Speech by the Acting Attorney General, Mr. Jeremy Mathews in the Legislative Council on 11 March 1987
PARTITION (AMENDMENT) BILL 1987
Sir,
I move that the Partition (Amendment) Bill 1987 be
read the second time.
2.
The Partition Ordinance, which was enacted in 1969 as
a law reform measure, provides for the division of the ownership of buildings or land held by co-owners.
The need for this
machinery arises most frequently where there are disputes between co-owners. The Ordinance empowers the Court to divide buildings and land fairly in accordance with settled legal principles. It is a very necessary piece of legislation and it is frequently used. The only problem which has arisen in practice is that, as the Ordinance stands now, under section 3, the Crown has to be made a necessary party to every partition proceeding. Is this and the consequential expense to the taxpayer or the owners really necessary?
3.
It
A review was done to see whether public issues arise beyond the interests of the private parties in these cases. was prompted by a court case where the Attorney General's costs in appearing were disallowed by the trial judge on the basis that the Crown's involvement had been unnecessary.
This review
reached two conclusions.
Firstly, experience has shown that few