Agricultural Credit Act, 1978

Registers of chattel mortgages.

[1947, ss. 24, 36.]

26.—(1) A register of chattel mortgages shall be kept and maintained in every Circuit Court Office in accordance with this section.

(2) Subject to compliance with the conditions prescribed by or under this section for the registration of a chattel mortgage, every chattel mortgage shall be capable of being registered within one month and no longer after its date in the register of chattel mortgages maintained under this section in the Circuit Court Office serving the area in which the land of the mortgagor is situate or, where the land is situate in two or more areas served by separate Circuit Court Offices, in each of the several registers of chattel mortgages maintained under this section in the said Circuit Court Offices respectively.

(3) Any person (including a surety) party to a chattel mortgage or the legal representative of any such person may register the chattel mortgage within one month and no longer after its date in any register of chattel mortgages in which the chattel mortgage is capable of being registered under this section and the mortgagee or, with the consent in writing of the mortgagee, the mortgagor or any surety party thereto or his legal representative may at any time cause the chattel mortgage to be removed from any such register.

(4) Whenever the principal money, interest and costs secured by a chattel mortgage are fully repaid the mortgagee shall forthwith cause the chattel mortgage to be removed from every register of chattel mortgages in which it is registered under this section.

(5) No chattel mortgage shall have effect until it is registered in pursuance of this section in the register or every register (as the case may be) of chattel mortgages in which it is capable of being registered under this section and a chattel mortgage so registered shall cease to have effect on ceasing to be duly registered in such register or every such register (as the case may be).

(6) The contents of any register of chattel mortgages shall not be published or disclosed nor shall any copies thereof or any part thereof be issued to any person except that—

(a) a recognised lender may at any time by requisition under the hand of the solicitor or law agent of such recognised lender require the county registrar to inspect the register and to provide the recognised lender with certified copies of any entries therein relating to the stock of any person named in the requisition;

(b) a sheriff or county registrar may at any time inspect the register of chattel mortgages maintained in a Circuit Court Office serving the area or any part of the area for which he is the sheriff or county registrar;

(c) any person in the service of the State and duly authorised in writing in that behalf by the Minister or the Minister for Agriculture may at any time inspect and take copies of any such register or any part thereof;

(d) an officer employed in a Circuit Court Office and performing duties formerly performed by the undersheriff may at any time inspect the register of chattel mortgages maintained in that Circuit Court Office; and

(e) whenever the Supreme Court or any Judge of the High Court or the Circuit Court directs that a copy of the portion of any such register relating to any particular chattel mortgage or alleged chattel mortgage be furnished to them or him, the copy shall be so furnished accordingly and the Court or Judge may disclose or publish such copy or the contents thereof to such extent and in such manner and subject to such conditions as in their or his opinion justice may require.

(7) The Circuit Court or the High Court or the Supreme Court on appeal from the High Court may at any time cause any register of chattel mortages to be rectified (whether by variation, addition or omission) in such manner as justice may require.

(8) The Minister for Justice may make regulations in relation to all or any of the following matters:

(a) the form and contents of the several registers of chattel mortgages;

(b) the keeping and maintenance generally of the registers;

(c) the mode of registering a chattel mortgage in a register and the evidence to be produced, for the purpose of registration, of the due execution and stamping of the chattel mortgage;

(d) the mode of removing a chattel mortgage from a register and the evidence to be produced for the purpose of removal;

(e) the requisitioning, making and certification of searches by officials of the Circuit Court Offices on a register at the request of those persons or bodies who under this section are authorised to inspect the register;

(f) the providing of certified copies of a register or of any parts thereof or of any entries therein at the request and on behalf of any recognised lender;

(g) with the consent of the Minister for Finance, the fees to be charged and taken in respect of the registration of chattel mortgages in a register, the removal of chattel mortgages from a register, the inspection of registers and any other matter relating to the register;

(h) the general preservation of the secrecy of the registers and in particular the evidence of authority to be produced by persons claiming to inspect or take copies of a register.

(9) Every register of chattel mortgages maintained in a Circuit Court Office under the enactments repealed by this Act shall be a register for the purposes of this Part and every chattel mortgage registered therein shall be deemed to have been duly registered under this Part and this Part shall apply to it accordingly.

(10) Regulations made or deemed to have been made under section 24 of the Agricultural Credit Act, 1947 , and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in force and be deemed to have been made under this section.

(11) The expenses of carrying this section into effect shall to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister be paid out of money provided by the Oireachtas and any fees received pursuant to this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister may direct.