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Section 139: The appropriate judge

Extradition Act 2003 · 2003 c. 41View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 2: Extradition to category 2 territories

The appropriate judge is—

in England and Wales, a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) designated for the purposes of this Part by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales after consulting the Lord Chancellor;
in Scotland, the sheriff of Lothian and Borders;
in Northern Ireland, such county court judge or resident magistrate as is designated for the purposes of this Part by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland after consulting the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

A designation under subsection (1) may be made for all cases or for such cases (or cases of such description) as the designation stipulates.

More than one designation may be made under subsection (1).

The use of the expression "the judge" in a section containing a previous reference to "the appropriate judge" or "the judge" does not in itself require both references to be read as referring to the same individual.

This section applies for the purposes of this Part.

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under subsection (1)(a).

The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland may nominate any of the following to exercise his functions under subsection (1)(c)—

the holder of one of the offices listed in Schedule 1 to the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002;
a Lord Justice of Appeal (as defined in section 88 of that Act).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.