Agricultural Credit Act, 1947

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Registers of chattel mortgages.

24.—(1) A register of chattel mortgages shall be set up in every Circuit Court Office and shall be there kept and maintained in accordance with this section and the regulations made thereunder.

(2) Subject to compliance with the conditions prescribed by or under this section for the registration of a chattel mortgage, every chattel mortgage shall be capable of being registered within fourteen days and no longer after its date in the register of chattel mortgages maintained under this section in the Circuit Court Office serving the area in which the land of the mortgagor is situate or, where such land is situate in two or more areas served by separate Circuit Court Offices, in each of the several registers of chattel mortgages maintained under this section in the said Circuit Court Offices respectively.

(3) Any person (including a surety) party to a chattel mortgage or the legal representative of any such person may register such chattel mortgage within fourteen days and no longer after its date in any register of chattel mortgages in which such chattel mortgage is capable of being registered under this section and the mortgagee or, with the consent in writing of the mortgagee, the mortgagor or any surety party thereto or his legal representative may at any time cause such chattel mortgage to be removed from any such register.

(4) Whenever the principal moneys interest and costs secured by a chattel mortgage are fully repaid the mortgagee shall forthwith cause such chattel mortgage to be removed from every register of chattel mortgages in which it is registered under this section.

(5) No chattel mortgage shall be of any force or effect unless and until it is duly registered in accordance with this section and the regulations made thereunder in the register or every register (as the case may be) of chattel mortgages in which it is capable of being registered under this section and a chattel mortgage so registered shall cease to be of any force or effect if and when it ceases to be duly registered in such register or every such register (as the case may be).

(6) The contents of any register of chattel mortgages maintained under this section shall not be published or disclosed nor shall any copies thereof or any part thereof be issued to any person save only and except that—

(a) a recognised lender may at any time by requisition under seal require the county registrar to inspect any such register and to provide such recognised lender with certified copies of any entries therein relating to the stock of any person named in such requisition; and

(b) a county registrar may at any time inspect the register of chattel mortgages maintained in a Circuit Court Office serving the area or any part of the area for which he is the county registrar; and

(c) any person in the service of the State and duly authorised in writing in that behalf by the Minister or the Minister for Agriculture may at any time inspect and take copies of any such register or any part thereof; and

(d) an officer employed in a Circuit Court Office and performing duties formerly performed by the under-sheriff may at any time inspect the register of chattel mortgages maintained in such Circuit Court Office; and

(e) whenever the Supreme Court or any Judge of the High Court or the Circuit Court directs that a copy of the portion of any such register relating to any particular chattel mortgage or alleged chattel mortgage be furnished to them or him, such copy shall be so furnished accordingly and such Court or Judge may disclose or publish such copy or the contents thereof to such extent and in such manner and subject to such conditions as in their or his opinion justice may require.

(7) The Circuit Court or the High Court or the Supreme Court on appeal from the High Court may at any time cause any register of chattel mortgages maintained under this section to be rectified (whether by variation, addition or omission) in such manner as justice may require.

(8) The Minister for Justice may by order make regulations in relation to all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the form and contents of the several registers of chattel mortgages maintained under this section;

(b) the keeping and maintenance generally of such registers;

(c) the mode of registering a chattel mortgage in such registers and the evidence to be produced, for the purpose of such registration, of the due execution and stamping of such chattel mortgage;

(d) the mode of removing a chattel mortgage from such registers and the evidence to be produced for the purpose of such removal;

(e) the requisitioning, making and certification of searches by officials of the Circuit Court offices on the several registers of chattel mortgages at the request of those persons or bodies who under this section are authorised to inspect the said registers;

(f) the providing of certified copies of the said registers or of any parts thereof or of any entries therein at the request and on behalf of any recognised lender;

(g) with the consent of the Minister for Finance, the fees to be charged and taken in respect of the registration of chattel mortgages in such registers, the removal of chattel mortgages from such registers, the inspection of such registers and any other matter relating to such registers;

(h) the general preservation of the secrecy of such registers and in particular the evidence of authority to be produced by persons claiming to inspect or take copies of such registers.

(9) Every register of chattel mortgages maintained in a Circuit Court Office under the Principal Act shall be deemed to have been set up under this section.

(10) Regulations made by the Minister for Justice under **section 25 of the Principal Act and in force immediately before the date of the passing of this Act shall continue in force and be deemed to have been made under this section.

(11) The expenses of carrying this section into effect shall to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.