Section 78 — Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988: Power of Court to call witnesses

78 Power of Court to call witnesses (1) Without limiting anything in section 77 of this Act, in respect of any application for the exercise of the Court's jurisdiction under this Act, a Court may, of its own motion, call as a witness any person whose evidence may in its opinion be of assistance to the Court. (2) A witness called by a Court under this section shall have the same privilege to refuse to answer any question as the witness would have if the witness had been called by a party to the proceedings. (3) A witness called by a Court under this section may be examined and re-examined by the Court, or by any barrister or solicitor assisting the Court, and may be cross-examined by or on behalf of any party to the proceedings or the person in respect of whom the application is made. (4) Sections 20 , 38 , and 39 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 , so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, shall apply with respect to every person called as a witness by the Court under this section as if that person had been called by a party to the proceedings. (5) The expenses of any witness called by a Court under this section shall be paid in the first instance, in accordance with the prescribed scale of witnesses' expenses, out of public money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose. Subsection (5) was amended, as from 1 July 1989, by section 86(1) Public Finance Act 1989 (1989 No 44) by substituting the word “ public ” for the words “ the Consolidated Account from ” .