Attachment of Goods (Ireland) Act, 1850

ATTACHMENT OF GOODS (IRELAND) ACT 1850

CHAPTER LXXIII.

An Act to amend the Law relating to Proceedings by Process of Attachment of Goods in the Borough and other Courts of Record in Ireland. [14th August 1850.]

[Preamble recites 3 & 4 Vict. c. 108, as to procedure by attachment in borough courts of record.]

[S. 1 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L R.)]

No attachment to issue out of any borough court unless debt, &c. exceeds 20l.

2. It shall not be lawful for any person to proceed in any such court of record in Ireland by way of attachment of goods to compel appearance, or by way of foreign attachment, where the debt or damages sought to be recovered in such action and sworn to be due, shall not exceed the sum of twenty pounds.

Affidavit, where plaintiff desires to proceed by attachment of goods, &c.

3. In all cases of debt or liquidated damages where the sum sought to be recovered and sworn to in such action shall exceed the sum of twenty pounds, and in which the plaintiff shall be desirous of proceeding in any such court of record by attachment of goods, in addition to the statements now by law required to be made in the affidavit to be sworn and filed by or on behalf of the plaintiff or plaintiffs before the issuing of any writ of attachment of goods to compel appearance, it shall be necessary to show by such affidavit that there is probable cause for believing that the defendant is about to abscond or to quit Ireland, or to remove, conceal, assign, or otherwise dispose of his goods or chattels, with intent to defraud his creditors.

Goods seized by attachment shall not be removed for 4 days, or such shorter time as defendant shall require.

What special bail by defendant shall be sufficient.

4. In all cases in which goods shall be seized under or by virtue of any such attachment, the same shall not be remove 1 off the defendant’s premises, if seized thereon, until the expiration of such a period of time, not exceeding four days, as the said defendant, by notice in writing to be delivered to the bailiffs or other persons who shall have seized the same, shall require; and it shall be sufficient, instead of giving special bail to pay such sum of money as may be adjudged to the plaintiff, as by the said recited Act or otherwise required, that special bail shall be given by the defendant to pay all such debt, damages, expences, and costs, as shall be adjudged in that cause to the plaintiff against the defendant, or to render the body of the defendant into the custody of the marshal of the Marshalsea of the Four Courts of the City of Dublin, in case the action shall be pending in the court of the borough of Dublin, or other prison, as herein-after provided, of the court out of which such attachment shall issue, as the case may be.

When goods are seized under attachment, plaintiff may proceed to obtain judgment.

5. In every case in which the goods of any defendant shall be seized under any such attachment, and the defendant shall not give special bail in manner aforesaid within the time now limited by law for appearing to such action or giving special bail, or according to the course of the court, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff in such action, upon filing a certificate of the marshal or other officer of the court having the custody of the goods so attached that the same are in his custody for want of special bail, to enter an appearance or file common bail for the defendant, and thereupon to serve on the defendant notice of such appearance having been entered or common bail filed, by leaving with him or at his usual place of abode a copy of such notice, and such service shall be verified on oath in such manner as the court shall direct, and the plaintiff may thereupon proceed to obtain judgment, according to the course of the court, as if an appearance had been duly entered by the defendant.

Power to defendant to get seized goods appraised, and give bail to double the amount of the appraisement.

6. Provided always, that it shall be lawful for any defendant to procure the goods which shall have been seized under an attachment, and before the removal thereof, to be appraised, (the appraisement to be made by such person or persons, and in such manner, and within such time, as the court shall by any general or special order direct,) and the expences of such appraisement shall be defrayed in the first instance by the defendant, but shall be costs in the cause, and abide the event of the suit; and in case the goods seized shall amount in value to less than the sum for which the attachment issued, it shall be sufficient for the defendant to give special bail (in double the amount of the appraised value of the goods) to pay all such debt, damages, expences, and costs, as shall be adjudged in such cause to the plaintiff against the defendant, or to render the body of the defendant into the custody of the marshal of the Marshalsea of the Four Courts of the City of Dublin, in case such action shall be pending in the said court of the borough of Dublin, or other prison, as herein-after provided, of the court out of which such attach ment shall issue, as the case may be.

Mode of surrender in discharge of bail.

7. Provided also, that in all cases in which the attachment shall have issued out of the court of record of the borough of Dublin, the defendant who shall have been held to special bail as aforesaid may be rendered in discharge of his bail to the marshal of the Marshalsea of the Four Courts of the City of Dublin; and in all cases in which the attachment shall have issued out of any other borough or other court than the borough court of Dublin, the defendant may be rendered in discharge of his bail to the Marshalsea or other prison of the borough or other court by which his goods were attached, and if there be no such prison of any such borough or other court, then to the common gaol of the county in which such borough, town, or place, or such part thereof in which his goods were attached, shall be situate; and the render to the said Marshalsea or gaol shall be effected in the manner following, that is to say, the defendant or his bail, or one of them, shall for the purpose of such render obtain an order of the court out of which the writ of attachment issued, and shall lodge such order with the said marshal, or with the gaoler of such prison or gaol, (as the case may be,) and a notice in writing of the lodgment of such order, and of the defendant’s being actually in custody of such marshal or gaoler by virtue of such order, signed by the defendant or the bail, or either of them, or by the attorney of any or either of them, shall be delivered to the plaintiff’s attorney, and the marshal or sheriff, or other person responsible for the custody of debtors in such Marshalsea, prison, or gaol, shall on such render so perfected be duly charged with the custody of such defendant, and the said bail shall be thereupon wholly exonerated from liability as such.

Mode of surrender of a defendant in custody when his goods are seized, who gives special bail.

8. A defendant who shall at any time be in custody of the marshal of the said Marshalsea, or of the gaoler of the prison or gaol of any county, county of a city, or county of a town in Ireland, at the time of the seizure of his goods, under any writ of attachment out of any such borough or other court, may give such special bail, and thereupon may forthwith be rendered to such marshal or gaoler of the prison or gaol in which such defendant shall then be in custody, in discharge of his said bail in any action in such court of record, in the manner hereinbefore provided for a render in discharge of bail, and the marshal or sheriff or other person responsible for the custody of debtors in such Marshalsea, prison, or gaol shall, on such render, be charged with the custody of such defendant, and the said bail shall be thereupon wholly exonerated from liability as such.

Costs where judgment does not exceed 20l.

9. If the plaintiff in any such proceeding by way of attachment shall not obtain judgment for debt or damages for a sum exceeding twenty pounds, he shall not be entitled to any costs, but the defendant shall be entitled to recover his costs from the plaintiff, unless the judge of the court from which attachment shall have issued shall, within one month after final judgment, certify that the plaintiff had reasonable cause for filing an affidavit of debt for the full amount for which such attachment issued; and in case any such defendant shall be entitled to his costs from the plaintiff as aforesaid, the court shall, by a general or special order, limit the period within which the defendant shall have the amount of such costs taxed and ascertained, and until the expiration of such period, unless the defendants costs shall be taxed and ascertained in the meantime, the plaintiff shall be disabled from taking out any execution for the sum recovered by the judgment; and in case the defendant’s costs shall be ascertained within the period aforesaid, the plaintiff shall take out execution in such sum only by which the amount of the judgment shall exceed the amount of the taxed costs of the defendant; and in such case, if the sum recovered by the judgment shall be less than the amount of the defendant’s taxed costs, then the defendant shall be entitled, after deducting the amount of the judgment from the amount of his taxed costs, to take out execution for the balance of his taxed costs, in like manner as a defendant in any such court may now have execution for costs in other cases, or in such manner as such court may, by a general or any special order, direct.

Before whom affidavits may be sworn.

10. All affidavits which may now be made before the recorder, or mayor . . . of any borough, or of any such other court, and all other affidavits in proceedings relating to attachments or foreign attachments in any of the borough or other courts of record in Ireland, may be sworn before the town clerk or the registrar or deputy registrar of any such borough or other court . . . whether such affidavit is intended to be filed in the court of which such town clerk, registrar or deputy registrar, or commissioner, is an officer, or in any other such court in Ireland; and all proceedings thereupon or in reference thereto shall be as valid and regular as if the same had been sworn before the recorder or mayor . . . of the borough or court in which the same shall be filed; and any person who shall wilfully and corruptly make and subscribe any such affidavit, knowing the same to be untrue, shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and be liable to be prosecuted and punished accordingly.

[S. 11 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

Interpretation of terms.

12. In the construction of this Act words importing the singular number only shall include the plural number, and words importing the plural number only shall include the singular number, and words importing the masculine gender only shall include females, unless there be something in the subject or the context repugnant to or inconsistent with such construction.

[Ss. 13, 14 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]