Charitable Loan Societies (Ireland) Act, 1900

CHARITABLE LOAN SOCIETIES (IRELAND) ACT 1900

CHAPTER XXV.

An Act to amend the Charitable Loan Societies (Ireland) Act, 1843[1] [30th July 1900.]

Cases in which charitable loans are not to be invalid or liable to stamp duty.

6 & 7 Vict. c. 91.

1. Any promissory note current or unpaid on the first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, and purporting to have been made, in pursuance of the provisions of the Charitable Loan Societies (Ireland) Act, 1843 (in this Act referred to as the principal Act), to the treasurer or secretary of any loan society, shall not be invalid or incapable of being enforced in any court, or liable to stamp duty, by reason of any of the matters following:—

(a) The non-residence of the borrower, at the time of the making of the note, in the district within which the operations of such society ought to have been conducted:

(b) The said note having been given as a renewal, in whole or in part, of, or in substitution for, any promissory note theretofore made by the borrower, or any person on his behalf, to the treasurer or secretary of such society:

(c) A previous loan made by the said society to the borrower, or any person on his behalf or for his use, being unpaid in whole or in part at the time of the making of the loan in respect of which the said note was made:

(d) The borrower having been at the time of the making of the loan surety for the repayment of any other loan made by the said society:

(e) The acceptance by the said society, as surety for the repayment of any loan, of any person who was at the time of the making of the said loan a borrower from the said society:

(f) The loan having been in the first instance for a sum exceeding ten pounds in contravention of section twenty-four of the principal Act; or

(g) Interest or fines in excess of the amount authorised by the principal Act having been charged against, or paid by, the borrower on account of the indebtedness in respect of which the said note was made.

Provided that every such note shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, only stand as a security for, and there shall only be recoverable thereon, such sum as would have been due thereon had such excess not been charged, and had due credit been given as against such sum for all moneys paid by, or on behalf of, the persons liable thereon, in discharge in whole or in part of such excess.

Provisions with respect to taking account.

2.(1) The treasurer of a loan society shall prepare and provide an account setting forth the particulars of the amount sought to be recovered in respect of any note under the principal Act, and that account shall be [1] issued together with the summons for such recovery.

(2) In ascertaining the amount due in respect of any such note an account shall not be carried back for a period exceeding six years from the date of the note, and where the account is so carried back, the loan secured by the note current at the commencement of such period, or if no note was then current, by the note which last before that elate became due shall be deemed and taken to be the first loan made by the said society to the borrower.

(3) The court may, if it thinks fit, order that the amount found due on such account shall be paid by such instalments extending over such period (not exceeding three years) as the court may think fit.

(4) In taking such account there shall be no periodical rests and no sums shall be allowed in respect of compound interest.

(5) If, on taking such account, any balance is found due by the loan society, judgment for the amount of such balance shall be given in favour of the defendant.

As to forms and costs. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 93.

3.(1) In any proceedings under the principal Act the forms in the schedules to the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, shall, wherever applicable, be used instead of the forms in the schedules to the principal Act, and costs, which shall be in the discretion of the court, may be awarded to the amount mentioned in section twenty-two of the said Act of 1851.

(2) Out or any sum awarded in respect of costs under the foregoing enactment, the court may award such sum as it thinks fit, as remuneration for taking any account under the principal Act as amended by this Act, to be paid to such person as the court may appoint to take the account.

Power for loan societies to compromise debts.

4. A loan society acting under the principal Act, may, if they think fit, accept any composition on any security, real or personal, for any debt, and may allow any time for payment for any debt, and may compromise, compound, abandon, submit to arbitration, or otherwise settle, any debt, account, claim, or thing whatever, arising under the principal Act or this Act, and for any of those purposes may enter into, give, execute, and do such agreements, instruments of composition or arrangement, releases, and other things, as to them seem expedient without being responsible for any loss occasioned by any act or thing so done by them in good faith.

Part of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 91, s. 58, not to apply to proceedings under this Act.

5. So much of section fifty-eight of the principal Act as enables a Justice of the Peace who may be a trustee or other unpaid officer or member of a loan society to adjudicate in the matters therein mentioned shall not apply to any proceedings instituted under or by virtue of this Act.

Definition.

6. The expression “fines” in this Act shall include any sums charged for stamps, fees, or costs in respect of summonses under the principal Act which were not in fact issued, or documents purporting to be such summonses.

Short title.

7. This Act may be cited as the Charitable Loan Societies (Ireland) Act, 1900, and may be cited with the principal Act.

[1 Short title, “The Charitable Loan Societies (Ireland) Act, 1900.” See s. 7.]

[1 See now 6 Edw. 7. c. 23, s. 4 (2).]