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SUMMARY JURISDICTION COURT-HONGKONG.
RULES AND ORDERS FOR REGULATING THE PRACTICE
OF THE COURT OF SUMMARY JURISDICTION •
OF HONGKONG.
In pursuance of the powers vested in me by Ordinance No. 7, of 1862, I, HENRY JOHN BALL, Esquire, Judge of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction of Hongkong, have framed the following rules and orders, and do certify the same to His Excellency the Governor and to the Legislative Council accordingly.
Dated this 14th day of December, 1864.
Previous Orders.
HENRY JOHN BALL.
I.-The Rules of Practice and the forms now in use in the Court of Summary Jurisdiction shall continue to be used and adopted in the court, except where other- wise directed by Ordinance or by these rules.
Sittings of the Court.
II. The judge shall appoint the days and hours for holding his court, and a notice of the day and hour on which each court shall be holden shall, within a reason- able time before the holding thereof, be inserted in the Government Gazette, and be affixed in some conspicuous place in the Court, and in the clerk of court's office; and whenever any day or hour so appointed for holding the court shall be altered, notice of such alteration shall immediately be inserted and posted in like manner, but the judge may from time to time hold adjourned courts.
Duties of Clerk of Court.
III.-The clerk of the court shall attend at his office every day, except those days ordinarily allowed as holidays, from ten o'clock in the morning until four o'clock in the afternoon.
IV.—The clerk shall issue all summonses, warrants, precepts, and writs of execu- tion, and register all orders and judgments of the court, and keep an account of all proceedings of the court, and shall take charge and keep an account of all court fees, payable or paid into court, and of all monies paid into and out of court, and shall enter an account of all such fees and monies in a book, belonging to the court, to be kept by him for that purpose, and every entry in such book shall have a number prefixed corresponding with the number of the Plaint to which the entry relates.
V. The clerk shall issue all summonses and warrants to the bailiff forthwith after the plaints are entered or warrants applied for; and, in the case of summonses, shall deliver to the bailiff the summous for indorsement as required by Rule XI.
VI.--Whenever money is paid into or deposited in court, whether before or after judgment, an acknowledgment in writing of such payment or deposit shall be given.
VII. No clerk or other officer of the court, shall, under any circumstances, on account of suitors, sign any book, or receive money, or otherwise act as an agent for that purpose, or shall become surety in any case where, by the practice of the court, security is required.
Bailiff's Duties.
VIII. The bailiff shall attend every sitting of the court, unless his absence shall be allowed for reasonable cause by the judge, and, when he does not attend any sitting of the court, the cause of his absence shall be entered by the clerk on the minutes of the next succeeding court.