CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7] — Page 28

the Court may de-

fied to receive the

having attained the full age of Twenty-one Years, or by reason of coverture where the husband shall not be resident within the said Colony of Hongkong.

No cause of ac-

II. And be it further enacted and ordained, That no cause tion to be split, but of action or complaint which shall exist at any one time, and cide thereon, if amount in the whole to a sum exceeding the sum of One Plaintiff be satis Hundred Dollars as aforesaid, shall be split or divided, so as sum awarded in to be made the ground of two or more different actions or full of all demands, complaints, in order to bring such cases within the Summary Jurisdiction created by this Ordinance; but if the Chief Justice of the said Supreme Court shall find that the Plaintiff' in any case shall have split his cause of action or complaint as aforesaid, he shall dismiss the said action or complaint with the ordinary costs of a dismissal, without prejudice, however, to the Plaintiff's right to sue upon such cause of action or complaint in such other manner as he lawfully may; Provided, that if such Plaintiff shall be satisfied to recover such sum as, according to this Ordinance, the Sum- mary Jurisdiction of the said Court is made to extend to, in full of the whole of such his demand, then the said Chief' Justice shall and may, if such Plaintiff shall satisfactorily prove his case, make and pronounce an order or decree for such Plaintiff for such sum as shall in such case be demanded by the process, so as such sum does not exceed the Summary Jurisdiction created by this Ordinance; and the same shall be expressed in such order or decree to be, and shall be in full discharge of the whole of such demand, and shall be a full and complete bar to any other action or complaint, which may be brought or made thereon in the same or any Court whatever.

tain cases.

No Summary

III. And be it further enacted and ordained, That nothing Jurisdiction in cer- herein contained relating to the Summary Jurisdiction aforesaid shall extend to any debt being the disputed balance of an unsettled account originally exceeding One Hundred Dollars, nor to any debt, or supposed debt, for any money or thing won, or alleged to have been won, at or by means of any horse-race, cock-match, wager, or any kind of chance, gaming, or play, or to any debt for which there has not been a contract, acknowledgment, undertaking, or promise to pay, within three years before the taking out of the summons.

I ower to

exá-

Defendants on Oath, and

to

IV. And for the better discovery of the truth, and the mine Plaintiffs and more speedily obtaining the end of such actions or complaints, be it further enacted and ordained, That it shall and may be award Costs &c. lawful for the said Chief Justice to examine the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs, Defendant or Defendants, viva voce on their several corporal Oaths; and that it shall be lawful for the said Chief Justice to award costs in all actions or complaints, heard and determined under the aforesaid Summary Jurisdic- tion,

tion, and to allow to the Plaintiff or Defendant, and to his, her, or their witnesses such reasonable sum or sums of money for his, her, or their attendance and loss of time, as he the said Chief Justice shall think fit.

V. And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Proceedings, Or- several proceedings, orders, decrees, and dismissals, which ders, &c., to be in form prescribed in shall be taken, prosecuted, made, and pronounced in pur- Schedule. suance of the aforesaid Summary Jurisdiction, shall be in the form prescribed in the Schedule hereunto annexed, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit.

Court may dis-

VI. And be it further enacted and ordained, That it shall be lawful for the said Chief Justice, and he is hereby authorized miss action or com- and empowered, to dismiss any such action or complaint before plaint with costs. him with costs, and either on the merits, or without pre- judice to further or other proceedings, as he shall think fit.

VII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That if any Consequences of action or suit shall be commenced in the said Supreme Court not proceeding un- der Summary Ju- for any debt, or damages, other than hereinbefore excepted, risdiction. not exceeding the sum of One Hundred Dollars, and re- coverable under and by virtue of the Summary Jurisdiction given by this Ordinance, the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs in such action or suit shall not, by reason of any verdict for him, her, or them, or otherwise, be entitled to any costs whatsoever; and if the verdict shall be given for the Defendant or Defendants in such action or suit, and the Chief Justice of the said Court shall think fit to certify that such action or suit ought to have been brought and tried before him under the Summary Jurisdiction of the said Court, then such Defendant or De- fendants shall have double costs, and shall have such remedy for recovering the same as any Defendant or Defendants may have for his, her, or their costs in any case by law.

fendants to attend

pre-

VIII. And be it further enacted and ordained, That no Plaintiffs and De- person whatever shall be permitted to appear and act in any personally unless such summary proceeding for or on behalf of any Plaintiff or unavoidably Defendant therein, unless it shall be first proved to the vented. satisfaction of the Chief Justice of the said Supreme Court that such Plaintiff or Defendant is prevented by some un- avoidable necessity, or some good or sufficient cause, from attending such Court in person.

ished.

IX. And be it further enacted and ordained, That the Witnesses not provisions contained in the 26th Section of Ordinance No. attending, and per- sons guilty of con- with respect to the non-attendance of Witnesses pursuant to tempt, how pun- their Subpoenas, and to persons guilty of a Contempt of Court, shall apply to and be in force as to all matters and proceedings, under the Summary Jurisdiction of the said Supreme Court.

X.

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