HL Deb 08 May 1973 vol 342 cc257-8
THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD POLWARTH)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be now received.

Moved, That the Report be now received.—(Lord Polwarth.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

Schedule 3 [Rights and obligations which are imprescriptible for the purposes of sections 7 and 8 and Schedule 1]:

LORD POLWARTH moved the following Amendment:

Page 20, line 24, at end insert— ("(d) any right to recover property extra commercium;")

The noble Lord said: My Lords, the purpose of this Amendment is to clarify the position of this class of property in relation to the provisions of the Bill, a matter which has been drawn to our attention by the Keeper of the Records. I should explain that property extra commercium comprises various categories of things which cannot be reduced into private ownership, either because of their nature, or because of some relevant rule of law. Particular examples are court records or other public documents which are held by whoever may have custody of them for the benefit of the community at large and not for the individual possessor. Where such articles are found in the possession of someone other than the proper custodian, it has been held that the latter's right to recover them does not prescribe: the right of recovery persists, however long may be the period of time during which they have been outside the legal custodian's control. It is not intended that the provisions of this Bill should affect such items, or their present immunity from the running of prescription; and the purpose of this Amendment is to make that intention clear.

At an earlier stage the noble Lord, Lord Hughes, raised the question of the use in this Bill of language which might not be readily intelligible to the layman, and I did my best to explain reasons why we could not alter such long-standing terms of use in this Bill. Perhaps I could anticipate similar criticism by explaining that phrase "property extra conunercium" has the merit of long usage; and certain categories of property have been judicially defined as falling within this classification. The use of any other phrase would lose us the benefit of these judicial interpretations and, instead of making the Bill clearer, might well lead to future litigation to determine whether or not any particular item or class of property fell within the exemption conferred by Schedule 3. I should add that the proposed Amendment has been agreed to by the Scottish Law Commission. I beg to move.

LORD HUGHES

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Polwarth, for his clear explanation of what the Amendment means. I must confess, quite frankly, that I had not so suspected.

On Question, Amendment agreed to.