This Act may be cited as the Judicature Amendment Act (No 2) 1985, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Judicature Act 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

This Act shall come into force on the 1st day of January 1986.

This subsection substituted section 2 of the principal Act.

The Judicature Amendment Act 1972 is hereby consequentially amended by repealing so much of Schedule 1 as relates to section 2 of the principal Act.

This subsection inserted section 98A in the principal Act.

Nothing in section 98A of the principal Act (as inserted by subsection (1) of this section) limits the provisions of sections 13 and 14 of this Act.

Where any civil proceedings commenced before the commencement of this Act, whether by writ or in any other manner prescribed by rules of Court repealed or revoked by this Act, are pending or in progress on the commencement of this Act, those civil proceedings may be continued, completed, and enforced under the High Court Rules and the High Court Rules shall, so far as practicable, apply to those civil proceedings. So far as it is not practicable for any provision of the High Court Rules to be applied to any such civil proceedings, the rules repealed or revoked by this Act shall, to such extent as may be necessary, continue to apply to those civil proceedings.

For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that where any civil proceedings are pending or in progress on the commencement of this Act and those civil proceedings were commenced by the issue of a writ of summons that, on the commencement of this Act, has not been served on the defendant, or on any defendant named therein, rules 127 and 128 of the High Court Rules shall apply as if that writ of summons were a statement of claim and notice of proceeding.

If in any civil proceedings to which subsection (1) of this section applies any question arises as to the application of any provision of the High Court Rules or of the rules repealed or revoked by this Act, the Court may, either on the application of any party to those proceedings or of its own motion, determine the question and make such order thereon as it thinks fit.

The Acts Interpretation Act 1924 shall apply subject to subsections (1) to (3) of this section and to section 14 of this Act.

Subject to section 13 of this Act, all offices, appointments, records, accounts, books, seals, certificates, summonses, applications, notices, documents, warrants, writs, judgments, orders, decisions, directions, appeals, and generally all acts of authority that originated under any of the provisions of the rules hereby repealed or revoked and are subsisting or in force at the commencement of this Act shall enure for the purposes of the High Court Rules as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of the High Court Rules and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.