On 19/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 19/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 19/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 17/10/2008.
PART VIII
SUPPLEMENTARY POWERS, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE OF COURT
36. The court may, pending the determination of an application to it in relation to a person (“P”), make an order or give directions in respect of any matter if —
(a)
there is reason to believe that P lacks capacity in relation to the matter;
(b)
the matter is one to which its powers under this Act extend; and
(c)
it is in P’s best interests to make the order, or give the directions, without delay.
37.
—(1) This section applies where, in proceedings brought in respect of a person (“P”), the court is considering a question relating to P.
(2) The court may require a report to be made to it by the Public Guardian or a member of the Board of Visitors.
(3) The court may require any person to arrange for a report to be made by one of its officers or employees.
(4) The report must deal with such matters relating to P as the court may direct.
(5) The Rules of Court may specify matters which, unless the court directs otherwise, must also be dealt with in the report.
(6) The report may be made in writing or orally as the court may direct.
(7) In complying with a requirement, the Public Guardian or a member of the Board of Visitors may, at all reasonable times, examine and take copies of —
(a)
any health record; and
(b)
any record held by any person and compiled in connection with a social services function,
so far as the record relates to P.
(8) If the Public Guardian or a member of the Board of Visitors is making a visit in the course of complying with a requirement, he may interview P in private.
(9) If a member of the Board of Visitors who is a Special Visitor is making a visit in the course of complying with a requirement, he may if the court so directs carry out in private a medical, psychiatric or psychological examination of P’s capacity and condition.
38.
—(1) No permission is required for an application to the court for the exercise of any of its powers under this Act —
(a)
by a person who lacks, or is alleged to lack, capacity and, if such a person has not attained the age of 21 years, by anyone with parental rights with respect to him;
(b)
by the donor or a donee of a lasting power of attorney to which the application relates;
(c)
by a deputy appointed by the court for a person to whom the application relates;
(d)
by a person named in an existing order of the court, if the application relates to the order; or
(e)
by the Public Guardian where it appears to him that —
(i)
a person lacks capacity;
(ii)
no application has been made or is likely to be made for an order under this Act; and
(iii)
an order under this Act is necessary for the protection of the personal welfare, property or affairs of the person.
(2) Subject to the Rules of Court, permission is required for any other application to the court.
(3) In deciding whether to grant permission the court shall, in particular, have regard to —
(a)
the applicant’s connection with the person to whom the application relates;
(b)
the reasons for the application;
(c)
the benefit to the person to whom the application relates of a proposed order or directions; and
(d)
whether the benefit can be achieved in any other way.
39.
—(1) Rules of Court may be made —
(a)
to regulate and prescribe the procedure and practice to be followed in respect of proceedings under this Act; and
(b)
to provide for costs and fees of such proceedings, and for regulating any matter relating to the costs of such proceedings.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), Rules of Court may make provision —
(a)
as to the manner and form in which proceedings are to be commenced;
(b)
as to the persons entitled to be notified of, and be made parties to, the proceedings;
(c)
for enabling the court to appoint a suitable person to act in the name of, or on behalf of, or to represent the person to whom the proceedings relate;
(d)
for enabling an application to the court to be disposed of without a hearing;
(e)
for enabling the court to proceed with, or with any part of, a hearing in the absence of the person to whom the proceedings relate;
(f)
for enabling or requiring the proceedings or any part of them to be conducted in private and for enabling the court to determine who is to be admitted when the court sits in private and to exclude specified persons when it sits in public;
(g)
as to what may be received as evidence (whether or not admissible apart from the Rules of Court) and the manner in which it is to be presented;
(h)
for the enforcement of orders made and directions given in the proceedings;
(i)
for regulating matters relating to the costs of those proceedings, including prescribing scales of costs to be paid to legal or other representatives;
(j)
as to the way in which, and funds from which, fees and costs are to be paid;
(k)
for charging fees and costs upon the estate of the person to whom the proceedings relate, provided that such charge shall not cause any interest of the person in any property to fail or determine or to be prevented from recommencing;
(l)
for the payment of fees and costs within a specified time of the death of the person to whom the proceedings relate or the conclusion of the proceedings.
(3) Rules of Court may, instead of providing for any matter, refer to provision made or to be made about that matter by practice directions issued for the time being by the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
40.
—(1) Subject to the Rules of Court, the costs of and incidental to all proceedings in the court are in its discretion.
(2) The court has full power to determine by whom and to what extent the costs are to be paid.
(3) The court may, in any proceedings —
(a)
disallow; or
(b)
order the legal or other representatives concerned to meet,
the whole of any wasted costs or such part of them as may be determined in accordance with the Rules of Court.
(4) In subsection (3) —
“legal or other representative”, in relation to a party to proceedings, means any person exercising a right of audience or right to conduct litigation on his behalf;
“wasted costs” means any costs incurred by a party —
(a)
as a result of any improper, unreasonable or negligent act or omission on the part of any legal or other representative or any employee of such a representative; or
(b)
which, in the light of any such act or omission occurring after they were incurred, the court considers it is unreasonable to expect that party to pay.