the-ordinances-of-the-legislative-counci-1890 — Page 272

236 ORDINANCE No. 3 OF 1849 .


Supreme Court- Summary Jurisdiction.


No. 3 of 1849.
Title.
An Ordinance to amend Ordinance No. 9 of 1845 , entitled " An Ordinance

to invest the Supreme Court of Hongkong with a Summary Juris
diction in certain Cases ."
[ 19th April, 1849. ]
Preamble. HEREAS it has been deemed advisable to afford further facility for the recovery
W of small debts in the Supreme Court of Hongkong in a more expeditious and
less expensive manner than heretofore, by extending its summary jurisdiction from
one hundred to five hundred dollars, and to repeal section 3 of Ordinance No. 9 of
1845, in so far as it relates to the disputed balance of an unsettled account :
Section 3 of Or 1. Be it therefore enacted and ordained by His Excellency the Governor of
dinance No. 9
of 1845 repealed . Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that the said third
section of Ordinance No. 9 of 1845, in so far as it relates to any disputed balance of
an unsettled account, be, and the same is hereby repealed.
Summary juris 2. And be it further enacted and ordained, that in every case over which the said
diction under
Ordinance No. 9
of 1845 to extend Supreme Court has summary jurisdiction under and by virtue of the said Ordinance
to certain de
mands not ex No. 9 of 1845, except as hereinafter mentioned, the said Court shall have similar
ceeding $ 500.
jurisdiction in every like case or cause of action, notwithstanding that the debt or
damages sought to be recovered shall amount to more than one hundred dollars :
Provided always that such debt or damages or cause of action do not exceed five
hundred dollars ; and that the said Court shall not have cognizance under this Or
dinance in any case of libel, or slander, or assault, or assault and battery.
Where execu 3. Provided always, and be it further enacted and ordained, that whenever any
tion issues for a
sum exceeding defendant shall be arrested and taken in execution under the process of the said
$100, party not
to be entitled to
the benefit of Supreme Court sitting in its summary jurisdiction , and where the debt or damages
provision con
tained in the decreed or ordered shall exceed the sum of one hundred dollars, then and in such case
14th section of
Ordinance No. 9 the party arrested and taken in execution shall not be held entitled to the benefit of
of 1845. [See
Ord. No. 10 of the fourteenth section of the said Ordinance No. 9 of 1845, whereby it is provided
1857.]
that imprisonment by process of the Court shall not exceed three months.
Schedule of fees, 4. And be it further enacted and ordained, that in all cases where the sum sought
where sum
sought to be re to be recovered shall exceed one hundred dollars, the fees set forth in the schedule
covered shall
exceed $100. hereunto annexed shall be deemed and taken (unless and until otherwise ordered and
directed) , as lawful fees and emoluments of the said Court and of the attorneys thereof ;
and that the said former fees be enforced, received, and accounted for, according to
the provisions made in and by the twentieth section of the said Ordinance No. 9 of
1845, for the allowance and recovery of fees.
Right of parties 5. And be it further enacted and ordained , that whenever any plaint or suit shall
to be assisted by
attorneys or be instituted under or by virtue of this Ordinance for the recovery of any sum exceed
agents.
ing one hundred dollars , it shall and may be lawful to and for the plaintiff, or defen
dant, to employ any friend, agent, or an attorney of the Supreme Court, to assist at
the trial or hearing of the suit ; and that each party shall respectively bear and defray
the expense incurred by the employment of his own attorney, save and except when