§ MR. HOZIER (Lancashire, S.)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether the jurisdiction exercised by the English Courts under the Judicature Rules of 1875 over defendants domiciled in Scotland or Ireland was taken away in 1883; whether a similar jurisdiction is still exercised by the Irish Courts under the Irish Judicature Rules of 1877 over Scotchmenand Englishmen; and whether, if so, Her Majesty's Government will take steps to have the Irish Court Rules assimilated to the English Rules as regards jurisdiction over persons domiciled outside of the ordinary jurisdiction of the Courts?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin UniversityThe power of the English Courts to order service of a writ on a defendant resident in Scotland or Ireland would appear to have been abridged in one particular class of cases only by the Rules of 1883, namely, in actions for the breach of contract, which, according to the terms thereof, ought to be per formed in England. No similar restriction was made by the Rules of the Irish Court, but by the 33 rd section of the 1013 Irish Judicature Act it is enacted that whenever application is to be made for leave to serve a defendant resident out of the jurisdiction
the Court or Judge to whom such application shall be made shall have regard to the amount or value of the claim or property affected, and to the comparative cost and inconvenience of proceedings in Ireland or in the place of the defendant's residence, &c, and no such leave is to be granted without an affidavit giving the necessary information on those points.I am informed that the Irish Rules are at present under revision by the Judges of the Supreme Court, who have the whole question of the Rules of Court for that country under their consideration.