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505
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4
that all appeals from the original jurisdiction, except interlocutory appeals, must be to the full court of three judges. Sub-clause (3) of clause 2 of the bill proposes to apply the provisions of the Full Court Ordinance, 1912, to any action transferred under sub-clause (1) of clause 2. The objection to making the appeal in such a transferred action lie to the full court of two judges is that it would in that case be necessary to provide that the appeal in any original jurisdiction action consolidated with the transferred action should also lie withe full court of two judges. It is certainly an objection to sub-clause (3) of clause 2 of the bill that an appeal to the full court of three judges places additional delay in the way of the de- termination of a class of cases which ought to be heard speedily, especially as the Ordinance is only a temporary one, but the consideration mentioned above seems to outweigh this objection.
6. Clause 5 of the bill is intended to check the practice of issuing distress warrants for amounts in excess of the standard rent, apparently in the hope, often well founded, that the tenant will have neither the means nor the knowledge to resist such an illegal distress by means of ordinary civil proceedings, with their attendant expense and technicality,
7. Clause 6 makes it a criminal offence, punishable with a fine of $1,000, for any person to do any act mala fide in order to induce a tenant to quit. This clause has been inserted because of complaints that certain landlords have been removing windows and even staircases in order to drive their tenants out.
8. Clause 7 provides that a notice to quit given under section 4 (1) (f) of the principal Ordinance shall not be valid unless given or confirmed by leave of the court. It also provides that, even if leave is given, the lessee may apply at any time for damages if he can prove that the notice was not bona fide. Section 4 (1)
of the principal Ordinance deals with cases where the lessor gives notice to quit on the ground that be intends to pull down or re-construct the domestic tenement, Clause 4 has been inserted in the bill because it appears that certain landlords are using this provision mala fide, ie, in cases where they have no real intention of reconstruction and are prepared to abandon their alleged intention to re-construct provided that the tenant is prepared to pay an increased rent.
0. Clause 8 provides that a notice to quit given by a lessee is not to affect any sub-lessee, unless the intter concurs with the notice.
10. Clause provides that an ejectment order against a lessee is not to affect any sub-lessee. This provision is Lakon from the English Act.
11. Clause 10 provides that upon the determination of the interest of a lessee any sub-lessed becomes a statu- tory tenant of the head landlord on the same terms as he would have held from his immediate landlord if the latter's tenancy continued, but at the standard rent. This is also taken from the English Act.
J. H. KEMP,
Attorney General.
19th October, 1921.
No. 1.
REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
STANDING LAW COMMITTEE,
AT A MEETING HELD ON THE 28TH OCTOBER, 1921.
PRESENT:
The Honourable the Attorney General, (JOSEPH Horsford KEMP, K.C., C.B.E.) the Colonial Treasurer, (CHARLES MCILVAINE MESSER, O.B.E.).
*
Mr. HENRY EDWARD POLLOCK, K.C.
"
Mr. Lau CHU-PAK.
כג
ABSENT:
Mr. PERCY HOBSON HOLYOAK.
RESTS AMENDMENT BILL.-The Committee considered the bill intituled An Ordi- nance to amend the Rents Ordinance, 1921. They also considered certain suggestions forwarded by the Hongkong Law Society to the Attorney General under cover of letter dated the 27th October, 1921, certain criticisms put forward on behalf of the landlords, a suggestion to provide for the case of bankruptcy, and three additional draft clauses subunitted by the Attorney General.
The Committee unanimously agreed to recommend that clauses 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the bill should be omitted, and that the three draft clauses submitted by the Attorney General should be inserted in the bill.
The three clauses in question are as follows: —
Notice to
quit ta bind sub-insees
in certain
Cases.
Notice to quit given by
vendor to more for benefit of purchaser in certain cases,
Onliuative No. 1 of 1003.
7. Notwithstanding anything contained in the principal Ordinance or in this Ordinance, any bong fide notice to quit duly given by a lessor to a lessee in reliance on the provisions of paragraph (f) of subsec tion (1) of section of the principal Ordinance, as amended by section 2 of this Ordinance, or in reliance on such provisions and ou the provisions of section 8 of this Ordinance, and given in accordance with the provisions of the said paragraph, so amended, shall operate so as to bind all sub-lessees deriving title directly or indirectly from the lessee to whom such notice shall have been given. 8. If the owner of any domestic tenement agrees to sell such domestic tenement to a purchaser who bona fide intends forthwith to pull down such domestic tenement or to reconstruct such domestic tenement to such an extent as to make such domestic tenement a new building within the meaning of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, and if such owner agrees with such purchaser to give the necessary notices to quit, any notice to quit given by such owner in pursuance of such agreement shall enure for the benefit of such purchaser as if such purchaser had been the owner at the time when such notice to quit was given and had given such notice to quit, provided that nothing in this section shall relieve such owner from the obligation to state in writing at the time of giving such notice to quit whether such purchaser intends to pull down such
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