South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts (1) In this Act,
unless the contrary intention appears—
"Chief Magistrate" means the person holding or acting in the office of
Chief Magistrate under the Magistrates Act 1983 ;
"civil action" means an action or proceeding brought in a civil division of
the Court;
"Court" or "Magistrates Court" means the Magistrates Court of South Australia;
"criminal action" means an action or proceeding brought in a criminal division
of the Court;
"criminal division" means the Criminal Division or the Nunga Court Division of
the Court;
"evidentiary material" means any document, object or substance of evidentiary
value in proceedings before the Court and includes any document, object or
substance that should, in the opinion of the Court, be produced for the
purpose of enabling the Court to determine whether or not it has evidentiary
value;
"interlocutory judgment" includes—
(a) an
interlocutory order; and
(b) an
order or ruling relating to the admissibility or giving of evidence;
"judgment" means a judgment, order or decision and includes an
interlocutory judgment;
"judicial office" means the office of Magistrate, Judicial Registrar or
special justice;
"Judicial Registrar" means a Magistrates Court Judicial Registrar;
"Magistrate" means a person holding office as a Magistrate under the
Magistrates Act 1983 ;
"minor civil action"—see subsection (2);
"minor statutory proceeding" means—
(a) an
application under the Fences Act 1975 ; or
(b) an
application under Part 4 or section 33 of the Second-hand Vehicle Dealers
Act 1995 ; or
(ba) an
application under the Retail and Commercial Leases Act 1995 , other than
an application that involves a monetary claim for more than $12 000; or
(bb) an
application under section 11(8) of the Second-hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers
Act 1996 ; or
(bc) an
application under Part 5 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 ; or
(bd) a
transferred proceeding within the meaning of Part 3A of the
South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ; or
(c) any
other proceeding declared by statute to be a minor statutory proceeding;
"neighbourhood dispute" means a dispute between neighbours, or the occupiers
of properties in close proximity, based on allegations of trespass or
nuisance;
"Nunga Court" means the Nunga Court Division of the Court;
"Registrar" means the Principal Registrar, or any Registrar or Deputy
Registrar of the Court, but does not include a Judicial Registrar;
"rules" means the rules of the Court in force under this Act;
"small claim" means a monetary claim for $12 000 or less.
(1a) For the purposes
of this Act, a person will be taken to be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander person if—
(a) the
person is descended from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person; and
(b) the
person identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person; and
(c) the
person is accepted as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person by an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community.
(1b) When sentencing
an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in the Nunga Court Division of
the Court, the Court will be known as—
(a) the
Nunga Court; or
(b) if
the Chief Magistrate assigns another name to the Court for the purposes of
this subsection—that name (and a reference in this Act to the
Nunga Court or the Nunga Court Division will be taken to include a reference
to the Court as so named).
(1c) Before assigning
a name to the Court under subsection (1b)(b), the Chief Magistrate—
(a) must
consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Officers (within
the meaning of section 22 of the Sentencing Act 2017 ) and any
other persons or bodies recommended by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Justice Officers; and
(b) may
consult with any other persons or bodies that the Chief Magistrate thinks
appropriate.
(2) Subject to
subsections (3) and (4), a minor civil action is an action founded
on—
(a) a
small claim; or
(b) a
claim for relief in relation to a neighbourhood dispute; or
(c) a
minor statutory proceeding.
(3) If a claim that is
not within one of the classes referred to in subsection (2) is introduced
into a minor civil action, the action ceases to be a minor civil action unless
the Court orders that the subsequent claim be tried separately.
(4) Subject to
subsection (4a), if a neighbourhood dispute or a
minor statutory proceeding involves—
(a) a
monetary claim for more than $12 000; or
(b) a
claim for relief in the nature of an order to carry out work where the value
of the work is more than $12 000,
a party may elect, in accordance with the rules, to exclude the dispute or
proceeding from the rules governing minor civil actions 1 , and in that case,
the dispute or proceeding ceases to be a minor civil action.
(4a) Subsection (4)
does not apply to a minor statutory proceeding that is a transferred
proceeding within the meaning of Part 3A of the South Australian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (and the Court may deal with the
proceeding as a minor statutory proceeding despite the fact that the
proceeding involves a claim that exceeds the monetary limits referred to in
that subsection).
(5) Proceedings for a
contempt of the Court will be regarded as a civil action or a criminal action
according to whether the contempt relates to proceedings in a civil division
or a criminal division of the Court and where the contempt is unrelated to
proceedings in the Court, the proceedings for contempt will be regarded as a
criminal action.
Notes—
2 For definition of divisional penalties (and
divisional expiation fees) see Appendix.