Magistrates' Courts Act, 1944 (Act No. 32 of 1944)

Part II : Civil Matters

Chapter VI : Civil Jurisdiction

50. Removal of actions from court to provincial or local division
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(1)Any action in which the amount of the claim exceeds the amount 15 determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette, exclusive of interest and costs, may, upon application to the court by the defendant, or if there is more than one defendant, by any defendant, be removed to the provincial or local division having jurisdiction where the court is held, subject to the following provisions—
(a)notice of intention to make such application shall be given to the plaintiff, and to other defendants (if any) before the date on which the action is set down for hearing;
(b)the notice shall state that the applicant objects to the action being tried by the court or any magistrate's court;
(c)the applicant shall give such security as the court may determine and approve, for payment of the amount claimed and such further amount to be determined by the court not exceeding the amount 16 determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette, for costs already incurred in the action and which may be incurred in the said provincial or local division.

Upon compliance by the applicant with those provisions, all proceedings in the action in the court shall be stayed, and the action and all proceedings therein, shall, if the plaintiff so requires, be as to the defendant or defendants, forthwith removed from the court into the provincial or local division aforesaid having jurisdiction. Upon the removal, the summons in the court shall, as to the defendant or defendants, stand as the summons in the division to which the action is removed, the return date thereof being the date of the order of removal in an action other than one founded on a liquid document, and, in an action founded on a liquid document, being such convenient day on which the said division sits for the hearing of provisional sentence cases, as the court may order:

Provided that the plaintiff in the action may, instead of requiring the action to be so removed, issue a fresh summons against the defendant or defendants in any competent court and the costs already incurred by the parties to the action shall be costs in the cause.

 

(2)        If the plaintiff is successful in an action so removed to a provincial or local division, he may be awarded costs as between attorney and client.

 

                                                                                                                             

  15 R3 000 - GN R1411 in GG 19435 of 30 October 1998

  16 R3 000 - GN R3441 (GG 14498) of 31 December 1992