§ LORD CHELMSFORD, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that the object of the measure, which was to render the judgments or decrees of certain Courts in England, Scotland, and Ireland effectual in all parts of the United Kingdom. At present, if a creditor recovered a judgment in one part of the United Kingdom, and the debtor withdrew to another part, the judgment could not be made effectual; but the creditor was compelled, if he wished to follow his debtor, to commence a fresh action, and obtain another judgment in that part of the kingdom to which the debtor had retired. Prior to the year 1857, several Bills were introduced into the other House to alter this unsatisfactory state of things; but all those measures were rejected in consequence of a fear prevalent among the Irish Members that the jurisdiction of the Irish Courts would be unduly interfered with. No change had been attempted since 1857 until the present Session, when the present Bill was brought into the House of Commons, and referred to a Select Committee, among the Members of which were the late and the present Attorney General for Ireland, and the late and the present Lord Advocate. Ultimately, it passed the lower House without any division at all.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a (Lord Chelmsford.)
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he saw no objection to the measure, which would really tend to consolidate the three different portions of the kingdom by making a judgment obtained in one enforcible into the other two.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.