COUNTY COURT EXTENSION ACT AMENDMENT BILL.

HC Deb 05 April 1854 vol 132 cc467-70

Order for Second Reading read.

MR. CRAUFURD

, in moving that this Bill be read a second time, said that the object of the Bill was to extend the right of appeal given by the 14th section of the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 61, to all cases in which jurisdiction was given by the 17th section of the said Act, in consequence of the agreement of parties. It was supposed that the actions brought under that clause would have been the subject of appeal, but it appeared that the right of appeal did not extend to cases where the cause of action exceeded 50l., and where the case was tried by consent of the parties in the County Court. The present Bill was intended to cure that defect.

MR. G. BUTT

said, that doubts having arisen as to whether the right of appeal extended to cases of contract above 50l., in which the parties agreed to come within the jurisdiction of the County Court, it was very desirable that the question should be settled, and he thought there could be no objection to the second reading of the Bill.

MR. PHINN

said, he wished to take advantage of the present discussion to call the attention of the noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the Commission appointed to inquire into the state and working of the County Courts, and more especially in reference to the table of fees and of costs to be established in those courts. The judges of the County Courts were in a most unpleasant predicament, on account of the costs in their courts being so large. There had been great delay in the adjustments of the scale of fees, and the business of the courts was coming to a deadlock for want of a settlement of the question. He hoped the noble Lord would be able to give some information as to when the Commissioners would present their Report.

MR. WHITESIDE

said, in reference to the Bill now before the House, that when parties consented to refer their cause to the County Court, be looked upon it as if they had referred it to an arbitrator; and it did not seem reasonable that they should afterwards, in every case, have a right of appeal.

MR. G. BUTT

said, the 17th clause of the Act did not constitute the County Court Judge an arbitrator, but gave him jurisdiction in cases above 50l. with the consent of the parties.

MR. HUME

said, he wished to recall the attention of the noble Lord (Visct. Palmerston) to the question just put to him by his hon. and learned Friend (Mr. Phinn) respecting the fees paid by suitors in the County Courts. The amount of the fees was enormous. By a return which he obtained last year it "appeared that the expenses in these courts amounted to 26½ per cent upon the whole amount of the money recovered by the parties. He had been informed that many of the suits which were within the jurisdiction of the County Courts were going back to Westminster Hall, where the parties could obtain a decision at less expense than in those courts. That was a subject which lie was sure the noble Lord would confess was one which called for immediate attention.

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

said, the Commissioners had not yet made their Report. As soon as it was made he should be ready to lay it before Parliament. With regard to the present Motion, he had no objection to the Bill being read a second time.

MR. MALINS

said, that from the system pursued in the County Courts the judges were only able to attend to simple contract matters. They were obliged to move about from place to place, so that they could only devote one day to one place. When, therefore, cases of a complicated nature—such as a warranty of a horse, or the right of distraining for rent, in which questions of law might be raised—came before them, before the inquiry was closed they were obliged to postpone it to the next court day. This naturally caused great additional expenses. Besides, it was doubtful whether the judges were really competent to deal with such questions. It should be remembered that they were acting singly, without being watched either by the public or by the profession, while great power was thrown into their hands. He had occasion to bring a case before the noble Lord the Home Secretary where it was felt that justice had not been done by a County Court judge, and he was informed that that was by no means a solitary instance. He therefore hoped, if the House extended the jurisdiction of the County Courts, that they would at the same time provide a power of appeal against the decisions of the judges of those courts.

MR. FITZROY

said, that the view which the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Enniskillen (Mr. Whiteside) had taken of this Bill, relative to extending the right of appeal to cases exceeding 50l., was that which he (Mr. Fitzroy) first took of it. It struck him that persons going into the court voluntarily, under the power given to them by the 17th section of the County Court Act, were in a perfectly different position from that of persons who were dragged into the court against their will. Having assented to refer their case to the County Court judge, it seemed contrary to common sense that on the decision of the judge going against them they should be at liberty to say, "We will now go to another court." This was the view he took on the first consideration of the Bill; but having made careful inquiries of those who were the best authorities on the question, he had been told that the 17th clause of the existing County Court Extension Act remained inoperative, because parties interested in cases which came under that clause were not much inclined to leave questions of law to the final decision of the County Court judge. The effect of the proposed appeal would be, whilst still leaving questions of fact to be finally decided in the County Courts, to enable questions of law to be carried to the superior courts; and therefore he would not further oppose the progress of this Bill. His (Mr. Fitzroy's) great object, two or three years ago, in proposing the extension of the County Court system, was not to alter the character of the jurisdiction of those courts, but he had thought that if they were competent to try actions of simple debt to the amount of 15l., they were able to try similar cases to the extent of 50l.; and he would even have gone the length of 100l., if the House would have consented to it. By recent legislation, however, Parliament had thrown an immense accession of extraordinary business into the County Courts. The Charitable Trusts Act, the Customs Consolidation Act, and other Acts, had tended greatly to impede the ordinary operations of these courts in adjudicating upon cases of small debt between creditor and debtor—the class of business which the County Courts were originally established to transact; and if the present system of accumulating other functions upon these courts were continued, it would soon become necessary to set up other local courts of an inferior character, for the purpose of discharging the duties from which the County Courts had been diverted by a higher, but not more important, class of business.

Bill read 2°.