District Court - Civil Jurisdiction

Information

The District Court is a court of local and limited jurisdiction. This means that it is restricted as to which cases it can decide.

Rules

Local Jurisdiction

A District Court cannot hear a case that has not been commenced in the correct District Court area.

The case must be brought, heard and decided in the District Court area

1. where the defendant or one of the defendants ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation OR
2. if the plaintiff chooses,

• in proceedings based on contract, where the contract was made
• in proceedings based on tort (e.g., personal injuries actions), where the tort is alleged to have been committed
• in proceedings to eject a person from lands or property, where the lands or property in question is located

Limited Jurisdiction

The District Court is restricted to hearing cases where the damages or compensation sought do not exceed a certain amount.

The District Court can hear cases

• in contract generally where the claim does not exceed 6,348.69 euro
• in actions founded on hire-purchase and credit-sale agreements where the hire-purchase price of the goods or the amount of the claim does not exceed 6,348.69 euro;
• in tort, where the claim for compensation does not exceed 6,348.69 euro.
• in ejectment for non-payment of rent or overholding of property, where the annual rent does not exceed 6,348.69 euro per annum;
• in actions for wrongful detention of goods where the value of the goods claimed does not exceed 6,348.69 euro.

Other types of cases that the District Court may hear include

• family cases where the District Court has the power to make maintenance, barring, custody, access and affiliation orders,
• enforcement of judgements, including the power to examine debtors as to their means, to order payment of the debt by instalments and to commit the debtor to prison for default in payment
• licensing cases, e.g., the granting of certificates for intoxicating liquor licences, the granting of certificates for auctioneer's and the lottery licences, the granting of licences for public dancing, etc.
• malicious damages cases where the amount claimed does not exceed 6,348.69 euro.

Further information