County Registrars are officers of the court and are independent in the exercise of their functions and duties under statute and rules of court. The legislative basis for a County Registrar to make orders is provided under section 34(1) of the Court and Court Officers Act 1995 which states as follows:
"Without prejudice to any powers, authorities, duties or functions that may be exercised by or conferred by statute or by rules of court on a County Registrar, a County Registrar may make any of the orders mentioned in the Second Schedule of this Act."
Paragraphs (xxxiii) and (xxxiv) of the Second Schedule to the Court and Court Officers Act 1995, as inserted by section 22 of the Courts and Court Officers Act 2002, are the relevant orders and state as follows:
"(xxxiii) An order for possession of any land within the meaning of
section 3
of the
Registration of Title Act, 1964,
in proceedings for an application under section 62(7) of that Act in which an appearance has not been entered or a defence has not been delivered.
(xxxiv) An order for the recovery of possession of any land on foot of a legal mortgage or charge in proceedings in which no other relief is claimed and an appearance has not been entered or a defence has not been delivered."
As a matter of law, a County Registrar may only make an order for possession of any land in cases where no defence to an action for possession has been delivered by the defendant or no appearance has been entered by the defendant. Therefore the power of a County Registrar as regards making possession orders is extremely limited and where any defence is raised by the defendant, the matter must, when it is in order for hearing, be transferred by the County Registrar to the judge’s list at the first opportunity. At that point it would be a matter for the judge to consider any such issues raised. In addition, all orders of a County Registrar are subject to appeal to the Circuit Court.
In order to be eligible for appointment as a County Registrar, the person must be a solicitor or a barrister of not less than eight years standing who is currently practising or has previously practised for not less than eight years. No financial remuneration is given to a County Registrar in respect of individual orders made as County Registrars are officers of the court and are employed on a full time salaried basis.
Sheriffs enforce judgments in counties Cork and Dublin while County Registrars (acting as Sheriffs) enforce them in all other places. Sheriffs are appointed by Government under Section 12(3)(a) of Court Officers Act 1945 and are self-employed people who are paid for their enforcement work on a commission basis through a system called 'poundage'. The relevant fees for this work are set out in the Sheriff’s Fees and Expenses Order (SI 644/2005), made under the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1926, which provides for various fixed fees and a scale of fees related to the amount involved.
The Sheriff (or County Registrar acting as Sheriff) is responsible to the Court for the Enforcement of the Court Orders and the law and procedures governing the execution of Court Orders is contained in the Enforcement of Court Orders Acts, 1926 to 1940 and the Rules of Court made thereunder, and I wish to inform the Deputy that I have no operational function in this matter.
