HL Deb 22 April 1980 vol 408 cc724-6

6.50 p.m.

The LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone): I beg to move that the Commons Amendments be now considereed.

Moved, That the Commons Amendments be now considered.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

COMMONS AMENDMENT

[References are to Bill [50] as first printed for the Commons.] 1 Clause 2, page 2, line 21, leave out from beginning to end of line 24 on page 3 and insert— '(1) The right of any person from whom a chattel is stolen to bring an action in respect of the theft shall not be subject to the time limits under sections 2(1)(a) and 3(1) of this Act, but if his title to the chattel is extinguished under section 3(2) of this Act he may not bring an action in respect of a theft preceding the loss of his title, unless the theft in question preceded the conversion from which time began to run for the purposes of section 3(2). (2) Subsection (1) above shall apply to any conversion related to the theft of a chattel as it applies to the theft of a chattel; and, except as provided below, every conversion following the theft of a chattel before the person from whom it is stolen recovers possession of it shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as related to the theft. If anyone purchases the stolen chattel in good faith neither the purchase nor any conversion following it shall be regarded as related to the theft. (3) Any case of action accruing in respect of the theft or any conversion related to the theft of a chattel to any person from whom the chattel is stolen shall be disregarded for the purpose of applying section 3(1) or (2) of this Act to his case.'.

The LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1. May I in doing so say that I am going to move a similar Motion in relation to each one of the Commons amendments, but I am grouping them slightly, if the House will permit me to do so. This is a Government amendment, the purpose of which is to reformulate the greater part of Clause 2 of the Bill. I am told that it does not change the law as the Bill originally made it to be when it left your Lordships' House. Therefore, in the strict sense, it is a purely drafting amendment. It has the combined merit of shortening the clause and greater elegance; otherwise it makes no difference.

I beg to move.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said amendment.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

Lord ELWYN-JONES

My Lords, I respectfully agree with the noble and learned Lord that the redrafting of this clause has improved it. I wondered whether what remains of the old Clause 3A, namely, subsections (10) and (11), are still necessary. I suppose they are. Assuming that that is the case, I myself am happy with what is proposed. It is an excellent thing to reduce nine subsections to three, quite apart from the improved clarity of the new provision. I expect that subsections (10) and (11) are necessary. I just wondered.

The LORD CHANCELLOR

My Lords, my information is that they arc, subject, of course, to renumbering as necessary.