HL Deb 25 May 1911 vol 8 cc835-9

Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.

Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House in Committee according.

[The EARL Of DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, I ask your Lordships to take the Committee stage to-day pro formâ in order to introduce certain Amendments on Report, mostly of a technical kind, which have been put down by Lord Gorell, and all of which I am prepared to accept for the purpose of presenting them to the House for consideration. I therefore ask that this stage should be taken pro formâ, and after Lord Gorell's Amendments have been inserted on Report the Bill will be reprinted and recommitted for a subsequent day, so that the whole matter will be before the House for consideration in Committee in the ordinary course.

Bill reported without amendment.

THE EARL OF HALSBURY

I think there has been a little error in procedure here. I think the Amendments ought to have been inserted and the Bill reprinted as amended.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

The course I propose is to insert the Amendments now on Report, so that they may be printed in the Bill. Then I shall move that the Bill be recommitted to a Committee of the Whole House.

Amendments moved—

Clause 1, page 1, line 16, after ("High Court") insert ("and shall proceed in London or in a district registry as provided by such rules")

Clause 1, page 1, line 26, after ("High Court") insert ("nor shall anything in this section affect any revenue proceeding or appeal")

Clause 1, page 2, line 2, leave out from ("1884") to the end of the subsection, and insert ("the following provisions shall have effect—

  1. "(a) The plaintiff may, in accordance with County Court Rules, apply to the judge for an order refusing permission to the defendant to avail himself of the counter-claim, and if on such application the judge is of opinion that the counter-claim cannot be conveniently disposed of in the pending action, or ought not to be allowed, he may make an order refusing permission to the defendant to avail himself thereof:
  2. "(b) If no such application is made, or the judge refuses to make an order refusing such permission, the whole proceeding shall, in accordance with rules of the Supreme Court, be removed into the High Court, and shall proceed in London or in a district registry as provided by such rules")

Clause 1, page 1, line 15, after ("therein") insert ("and the costs incurred prior to and of the removal shall be dealt with as the High Court or a judge thereof shall direct")

Clause 1, page 1, line 21, after ("section") insert ("or by agreement")

After Clause 1 insert the following new clause— (".—(1) If during the progress of an action commenced in a county court by virtue of the preceding section it shall appear to the judge that the action could be more conveniently disposed of in the High Court, the judge may by order remove it into the High Court. Provided that no such removal shall take place without the consent of the Lord Chief Justice or such other judge of the King's Bench Division of the High Court as shall be prescribed by rules of the Supreme Court, such consent to be obtained in manner prescribed by such rules. (2) Where an action is removed to the High Court under this section the provisions of the last preceding section as to actions removed under that section to the High Court shall apply. (3) Nothing in this or the preceding section contained shall affect any enactments now in force as to the transfer of actions from a county court to the High Court.")

Clause 3, page 3, line 23, after ("Act") insert the following new paragraph— ("Section sixty-eight of the principal Act shall apply to any proceedings under section one hundred and thirty-two of the Lunacy Act, 1890, as amended by this section, as if such proceedings were an action or matter under section sixty-seven of the principal Act.")

Clause 4, page 3, line 39, after ("judgment") insert the following new paragraph— ("(4) The powers as to entering up judgment conferred on the registrar by sections ninety and ninety-two of the principal Act shall authorise him to exercise, in accordance with the terms of those sections, the powers of the judge as to making orders for the recovery of possession of small tenements, and of rents or mesne profits, or both, under section one hundred and thirty-eight of the principal Act.")

Clause 5, page 4, line 13, leave out ("exceeding five pounds")

Clause 5, page 4, line 18, after ("rules") insert the following new subsections— ("(2) Such rules may provide for different procedure and different conditions according to the amount of the claim or the nature thereof or the position or occupation of the defendant; and may provide for the exclusion of any actions from the procedure by default summons. (3) The power of amendment conferred by section eighty-seven of the principal Act shall include power to amend the particulars of claim in an action commenced by a default summons by substituting or adding in the alternative or otherwise any claim or claims which could be added or substituted by amendment if the action had been commenced by a summons in the ordinary form; and where any such amendment is made the action shall proceed as if it had been commenced by a summons in the ordinary form, upon such terms as to costs and otherwise, and subject to such conditions as the judge may think just.")

Leave out clause 12 and insert the following new clause— (". County Court Rules may make provisions as to the courts in which proceedings may be commenced in cases which by virtue of the County Courts Admiralty Jurisdiction Act, 1868, or any Act amending that Act may be brought in a county court.")

Clause 13, page 8, line 33, after ("fact") insert the following new subsection— ("(2) Section one hundred and twenty-one of the principal Act shall not apply to any action or matter in which an appeal is brought by virtue of this section, and in lieu thereof the following provisions shall apply to such an appeal—

  1. (a) Upon the entry of an appeal under this section on a ground involving a question of fact alone or of mixed law and fact, the judge shall, on the application and at the expense of any party to the appeal, furnish a copy of the notes taken by him at the trial or hearing, or allow a copy to be taken of the same by or on behalf of such party and shall sign such copy, and the copy so signed shall be used and received at the hearing of the appeal.
  2. (b) If there are no notes, or the notes appear to the High Court to be defective in any material point, the Court shall have power to hear and determine the appeal upon any other evidence or statement of what occurred before the judge which the Court may deem sufficient.")

Clause 13, page 8, line 41, after ("commissioner") insert ("or a Registrar of a County Court as the High Court shall direct")

Clause 14, page 9, line 13, after ("may") insert ("on application made within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed by County Court Rules")

Clause 24, page 12, lines 24 and 25, leave out ("the court or judge") and insert ("the court or a judge thereof")

Clause 25, page 12, line 26, leave out ("fifty") and insert ("twenty")

Clause 25, page 12, line 27, after ("pounds") insert ("as to which no order is made as to payment by instalments")

Clause 26, page 12, line 34, leave out ("directly") and after ("other") insert ("subject to the lien, if any, of his solicitor")

Clause 26, page 12, line 36, after ("Act") insert the following new paragraph— ("Where money is directed to be so paid the judgment shall not be registered pursuant to section 183 of the principal Act unless and until the party entitled to the benefits of the judgment gives notice to the registrar that the same remains unsatisfied")

Leave out Clause 27 and insert the following new clauses— (". Section one hundred and fifty of the principal Act is hereby repealed, and the following provision shall be substituted therefor, viz.:— . Where one person has obtained a judgment or an order for the payment of a sum of money against another person in a county court, and that other person has obtained such a judgment or order against the first-mentioned person in the same or in another county court or in the High Court, either such person may, in accordance with rules of court, give notice in writing to the several courts, and may apply in accordance with rules of court for a set-of of the sums payable under the several judgments or orders; and a set-off of damages or costs may be allowed in accordance with the rules and practice of the High Court as to set-off in the case of cross-judgments or orders in that court, notwithstanding the solicitor's lien for costs in the particular cause or matter in which the set-off is sought. . Section one hundred and fifty-one of the principal Act shall apply to orders obtained in a county court in the same manner as to judgments so obtained.")

Clause 29, page 13, line 22, after ("post") insert the following new clause— (". The following provision shall be substituted for section one hundred and fifty-three of the principal Act, viz:— . If it shall at any time appear to the satisfaction of the judge that any party to an action or matter is unable from any cause to pay and discharge any debt, damages, costs, or other sum recovered against him, or any instalment thereof, it shall be lawful for the judge, in his discretion, to suspend or stay any judgment, order, or execution given, made, or issued in such action or matter, for such time and on such terms as the judge shall think fit, and so from time to time until it shall appear that such cause of inability has ceased, or to order the discharge of any debtor confined in prison by order of a court, who ought, in the opinion of the judge, to be discharged, upon such terms as the judge may think fit.")

Clause 30, page 13, line 26, leave out ("three") and insert ("four")

Clause 30, page 13, line 28, after ("barrister") insert ("one a registrar of a county court")

Clause 30, page 14, lines 1 to 3, leave out ("analagous to the rules as to procedure and practice applicable to similar actions in the High Court") and insert ("and also, if it shall be thought expedient, in actions as to which jurisdiction is conferred by the principal Act where the debt, demand, or damage claimed or counter-claimed exceeds twenty pounds, and in particular for the purpose of providing that each party shall state the nature of his claim or defence in writing in sufficient time before the trial in the form of particulars, or otherwise.")

Clause 30, page 14, line 7, leave out ("an official referee of the High Court") and insert ("a special referee or arbitrator, or to an officer of the court")

After clause 30 insert the following new clause— (". Where any goods in the possession of an execution debtor at the time of seizure by a sheriff, high bailiff, or other officer charged with the enforcement of a writ of execution, are sold by such sheriff, high bailiff, or other officer, without any claim having been made to the same, the purchaser of the goods so sold shall acquire a good title to the goods so sold, and no person shall be entitled to recover against the sheriff, high bailiff, or other officer, or anyone lawfully acting under the authority of either of them, except as provided by the Bankruptcy Acts, for any sale of such goods or for paying over the proceeds thereof, prior to the receipt of a claim to the said goods. Provided that nothing in this section contained shall affect the right of any claimant who may prove his title to any goods so seized and sold to recover the nett sum realised by the sale of such goods from any person in whose hands such proceeds may be or to whom they may have been paid.")

Clause 31, page 14, line 23, after ("judge") insert ("or registrar").—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendments agreed to.

Bill re-committed to a Committee of the Whole House, and to be printed as amended. (No. 91.)