INTERPRETATION, APPLICATION TO CROWN, AND PROVISIONS AS TO ORDERS (Hansard, 20 October 1969)

§ The Solicitor-General
I beg to move Amendment No. 14, in page 22, line 30, after "brought", insert "by or",

§ Mr. Speaker
With this Amendment we shall take Amendment No. 15.

§ The Solicitor-General
These are little more than drafting Amendments designed to make it clear that Clause 20, which deals with orders for interim payments, and Clause 22, which deals with interest on damages, are to bind the Crown not only in proceedings brought against the Crown but also in proceedings brought by the Crown which result in judgment against the Crown in a counter-claim. Clause 33(3) provides that Clause 20 shall bind the Crown so far as any proceedings to which that Clause is applicable can be brought against the Crown in accordance with the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, and that Clause 22 shall bind the Crown so far as Section 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934, applies to proceedings against the Crown.
By virtue of Section 24(3) of the Act of 1947 the reference to proceedings against the Crown could be construed as references only to proceedings in which the Crown was a defendant. Although Section 38(2) of the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, defines proceedings against the Crown as including a claim by way of a set off or counter claim raised in proceedings by the Crown, this definition will not apply to that expression when used in another Act such as the present Bill. In order to achieve the same result the Amendments insert the words "by or" before the words "against the Crown" 821 in the two places in which they appear in Clause 33(3).