The SOLICITOR GENERALagain rose and moved for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the laws concerning judgments in Ireland. It would be remembered that in the last Session of Parliament he brought in a measure on the subject of judgments, founded on the report of the Receivers Committee, which contained much valuable information. The evils of the law respecting judgments in Ireland were of two descriptions—the one as it affected the due management of land, and the other as it affected the power of disposing of it. By the existing system, a receiver might be appointed by any person who had obtained a judgment against the owner of the land, subject only to the limit of 150l., under the Bill of last year. He proposed by the present meaures that the judgment should not be a lien on the land in the hands of the judgment-creditor. Judgments were originally intended as nothing more than a means of enabling a man to obtain payment of a debt which had been adjudged to be due to him. If the judgment was not discharged, execution might issue, the land might be sold, the creditor would get paid, and the remedy was complete. But unless the Encumbered Estates Commission were made permanent, there was now no machinery in Ireland by which this could be accom- 415 plished. As that Commission, under the Act which established it, was limited to three years' duration, it would not do in a measure of this kind to adopt that mode of enforcing the payment of the debt. At present the judgment-creditor had a general charge on the whole of the lands, and it was now proposed that he should have the power of registering his judgment, and saying on what lands or what part of the property it should apply; and then, it should have the same effect as a mortgage in fee. The judgment-creditor would have all the rights of a mortgagee, as against the particular lands specified, while the evils which now prevented the sale of any part of the property would be removed. It was also proposed that no judgment should affect lands purchased subsequently, and that the creditor should only register his judgment as against the land belonging to the debtor at the time of the judgment. It was proposed also to provide that existing judgments should not be a charge upon any land bought by the judgment-debtor, after the passing of the Act. This was a provision which he was aware was open to doubt and question, but he thought that the House would see the importance of carrying it into effect. In the first place, such land could have formed no portion of the original contract between the debtor and creditor—the creditor could only have expected to have a charge upon that land which the debtor possessed at the time the debt was contracted. If the opposite principle were acted upon, see how it would operate under the Encumbered Estates Act. Suppose a person purchased an estate, and obtained a title under that Commission, as he would do, which was good against the world; but having purchased, he desired to sell: the moment he did so, however, all the evils of the Irish system came again into operation. Supposing his name to be John Smith, the registrar would find, perhaps, fifty John Smiths having judgments against them, and he would have to give satisfactory proof in each of these cases to the purchaser, that each of these judgments was not against him. If the party resided in this country, how could he know, for instance, that John Smith, now of Oxford-street, was not the John Smith, of Holborn, in 1835, against whom he saw a judgment marked. This, obviously, would prevent the lands purchased under that commission being as available in the market as they should be, and no other remedy occurrred to him than to provide that 416 existing judgments should not be a charge upon the land bought subsequent to the passing of the Act, or some other stated period. Another evil in Ireland was, that judgments were only required to be registered every twenty years. In this country they must be registered every five years, and he saw no reason why, in this respect, the law of the two countries should not be assimilated. He should, however, be willing to accede, if it was thought more advisable, to a period between the two, though he should prefer to substitute the five for the twenty. But this was not all the difficulty. Under the recent Act it had been held, though no decision had been given, that the judgment as the law stood was a charge on the land of the judgment-debtor, and a judgment against the judgment-debtor was a judgment against the same land only once removed. This doctrine, if it once prevailed, might go on ad infinitum, so that it would be absolutely impossible to make such a title good. He proposed to introduce a declaratory clause, to say that that was not the meaning of the Act in question, and that a judgment on the land, as against A, should not be deemed as a judgment against B. Such were the general provisions of the measures he had to propose, and of which he should be happy to give any further explanation that might be required.
§ MR. NAPIERadmitted the desirableness of assimilating the law of the two countries in regard to the registrations of judgments. The remedy proposed as to future judgments was somewhat startling. At present the judgment stood against all parties as the security to the creditor, and in Ireland it was the commonest kind of security; but it was now proposed to alter the law in this respect altogether. He thought some provision should be introduced with regard to costs, for he had known cases where large estates had been brought into court at the instance of one judgment-creditor to a small amount, a receiver appointed, and the estate saddled with the costs.
§ MR. SADLEIRconceived that the laws of the two countries should be assimilated as far as possible, especially those relating to real property. He thought it advisable to discourage as far as possible the practice of placing encumbered estates in the hands of court receivers, and that it would be advisable to substitute for it increased facilities for the conversion of that land, in order to pay off the debts. It was the interest of both the creditor and the 417 debtor, that whatever security was given for money due, should be as convertible as possible. It would be desirable also, he thought, to introduce into Ireland that which was at present unknown there—the system of foreclosure, and to put an end to the practice of creditors' suits.
§ Leave given.