereon.
The District Judge shall obey all writs, orders, or processes issued to him by the High Court, and shall make such returns or reports thereto under his signature and the seal of the Court as the exigencies of the case require. He shall further furnish such reports and returns and copies of proceedings as may be called for by the High Court or the Governor of Bombay in Council.
The District Judge shall use a circular seal two inches in diameter, which shall bear thereon the. Royal Arms with the following inscription in English and the principal language of the District—“District Court of .”
The Governor of Bombay in Council may, with the previous sanction of the Governor General of India in Council, appoint in any District a Joint Judge who shall be invested with co-extensive powers and a concurrent jurisdiction with the District Judge, except that he shall not keep a file of civil suits and shall transact such civil business only as he may receive from the District Judge, or as may have been referred to the Joint Judge by order of the High Court.
All Regulations and Acts now or hereafter in force and applying to a District Judge shall be deemed to apply also to the Joint Judge; and the seal of the Joint Judge shall be the same as is used by the District Judge.
The Governor of Bombay in Council, under the general control of the Governor General of India in Council, may appoint one or more Assistants to the District Judge, and may suspend or remove from his appointment any Assistant so appointed.
An Assistant Judge shall ordinarily hold his Court at the same place as the District Judge, but he may hold his Court elsewhere within the District, whenever the District Judge shall, with the previous sanction of the High Court, direct him so to do.
The District Judge may refer to any Assistant Judge subordinate to him original suits of which the subject-matter does not amount to ten thousand rupees in amount or value, and miscellaneous applications not being of the nature of appeals. The Assistant Judge shall have jurisdiction to try such suits and to dispose of such applications. Where the Assistant Judge's decrees and orders in such cases are appealable, the appeal shall lie to the District Judge or to the High Court according as the amount or value of the subject-matter does not exceed or exceeds five thousand rupees.
| Year | Description | Hindi Description | Files(Eng) | Files(Hindi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-12-2011 | The Bombay Civil Courts, 1869 |
The Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the Government Gazette, empower any Assistant Judge to try such appeals from the decrees and orders of the subordinate Courts as would lie to the District Judge and as may be referred by him to the Assistant Judge.
A person filling the office of Assistant Judge, on whom the power of hearing appeals has once been conferred under section seventeen, shall continue to have this power so long and so often as he may fill the office, of Assistant Judge, without reference to the District in which he may be employed; provided that the Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the Government Gazette, at any time withdraw such power.
The Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the Government Gazette, invest an Assistant Judge with all or any of the powers of a District Judge within a particular part of a District, and may, by like notification, from time to time determine and alter the limits of such Part.
Every Assistant Judge shall use the seal of the District Judge to whom he is Assistant.
There shall be in each District so many Civil Courts subordinate to the District Court as the Governor of Bombay in Council, acting under the general control of the Governor General of India in Council, shall from time to time direct.
The Judges of such subordinate Courts shall be appointed by the Governor of Bombay in Council, and shall be called Subordinate Judges.
1[22A. Power to fix local limits of jurisdiction of Subordinate Judges.The Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the official Gazette, fix, and, by a like notification, from time to time alter, the local limits of the ordinary jurisdiction of the Subordinate Judges.]
The Subordinate Judges shall hold their Courts at such place or places as the Governor of Bombay in Council may from time to time appoint, within the local limits of their respective jurisdictions. Wherever more than one such place is appointed, the District Judge shall, subject to the control of the High Court, fix the days on which the Subordinate Judge shall hold his Court at each of such places, and the Subordinate Judge shall cause such days to be duly notified throughout the local limits of his jurisdiction.
The Subordinate Judges shall be of two classes.
A Subordinate Judge of the first class, in addition to his ordinary jurisdiction, shall exercise a special jurisdiction in respect of such suits and proceedings of a civil nature wherein the subject-matter exceeds five thousand rupees in amount or value as may arise within the local jurisdictions of the Courts in the District presided over by Subordinate Judges of the second class.
In all suits decided by a Subordinate Judge 1 *** of which the amount or value of the subject-matter exceeds five thousand rupees, the appeal from his decision shall be direct to the High Court.
The Governor of Bombay in Council may invest any Subordinate Judge of the first class with power to hear appeals from such decrees and orders of Subordinate Courts as may be referred to him by the Judge of the District.
The Governor of Bombay in Council may invest, within such local limits as he shall from time to time appoint, any Subordinate Judge of the first class with the jurisdiction of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes, for the trial of suits cognizable by such Courts up to the amount of five hundred rupees, and any Subordinate Judge of the second class with the same jurisdiction up to the amount of fifty rupees.
Each Subordinate Judge shall use a seal one inch and a half in diameter, bearing the Royal Crown with the following inscription in English and the principal language of the District—“Subordinate Judge of .”
[First Subordinate Judges of first class].—Rep. by the Obsolete Enactments Act, 1876 (12 of 1876), s. 1 and Schedule, Part I (w.e.f. 11-4-1876).
[Pending proceedings].—Rep. by s. 1 and Schedule, Part I, ibid. (w.e.f. 11-4-1876).
1[No Subordinate Judge or Court of Small Causes shall receive or register a suit in which the Government or any officer of Government in his official capacity is a party, but in every such case such Judge or Court shall refer the plaintiff to the District Judge, in whose Court alone (subject to the provisions of section nineteen) such suit shall be instituted.]
Whenever the High Court is of opinion that there are good grounds for making a formal and public enquiry into the truth of any imputation of misconduct by any Subordinate Judge, the High Court may appoint a Commissioner or Commissioners for the purpose of holding such an enquiry, and on the receipt of his or their report may order that the Subordinate Judge be removed or suspended from office, or reduced to a lower class.
The High Court may suspend any Subordinate Judge from office pending the result of an enquiry into his behaviour under this section.
In the event of the death of the District Judge or of his being prevented from performing his duties by illness or other casualty, or of his absence from his District on leave, the first in rank of the Assistant Judges in the District, or in the absence from the District of an Assistant Judge the first in rank of the Subordinate Judges, shall assume charge of the District Court without interruption to his ordinary jurisdiction,. and while so in charge shall perform the duties of a District judge with respect to the filing of suits and appeals, receiving pleadings, execution of processes, return of writs and the like, and shall be designated Assistant Judge or Subordinate Judge, as the case May be, in charge of the District, and shall continue in such charge until the office of District Judge may be resumed or assumed by an officer duly appointed thereto.
Any District Judge leaving the Sadr station and proceeding on duty to any place within his District, may delegate to an Assistant Judge, or in the absence of an Assistant Judge to a Subordinate Judge at the Sadr station, the power of performing such of the duties enumerated in section thirty-five as may be emergent; and such officer shall be designated Assistant or Subordinate Judge, as the case may be, in charge of the Sadr station.
In the event of the death, suspension or temporary absence of any Subordinate Judge, the District Judge may empower the Judge of any Subordinate Court of the same District to perform the duties of the Judge of the vacated Subordinate Court, either at the place of such Court or of his own Court; but in every such case the Registers and Records of the two Courts shall be kept distinct.
All ministerial officers of the Civil Courts in each District shall be appointed, and may be fined, suspended or dismissed by the District Judge, subject to such rules as the High Court may from time to time prescribe:
The duties of the said ministerial officers shall be regulated by such rules as the High Court may from time to time prescribe.
The Governor of Bombay in Council may, under the general control of the Governor General of India in Council, appoint to any. Civil Court under this Act a Clerk of the Court who, in addition to such duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the High Court, may receive and register plaints, and shall refer such as he may consider should be refused for the orders of the Judge of the Court, and may sign all processes, and authenticate copies of papers.
The proceedings of each Civil Court shall be kept and recorded according to such rules as the High Court may from time to time prescribe. The High Court shall also lay down rules under which copies of papers may be granted.
The High Court shall from time to time, with the sanction of the Governor of Bombay in Council, prescribe and regulate the fees to be taken for any process issued by any Court the constitution of which is declared by this Act, or by any officer of such Court.
The District and Subordinate Courts shall sit from day to day, except on Sundays, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Her Majesty's Birth Day, and such other days as may be sanctioned for each or every District by the High Court.