Courts Service Act, 1998

PART VI

Transfer of Land, etc., to Service

Transfer of land, etc., to Service.

26.—(1)(a) The Minister may by order appoint a vesting day in respect of any land (or a part of any land) used solely for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate or partly for the purposes of the Commissioners and partly for the purposes to which the functions of the Service relate and which immediately before the vesting day was vested in or leased by the Commissioners.

(b) On the vesting day, the land, the subject of the order, and all rights, powers and privileges relating to or connected with such land shall—

(i) where used solely for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate — after consultation with the Commissioners, and

(ii) where used partly for the purposes of the Commissioners and partly for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate — with the consent in writing of the Commissioners,

but without any further conveyance, transfer or assignment, be vested in the Service for all estate, term or interest for which immediately before the vesting day it was vested in the Commissioners, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the land subsisting and capable of being performed.

(2)(a) The Minister may by order appoint a vesting day in respect of any land (or part of any land) used solely for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate or partly for the purposes of the local authority and partly for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate and which immediately before the vesting day was vested in or leased by a local authority.

(b) On the vesting day the land, the subject of the order, and all rights, powers and privileges relating to or connected with such land shall—

(i) where used solely for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate — after consultation with the local authority, and

(ii) where used partly for the purposes of the local authority and partly for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate — with the consent in writing of the local authority,

but without any further conveyance, transfer or assignment, be vested in the Service for all estate, term or interest for which immediately before the vesting day it was vested in the local authority, but subject to all trusts and equities affecting the land subsisting and capable of being performed.

(3) The Minister may, by order, appoint a day on which land which is vested in the State or an organ of the State and which is used for purposes to which the functions of the Service relate shall become subject to the occupation, management and control of the Service for the purposes of its functions and on that day it shall accordingly become so subject.

(4) The Minister may on his or her own initiative, and shall on the application of the Service, issue a certificate in respect of specified land stating, as the Minister thinks proper, that such land vested in the Service under this section, or did not so vest, and the certificate shall be evidence of the facts so stated.

(5) Every right and liability transferred to the Service by this section may, on or after the day it has been transferred, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the Service in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the Service to give notice to a person whose right or liability is transferred by this section of the transfer.

(6) Section 12 of the Finance Act, 1895 , shall not apply in respect of the transfer under this section of land to the Service.

(7)(a) Subject to paragraph (b), on the establishment day the Courthouses (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935 , shall stand repealed.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), where immediately before a vesting day appointed under subsection 2(a), a person stood appointed as a caretaker or an assistant to a caretaker in respect of courthouse accommodation under section 5 of the Courthouses (Provision and Maintenance) Act, 1935 , which accommodation is the subject of the vesting, then that section shall continue to apply to the person as if he or she had been so appointed by the Service.

(8) In this section—

“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland;

“local authority” means the council of a county, a corporation of a county or other borough, a council of an urban district or commissioners of a town.