The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-28 00:00:00

IRISH COURT OF CHANCERY.

Mr. WHITESIDE moved for leave to bring in a bill
to facilitate the sale, partition, and exchange of lands by
the Court of Chancery in Ireland, and the recovery of
moneys secured by recognisances in the said court. His
object for introducing this bill was to extend the machi-
nery of the Irish Court of Chancery, in order to facilitate
the proceedings of the Encumbered Estates Court. The
operations of this court had not failed from any inatten-
tion or want of zeal on the part of its officers, but from
a defect in the act of Parliament. The consequence
was that at the present moment there were no less
than 1,000 encumbered estate cases undisposed of, with
a locked-up capital amounting, in round numbers, to
4,000,0001. in money. Under the existing law, the
attorney who first commenced the suit in the court got
the management of the estate, to the exclusion of all
other attorneys or agents who had previously superin-
tended its affairs. Now, the principal object of this
bill was to remove this anomaly, and to secure to the
parties who were the best entitled to it the power
of winding up the affairs of an encumbered estate
under the authority of the Encumbered Estates Commis-
sioners. The law, as it now stood, held out a premium to
fraud, for the Encumbered Estates Court had no power
to appoint a receiver, like the Court of Chancery, and an
attorney who wanted to entangle an encumbered estate
in the meshes of the laws had nothing else to do but
file a petition in the Encumbered Estates Court, and
the management of the estates passed into his hands. If
the parties in possession or otherwise, wished then to have
a receiver appointed, their only remedy was a bill
in the Court of Chancery. Now, the object of this bill
was to remove all these evils by engrafting upon the
Irish Court of Chancery the simple powers of the origi-
nal Encumbered Estates Court. It would authorise
parties who wished it to file a petition, which should
be short and cheap, in the Court of Chancery for
the sale of their estates, and the Court should have power
to order an immediate sale of the whole or a portion of
the estate. Another provision of the bill was this—
Under the existing law an estate could not be thrown into
Incumbered Estate Court, unless it was incumbered to
the extent of its rental value; but, by this bill, a man
who had an estate that was only partially Membered
should be enabled to get rid of such incumbrance
by selling a portion of his estate under the authority of
the Court of Chancery, which would be tantamount to
giving him a Parliamentary title that would be
saleable in the market both cheaply and expedi-
tiously. He anticipated that the effect of this new
law would be to get rid of the 1,000 estates, and relieve
the 4,000,0001. now locked up in the encumbered
estates, because if the bill passed the parties inte-
rested in them would have power to transfer their
petitions to the Court of Chancery, and he therefore
trusted the house would throw no difficulty in the way of
his introducing the bill that he now asked leave to bring in.
Sir J. YOUNG stated on the part of the Government,
that there was no objelbtion to the introduction of the
bill, but at the same time it was right that he should
add, that the Government had a similar measure under
its consideration and therefore he could hold out no
hope that this bill would either be supported or facili-
tated by the Government. _ _ _

Mr. .PITZGERALD, as an Irish lawyer, bore his
testimony to the usefulness of the Encumbered Estates
Court, and declared it to be his opinion that if the Legis-
lature gave full-scope to its machinery, he saw no reason
why land should not become just as much a marketable
commodity as goods, manufactures, or agricultural
produce. He took exception to the figures which
had been stated by the hon. and learned gentle-
man who made this motion, and announced his intention
to oppose any proposal for the absortion of the functions
of the Incumbered Estates Court of the Court of Chan-
cery. Still there was much good in this bill, and so far
as its practical reforms were concerned, he would give it
his hearty support.
Mr. NAPIER said the object of this species of legis-
lation ought to be to give the public what they really
wanted, namely, facilities of sale and security for title.
That end, he believed, would be attained by this bill,
and he should have no hesitation in awarding it his sup-
port.
- Mr. V. SCULLY said he should offer no opposition to
the motion for bringing in the bill, but he most certainly
should resist any proposal for vesting the sale of encum-
bered estates in the Court of Chancery. Before the
establishment of the Encumbered Estate Court, the
Court of Chancery enjoyed jurisdiction over en-
cumbered estates, and the manner in which it exer-
cised its functions in that respect, showed that
it was incompetent to the task. The fact was
the mischief of the present system lay in this—the
jurisdiction of the Encumbered Estates Court was
too much restricted by far, and he hoped before the
house consented to dispose of this bill it would be
good enough to remember that he had given notice
of his intention on the 10th of May to:move for leave to
bring in a bill with the view of remedying that defect.
Mr. GEORGE said the time had come when the ex-
traordinary powers of the Incumbered Estate Court
ought to be transferred to the ordinary tribunals of the
land, and he was glad to hear that the Government of-
fered no opposition to the introduction of this bill.
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of,
and the house adjourned at six o'clock.