Legislation: Courts of Law Amendment Act effective this week

With the exception of section 14 (amending certain provisions in the 2013 Superior Courts Act dealing with judgment debt), the 2017 Courts of Law Amendment Act will come into effect on 1 August – aligning the 1944 Magistrates’ Courts Act with the requirements of a much-publicised 2016 Constitutional Court judgment in a matter brought by a group of low-income farmworkers in Stellenbosch and affecting emolument attachment orders. This was announced on Friday by presidential proclamation in the Government Gazette, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.

As Legalbrief Today regularly reported during the passage of the Bill through Parliament, the new legislation requires a presiding officer considering the issuance of an emolument attachment order to take into account: the size of a debt; the circumstances in which it arose; available alternative recovery options; a judgment debtor’s income; the rights and needs of vulnerable people and children likely to be affected by the order; and how much of the debtor’s income is required to meet basic living expenses and those of his/her dependants.

The Act also further regulates: jurisdiction by consent of parties; the payment of debts in instalments or otherwise; consent to judgments and orders for the payment of judgment debts in instalments; offers by judgment debtors after judgment; debt collection proceedings pursuant to judgments granted by a court for a regional division; suspending the execution of a debt; and the abandonment of judgments. In addition, it regulates the rescission of a judgment where the judgment debt has been paid, and provides for certain offences and penalties relating to judgments, emoluments attachment orders and instalment orders.