Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) A warden’s
court has power to make orders on all matters within its jurisdiction, for
—
(a) the
enforcement of contracts;
(b) the
awarding of damages or compensation;
(c) the
appointment of receivers;
[(d) deleted]
(e) the
determination of the area, extent, dimensions or boundaries of any mining
tenement or as to the respective rights of the owner of the primary tenement
and the special prospecting licence or mining lease for gold granted in
relation to that tenement pursuant to section 56A, 70 or 85B;
(f) the
declaration or enforcement of any trust relating to mining tenements or mining
operations and the product thereof;
(g) the
declaration of any partnership proved to exist between any persons, the taking
of accounts relating thereto, the determination of contributions between the
partners therein, and the settlement of all questions arising in relation
thereto;
(h) the
dissolution of mining partnerships and the division of the property thereof
between the parties entitled thereto either by sale, partition or otherwise,
as may be agreed between the parties or as the warden’s court, in case
of dispute, may order;
(i)
the partition, sale, disposal, or division of any mining
property, or the proceeds thereof, held by 2 or more persons having
conflicting interests therein;
(j) the
cessation or suspension by any party of any mining operations or works in
connection therewith causing or likely to cause, injury to any other party,
and generally for the
determination and settlement of all actions, claims, questions and disputes
properly brought before the warden’s court, and for the enforcement and
carrying out of any order previously made, and for awarding or apportioning
costs in any such proceedings.
(2) The costs of all
proceedings in the warden’s court under this Act shall be in the
discretion of the court and the amount thereof may be determined by the court
or taxed by the warden or the mining registrar, as the court may direct.
(3) A warden’s
court at any stage of any proceedings pending therein may, of its own motion,
or on the application of any party to those proceedings, order —
(a) the
adding, joining, substituting, or striking out of any party in, to, for or
from those proceedings;
(b) any
person having the possession, custody, or control of any minerals or other
chattels to which those proceedings relate, to deposit the minerals or
chattels with such person at such time and place as is specified in the order
pending any further order with respect thereto;
(c) the
valuation, sale or other disposal of any such mineral or such chattels of any
person;
(d) the
appropriation and delivery of any such minerals or chattels or any portion or
part thereof or proceeds thereof, to any person in or towards the satisfaction
of any order made against the owner thereof for the payment of any sum of
money;
(e) the
seizure of any such minerals or chattels by any bailiff or other person
specified in the order and the detention thereof pending any further order
with respect thereto;
(f) the
cessation or suspension at any time and from time to time of any mining
operations or works, or the carrying on thereof under the direction or control
of some person appointed by the warden’s court, for such period as seems
necessary to the court;
(g) that
any person shall do, or refrain from doing, as the case may require, any such
act or thing upon or in relation to any mining tenement or property the
subject matter of any proceeding as the court thinks fit;
(h) the
measurement or survey of any land or mining tenement or part thereof, and the
making of plans and drawings thereof by any person duly qualified for the
particular purpose;
(i)
the inspection of any land, mine or works by any
specified person, and the taking of samples of any mineral or that a report
thereon be made to the warden’s court by any specified person;
(j) the
taking of accounts by any specified person in relation to any mining
partnership or to the respective shares or interests of any person interested
in any mining property, mining tenement or mineral;
(k) the
payment to any person or into court of any sum of money, or the giving of
security therefor, for or towards the expenses of carrying out or giving
effect to any such order, or for the payment of costs,
and any such order may
be made upon such terms or conditions as to costs, compensation, security or
otherwise, as the court thinks fit.
(4) Without affecting
the exercise by the court of its other powers, the power conferred by
subsection (3)(g) may be exercised by the court of its own motion or on the
application of any person prior to the commencement of an action or other
proceeding in the court, if the court is satisfied that the applicant has
sufficient grounds for making the application.
(5) Subject to this
Act and without affecting the jurisdiction of a warden’s court, a
warden’s court has and may exercise in relation to all matters relating
to any civil proceeding under this Act the like powers and authorities as are
conferred upon the Supreme Court.
(6) In all respects,
except as expressly provided by or under this Act, the practice and procedure
of a warden’s court as a court of civil jurisdiction shall be the same
as the practice and procedure of the Magistrates Court in like matters.
[Section 134 amended: No. 100 of 1985 s. 99; No.
37 of 1993 s. 12(2); No. 39 of 2004 s. 71 and 85; No. 59 of 2004 s. 116.]