the-ordinances-of-the-legislative-counci-1890 — Page 542

506 ORDINANCE No. 7 OF 1862 .


Court of Summary Jurisdiction.

CivilJurisdiction 4. The jurisdiction of the Chief Magistrate and Assistant Magistrate, or of any
of Magistrates
transferred.
Police Magistrate and of Justices of the Peace, of a civil nature, shall cease and deter
mine, and the same is hereby transferred to the said Court of Summary Jurisdiction
hereby constituted.

Judge of Court 5. The said Court of Summary Jurisdiction shall be holden by and before a Judge
ofSummary
Jurisdiction to thereof, to be called the Judge of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction of Hongkong,
be appointed.
who shall be a barrister- at-law in England or Ireland or an advocate in Scotland of
not less than five years standing : Provided that , in case of the death, temporary
illness, or absence of the said Judge, it shall be lawful for the Governor to appoint any
fit and proper person temporarily to discharge the duties of the said office.
Seal of Court. 6. The said Court of Summary Jurisdiction shall have and use , as occasion may
require, a seal bearing a device and impression of the Royal Arms with the inscription :
"Court of Summary Jurisdiction . Hongkong ." -and every summons and other process
issued thereout, shall be stamped with such scal.
Jurisdiction of
Judge. 7. The Judge of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction shall have full power and
authority to hear and determine in a summary way, and without the intervention of
a jury, all disputes and differences between party and party touching any matter of
debt, breach of covenant or contract or promise, injury to the person or property, or
other matter: Provided that, in all cases respectively, the debt or damages or balance
sought to be recovered shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, and that the
matter in question shall not relate to the title to any lands, tenements , or hereditaments,
nor to the taking of any duty payable to Her Majesty, nor to any fee of office or other
matter where rights in futuro may be bound, nor to any general right or duty :
Provided also, that the said Court shall not have power to hear or determine any
matter or question , which arose more than three years before the hearing thereof,
unless there has been some contract, acknowledgment , undertaking, or promise to pay
in respect thereof by the party to be charged within three years before the filing of
the plaint : Provided also, that no party shall be precluded or exempted from suing
or being sued in the aforesaid Summary Jurisdiction by reason of his or her not 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 8. No cause of action or complaint which shall exist at any one time, amounting
action to be split.
[See Ord. No. 1 in the whole to a sum exceeding five hundred dollars as aforesaid, shall be split or
of 1871, sec 35.]
divided so as to be made the ground of two or more different actions or complaints, in
order to bring such cases within the Summary Jurisdiction created by this Ordinance ;
but if the Judge of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction 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 may be advised : Provided that if such plaintiff shall be satisfied
to recover a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars , in full of the whole of his demand,