S.I. No. 370/1979 - District Court (Costs) Rules, 1979.

S.I. No. 370 of 1979.

DISTRICT COURT (COSTS) RULES, 1979.

The District Court Rules Committee, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 91 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924 , section 72 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936 and section 17 of the Interpretation Act, 1937 (as applied by section 48 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961 ), and section 34 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961 , do hereby, with the concurrence of the Minister for Justice, make the following Rules of Court:—

1. These Rules may be cited as the District Court (Costs) Rules, 1979.

2. These Rules shall come into operation on the 1st day of January 1980 and shall be read together with all other District Court Rules for the time being in force.

3. The costs to be awarded in proceedings instituted in the District Court on or after the 1st day of January, 1980 shall be in accordance with the Schedule of Costs hereto.

4. The District Court (Costs for Service of Documents), Rules, 1971 ( S.I. No. 351 of 1971 ) and the District Court (Costs) Rules, 1972 ( S.I. No. 175 of 1972 ) are hereby annulled save as to any proceedings pending in the District Court on the coming into operation of these Rules, which proceedings shall be continued and completed as if these Rules had not been made.

GIVEN this 8th day of October, 1979.

Thomas F. Donnelly, Chairman

M. Cyril Maguire

William A. Tormey

J. Michael Mac Grath

John P. Clifford

Laurence Cullen

Richard Knight

Seamus S. O'Cathasaigh

I concur in the making of the foregoing Rules,

Dated this 8 day of November 1979.

GERARD COLLINS,

Minister for Justice.

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

SOLICITORS' COSTS IN SUMMARY JUDGMENT PROCEEDINGS

Amount due at the date of issue of civil process	If amount due is paid within ten days of service of civil process	If amount due is not paid within ten days of service of civil process
	£	£
Not exceeding £10	1.58	3.41
Exceeding £10 and not exceeding £25	2.45	4.64
Exceeding £25 and not exceeding £50	3.68	6.74
Exceeding £50 and not exceeding £75	5.51	9.45
Exceeding £75 and not exceeding £100	5.86	10.15
Exceeding £100 and not exceeding £175	6.91	12.25
Exceeding £175 and not exceeding £250	7.96	14.35

The above Scale of Costs shall in every instance be exclusive of and in addition to all actual and necessary outlay.

The above Scale of Costs shall apply to any proceeding at the suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions or any Minister of State or Government Department.

If the civil process is defended the costs of the successful party shall be in accordance with the appropriate contract, breach of contract, and tort scale.

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

SOLICITORS' COSTS IN CONTRACT, BREACH OF CONTRACT AND TORT PROCEEDINGS AND IN CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES UNCONNECTED WITH CONTRACT

Amount due at the date of issue of civil process, and in case of dismiss the amount sued for	Settled before entry	Costs of decree if case not defended	Costs of decree if case defended	Costs of dismiss
	£	£	£	£
Not exceeding £10	2.19	5.51	6.48	5.86
Exceeding £10 and not exceeding £25	3.06	9.19	15.31	14.70
Exceeding £25 and not exceeding £50	4.29	12.86	20.21	19.60
Exceeding £50 and not exceeding £75	5.51	16.63	25.38	22.75
Exceeding £75 and not exceeding £100	6.74	21.00	29.75	28.00
Exceeding £100 and not exceeding £175	10.41	29.75	44.63	42.00
Exceeding £175 and not exceeding £250	14.09	36.75	61.25	54.25

The above Scale of Costs shall in every instance be exclusive of and in addition to all actual and necessary outlay.

The above Scale of Costs shall apply to actions for wrongful detention brought by virtue of section 33, subsection(3) of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961 , according to the value of the goods as determined by the Court.

The above Scale of Costs shall apply to actions for wrongful detention arising out of a hire purchase transaction.

The above Scale of Costs shall apply to any proceeding at the suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions or any Minister of State or Government Department.

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

SOLICITORS' COSTS IN EJECTMENT PROCEEDINGS INSTITUTED BY CIVIL PROCESS

Annual Rent	Settled before entry	Costs of decree if case not defended	Costs of decree if case defended	Costs of dismiss
	£	£	£	£
*Not exceeding £27	2.80	6.13	7.70	6.48
Exceeding £27 and not exceeding £53	3.68	11.64	13.83	12.60
Exceeding £53 and not exceeding £100	5.43	22.75	26.08	24.50
Exceeding £100 and not exceeding £175	8.05	28.00	43.75	38.50
Exceeding £175 and not exceeding £250	10.68	33.25	52.50	43.75
Exceeding £250 and not exceeding £315	13.30	40.25	61.25	56.00

The above Scale of Costs shall in every instance be exclusive of and in addition to all actual and necessary outlay.

The above Scale of Costs shall not apply to ejectment proceedings brought before the Court on summons pursuant to the provisions of section 15 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act, 1851, section 10 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1871, or section 81, 84, 85 or 86 of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1860. In such proceedings costs shall be in the discretion of the Court and shall not exceed £5.60 in any case, unless the Court for special reason shall otherwise order.

*The above Scale of Costs shall apply to ejectment proceedings brought before the Court by civil process pursuant to the provisions of section 82 of the Civil Bill Courts (Ireland) Act, 1851, as applied to the District Court by section 17 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928 .

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

SOLICITORS' COSTS IN PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE ENFORCEMENT OF COURT ORDERS ACTS, 1926 AND 1940

COSTS IN RELATION TO INSTALMENT ORDERS

Amount due	Costs
	£
Not exceeding £5	2.54
Exceeding £5 and not exceeding £10	3.85
Exceeding £10 and not exceeding £25	6.48
Exceeding £25 and not exceeding £50	7.70
Exceeding £50 and not exceeding £100	10.33
Exceeding £100	(12.86 or such greater sum as the Court shall think proper)

The above Scale of Costs shall in every instance be exclusive of and in addition to all actual and necessary outlay.

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

SOLICITORS' COSTS IN SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT BY SUMMONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF RATES

Amount sued for	Costs before hearing	Costs after hearing
	£	£
Not exceeding £2	0.70	1.31
Exceeding £2 and not exceeding £5	0.88	2.45
Exceeding £5 and not exceeding £10	1.31	3.24
Exceeding £10 and not exceeding £25	2.19	4.55
Exceeding £25 and not exceeding £50	2.45	5.51
Exceeding £50 and not exceeding £100	2.80	6.74
Exceeding £100	3.06	9.19

The above Scale of Costs shall in every instance be exclusive of and in addition to all actual and necessary outlay.

SCHEDULE OF COSTS

MISCELLANEOUS COSTS

	£
Drawing each additional copy of a civil process necessarily served after the first	0.53
Drawing witness summons and copies thereof, attending at District Court Office for the purpose of issuing same and correspondence as to service	1.23
Attending in Court, not otherwise provided for, where allowed by the Judge, not exceeding	1.84
Service of document to be served by registered post	0.26

The above Scale of Costs shall be chargeable in addition to the charges in the other Scales in this Schedule.

ACTIONS TRANSFERRED FROM THE HIGH COURT TO THE DISTRICT COURT.

A plaintiff in succeeding in such action shall be entitled to no greater costs than would have been allowed him under the foregoing Scales if the suit had been instituted in the District Court. A successful defendant will be entitled, in addition to the Scales of Costs set out in this Schedule to a minimum sum of £20.56 or such greater sum as the Court may in the circumstances think fit.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Rules, which come into operation on 1 January, 1980, provide for revised scales of solicitors' costs in the District Court. The Scales of Costs set out in the Schedule to the Rules replace the Scales of Solicitors' Costs set out in the Schedule of Costs to the District Court (Costs) Rules, 1972 ( S.I. No. 175 of 1972 ). The Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy has, under section 2 (2) (a) of the Prices (Amendment) Act, 1972 , consented to the exercise by the rule-making authority (the District Court Rules Committee with the concurrence of the Minister for Justice) of their statutory powers to regulate the fees dealt with in the Rules.