§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read
§ House in Committee (according to Order).
THE EARL OF LIMERICKsaid, he wished to call the attention of their Lordships to certain provisions of the measure, particularly with reference to the absence of the necessity for the attestation of a bill of sale before a solicitor. This Bill only required that the execution of the bill of sale should be attested by some credible witness or witnessess, whereas the old Act contained as a safeguard that every bill of sale should be attested before a solicitor. 417 He did not know why this protection against fraud had been abandoned.
LORD FITZGEBALDsaid, that this Bill had been introduced, with the approval of the Chamber of Commerce of Dublin and the commercial community of Ireland, to extend to Ireland the provisions of the last English Bills of Sale Act. It was most desirable, in his opinion, that the Commercial Law of the two countries should be identical in every respect. With regard to the point adverted to by the noble Earl, the fact was that the Bill threw a great deal of protection around persons which did not exist before. Bills of sale for sums under £30 were void; there was a simple form which anyone could read and understand, besides many other safeguards. Under those circumstances it had been thought that attestation by a solicitor was no longer necessary.
§ Bill reported without Amendment; and to be read 3a on Thursday next.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Six o'clock, to Thursday next, a quarter past Ten o'clock.