ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 21 October 1969)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, I beg to move that the Commons Amendments be considered forthwith. Perhaps on this matter I should say a word. The word is "forthwith" because in the events which have happened your Lordships have not had notice of this business. The Amendments are, I think, largely non-controversial, but before deciding whether they should be considered forthwith your Lordships may like to know something of what they are about. Although there are some 25 Amendments they are really about five things.

The first is the question of what costs should be recoverable by a party who starts in the High Court an action which could have been commenced in the county court. The second is a new clause providing, in accordance with the recommendation made by the Committee of which Lord Justice Winn was Chairman, for a court to award interest on damages unless the defendant persuades the court in a particular case that there is good reason for not doing so. The third is a new clause which arises because at the time when the Bill left this House there had never been more than one patent judge hearing patent cases and acting as the patent appeal tribunal on appeals from the controller, but this year it became apparent that owing to the amount of patent work a second patent judge would have to be appointed. All that the new clause does is to make the necessary alterations in the legislation which governs the patent appeal tribunal.

The fourth point is another new clause which is a minor administrative matter. It removes the limitation on the district probate registrars in which second and subsequent grants of probate and administration can be made. Fifthly, there 1615 remain only clauses dealing with the application of these matters to Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man and one or two drafting points. The noble Viscount, Lord Colville of Culross, has considered the Amendments, and it may be that one of your Lordships will be able to tell us that had he been able to be here, which he is not, he would not have had any points to raise on these Amendments. In these circumstances, the Amendments being in substance non-controversial, I hope that your Lordships will agree that they be considered forthwith.