Administration of Justice Act 1970

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox UK legislation

|short_title=Administration of Justice Act 1970

|type=Act

|parliament=Parliament of the United Kingdom

|long_title=An Act to make further provision about the courts (including assizes), their business, jurisdiction and procedure; to enable a High Court judge to accept appointment as arbitrator or umpire under an arbitration agreement; to amend the law respecting the enforcement of debt and other liabilities; to amend section 106 of the Rent Act 1968; and for miscellaneous purposes connected with the administration of justice.

|statute_book_chapter=1970 c. 31

|introduced_commons=

|introduced_lords=

|territorial_extent= England and Wales, Northern Ireland (partially)

|replaces=

|royal_assent=29 May 1970

|commencement=

|amendments=

|related_legislation=

|status=Amended

|original_text=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/31/enacted

|use_new_UK-LEG=yes

|}}

The Administration of Justice Act 1970 (c. 31) is a UK act of Parliament. Section 11{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/31/section/11|title= Restriction on power of committal under Debtors Act 1869 (c. 62) |accessdate= 2011-04-29}} reforms the Debtors Act 1869 by further restricting the circumstances in which debtors may be sent to prison. Section 40{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/31/section/40|title= Punishment for unlawful harassment of debtors |accessdate= 2011-04-29}} includes a number of provisions forbidding creditors such as debt collection agencies from harassing debtors, including:

• Excessive demands for payment
• Falsely claiming that criminal proceedings will follow after failing to pay a debt
• Falsely pretending to be officially authorised to collect payment
• Producing false documents claiming to have some official status that they do not have

Section 36 was enacted to return the law to the position which it was generally thought to be, and applied by the courts since the mid-1930s,Loveland, I. (2014). Peaceable entry to mortgaged premises: considering the doctrine’s compatibility with Art 8 HRA. Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 2014(5), pp. 381-397. before the landmark bar to adjournments applied by the courts since 1962 in the decision of Birmingham Citizens Permanent Building Society v Caunt [1962] which had put an end to a practice under which mortgage possession summonses were adjourned to give the mortgagor an opportunity to pay by instalments. It had intended to restore the position to what it had previously been thought to be."No court order needed to take possession" Kate O'Hanlon The Independent 15 January 1999 The section did not however cover those mortgages excluding section 103 of the Law of Property Act 1925.

Section 1 transferred certain non-family matters away from what was then called the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division and renamed it as the Family Division.