A circuit breaker having a movable contact arm (120, 675) for opening and closing the circuit which is controlled separately by a circuit breaker mechanism for circuit protection (140) and by a switch lever (160, 660) mechanism which does not require actuation of the circuit breaker mechanism to function. The switch lever (160, 660) may also be activated remotely by a remote actuator (180, 680), for example, a solenoid. A manual reset mechanism is provided so that, actuation of which, when power has been lost to the remote actuator (180, 680) when the remote actuator (180, 680) is in the off position, moves the remote actuator (180, 680) to the on position, thereby resetting the circuit to the closed state.