Part II
undone that ought to have been done there, or ought to have been done either there or elsewhere, or relates to any other matter arising within that area.
In this section “commission area” has the same meaning as in the 1979 c. 55.Justices of the Peace Act 1979.
Hearing of complaint
Procedure on hearing. 53.—(1) On the hearing of a complaint, the court shall, if the defendant appears, state to him the substance of the complaint.
(2) The court, after hearing the evidence and the parties, shall make the order for which the complaint is made or dismiss the complaint.
(3) Where a complaint is for an order for the payment of a sum recoverable summarily as a civil debt, or for the variation of the rate of any periodical payments ordered by a magistrates’ court to be made, or for such other matter as may be prescribed, the court may make the order with the consent of the defendant without hearing evidence.
Adjournment. 54.—(1) A magistrates’ court may at any time, whether before or after beginning to hear a complaint, adjourn the hearing, and may do so, notwithstanding anything in this Act, when composed of a single justice.
(2) The court may when adjourning either fix the time and place at which the hearing is to be resumed or, unless it remands the defendant under section 55 below, leave the time and place to be determined later by the court; but the hearing shall not be resumed at that time and place unless the court is satisfied that the parties have had adequate notice thereof.
Non-appearance of defendant. 55.—(1) Where at the time and place appointed for the hearing or adjourned hearing of a complaint the complainant appears but the defendant does not, the court may, subject to subsection (3) below, proceed in his absence.
(2) Where the court, instead of proceeding in the absence of the defendant, adjourns, or further adjourns, the hearing, the court may, if the complaint has been substantiated on oath, and subject to the following provisions of this section, issue a warrant for his arrest.
(3) The court shall not begin to hear the complaint in the absence of the defendant or issue a warrant under this section unless either it is proved to the satisfaction of the court, on oath or in such other manner as may be prescribed, that the summons was served on him within what appears to the court to be a