1751: 24 George 2 c.42: An Act to explain and amend an Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, intituled, An Act for the more easy and speedy Recovery of small Debts within the City and Liberty of Westminster, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto; and for making the said Act more effectual.
WHEREAS several Doubts have arisen in the Execution of an Act passed in the twenty-third Year of his present Majesty’s Reign,
[23 Geo. 2. c. 27.]
intituled, An Act for the more easy and speedy Recovery of small Debts within the City and Liberty of Westminster, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto; and the said Act has, in many Respects, been found insufficient to answer the Purposes thereby intended: And whereas Doubts have arisen, whether Attorneys and Solicitors are subject to the Processes of the said Court: therefore, for explaining, amending, and making the said Act more effectual, May it please your most Excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same,
[Attornies and Solicitors subject to the Processes of the Court.]
That all Persons admitted as Attornies or Solicitors shall be, and they are hereby declared to be subject to all the Processes of the said Court of Requests for the City and Liberty of Westminster, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto; anything in the said Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
II. And whereas the Commissioners nominated and appointed to put the said Act in Execution, are directed by the said Act to meet in three different Divisions, one Day in each Week: And whereas divers Mistakes and Inconveniences have happened, for want of knowing the particular Bounds and Limits of the several Divisions or Districts:
[So much of the recited Act as relates to the dividing of the City and Liberty of Westminster, &c. into 3 Divisions repealed.]
For Remedy thereof, Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the twenty-fourth Day of June one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, so much of the said Act as relates to the dividing the said City and Liberty of Westminster, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto, into three Districts or Divisions, shall be, and is hereby repealed.
[Court to be held in two Divisions.]
III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Commissioners nominated and appointed, or to be nominated and appointed, by virtue of the said Act, are hereby authorised and required to assemble, sit and hold the said Court in and for the said City and Liberty, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto, in two Divisions only; videlicet, The several Parishes of St. Margaret, St. John the Evangelist, St. Martin in the Fields, St. Paul Covent Garden, St. Clement Danes, St. Mary le Strand, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth to the said Liberty of Westminster, to be one of the said Divisions; the several Parishes of St. George Hanover Square, St. James, and St. Anne, to be the other Division, in such manner as is herein after mentioned and declared;
[Days of sitting of the Court for each Division.]
videlicet. the Commissioners for the said several Parishes of St. Margaret, St. John the Evangelist, St. Martin in the Fields, St. Paul Covent Garden, St. Clement Danes, St. Mary le Strand, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth to the said Liberty of Westminster, on every Thursday in every Week, or oftener. if necessary, in some convenient Part of the said Division; the said Commissioners for the Parishes of St. George Hanover Square, St. James, and St. Anne, on every Tuesday in every Week, or oftener, if necessary, in some convenient Part of the said Division, for the putting in Execution the several Powers and Authorities granted by this and the said former Act.
IV. And whereas the erecting or hiring, sitting up and maintaining two convenient court houses for the Purposes aforesaid, will be attended with very great Expense to the Officers appointed to put the said Act of the last Session of Parliament in Execution: And whereas by the said Act the said Officers are obliged to pay an annual Allowance to the Council of the Marshalsea Court; which Expenses and Allowances, and other necessary Charges attending the Execution of the said Act, have rendered, and will
386. C 43. Anno vicesimo quarto Georgii II. A.D. 1751.
continue to render, the Profits arising to the said Officers of the Court very inconsiderable: therefore, to enable the said Officers to defray such expences, and in order to provide some Compensation for their Trouble, Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid,
[The Fees following to be taken in lieu of those limited by the former Act.]
That from and after the said twenty-fourth Day of June, instead of the Fees limited by the said former Act, the several Fees hereafter limited, and no other Fee or Fees, shall be taken for the respective Services of the High Bailiff of the City and Liberty of the Westminster for the Time being, and the Clerks of the said Court; that is to say,
For issuing out every Summons, to the Clerk or Clerks four Pence.
For the Service of such Summons, to the High Bailiff four Pence.
For every Hearing, to the clerk or Clerks sixpence, to the High Bailiff three Pence.
For an Execution, to the Clerk or Clerks, one Shilling, to the High Bailiff one Shilling and six Pence.
For paying Money into Court, to the Clerk or Clerks seven Pence.
For acknowledging Satisfaction in full, to the Clerk or Clerks six Pence.
For every Search, to the Clerk or Clerks two Pence.
For calling the Defendant before the Court, to the Clerk or Clerks twopence, to the High Bailiff two Pence.
For every Order upon Hearing, and the Entry thereof, to the Clerk or Clerks four Pence.
For the Service of every such Order, to the High Bailiff two Pence.
For a Nonsuit on the plaintiff’s not appearing, to the Clerk or Clerks four Pence.
[Table of Fees to be hung in each Court-house.]
A Table of which Fees shall be hung up by the Clerks of the said Court, or one of them, in some public and conspicuous Place of the two court houses where the said Commissioners shall meet for the Purposes aforesaid, to the end that all Persons may at all Times see and read the same.
[The Number of Clerks to be reduced upon the Death, Resignation or Removal, &c.]
V. And whereas by the said Act of the last Session of Parliament four Clerks are appointed for the said three Divisions, which Divisions are by this Act reduced to two; Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That upon the Death, Resignation or Removal of any one of the said four Clerks, the remaining three Clerks shall continue to act; and upon the Death, Resignation or Removal of any one of said three Clerks, then the remaining two shall in like manner proceed to act; and shall continue to carry into Execution all the Powers and Authorities by the said former and this present Act vested in the said Clerks; nor shall the Commissioners proceed to choose another Clerk in the Place or Stead of any one so dying, resigning or being removed, until the Number of the said Clerks shall be reduced to one; at which time, or so soon after as the same shall be publicly known, the Commissioners appointed to put the said former and this present Act in Execution shall proceed to elect another Clerk, to be joined with the surviving or remaining Clerk, according to the Directions for that Purpose in the said former Act, so as such Number of Clerks shall not at any Time afterwards exceed the Number of two.
[Clerks not to act as Justices in any Matters relative to the Jurisdiction of the Court.]
VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Clerk or Clerks of the said Court shall act as a Justice or Justices of the peace in any Matter or Thing whatsoever relative to the Proceedings of the said Court, or any Matter which may arise in relation to the Jurisdiction of the same: But nothing in this or the said former Act contained shall prevent or exclude any Clerk of the said Court from acting as a Justice of the Peace in any Matter not relative to the Business or Jurisdiction of the said Court.
[Persons residing within the Limits, subject to the jurisdiction though the Plaintiff be not resiant therein.]
VII. And whereas Doubts have arisen, whether any Person or Persons residing within the City and Liberty of Westminster, or that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster adjoining thereto, and who are indebted to Persons who did not reside within the Limits aforesaid, are subject to the Jurisdiction of the said Court; For Remedy thereof, Be it declared and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Persons inhabiting within the Limits aforesaid shall be, and are hereby declared to be, subject to the Process and Jurisdiction of the said Court, although the Plaintiff suing out such Process shall not inhabit or reside within the said City and Liberty of Westminster, and that Part of the Duchy of Lancaster which adjoineth thereto.