Judgments (Ireland) Act, 1844

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JUDGMENTS (IRELAND) ACT 1844

CHAPTER XC.

An Act for the Protection of Purchasers against Judgments, Crown Debts, Lis Pendens, and Commissions of Bankruptcy; and for providing One Office for the registering of all Judgments in Ireland; and for amending the Laws in Ireland respecting Bankrupts and the Limitation of Actions. [9th August 1844.]

[Preamble Recites 3 Geo. 2. (I.) c. 7; 9 Geo. 4. c. 35.].

Judgments, &c. not to be docketed, re-docketed, or revived under provisions of recited Acts after 1st Novembe 1844.

Re-docketing and revival books to be closed and handed over to officer appointed under this Act, and to be deemed books under this Act.

Judgments re-docketed or revived under 9 Geo. 4. c. 35. to be deemed to be registered under this Act.

[1.] From and after the first day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four no judgment of any superior court of record, or rule for such judgment, shall be docketed or entered under the provisions of the said Act of the third year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second; and from and after that day no such judgment, nor any revival of any such judgment, shall be re-docketed or entered under the said provisions of the said Act of the ninth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth; and all books of or for such re-docketings or entries under either of the said Acts shall on the first day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four be finally closed, without prejudice to the operation of any judgment which shall have been in that time docketed and entered, or re-docketed or entered in the book of revivals, under the provisions of either of the said recited Acts, except so far as any such judgment may be affected by the provisions herein-after contained; and upon the close of the said first day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four all the said re-docketing and revival books kept under the provisions of the said last mentioned Act in every of the said superior courts of common law in Ireland shall, by the officer having in each of such courts respectively the custody of the same, be handed over to the officer to be appointed under this Act; and such books, when so banded over, shall be forthwith deposited by the said last-mentioned officer in the office to be established under this Act, and shall be considered as part of the books to which access is to be had as herein-after provided; and all judgments which have already been or on or before the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-four shall be re-docketed or entered as revived in the said books, under the provisions of the said Act of the ninth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, shall be deemed to be registered under the provisions of this Act, and shall operate from the time of such re-docketing or entry after the revival precisely as if the same had been registered under the authority of this Act, but with the benefit of its actual priority as the same existed before the passing of this Act, and shall be subject to the provision herein-after contained with respect to the re-registering.

Judgments or rules for judgment not to affect lands, &c. as against purchasers, &c. unless memorandum of particulars be left with officer under this Act, and registered.

2. No judgment of the said superior courts respectively, or rule for such judgment, already docketed under the said first-recited Act, and which has not already been or shall not on or before the said first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-four be re-docketed or entered after revival under the said Act of the ninth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, shall, after the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, nor shall any judgment of the said superior courts respectively which on the said first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-four shall not be docketed under the said first-recited Act, or which shall be obtained after that day, affect any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, as to purchasers, mortgagees, or creditors, unless and until a memorandum or minute thereof, containing the names, and the usual or last known place of abode, and the title, trade, or profession, of the plaintiff and defendant or person whose estate is intended to be affected thereby, and the court in which such judgment or rule shall have been obtained, and the date of such judgment or rule, and the amount of the debt, damages, costs, or monies thereby recovered or ordered to be paid, shall be left with the officer to be appointed under this Act, who shall forthwith enter the same particulars in a book, in alphabetical order, by the name of the defendant or person whose estate is intended to be affected by the said judgment or rule; or unless and until the same shall be duly revived according to the course and practice of the said superior courts respectively, and a like memorandum or minute as aforesaid, stating also the revival thereof, shall be left with the officer to be appointed under this Act, who shall forthwith enter the same particulars in a book of revivals to be kept by him, in alphabetical order, by the name of the defendant or person whose estate is intended to be affected by such judgment or rule;. . .

3 & 4 Vict. c. 105.

Entries of decrees, orders, &c. under recited Act to be made by officer under this Act; and books to be transferred to his office.

Entries under recited Act to be deemed to be made under this Act, and to operate from dates of entry, and to be subject to provisions for re-registration.

3. And whereas under and by virtue of the Debtors (Ireland) Act, 1840, provision is made for entries of the decrees, orders, and rules therein mentioned, in like manner as the aforesaid judgments and rules are hereby required to be registered, in order to bind purchasers, mortgagees, and creditors: Be it enacted, that from and after the first day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four all such entries as last aforesaid shall be made by the officer for the time being appointed under the authority of this Act; and that all books belonging to the office established under the said last-mentioned Act shall, on the close of the said first day of November, be deposited in the office established by this Act, and shall be considered as part of the books to which access is to be had . . . , as herein-after provided; and that all entries of decrees, orders, and rules which have already been or on or before the said first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-four shall be made in the said books, under the provisions of the said last-mentioned Act, shall be deemed to be entries made under the provisions of this Act, and shall operate from the time of such entries precisely as if the same had been registered under the authority of this Act, and be subject to the provisions hereafter contained with respect to re-registering.

Rules of common law courts and judgments, &c. of inferior courts removed into superior court under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 105. not to affect lands, &c. as against purchasers, &c. unless memorandum of particulars be left with officer under this Act, and registered.

4. No rule of a court of common law, nor any judgment, rule, or order of any of the inferior courts in the Debtors (Ireland) Act, 1840, mentioned, which has already been or hereafter shall be removed into a superior court in manner therein mentioned, shall from and after the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and forty-four affect any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, as to purchasers, mortgagees, or creditors, unless and until such a memorandum or minute thereof, containing the name or title of the cause or matter in which the same shall have been made or pronounced and the names and the usual or last known place of abode, and the title, trade, or profession, of the plaintiff, if there be such, and of the defendant or person whose estate is intended to be affected thereby, and the court in which such judgment, rule, or order shall have been pronounced, and the date of the same, and the amount of the debt, damages, costs, and monies thereby recovered or ordered to be paid, shall be left with the officer appointed under this Act, who shall forthwith enter the same in manner aforesaid; . . .

The date when memorandum of particulars is left with officer to be entered in the book.

5. In addition to the entry by the said last-mentioned Act or by this Act required to be made in a book of the particulars to be contained in every memorandum or minute of any judgment, decree, rule, or order, or other matter, such officer so to be appointed as aforesaid shall insert in such book the year and the day of the month when every such memorandum or minute is so left with him.

[Ss. 6 (providing that judgments of superior courts, decrees or orders in any court of equity, rules in any court of common law, orders in bankruptcy and lunacy, and judgments, rules, and orders of any inferior courts, shall not affect purchasers, mortgagees, or creditors, unless a fresh memorandum be registered within 20 years before the execution of the conveyance, &c., or before the right of the creditor accrued), and 7 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67. (S.L.R.)]

Registered judgments, &c. not to affect purchasers, &c. without notice except as before 3 & 4 Vict. c. 105. where duly docketed.

8. Provided that as against a purchaser or mortgagee without notice of any such judgment, decree, rule, or order as aforesaid none of such judgments, decrees, rules, or orders shall bind or affect any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest therein, further or otherwise or more extensively in any respect, although duly registered or re-registered, than a judgment of any of the superior courts aforesaid would have bound such purchaser or mortgagee before the Debtors (Ireland) Act, 1840 , where it had been duly docketed according to the law then in force.

3 & 4 Vict. c. 105. and this Act not to revive judgments barred, or affect them as between the parties.

9. Provided also, that nothing in the Debtors (Ireland) Act, 1840, or in this Act contained shall extend to revive or restore any judgment which shall be extinguished or barred, nor shall the same extend to affect or prejudice any judgment as between the parties thereto, or their representatives, or those deriving as volunteers under them, save so far as is herein expressly provided.

Lis pendens not to affect purchasers, &c. unless duly registered under this Act.

Re-registration of lis pendens every 20 years.

10. No lis pendens shall bind or affect a purchaser or mortgagee without express notice thereof, unless and until a memorandum or minute containing the name and the usual or last known place of abode, and the title, trade, or profession, of the person whose estate shall be intended to be affected thereby, and the court of equity, and the title of the cause or information, and the day when the bill or information was filed, shall be left with such officer so to be appointed as aforesaid, who shall forthwith enter the same particulars in a book as aforesaid, in alphabetical order, by the name of the person whose estate is intended to be affected by such lis pendens, and which book is to be intituled “The Index to Lis Pendens”; . . . and the provisions herein-before contained in regard to the re-registering of judgments every twenty years, and the operation thereof, . . . shall extend to every case of lis pendens which shall be re-registered under the provisions of this Act.

Recognizances, crown debts or bonds, &c. or acceptance of office, making officer’s lands liable under 21 & 22 Geo 3. (I.) c. 20. not to affect lands, &c. as against purchasers, &c. unless registered under this Act.

All persons to be at liberty to search all books handed over or kept under this Act

11. No judgment, statute, or recognizance which shall hereafter be obtained or entered into in the name or upon the proper account of her Majesty, or inquisition upon which any debt shall be hereafter found due to her Majesty, or obligation or specialty which shall hereafter be made to her Majesty, or any acceptance of office which shall hereafter be accepted by officers whose lands shall thereby become liable for the payment and satisfaction of arrearages under the provisions of an Act passed in a session of Parliament holden in the twenty-first and twenty-second years of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Third, intituled “An Act for the more speedy and effectual recovery of the King’s debts,” shall affect any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, as to purchasers or mortgagees, unless and until a memorandum or minute, containing the name and the usual or last known place of abode, and the title, trade, or profession, of the person whose estate is intended to be affected thereby, and also in the case of any such judgment the court and the title of the cause in which such judgment shall have been obtained, and the date of such judgment, and the amount of the debt, damages, and costs thereby recovered, and also in the case of a statute or recognizance the sum for which the same was acknowledged, and before whom the same was acknowledged, and the date of the same, and also in the case of an inquisition the sum thereby found to be due, and the date of the same, and also in the case of an obligation or specialty the sum in which the obligor shall be bound, or for which the obligation or specialty shall be made, and the date of the same, and also in the case of acceptance of office the name of the office, and the time of the officer accepting the same, shall be left with such officer acting under this Act as aforesaid, who shall forthwith enter the same particulars in a book, to be intituled “The Index to Debtors and Accountants to the Crown,” in alphabetical order, by the name of the person whose estate is intended to be affected by such judgment, statute, or recognizance, inquisition, obligation, or specialty, or the acceptance of any office; . . . and all persons shall be at liberty to search the said book, and also the other books which are to be handed over as aforesaid, to the officer to be appointed under this Act, and also all the books which are to be kept under the provisions of this Act, or any or either of the said books. . . .

Index of crown debtors.

12. [Provision requiring a book or books to be prepared, to be called “The Index to Debtors and Accountants to the Crown” rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96. (S.L.R.)] and said book or books shall be subject to all the regulations prescribed by this Act with respect to the “Index to Debtors and Accountants to the Crown,” herein-before mentioned; and all persons shall be at liberty to search or inspect the same book or books, . . .

Quietus to debtors and accountants to be registered.

13. Wherever a quietus, or a certificate or order in the nature of a quietus, shall be obtained by a debtor or accountant to the crown, and an office copy thereof, and of the certificate or consent of the attorney general for Ireland, shall be left with such officer so to be appointed as aforesaid, that the same may be registered, such officer shall forthwith enter the same in the said book of debtors and accountants to the crown, in alphabetical order, by the name of the persons whose estate is intended to be discharged thereby, with the date, . . .

Purchasers, &c. of lands from crown debtors or accountants may in certain cases obtain a certificate of discharge of the purchased, &c. lands from crown debts.

14. [Recital.] It shall be lawful for the Treasury, by writing, upon payment of such sums of money as they may think fit to require into the receipt of her Majesty’s Exchequer, to be applied in liquidation of the debt or liability of any debtor or accountant to the crown, or upon such other terms as they may think proper, to certify that any lands, tenements, or hereditaments of any such crown debtor or accountant shall be held by the purchaser or mortgagee or intended purchaser or mortgagee thereof, his or their executors, administrators, and assigns, wholly exonerated and discharged from all further claims of her Majesty, for or in respect of any debt, claim, or liability, present or future, of the debtor or accountant to whom such lands, tenements, or hereditaments belonged, or in case of leases for fines to certify that the lessees, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, shall hold, so exonerated and discharged, without prejudice to the rights and remedies of the crown against the reversion of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments comprised in any such leases, and the rents and covenants reserved and contained by and in the same, and thereupon the same lands, tenements, and hereditaments shall respectively be held wholly exonerated and discharged as aforesaid, but in cases of leases without prejudice as aforesaid.

Such discharge not to affect any claim of the crown on other lands liable.

15. Provided also, that any such certificate, or the discharge of any such lands, tenements, or hereditaments by virtue of this Act, shall in nowise impeach, lessen, or affect the right or power of her Majesty, to levy the whole of any debt or demand which may at any time be due from any such debtor or accountant to the crown out of or from any other lands, tenements, or hereditaments which would have been liable thereto in case no such certificate had been granted, and no such discharge had been obtained.

[S. 16 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 72. s. 1.]

Searches.

17. . . . Provided always, that no search shall be made for any of the matters authorized to be registered under this Act, except at the office to be established under the provisions of this Act.

[Ss. 18–20 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 72. s. 1.]

Duplicate books may be made out, if necessary.

21. It shall be lawful for the lord chancellor, the chief justice, the master of the rolls, the chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the chief baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, or the majority of them, at any time hereafter, in case they shall deem it fit, to direct that duplicate copies shall for the purposes of this Act be made of the said books by this Act directed to be handed over to the officer appointed under this Act, or of the books directed to be by the said officer kept under the provisions of this Act, or of any of such books, and thereupon the said officer to be appointed under this Act shall have such duplicate copies forthwith made out. . . .

A registrar of judgments to be appointed for purposes of this Act.

Duties of registrar.

Office to be provided.

22. [Recital.] . . . it shall be lawful for the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron in Ireland, or the majority of them, and they are hereby required, forthwith, and from time to time when occasion shall require, to appoint an officer, to be called the “registrar of judgments,” whose duty it shall be to attend duly in his office, and to superintend the business thereof, and to sign a certificate of all searches issuing from said office . . . ; and the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron are hereby required to assign an office within the public buildings called the Four Courts, Dublin, or within the buildings or offices contiguous thereto and attached to or connected therewith, and the said registrar . . . shall discharge the duties of the said office in the place so to be appointed, and in no other place;

[Ss. 23–29 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67. (S.L.R.)]

Registrar or any assistant clerk may be removed for misconduct, &c.;

or fined.

30. It shall and may be lawful to and for the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, the lord chief baron, or the majority of them, on complaint duly made, or on any offence or misconduct of which they may otherwise acquire judicial knowledge, and after full inquiry into the alleged grounds thereof, by affidavit or otherwise, as they shall think fit respectively, to remove the said registrar . . . appointed under the provisions of this Act from his office, for any offence or misconduct in such office which they or the majority of them shall deem deserving of such punishment, and thereupon such registrar . . . shall cease to hold or be entitled to such office; and it shall be lawful for the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron, or the majority of them, on complaint and inquiry as aforesaid, to inflict upon such registrar . . . for any minor offence such punishment by way of fine as they or the majority of them shall deem expedient.

[S. 31 rep. 41 & 42 Vict. c. 79. (S.L.R.)]

Duties to be performed by officers in person.

Deputy may in certain cases be appointed.

32. The registrar [¹ and clerks] appointed under this Act shall respectively perform their duties in person, except only in case of absence under the sanction herein-after provided; (that is to say,) in case of illness or other necessary or proper cause of absence it shall be lawful for the said registrar from time to time as occasion may require, to appoint a deputy, (such deputy, and also the occasion for such appointment, to be first approved of by the lord chancellor, upon a petition being verified,) for such time and under such regulations as the lord chancellor shall direct; and no such appointment of a deputy shall continue for any longer time than shall be allowed and specified in and by the order which shall be made on such petition; and such deputy shall be paid, out of the salary of such registrar such sum as shall be directed by the said order; and at all times during the temporary absence of the said registrar under such permission as aforesaid the signature of his deputy shall be good and valid to any search or other document requiring the signature of such registrar.

Registrar and clerks not to practice as barristers, attorneys, &c.

Officers so doing shall be dismissed.

33. Every person who shall at any time be appointed to be registrar of or in the office established under this Act shall be and he is hereby declared to be incapable of practising as a barrister, or as an attorney or solicitor, or as agent or clerk of an attorney or solicitor, of any court of law or equity in Ireland, either separately or in partnership with any other, or in the name of any other person or persons, during such time as such person shall hold the situation, office, or employment of registrar or clerk in such office; and if the said registrar shall, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, so practise as such barrister, attorney, solicitor, agent, while he shall hold such situation, office, or employment, under this Act, the lord chancellor shall, on sufficient proof of the same, dismiss the person so offending from his office or employment, and the person so dismissed shall be rendered incapable of ever after holding any office or employment in any of the said courts.

[Ss. 34–40 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67. (S.L.R.)]

Extent of Act.

41. This Act shall extend to Ireland only.

[¹Words in brackets rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67. (S.L.R.)]