Clause 12.—(POWER OF COURT TO GRANT NEW TENANCIES OF SHOPS.) (Hansard, 4 April 1951)

§ The Solicitor-General

I beg to move, in page 11, line 9, at the end, to insert: Provided that in fixing the rent, terms and conditions the court shall disregard any considerations arising from the personal circumstances of any of the parties. The Amendment seeks to make a slight change in Clause 12, which enables a county court judge to grant a new lease of shop premises if he thinks it reasonable in all the circumstances so to do. When we were debating what the county court judge should be empowered to take into account, it was the view of the Committee that purely personal circumstances of the applicant or the respondent were irrelevant. It would be, for example, irrelevant to the question whether he should have a new lease, that he has been extravagant and lost his 313 money by betting, or something of that kind. Such circumstances should not be taken into account by the county court judge.

To give effect to that expression of view, we have put down the Amendment. The House will see that it requires the court to disregard any considerations arising from the personal circumstances of any of the parties. The county court judge is therefore required to exclude from his mind purely personal matters, but he may take into account anything apart from them. It is entirely for him to decide what weight he shall attribute to any other circumstances, so that he may arrive at a just conclusion between the two parties.

§ Mr. Manningham-Buller

Once again I rise to thank the right hon. and learned Gentleman for meeting a point which was raised by this side of the House. I disagreed with him when he said that he thought it was a small point. It is a very important point. It is very important that we should be able to give guidance to the county court judges who will administer this most difficult Bill as to what they should and should not take into account.

The right hon. and learned Gentleman selected rather an unfortunate illustration—unless, perhaps, he was in Lincolnshire last Saturday—when he talked about people losing money by betting. However, I agree with him that in determining this question no one should take into account the personal circumstances of any of the parties, such as whether they have lost money by betting or have won a football pool. All personal circumstances should be eliminated when considering the question.

I am glad that the right hon. and learned Gentleman has reached the same conclusion as we did. Once again I thank him, and I draw his attention to the fact that he could have made remarkably speedy progress with the Bill if only he had listened to the weighty arguments advanced by this side of the House.