Jurisdiction in chambers. Deputy magistrate. Appointment of clerk. Duties of clerk. Minutes of proceedings to be kept. Notice of the days on which the court is appointed to be held shall be published in the Government Gazette, and posted in a conspicuous place at the court-house and also in the office of the clerk. When by reason of the absence of a magistrate the court cannot be held at the time appointed, the clerk, or, in his absence, the bailiff, shall adjourn the court, and enter in the minute-book the cause of the adjournment. 11. A magistrate may sit in chambers at any time and at any place; and, subject to the rules of court, may exercise in chambers any jurisdiction of the court, except the trial of actions and the hearing of applications for new trials. 12. In the case of the illness or absence of a magistrate, or if a magistrate is interested in an action or matter pending in a court assigned to him, another magistrate, or any police or resident magistrate, or any two justices of the peace may, at the request of the first-mentioned magistrate, or of the Minister, sit for the first-mentioned magistrate, and may exercise all the powers and perform all the duties which that magistrate might have exercised or performed. Whenever such request shall be made by a magistrate, he shall immediately report the matter to the Minister, and shall state the reason of the request, the name of the magistrate or the names of the justices sitting for him, and such other particulars as may be prescribed. Clerks. 13. For every court the Governor may appoint a clerk and assistant clerks, who shall be paid by salary. 14. The clerk shall sign and issue summonses and warrants, and register the records and judgments, and keep minutes of the proceedings of the court, and shall take charge of and keep an account of the court fees and fines payable or paid into court, and of the moneys paid into and out of court, and shall enter an account of the fees, fines, and moneys in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, and shall, when required, submit his accounts to be audited by the Auditor General or his officers. 15. The clerk shall cause a note of the plaints and summonses, and of the judgments and executions, and returns thereto, and of the fines, and of all other proceedings of the court, to be fairly entered from time to time in books belonging to the court, which shall be kept at the office of the court. In any action or other proceeding, the books and any entries therein, or copies of the books or entries under the seal of the court. and purporting to be signed and certified by the clerk, shall, upon production, be prima facie evidence of the contents of the books, or of the entries, and of the proceedings referred to in them, and of the regularity of the proceedings. Bailiffs. Bailiffs. 16. For every court there shall be one or more bailiffs, who Appointment of shall be appointed by the Governor. The bailiff may, by writing under his hand, with the approval of the magistrate, appoint a sufficient number of fit persons to assist him, and may dismiss all or any of them and appoint others in their place. An officer so appointed may also be suspended by the magistrate, or suspended or dismissed by the Minister. The bailiff shall be responsible for the acts and defaults of the officers appointed to assist him. bailiffs. 17. The death or removal of a bailiff shall not invalidate the Bailiffs' assistants acts of the officers so appointed, but they shall continue to act until may act after the they are dismissed by the successor to the bailiff or by the Minister. bailiff. They shall receive for their services, while they so act after the death or removal of the bailiff, the same remuneration as they were receiving at the date of the death or removal, and such remuneration shall be paid out of the salary, fees, or allowances attached to the office of bailiff. death or removal of 18. The bailiffs, or one of them, shall, if required by the magis- Duties of bailiffs. trate, attend every sitting of the court, and shall, by themselves or their officers, serve all summonses, and execute all warrants issued out of the court; and the bailiffs and officers shall, in the execution of their duties, conform to the rules of court, and subject thereto to the order and direction of the magistrate of the court for which they are appointed: Provided that a summons or other process issued out of any court (a.) may be transmitted by the clerk of the court to, and may (b.) may be served by the plaintiff or his solicitor, or by any 19. A bailiff or other officer duly authorised to execute a warrant of execution issued under the authority of this Act may sell land or goods without taking out an auctioneer's license. Bailiff not required to take out auction eer's license. bailiffs. 20. A bailiff may be paid a salary on account of his general Remuneration of duties, and shall be entitled to receive and retain for his own use the prescribed bailiff's fees, unless the Minister in any case otherwise orders. The bailiff shall, out of such fees, provide for the performance Bailiff answerable for escape and neglect to levy execution. Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., c. 43, s. 49. Bailiff to give security. Disabilities. Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., c. 43, s. 41. Remedies against and penalties on bailiffs and other officers for misconduct. Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., c. 43, ss. 50, 51 performance of the duties for which the fees are allowed, and for the payment of the officers appointed to assist him. Provided that, if in any court the fees allowed to be taken by a bailiff appear to be more than sufficient to afford him a reasonable remuneration, the Minister may order that a certain specified part only of such fees shall be retained by him, and in that case, and so long as the order is in force, the amount of the residue of the fees shall be accounted for, paid, and applied, in the same manner as fees payable to the clerk are accounted for, paid, or applied. 21. If a bailiff who is directed to levy execution loses by neglect, connivance, or omission, the opportunity of levying the execution, the magistrate may, upon complaint of the party aggrieved, inquire into the matter in a summary way, and for that purpose may summon and enforce the attendance of the necessary parties in the same manner in which the attendance of witnesses in an action may be enforced, and may order the bailiff to pay such damages as it appears that the plaintiff has sustained; and the bailiff shall be liable to pay the same. Upon demand made, and on his refusal to pay and satisfy the damages, payment may be enforced in the manner provided by this Act for enforcing a judgment. 22. Every bailiff shall give security for such sum and in such manner as the Minister orders for the due performance of his office, and for the due accounting for and payment of the moneys received by him under this Act, or which he is liable to pay for misbehaviour in his office. General provisions relating to officers. 23. An officer of the court shall not be, directly or indirectly, concerned as agent for a party to any proceeding in the court. Any officer committing an offence against this section shall be liable to pay the sum of one hundred pounds and full costs of action to any person who sues for the same. 24. If a clerk, bailiff, or other officer, acting under or under colour or pretence of the process of the court, is charged with extortion or misconduct, or with not duly paying or accounting for money levied by him under the authority of this Act, the magistrate may inquire into the matter in a summary way, and for that purpose may summon and enforce the attendance of the necessary parties in the manner provided by this Act for enforcing the attendance of witnesses, and may make such order for the repayment of the money extorted, or for the due payment of the money so levied, and for the payment of such damages and costs as he thinks just. The The magistrate may also impose a fine upon the clerk, bailiff, or other officer not exceeding ten pounds for each offence, and, in default of payment of the money so ordered to be paid, payment may be enforced in the manner provided by this Act for enforcing a judgment. The Minister may, in his discretion, direct that the clerk, bailiff, or other officer shall be dealt with under the provisions of any Act for the regulation of the public service in force for the time being, and in such case the provisions of this section shall not apply. by reason of irre 25. No officer of a court in executing any warrant, and no No officer to be person at whose instance any such warrant shall be executed, shall deemed a trespasser be deemed a trespasser by reason of any irregularity or informality gularity. in any proceeding on the validity of which such warrant depends, Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., or in the form of such warrant, or in the mode of executing it; but c. 43, s. 52. the party aggrieved may bring an action for any special damage he may have sustained by reason of such irregularity or informality or mode of execution, and in such action he shall recover no costs unless the damages awarded shall exceed forty shillings. under this Act. 26. If an action is brought against a person for anything done Indemnity to under a warrant issued in pursuance of this Act, the production of persons acting the warrant under the seal of the court shall be deemed sufficient 51 & 52 Vict., c. 43 proof of the authority of the court previous to the issuing of the s. 55. warrant, and if the plaintiff in the action has a verdict given against him, is nonsuited, or discontinues the action, the defendant shall be allowed full costs as between solicitor and client. actions. 27. An action or prosecution shall not be commenced against a Limitations of person for anything done, or omitted to be done, in pursuance or in contravention of this Act, unless it is commenced within six months Cf.51 & 52 Vict., after the act was committed or omitted. Notice in writing of the action and of the cause of action shall be given to the defendant one month at least before the commencement of the action, and a plaintiff shall not recover in the action if tender of sufficient amends is made before action brought, or if, after action brought, a sufficient sum of money with costs is paid into court by the defendant. Legal Practitioners. c. 43, ss. 53, 54. 28. No privilege shall be allowed to a solicitor or other person Privilege. to exempt him from the provisions of this Act. Cf. 27 Vict., No. 21, Appearance may be legal practitioner. 29. A party to an action or other proceeding under this Act, or a legal practitioner retained by or on behalf of the party on either side, or any person allowed by special leave of the magistrate in any case to appear instead of the party, may address the court and examine c. 43, s. 72. and and cross-examine the witnesses, but subject to the rules of court and the orders of the magistrate for the orderly transaction of the business of the court. In personal actions. Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., 3 Edw. VII., C. 42, c. 43, ss. 56, 57; c. s. 3. Cf. ibid., s. 61. In case of partner ship, intestacy, and legacy. PART III.-JURISDICTION. As to Subject-matter. 30. All personal actions in which the amount claimed is not more than one hundred pounds, whether on a balance of account or after an admitted set-off or otherwise, may be commenced in a Local Court; and in an action for recovery of a balance of account, the court shall have jurisdiction, if the original claim is reduced to one hundred pounds or less, by payment or otherwise, or by deducting any sum for which the plaintiff gives the defendant credit upon the plaint being entered: But, except as hereinafter provided, a Local Court shall not have jurisdiction to hear and determine any action in ejectment, or in which the title to land, or the validity of a devise, bequest, or limitation under a will or settlement is in question, or for libel or slander, or for seduction, or for breach of promise of marriage. If the title to land incidentally comes in question in an action, the court shall have power to decide the claim which it is the immediate object of the action to enforce, but the judgment of the court shall not be evidence of title between the parties or their privies in another action in that court, or in any proceedings in any other court. 31. The jurisdiction of a Local Court shall extend to the recovery of any demand not exceeding one hundred pounds, which is the Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., whole or part of the unliquidated balance of a partnership account, or the amount or part of the amount of the distributive share under an intestacy or of a legacy under a will. c. 43, s. 58; 3 Edw. VII., c. 42, s. 3. Equitable claims. Cf. 51 & 52 Vict., c. 43, s. 67; 3 Edw. VII., c. 42, s. 3. Powers of court. s. 89. 32. In any case in which a person has an equitable claim or demand against another person in respect of which the only relief sought is the recovery of a sum of money or of damages, whether liquidated or unliquidated, and the amount claimed is not more than one hundred pounds, the person seeking to enforce the claim or demand may sue for and recover it in a Local Court. 33. A Local Court shall, as regards all causes of action within 36 & 37 Vict., c. 66, its jurisdiction, have power to grant, in any proceeding before such court, such relief, redress, or remedy, and in every such proceeding to give such and the like effect to every ground of defence or counterclaim, |