COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 28 July 1975)

§ The LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I beg to move that the House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 en bloc. The six Amendments with which we are concerned are all Government Amendments which are 725 intended to improve the drafting of the Bill, but which make no change of substance. The first Amendment to new Section 2A(6) of Clause 1 sets out in more detail the facts, knowledge of which determines the plaintiff's date of knowledge for the purpose of fixing the time from which the period of limitation runs. It removes a possible difficulty of interpretation in cases where it is alleged by the plaintiff that the defendant is vicariously liable for the act of somebody else. The second Amendment merely changes the order of the closing words of subsection (6) to correspond with the order used elsewhere in the Bill.

§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARYLEBONE
My Lords, I think that both of these Amendments are acceptable. The second is a pure question of draftsmanship. The first is something which I must say I would not have thought of myself, but the noble and learned Lord has made it very plain and I think that it is a technical improvement.

§ The LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 en bloc. Subsection (2) of new Section 2C has been amended, both to simplify the drafting and to remove the risk that its provisions would operate unfairly in certain cases. It now has the effect, which was always intended, that in fatal accident cases the date of knowledge test should be applied to each of the defendants separately. The fourth Amendment, which follows the closing words of this subsection, is consequential on the previous Amendments. I beg to move.

§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARYLEBONE
My Lords, again this is a very highly technical matter, and I suppose we could spend a great deal of time on it. But the best thing is to say that there is no serious reason why we should not accept the Commons' view about this.

§ The LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, Amendment No. 5 to new Section 2D(2) is intended to make clear the effect of this subsection, the purpose of which is to prevent the use of the court's discretion in cases which are governed by a special limitation code, like the Carriage by Air Act. Consultation which took place while the Bill was in progress showed that the intended effect of this subsection was not immediately apparent, and by this Amendment an example is added, I hope, to make its purpose more clear. My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 5.

§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARYLEBONE
My Lords, again I do not think we need spend time on this. I am not sure that I am very enthusiastic about inserting "e.g.", as it were into, a Statute. It seems to me a questionable practice, but I do not think we ought to take time quarrelling with the noble and learned Lord about it.

§ The LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, with regard to what has just been said by the noble and learned Lord, it has been urged in the Renton Committee that the giving of examples in Acts of Parliament is indeed very helpful. It is a potentially dangerous precedent, because 727 the example may not be a very happy one. In this case I think that it is, and I hope that the House will approve of the practice, at any rate in this instance.

§ The LORD CHANCELLOR
Finally, my Lords, Amendment No. 6 brings this Bill into force on a fixed day; namely, 1st September, 1975. This Amendment enables me to express the appreciation and gratitude of the Government, and of myself personally, to noble Lords on all sides of this House and to Members of the Opposition in the other place, to whose co-operation and support we owe the fact that it will be possible to bring this Bill—which will greatly help plaintiffs who, in the past, have suffered great injury through the working of the limitation provisions of the law—into force, as I had hoped, in the forthcoming Long Vacation. It will be a great convenience both to the courts and to litigants that changes of the kind made in this Bill should take effect on a fixed day in a period when the higher courts, at least, are not regularly sitting, and when a substantial change of the law might otherwise present particular problems. With that expression of thanks, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 6.

§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARYLEBONE
My Lords, I do not wish to be churlish, and I am indeed grateful for the thanks which the noble and learned Lord has given. It is a relief to find at least one Bill in this crowded programme with which I do not find myself in hearty disagreement. I agree with the noble and learned Lord that the Long Vacation is a good time to start a new law with regard to the limitation of actions. In thanking the noble and learned Lord for his gracious words, I am as gracious as my conscience allows me to be in the circumstances.