28 VICT. C. 27.—An Act for awarding Costs in certain Cases of Private Bills.— [26th May 1865.] WHEREAS it is expedient to empower committees of both Houses of Parliament on private bills to award costs in certain cases: Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: I. When the committee on a private bill shall decide that the preamble is not proved, or shall insert in such bill any provision for the protection of any petitioner, or strike out or alter any provision of such bill for the protection of such petitioner, and further unanimously report, with respect to any or all of the petitioners against the bill, that such petitioner or petitioners has or have been unreasonably or vexatiously subjected to expense in defending his or their rights proposed to be interfered with by the bill, such petitioner or petitioners shall be entitled to recover from the promoters of such bill his or their costs in relation thereto, or such portion thereof as the committee may think fit, such costs to be taxed by the taxing officer of the House as hereinafter mentioned, or the committee may award such a sum for costs as they shall think fit, with the consent of the parties affected. When committee report preamble not proved,'opponentitled to recover costs. ents to be When commit- be entitled to II. When the committee on a private bill shall decide that the preamble is proved, and further unanimously report that the promoters of the bill have been vexatiously subjected to expense in the promotion of the said bill by the opposition of any petitioner or petitioners against the same, then the promoters shall be entitled to recover from the petitioners, or such of them as the committee shall think fit, such portion of their costs of the promotion of the bill as the committee may think fit, such costs to be taxed by the taxing officer of the House as hereinafter mentioned, or such a sum for costs as the committee shall name, with the consent of the parties affected; and in their report to the House the committee shall state what portion of the costs, or what sum for costs, they shall so think fit to award, together with the names of the parties liable to pay the same and the names of the parties entitled to receive the same: Provided Proviso. always, that no landowner who bona fide at his own sole risk and charge opposes a bill which proposes to take any portion of the said petitioner's property for the purposes of the bill shall be liable to any costs in respect of his opposition to such bill. III. On application made to the taxing officer of the House by such promoters or petitioners, or by their solicitors or parliamentary agents, not later than six calendar months after the report of such committee, and in cases where no sum shall have been named by the committee, with the consent of the parties affected, not until one month after a bill of such costs shall have been delivered to the party chargeable therewith, which bill shall be sealed with the seal or subscribed with the proper hand of the parties claiming such costs, or of their solicitor or parliamentary agent, the taxing officer shall examine and tax such costs, and shall deliver to the parties affected, or either or any of them, on application, a certificate signed by himself, expressing the amount of such costs, or in cases where a sum for costs shall have been named by the committee, with the consent as aforesaid, such sum as shall have been so named, with the name of the party liable to pay the same, and the name of the party entitled to receive the same, and such certificate shall be conclusive evidence as well of the amount of the demand as of the title of the party therein named to recover the same from the party therein stated to be liable to the payment thereof; and the party claiming under the same shall, upon payment thereof, give a receipt at the foot of such certificate, which shall be a sufficient discharge for the same. Costs to be taxed. IV. All powers given to the taxing officer by the Acts ten and eleven Victoria, Powers of chapter sixty-nine, and twelve and thirteen Victoria, chapter seventy-eight, with taxing officer. reference to the examination of parties and witnesses on oath, and with reference to the production of documents, and with reference to the fees payable in respect of any taxation, shall be vested in the taxing officer for the purposes of this Act.. Recovery of costs when taxed. Form of action in Scotland. Persons paying costs may recover a proportion from other persons liable thereto. When commit tee report 'pre amble not proved,' promoters to pay costs out of deposits. Definition of promoters. Meaning of private bill. Commence ment of Act. The advance of money on contract to receive a share of profits not to constitute the lender a partner. V. The party entitled to such taxed costs, or such sum named by the committee, with such consent as aforesaid, or his executors or administrators, may demand the whole amount thereof, so certified as above, from any one or more of the persons liable to the payment thereof, and in case of non-payment thereof on demand may recover the same by action of debt in any of her Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster or Dublin, or by action in the Court of Session in Scotland. In such action it shall be sufficient, in England or Ireland, for the plaintiff to declare that the defendant is indebted to him in the sum mentioned in the said certificate; and the said plaintiff shall, upon filing the said declaration, together with the said certificate and an affidavit of such demand as aforesaid, be at liberty to sign judgment as for want of plea by nil dicit, and take out execution for the said sum so mentioned in the said certificate, together with the costs of the said action, according to due course of law: Provided always, that the validity of such certificate shall not be called in question in any court. VI. In such action it shall be sufficient, in Scotland, for the pursuer to allege that the defender is indebted to him in the sum mentioned in the said certificate, under the like proviso in regard to the validity of the certificate. VII. In every case it shall be lawful for any person from whom the amount of such costs or sum named by the committee with consent as aforesaid has been so recovered to recover from the other persons, or any of them, who are liable to the payment of such costs or sum named by the committee with consent as aforesaid a proportionate share thereof, according to the number of persons so liable, and according to the extent of the liability of each person. VIII. In any case in which the committee shall have reported that the preamble is not proved, and where, in accordance with the standing orders of either House of Parliament and of an Act of the ninth year of her present Majesty, chapter twenty, a deposit of money or stock is made with respect to the application to Parliament for an Act, the money or stock so deposited shall be a security for the payment by the promoters of the bill for the Act of all costs or sums in respect of costs, if any, payable by them under this Act; and every party entitled to receive any costs or sum so payable shall accordingly have a lien available in equity for the same on the money or stock so deposited, and the lien shall attach thereon at the time when the bill is first referred to a committee of either House of Parliament; provided that where several parties have the lien for an amount exceeding in the aggregate the net value of the money or stock, their respective claims shall proportionately abate. IX. When a bill is not promoted by a company already formed, all persons whose names shall appear in such bill as promoting the same, and in the event of the bill passing the company thereby incorporated, shall be deemed to be promoters of such bill for all the purposes of this Act. X. For the purposes of this Act the expression private bill shall extend to and include any bill for a local and personal Act. XI. That this Act shall not take effect before the first day of November one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. 28 AND 29 VICT. c. 86.—An Act to amend the Law of Partnership.— WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law relating to partnership: Be it there- I. The advance of money by way of loan to a person engaged or about to engage in any trade or undertaking upon a contract in writing with such person that the lender shall receive a rate of interest varying with the profits, or shall receive a share of the profits arising from carrying on such trade or undertaking, shall not, of itself, constitute the lender a partner with the person or the persons carrying on such trade or undertaking, or render him responsible as such. II. No contract for the remuneration of a servant or agent of any person engaged in any trade or undertaking by a share of the profits of such trade or undertaking shall, of itself, render such servant or agent responsible as a partner therein, nor give him the rights of a partner. III. No person being the widow or child of the deceased partner of a trader, and receiving by way of annuity a portion of the profits made by such trader in his business, shall, by reason only of such receipt, be deemed to be a partner of or to be subject to any liabilities incurred by such trader. IV. No person receiving by way of annuity or otherwise a portion of the profits of any business, in consideration of the sale by him of the good-will of such business, shall, by reason only of such receipt, be deemed to be a partner of or be subject to the liabilities of the person carrying on such business. V. In the event of any such trader as aforesaid being adjudged a bankrupt, or taking the benefit of any Act for the relief of insolvent debtors, or entering into an arrangement to pay his creditors less than twenty shillings in the pound, or dying in insolvent circumstances, the lender of any such loan as aforesaid shall not be entitled to recover any portion of his principal, or of the profits or interest payable in respect of such loan, nor shall any such vendor of a good-will as aforesaid be entitled to recover any such profits as aforesaid until the claims of the other creditors of the said trader for valuable consideration in money or money's worth have been satisfied. The remune ration of agents, etc., by share of profits not to make them partners. Certain annuitants not to be deemed partners. Receipt of profits in consideration of sale of goodwill not to make the seller a partner. In case of bankruptcy, etc., lender not to rank with other creditors. VI. In the construction.of this Act the word 'person' shall include a partner- Interpretation ship firm, a joint-stock company, and a corporation. of 'person.' CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY AND THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH, RELATIVE TO JOINTSTOCK COMPANIES.—Signed at Paris, April 30, 1862. [Ratifications exchanged at Paris, May 15, 1862.] HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the Emperor of the French, having judged it expedient to come to an understanding in order to define, within their respective dominions and possessions, the position of commercial, industrial, and financial companies and associations constituted and authorized in conformity with the laws in force in either of the two countries, have resolved to conclude a Convention for that purpose, and have named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say: Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry Richard Charles Earl Cowley, her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of the French; And his Majesty the Emperor of the French, M. Edouard Antoine Thouvenel, Senator, his Minister and Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs; Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles : ARTICLE I. The High Contracting Parties declare that they mutually grant to all companies and other SA Majesté la Reine du Royaume Uni de la Grande Bretagne et d'Irlande, et sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français, ayant jugé utile de s'entendre, pour régulariser dans leurs états et possessions respectifs, la situation des compagnies et associations commerciales, industrielles, et financières, constituées et autorisées suivant les lois particulières à chacun des deux pays, ont résolu de conclure une Convention dans ce but, et ont muni à cet effet de leurs pleins pouvoirs, savoir: Sa Majesté la Reine du Royaume Uni de la Grande Bretagne et d'Irlande, le Très Honorable Henri Richard Charles Comte Cowley, son Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire près sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français ; Et sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français, M. Edouard Antoine Thouvenel, Sénateur, son Ministre et Secrétaire d'Etat au Département des Affaires Etrangères; Lesquels, après s'être communiqué leurs pleins pouvoirs respectifs, trouvés en bonne et due forme, sont convenus des Articles suivants : ARTICLE I. Les Hautes Parties Contractantes déclarent reconnaître mutuellement à toutes les com 1150 CONVENTION RELATIVE TO JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES. associations, commercial, industrial, or financial, constituted and authorized in conformity with the laws in force in either of the two countries, the power of exercising all their rights, and of appearing before the tribunals, whether for the purpose of bringing an action, or for defending the same, throughout the dominions and possessions of the other Power, subject to the sole condition of conforming to the laws of such dominions and possessions. ARTICLE II. It is agreed that the stipulations of the preceding article shall apply as well to companies and associations constituted and authorized previously to the signature of the present Convention, as to those which may subsequently be so constituted and authorized. ARTICLE III. The present Convention is concluded without limit as to duration. Either of the High Powers shall, however, be at liberty to terminate it by giving to the other a year's previous notice. The two High Powers, moreover, reserve to themselves the power to introduce into the Convention, by common consent, any modifications which experience may show to be desirable. ARTICLE IV. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris in fifteen days, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done in duplicate at Paris, the 30th of April 1862. pagnies et autres associations commerciales, industrielles, ou financières, constituées et autorisées suivant les lois particulières à l'un des deux pays, la faculté d'exercer tous leurs droits, et d'ester en justice devant les tribunaux, soit pour intenter une action, soit pour y défendre, dans toute l'étendue des états et possessions de l'autre Puissance, sans autre condition que de se conformer aux lois des dits états et possessions. ARTICLE II. Il est entendu que la disposition qui précède s'applique aussi bien aux compagnies et associations constituées et autorisées antérieurement à la signature de la présente Convention, qu'à celles qui le seraient ultérieurement. ARTICLE III. La présente Convention est faite sans limitation de durée. Toutefois, il sera loisible à l'une des deux Hautes Puissances Contractantes de la faire cesser en la dénonçant un an à l'avance. Les deux Hautes Puissances Contractantes se réservent d'ailleurs la faculté d'introduire, d'un commun accord, dans cette Convention les modifications dont l'utilité serait démontrée par l'expérience. ARTICLE IV. La présente Convention sera ratifiée, et les ratifications en seront échangées dans le délai de quinze jours, ou plus tôt si faire se peut. En foi de quoi, les Plénipotentiaires respectifs l'ont signé, et y ont apposé le sceau de leurs armes. Fait en double original à Paris, le 30 Avril 1862. INDEX. THE SIGN= INDICATES THE SCOTCH EQUIVALENT FOR, OR THE EXPLANATION OF, ABANDONMENT-- Of railways, 737. Act for, 737, 738, 739. In what cases companies may abandon ABATEMENT— Of works or undertakings, 508. Discharge by partner does not abate ac- ABORTIVE COMPANIES- Recovery of subscriptions and of deposits Those who agree to take shares in, are ABSENT PARTIES, Compensation to, ACCOUNTING- To whom and against whom right of ac- Right to enforce accounting does not Defences against action of accounting, Period over which accounting extends, Rules as to accounting on dissolution, In public companies, 403. In companies under the Act of 1845, 403. Provisions for ensuring proper account- In registered companies, 404. Provisions for ensuring proper account- Modes of libelling actions for, 397. ACTIONS- Between partners and the company, 339, 344, 345, 346, 369, 370, 397. Between companies and the public, 339, Differences between Scotch and English Powers to compromise, 528. Powers to refer, 529. Effect of discharge by partner to abate English rules different, 535. Actions between partners, 538. Count and reckoning, 396. |