CHAMBERS EQUITY, continued. For notice of filing affidavit or set of affidavits filed, or which ought properly to have been filed together, to be read in Court Lower Scale. Higher Scale, £0 2 6 £0 2 6 For notice of appointment for settling and passing minutes, decrees or orders before the Registrar For services on a party or witness, such reasonable charges and expenses as may be properly incurred, according to distance, or by the employment of an Agent. The fees for notices and services are not to apply where the same Solicitor is for both parties, unless it be necessary for the purpose of making affidavit of service. There is to be one notice only of settling minutes, and one notice of passing decree or order which, if necessary, are to be continued by adjournment, of which all parties are to take notice. For grant of letters of administration For recording a will and probate, per folio For office copy thereof, per folio and each frac tion of a sheet Upon the entry of every administration suit 0 Upon every subpoena Upon the entry and signing of every decree 0 On pleadings amended or reformed Filing any further writing to the act 6 Filing notices, per folio 006 Entering final decree, per folio 016 Entering any order or decree made with con sent of parties For entering caveat 020 For filing authority to withdraw, and with- 029 and certificate thereof For each inspection of books For every extract or copy at the rate of one shilling and sixpence per folio. folio 006 For filing affidavit of attesting witness in proof of the due execution of a will or codicil For filing affidavit on oath of Executor or 0 For searches in Court books, making extracts, Note. In all matters not specially provided for the same fees shall be charged by the Registrar as for similar business at Common Law. In Contentious Business. Bond to be executed by any person 016 0 030 Taking copies of orders, decrees, Judge's notes 009 010 006 220 0 50 Note.-Any other matter not herein provided for to be 5 0 dealt with upon the same principle as at Common Law. SOLICITORS' FEES. The fees of Solicitors shall be the same as the fees of Solicitors for similar business at Common Law. Note. The fees of Court and of Solicitors in the DIVORCE, INCUMBERED ESTATES, and the BANKRUPTCY Divisions of the Court are the same as for similar business at Common Law. BAILIFFS' FEES. Note These fees apply throughout to all the Divisions of the Court. Serving any writ of summons, notice or other 0 Mileage may be charged at the same rate as 0 10 0 Fee on return to any writ All necessary expenses out of pocket to be allowed on taxation. .010 Any other matter not provided for in the above scale to be dealt with on the principles of the scale, ALLOWANCES TO WITNESSES. Note. This to be the scale in all the Divisions of the Court. For Board and Lodging per diem :-Proprietors, Occupiers, or Attorneys of Estates or Pens, Merchants, Bankers and Professional persons Storekeepers, Auctioneers, Overseers, Bookkeepers, Accountants £0 10 0 0 8 0 Attorney's Clerks, Mercantile Clerks, Tradesmen, Skilled Workmen and the like from 0 4 0 016 Females according to their station in life but not exceeding Members of the Constabulary Force, according to rank, but not exceeding 0 12 0 0 12 0 1 1 0 The travelling and other expenses of Witnesses will be allowed according to the sums actually and reasonably paid or incurred, but in no case will there be an allowance for travelling expenses of more than 1/6 per mile one way. When there is a Railway or other public conveyance only the fare will be allowed. HOLDING OF CIRCUIT COURTS DURING 1895. THE times and places for the holding of the Circuit Courts are fixed by the Governor in Privy Council. The following are the arrangements for 1895: EASTERN CIRCUIT. Kingston January 2nd; April 22nd; August 26th. WESTERN CIRCUIT. May Pen-February 4th; June 4th; October 7th. APPEALS FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF JAMAICA TO HER MAJESTY IN COUNCIL By Her Majesty's Order in Council made (in pursuance of the provisions of the Imperial Statute 7 and 8 Vic. c. 69) on the 14th April, 1851, it was ordered that any person may appeal to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, in Her or their Privy Council from any final judgment, order or sentence of the Supreme Court of Judicature, as a Court of Civil Judicature, or as a Court of Revenue or Escheat in respect of any sum or matter at issue above the amount or value of £300 sterling, the person feeling aggrieved to apply to the Court by motion for leave to appeal within 14 days next after the judgment shall have been pronounced, or if the Court be not then sitting by petition to either of the Judges of the Court. And the Court is empowered to direct that the Judgment appealed from shall be carried into execution, or that execution shall be suspended pending the appeal as to the Court or Judge may appear to be most consistent with real and substantial justice. In all cases security is to be given by the Appellant in the sum of £500 for the prosecution of the appeal and the payment of any costs which may be awarded to the Respondent— such security to be completed within 28 days from the date of the motion or petition for leave to appeal. By this Order the Court appealed from is required to certify and transmit to the Privy Council a copy of the evidence, proceedings, judgments, decrees, and orders made in the case appealed, under the Seal of the Court, and also a copy of the reasons given by the Judges of the said Court for or against the judgment appealed from. Subsequent Orders dated 13th June, 1853, and the 31st March, 1855, contain directions as to the transcript records to be sent by the Registrar of the Supreme Court to the Registrar of the Privy Council and the printing of such transcript by the Appellant or his Agent, and as to the power of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to suspend or relax the regulations of the first of the two last mentioned Orders, namely, that of the 13th June, 1853. Fuller directions as to the form and type used in the printing of these proceedings in appeal are contained in an Order in Council of the 24th March, 1871. By an Order of the 12th February, 1845, (4 Moore's Privy Council Cases p. xxv.) it is directed that in appeals from any judgment of any Court in the colonies the reasons given by the Judges of such Court for or against such Judgment shall be by the Judges communicated in writing to the Registrar of such Court, to be by him transmitted in original to the Clerk of the Privy Council with the other documents and proceedings. The Judges' reasons are now transmitted to the Registrar of the Privy Council, the office of Registrar of the Privy Council having been filled up since the date of the 7th and 8th Victoria, cap. 69, and the judicial duties of the Clerk of the Council having been transferred to the Registrar. HONDURAS APPEALS. THE British Honduras Court of Appeal Act, 1881, (Imperial Statute 44 and 45 Vic., ch. 36) authorises Her Majesty by Order in Council to constitute the Supreme Court of Jamaica a Court of Appeal from the judgments, orders, sentences and decisions of the Supreme Court of British Honduras, and after the proclamation of such Order in Council in each of the said Colonies, or from such subsequent date as may be appointed by the Order, any person may appeal from any decision of the Supreme Court of British Honduras to the Supreme Court of Jamaica, subject to such rules and limitations as Her Majesty may by the same or any other Order appoint. By an Order in Council made on the 30th November, 1882, reciting the said statute, 44 and 45 Vic., ch. 36, Her Majesty was pleased to order: (1) That the Supreme Court of Jamaica be constituted a Court of Appeal for determining appeals from the decisions of the Supreme Court of British Honduras; (2) that this Order be proclaimed in Jamaica and in British Honduras at such time and place as the Governor thereof should direct, and that after the date of the latest of such proclamations the said Court of Appeal should have jurisdiction to determine appeals from the Supreme Court of British Honduras in respect of any matter at issue of or above the amount or value of £50, or involving any civil rights amounting to or of the value of £50; (3) that any person may appeal in any such case to the said Court in such manner, within such time, and subject to such rules and limitations as the Supreme Court of Jamaica, with the approval of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, should from time to time prescribe or appoint; (4) that nothing therein contained should take away or abridge the right of Her Majesty, upon the petition of any person aggrieved by any judgment of the Supreme Court of British Honduras, to admit his appeal therefrom upon such terms as Her Majesty should think fit, and to reverse, correct, or vary such judgment as Her Majesty should deem meet. His Excellency Sir Anthony Musgrave, as Governor of Jamaica, by proclamation dated the 27th of January, 1883, published in the Jamaica Gazette of the 8th February, 1883, proclaimed the said Order of the 30th November, 1882, and directed it to be read and proclaimed in the Court House, Kingston, at a Session of the Supreme Court of Judicature to be held on the 5th February, 1883, and the same issue of the Gazette contains a notification by Mr. Hendrick, the Registrar of the Supreme Court, that the proclamation was read and proclaimed in open Court on the 5th of February, 1883. In the Jamaica Gazette of the 23rd October, 1884, is published, by direction of His Excellency the Governor, the rules prescribed and appointed by the Supreme Court of Jamaica, with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, under the third before mentioned clause of the Order in Council of the 30th November, 1882. INCUMBERED ESTATES COURT. By an Order of the Queen in Council, dated the 28th May, 1889, reciting that the West Indian Incumbered Estates Acts, 1854 to 1872, were then in operation in this Island, and further reciting that an address from the Legislature of this Island had been presented to Her Majesty praying for an Order of Her Majesty in Council to be made directing that the said West Indian Incumbered Estates Acts, 1854 to 1872 shall cease to be in operation in this Island. It was then ordered, that subject as in that order is mentioned the West Indian Incumbered Estates Acts, 1854 to 1872 should cease to be in operation in Jamaica as from the 1st August, 1889, thereinafter referred to as the appointed day. It was by the said order further provided (1) That the order should not affect the operation of the said Acts nor anything done thereunder prior to the appointed day. (11) Proceedings commenced but not completed before the appointed day should be completed as if that order had not been made. (III) States when proceedings shall be deemed completed. (IV) Provides the transfer of money stocks and funds to the account of Her Majesty's Paymaster General, and further orders that any money in the Commissariat Chest in Jamaica standing to the account of the Commissioners shall be paid to the Treasurer of Jamaica in trust to attend the Order of the Supreme Court of Jamaica (sects. VI, VII) relates to the disposal of unclaimed moneys and the proceedings with reference thereto. The Act creating a Local Court (Law 17 of 1873 entitled the Incumbered Estates Law, 1873) which was passed on the 19th June, 1873, and came into operation on the 1st September, 1873, continues in force, but upon coming into operation of the Judicature Law, 1879 (Law 24 of 1879), on the 1st January, 1880, the Local Incumbered Estates Court was consolidated with other Local Courts under the name of "The Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica." The rules of this Court form a portion of the General Rules and Orders under the Judicature Law, 1879, published in the Jamaica Gazette of the 13th April, 1882, and came into operation on the 1st July, 1882, as per notification in the Gazette of the 27th April, 1882. The result is that the Imperial Court has been abolished in Jamaica and the Local Court has been consolidated in the Supreme Court of which it now forms a portion. It may not be amiss to state as connected with this subject that consignees or factors' liens were abolished from and after the 31st July, 1886, by Law 17 of 1885, which provides for the registration in the Record Office of all claims to such liens existing at that date. ADMIRALTY COURT. UNTIL the 1st July, 1891, Jamaica possessed a Vice-Admiralty Court under the Imperial Statutes 26 Vic., ch. 24, and 30 and 31 Vic., ch. 45. This Court has ceased to exist under the provisions of "The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890," 53 and 54 Vic., chap. 27, passed on the 25th July, 1890, published in the Jamaica Gazette of the 20th November, 1890, page 741 by which these two Statutes are repealed. By the second section of the last mentioned Statute every Court of Law in a British possession that has therein original unlimited Civil Jurisdiction shall be a Court of Admiralty with the jurisdiction therein mentioned and may for the purpose of that jurisdiction exercise all the powers which it possesses for the purpose of its other civil jurisdiction and such Court is in the Statute referred to as a Colonial Court of Admiralty. By the Statute it is enacted that the jurisdiction of a Colonial Court of Admiralty shall, subject to the provisions of the Statute be over the like places, persons, matters and things as the Admiralty Jurisdiction of the High Court in England, and may exercise such jurisdiction and have the same regard to International Law and the Committee of Nations as the High Court in England. The Statute also provides for Local Admiralty appeals and appeals to the Queen in Council, rules of Court, fees and costs, droits of Admiralty and of the Crown, power to the Admiralty to establish Vice-Admiralty Court Judges and other Officers. The 10th section provides that whenever there is not a formally appointed ViceAdmiral in a British possession the Governor of the possession shall be ex officio Vice-Admiral thereof, and the 16th section provides that the Act shall come into force in every British possession on the 1st July, 1891. Rules of Court have been prepared by his Honour the Chief Justice under the 7th section of the Law. Until the new rules have been approved by Her Majesty in Council, the rules, forms and table of fees prepared under an Order of the Queen in Council, dated 23rd August, 1883, which came into force on the 1st January, 1884, continue in force. ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE. THE want of a duly authorized Officer to take charge of the property of persons who die either intestate, or without leaving Executors who will act, having for a considerable time pressed itself on the consideration of the Government a law was passed in 1873, Law 34 of 1873, for the appointment of an Administrator-General. Under this law the Administrator-General is bound to administer on the estates, of which the personalty amounts to £50 and upwards, of persons (1) who die intestate without leaving a widower, widow, brother, sister or any lineal ancestor or descendant, or leaving such relative, if no such relative shall take out letters of administration within three months or such other time as may be fixed by the Court; (2) who die leaving a will but leaving no Executor, or no Executor who will act, if no such relative as aforesaid of such deceased shall take out letters of administration within the same period. He may administer on the estate of any person who shall appoint him the sole Executor of his will, but he cannot act as a Co-Executor with any other person. The Administrator-General may be appointed Trustee of any real or personal property in the same way that any other person might be appointed. He may also be appointed Guardian of any Infant, Committee of any Lunatic or Idiot, and Receiver in Chancery. The Administrator-General is subject to the immediate control of the Supreme Court of Judicature, he being an Officer of that Court and accountable to it for the due and efficient discharge of his duties. This Department was combined with that of the Stamp Commissioner on the 1st September, 1893, on the retirement of Mr. Lee, the late Administrator-General. The amending Law, 26 of 1894, provides that the Administrator-General shall be paid such salary as the Governor may from time to time determine; and that all commissions, fees and remuneration of office, other than salary, formerly payable to the Administrator-General, shall be paid into the Public Treasury, and form part of the General Revenue of the Island. It also provides that all expenses of Clerks and Assistants, together with all expenses incurred in and about the duties of his office, which formerly had to be defrayed personally by the Administrator-General, shall be paid out of the General Revenue. During the year ending 31st March, 1894, there were granted to the Administrator-General Letters of Administration to the Estates of nine deceased persons. The Supreme Court appointed him Guardian and Committee of one lunatic; and Receiver in one matter. He was also appointed Trustee of the St. Catherine Parish Lands. At the close of the financial year ending the 31st March, 1894, the amount at credit of Estates of deceased persons, lunatics, Receiverships and Trusts was £26,591 14s. 1d. The accounts of the Administrator-General are audited in the Audit Office and are passed half-yearly by the Supreme Court. |