Page:Small Claims Tribunal Ordinance 1975 (Cap. 338).pdf/4

A342 (2) The tribunal, which shall consist of such adjudicators as may be appointed under section 4, shall be a court of record with such jurisdiction and powers as are conferred on it by this or any other Ordinance.

(3) All proceedings in the tribunal shall be heard and determined by an adjudicator sitting alone.

(4) The tribunal shall have a seal of a design approved by the Chief Justice, and all awards, orders, summonses, and other processes of the tribunal shall be sealed therewith.

4. (1) The Governor shall appoint such number of adjudicators as he considers necessary.

(2) No person shall be appointed to be an adjudicator unless he is qualified to practise as a barrister, solicitor or advocate in a court s Hong Kong, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, or some other part of the Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland, having unlimited jurisdiction either in civil or criminal matters.

(3) An adjudicator shall be known in the Chinese language as “審裁官”.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), an appointment made under subsection (1) may be given retrospective effect.

(5) No person appointed as an adjudicator shall discharge any judicial function before the date of the instrument by which he is appointed or before the requirements of scetionsection [sic] 17 of the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance have been fulfilled. PART III

5. (1) The tribunal shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the claims specified in the First Schedule.

(2) Save as provided in this Ordinance, no claim within the jurisdiction of the tribunal shall be actionable in any other court in Hong Kong.

(3) A claim within the jurisdiction of the tribunal may be brought in another court if there is included in such claim a claim for some other relief, redress or remedy, other than a claim for costs.

(4) Subject to the Limitation Ordinance, the jurisdiction of the tribunal shall extend to a claim which arose before the commencement of this Ordinance.

6. The Legislative Council may, by resolution, amend the First Schedule.

7. The tribunal may at any stage of proceedings in the tribunal, either of its own motion or upon the application of any party, transfer the proceedings to the District Court or the Supreme Court, whereupon the practice and procedure of the District Court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, shall apply.

8. No claim shall be split or divided and pursued in separate proceedings in the tribunal for the sole purpose of bringing the sum claimed in each of such proceedings within the jurisdiction of the tribunal.