5. The following new sections are hereby inserted immediately after section 5, and shall have effect as sections' 5A, 5B and 5c of the principal enactment:"
| 5A.
| | (1) For the purpose of sittings for conducting trials and inquiries in every Court of First Instance a working calendar day shall be divided into two judicial days, each such judicial day beginning not later than 9.45 a.m. and 1.15 p.m. respectively. | | |
| | (2) Trials and inquiries shall be fixed for every web. Judicial day. | | |
| | (3) Every such judicial day shall, for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) consist of a sitting in open court of a minimum duration of two and a half hours. | | |
| | (4) Where any judge of any Court of First Instance is unable to comply with the provisions of this section he shall record the reasons for such inability and shall forthwith forward a copy of such reasons to the Judicial Service Commission. | | |
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| 5B.
| | (1) There shall be appointed to every such court as may be specified by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette, in consultation with the Chief Justice, an officer to be called the Master. | | |
| | (2) The Master shall sit separately and exercise aIl the powers or jurisdiction vested in him by subsection (3). | | |
| | (3) The Master shall attend to and deal with all pre trial and post trial matter as arise in the course of a civil proceeding instituted in the court to which he is appointed, including the framing of issues and the recording of admissions : | | |
| | (4) The Master may, with the concurrence of the judge of the court, submit for determination by such judge any matter which, may otherwise have been properly dealt with by him. | | |
| | (5) The judge of any court may refer to the Master any matter of a procedural nature arising in the course of an action instituted in that court after the stage referred to in subsection (3). | | |
| | (6) The Master shall have the power to do all such acts connected with or incidental or ancillary to, the exercise of the powers and jurisdiction vested in him by subsection (3), including the maintenance of the Journals of the Court. | | |
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| 5C.
| | (1) There shall be appointed to every court as may be specified by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette, in consultation with the Chief Justice, an officer to Be called the Recorder. | | |
| | (2) The Recorder shall sit separately and exercise all the powers or jurisdiction vested in him by subsection (3). | | |
| | (3) The Recorder shall attend to and deal with all pre-trial and post-trial matters not including sentencing as arise in the course of a criminal proceeding instituted in the Court to which he is appointed, including the recording of admissions and confessions : | | |
| | (4) The provisions of subsections (4),(5) and (6) of section 5B shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to and in relation to, the powers and functions of a Recorder appointed under subsection (1)." | | |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts