1. (1) This Act may be called the ²[* * *] Civil Courts Act.(2) It extends to Bangladesh except such portions ³[thereof] as for the time being are not subject to the ordinary civil jurisdiction of the High Court Division ⁴[* * *]; and(3) It shall come into force on the first day of July, 1887.

2. (1) ⁵[Repealed by the Amendment Act, 1891 (Act No. XII of 1891)].(2) [Omitted by the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973), section 3 and 2nd Schedule.](3) Any enactment or document referring to the Bengal Civil Courts Act, 1871, [or East Bengal Civil Court Act] or to any enactment thereby repealed, shall be construed to refer to this Act or to the corresponding portion thereof.

⁶[3. There shall be following classes of Civil Courts, namely:-

(a) the Court of the District Judge;

(b) the Court of the Additional District Judge;

(c) the Court of the Joint District Judge;

(d) the Court of the Senior ⁷[Civil] Judge; and

(e) the Court of the ⁸[Civil] Judge.]

⁹[4. The Government may alter the number of District Judges, Additional District Judges, Joint District Judges, Senior ¹⁰[Civil] Judges and ¹¹[Civil] Judges now fixed.]

5. [Repealed by the Decentralization Act, 1914 (Act No. IV of 1914).]

6. (1) Whenever the office of District Judge or ¹²[Joint District] Judge is vacant by reason of the death, resignation or removal of the Judge or other cause, or whenever an increase in the number of District or ¹³[Joint District] Judges has been made under the provisions of section 4, the Government or, as the casemay be, the High Court Division may fill up the vacancy or appoint the Additional District Judges or ¹⁴[Joint District] Judges.(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a Government from appointing a District Judge or ¹⁵[Joint District] Judge to discharge, for such period as it thinks fit, in addition to the functions devolving on him as such District Judge or ¹⁶[Joint District] Judge, all or any of the functions of another District Judge or ¹⁷[Joint District] Judge, as the case may be.

7. [Omitted by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937.]

8.(1) When the business pending before any District Judge requires the aid of ¹⁸[Additional District] Judges for its speedy disposal, the Government may, having consulted the High Court Division, appoint such ¹⁹[Additional District] Judges as may be requisite.(2) ²⁰[Additional District] Judges so appointed shall discharge any of the functions of a District Judge which the District Judge may assign to them, and, in the discharge of those functions, they shall exercise the same powers as the District Judge.

9. Subject to the superintendence of the High Court Division, the District Judge shall have administrative control over all the Civil Courts under this Act within the local limits of his jurisdiction.

10. (1) In the event of the death, resignation or removal of the District Judge, or of his being incapacitated by illness or otherwise for the performance of his duties, or of his absence from the place at which his Court is held, the ²¹[Additional District] Judges, or, if an ²²[Additional District] Judge is not present at that place, the senior ²³[Joint District] Judge present thereat, shall, without relinquishing his ordinary duties, assume charge of the office of the District Judge, and shall continue in charge thereof until the office is resumed by the District Judge or assumed by an officer appointed thereto. (2) While in charge of the office of the District Judge, the ²⁴[Additional District] Judge or ²⁵[Joint District] Judge, as the case may be, may, subject to any rules which the High Court Division may make in this behalf, exercise any of the powers of the District Judge.

11. (1) In the event of the death, resignation or removal of a ²⁶[Joint District] Judge, or of his being incapacitated by illness or otherwise for the performance of his duties, or of his absence from the place at which his Court is held, the District Judge may transfer all or any of the proceedings pending in the Court of the ²⁷[Joint District] Judge either to his own Court or to any Court under his administrative control competent to dispose of them. (2) Proceedings transferred under sub-section (1) shall be disposed of as if they had been instituted in the Court to which they are so transferred: (3) Provided that the District Judge may re-transfer to the Court of the ²⁸[Joint District] Judge or his successor any proceedings transferred under sub-section (1) to his own or any other Court. (4) For the purposes of proceedings which are not pending in the Court of the ²⁹[Joint District] Judge on the occurrence of an event referred to in sub-section (1), and with respect to which that Court has exclusive jurisdiction, the District Judge may exercise all or any of the jurisdiction of that Court.

12. [Omitted by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937.]

13. (1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, fix and alter the local limits of the jurisdiction of any Civil Court under this Act.

(2) If the same local jurisdiction is assigned to two or more ³⁰[Joint District] Judges or to two or more ³¹[Senior ³²[Civil] Judges or ³³[Civil] Judges], the District Judge may assign to each of them such civil business cognizable by the ³⁴[Joint District] Judge or ³⁵[Senior ³⁶[Civil] Judge or ³⁷[Civil] Judge], as the case may be, as, subject to any general or special orders of the High Court Division, he thinks fit.

(3) When civil business arising in any local area is assigned by the District Judge under sub-section (2) to one of two or more ³⁸[Joint District] Judges or to one of two or more ³⁹[Senior ⁴⁰[Civil] Judges or ⁴¹[Civil] Judges], a decree or order passed by the ⁴²[Joint District] Judge or ⁴³[Senior ⁴⁴[Civil] Judge or ⁴⁵[Civil] Judge] shall not be invalid by reason only of the case in which it was made having arisen wholly or in part in a place beyond the local area if that place is within the local limits fixed by the Government under sub-section (I).

(4) A Judge of a Court of Small Causes appointed to be also a ⁴⁶[Joint District Judge or Senior ⁴⁷[Civil] Judge or ⁴⁸[Civil] Judge is a Joint District Judge or Senior ⁴⁹[Civil] Judge or ⁵⁰[Civil] Judge], as the case may be, within the meaning of this section.

(5) The present local limits of the jurisdiction of every Civil Court under this Act shall be deemed to have been fixed under this section.

14. (1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, fix and alter the place or places at which any Civil Court under this Act is to be held. (2) All places at which any such Courts are now held shall be deemed to have been fixed under this section.

15. (1) Subject to such orders as may be made by the Government the High Court Division shall prepare a list of days to be observed in each year as closed holidays in the Civil Courts. (2) The list shall be published in the official Gazette. (3) A judicial act done by a Civil Court on a day specified in the list shall not be invalid by reason only of its having been done on that day.

16. Every Civil Court under this Act shall use a seal of such form and dimensions as are prescribed by the Government.

17. (1) Where any Civil Court under this Act has from any cause ceased to have jurisdiction with respect to any case, any proceedings in relation to that case which, if that Court had not ceased to have jurisdiction, might have been had therein may be had in the Court to which the business of the former Court has been transferred. (2) Nothing in this section applies to cases for which provision is made in sections 36, 37 and 114 of, and rule 1 of Order XLVII in Schedule I to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, or in any other enactment for the time being in force.

18. Save as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force, the jurisdiction of a District Judge or ⁵¹[Joint District] Judge extends, subject to the provisions of section 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to all original suits for the time being cognizable by Civil Courts.

⁵³[19. (1) Save as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force, the jurisdiction of a Senior ⁵⁴[Civil] Judge and ⁵⁵[a Civil] Judge shall extend to all suits of which the value does not exceed 25 (twenty five) lac Taka and 15 (fifteen) lac Taka respectively.

(2) The District Judge shall transfer the suit or proceeding pending before the Joint District Judge Court or the Senior ⁵⁶[Civil] Judge Court to the competent court within 90 (ninety) days from the date of enforcement of the Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2021.

(3) If any suit or proceeding is transferred under sub-section (2), the suit or proceeding shall start from the stage at which it was transferred.]

20. (1) Save as otherwise provided by any enactment for the time being in force, an appeal from a decree or order of a District Judge or ⁵⁸[Additional District] Judge shall lie to the High Court Division. (2) An appeal shall not lie to the High Court Division from a decree or order of an ⁵⁹[Additional District] Judge in any case in which, if the decree or order had been made by the District Judge, an appeal would not lie to that Court.

21.⁶¹[(1) Save as aforesaid, an appeal from a decree or order of a Joint District Judge shall lie-

(a) to the District Judge where the value of the original suit in which or in any proceeding arising out of which the decree or order was made did not exceed 5 (five) crore Taka; and

(b) to the High Court Division in any other case.

(1A) No appeal or proceeding pending before the High Court Division shall be transferred to the District Judge only because of the enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction of a District Judge by the Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2021.]

(2) Save as aforesaid, an appeal from a decree or order of a ⁶²[Senior ⁶³[Civil] Judge or ⁶⁴[a Civil] Judge] shall lie to the District Judge.

(3) Where the function of receiving any appeals which lie to the District Judge under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) has been assigned to an ⁶⁵[Additional District] Judge, the appeals may be preferred to the ⁶⁶[Additional District] Judge.

(4) The High Court Division may, with the previous sanction of the Government, direct, by notification in the official Gazette, that appeals lying to the District Judge under sub-section (2) from all or any of the decrees or orders of any ⁶⁷[Senior ⁶⁸[Civil] Judge or ⁶⁹[a Civil] Judge], shall be preferred to the Court of such ⁷⁰[Joint District] Judge as may be mentioned in the notification, and the appeals shall thereupon be preferred accordingly.

22.(1)  A District Judge may transfer to any ⁷²[Joint District] Judge under his administrative control any appeals pending before him from the decrees or orders of ⁷³[Senior ⁷⁴[Civil] Judges or ⁷⁵[Civil] Judges].(2) The District Judge may withdraw any appeal so transferred, and either hear and depose of it himself or transfer it to a Court under his administrative control competent to dispose of it.

(3) Appeals transferred under this section shall be disposed of subject to the rules applicable to like appeals when disposed of by the District Judge.

23.(1) The High Court Division may, by general or special order, authorise any ⁷⁸[Joint District] Judge or ⁷⁹[Senior ⁸⁰[Civil] Judge or ⁸¹[Civil] Judge] to take cognizance of, or any District Judge to transfer to a ⁸²[Joint District] Judge or ⁸³[Senior ⁸⁴[Civil] Judge or ⁸⁵[Civil] Judge] under his administrative control, any of the proceedings next hereinafter mentioned or any class of those proceedings specified in the order.

(2) The proceedings referred to in sub-section (1) are the following, namely:-

(a) Proceedings under the Bengal Wills and Intestacy Regulation, 1799;

(b)-(c) [Repealed by the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (Act VIII of 1890).]

(d) Proceedings under the Succession Act, 1925, which cannot be disposed of by District Delegates; and

⁸⁶[* * *].  (3) The District Judge may withdraw any such proceedings taken cognizance of by, or transferred to, a ⁸⁷[Joint District] Judge or ⁸⁸[Senior ⁸⁹[Civil] Judge or ⁹⁰[Civil] Judge], and may either himself dispose of them or transfer them to a Court under his administrative control competent to dispose of them.

24. (1) Proceedings taken cognizance of by, or transferred to, a ⁹¹[Joint District] Judge or ⁹²[Senior ⁹³[Civil] Judge or ⁹⁴[Civil] Judge], as the case may be, under the last foregoing section shall be disposed of by him subject to the rules applicable to like proceedings when disposed of by the District Judge:

Provided that an appeal from an order of a ⁹⁵[Senior ⁹⁶[Civil] Judge or ⁹⁷[Civil] Judge] in any such proceeding shall lie to the District Judge.

(2) An appeal from the order of the District Judge on the Appeal from the order of the ⁹⁸[Senior ⁹⁹[Civil] Judge or ¹⁰⁰[Civil] Judge] under this section shall lie to the High Court Division if a further appeal from the order of the District Judge is allowed by the law for the time being in force.

25. The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, confer, within such local limits as it thinks fit, upon any ¹⁰⁴[Joint District] Judge or ¹⁰⁵[Senior ¹⁰⁶[Civil] Judge or ¹⁰⁷[Civil] Judge] the jurisdiction of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes under the ¹⁰⁸[* * *] Small Cause Courts Act, 1887, for the trail of suits, cognizable by such Courts, up to such value not exceeding ¹⁰⁹[twenty thousand Taka in the case of a ¹¹⁰[Joint District] Judge or ten thousand Taka in the case of ¹¹¹[a Senior ¹¹²[Civil] Judge or six thousand Taka in the case of ¹¹³[a Civil] Judge]] as it thinks fit, and may withdraw any jurisdiction so conferred:

Provided that the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, delegate to the High Court Division its powers under this section.

¹¹⁴[25A.  Where in any other law for the time being in force, any reference is made to Additional Judge, or Subordinate Judge, or Senior Assistant Judge, or Assistant Judge, the reference shall be construed respectively as to Additional District Judge, or Joint District Judge, or Senior Civil Judge or Civil Judge as the case may be.]

26-35. [Omitted by the 1st Schedule of the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937.]

36. (1) The Government may invest with the powers of any Civil Court under this Act, by name or in virtue of office,- Clause (a) [Omitted by the Governor General Order 4 of 1949, Schedule.] (b) after consultation with the High Court Division any officer serving in any part of the territories to which this Act extends and belonging to a class defined in this behalf by the Government. (2) Nothing in sections 4, 5, 6, 8. 10 or 11 applies to any officer so invested, but all the other provisions of this Act shall, so far as those provisions can be made applicable, apply to him as if he were a Judge of the Court with the powers of which he is invested. (3) [Omitted by East Pakistan (Amendment) Ordinance, 1962 (Ordinance No. XIII of 1962).] (4) Where the place at which the Court of an officer invested with powers under sub-section (1) is to be held has not been fixed under section 14, the Court may be held at any place within the local limits of its jurisdiction.

37.(1) Where in any suit or other proceeding it is necessary for a Civil Court to decide any question regarding succession, inheritance, marriage or caste, or any religious usage or institution, the ¹¹⁵[Muslim] law in cases where the parties are ¹¹⁶[Muslim], and the Hindu law in cases where the parties are Hindus, shall form the rule of decision except in so far as such law has, by legislative enactment, been altered or abolished. (2) In cases not provided for by sub-section (1) or by any other law for the time being in force, the Court shall act according to justice, equity and good conscience.

38. (1) The presiding officer of a Civil Court shall not try any suit or other proceeding to which he is a party or in which he is personally interested.(2) The presiding officer of an appellate Civil Court under this Act shall not try an appeal against a decree or order passed by himself in another capacity.(3) When any such suit, proceeding or appeal as is referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) comes before any such officer, the officer shall forthwith transmit the record of the case to the Court to which he is immediately subordinate, with a report of the circumstances attending the reference.(4) The superior Court shall thereupon dispose of the case under ¹¹⁷[section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908].(5) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the extraordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court Division.

39. For the purposes of the last foregoing section the presiding officer of a Court subject to the administrative control of the District Judge shall be deemed to be immediately subordinate to the Court of the District Judge, and, for the purposes of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, the Court of such an officer shall be deemed to be of a grade inferior to that of the Court of the District Judge.

40.(1) This section and sections 15, 32, 37, 38 and 39 apply to Courts of Small Causes constituted under the ¹¹⁸[* * *] Small Cause Courts Act, 1887.(2) Save as provided by that Act, the other sections of this Act do not apply to those Courts.