to the treasurer of his Court at such time as the treasurer requires, and the high bailiff thereupon transmits such return to the high bailiff of the home Court, as directed by the above-mentioned sect. 104 of 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95, and such latter bailiff must, within twenty-four hours from the receipt of such return, deliver the same to the Registrar of his Court, who thereupon pays out of any money in his hands, to the plaintiff in the cause, the amount certified in such return to have been received by the Registrar of the foreign Court as the proceeds of the execution, and enters in a book the amount so certified in a form provided (e), and the Registrar of the home Court files such return, and the Registrar is allowed by the treasurer of his Court, at his audit, the amount so paid (ƒ). Proceedings where the Warrant is not Executed.]Whenever a warrant required to be executed in a foreign district has not been executed within one calendar month from the day of its delivery, the bailiff of the foreign Court, on the day after the termination of such month, makes a return to the Registrar of the home Court of what he has done under such warrant, and why it has not been executed; and when the same warrant has not been executed during the time that it is in force, the bailiff must return the same to the Registrar of the home Court within twenty-four hours from the expiration of such time, and indorse on such warrant the reason why the same could not be executed, and sign such indorsement, but the bailiff must return such warrant to the home Court at any time, although unexecuted, if he is directed to do so by the Registrar of the home Court, or must give such information as such Registrar may require in the matter of the warrant (g). 5. REMOVAL OF JUDGMENTS INTO THE SUPERIOR COURTS. In order to enable suitors to obtain satisfaction of their judgments in those cases in which they may be unable to do so by means of the warrants in the County Courts, the new act empowers a Judge of a Superior Court, if he is satisfied (e) See post, Appendix, Schedule to the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108. (f) Rules of Practice, r. 127. (g) Id. r. 132. that a party against whom judgment for an amount exceeding twenty pounds, exclusive of costs, has been obtained in a County Court, has no goods or chattels which can be conveniently taken to satisfy such judgment, if he thinks fit, and on such terms as to costs as he may direct, to order a writ of certiorari to issue to remove the judgment of the County Court into one of the Superior Courts, and when so removed it has the same force and effect, and the same proceedings may be had thereon, as in the case of a judgment of such Superior Court; but no action can be brought upon such judgment (h). 6. GENERAL COURSE OF PROCEEDING ON A JUDGMENT SUMMONS. An order for commitment cannot be obtained as a matter of course, but only on a special application to the Judge in Court. This order may be obtained at the hearing immediately after judgment, when the debt appears to have been fraudulently contracted, or the defendant has been guilty of some other misconduct specified in the act of parliament, and dwells or carries on business in the district of the Court; or it may be obtained on the hearing of a summons taken out in the district where the defendant dwells or carries on his business at the time of applying, without regard to the district in which the judgment was obtained. The summons requires the debtor to appear and be examined, and intimates that if he do not appear the Court may proceed in his absence. In addition to the other grounds of committal already referred to, is that of non-payment of the demand, if the defaulter be possessed of means to pay. If the defendant undergo the imprisonment awarded under the order for commitment, the debt is not satisfied or extinguished, and he may, at the discretion of the Judge, in certain cases of subsequent default, be committed for any number of successive periods, not exceeding forty days each, until payment is enforced. When the defendant removes from the home district, the process is transmitted, like other process, to the high bailiff of the foreign district. (h) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, s. 49. The warrant of commitment orders the bailiff to convey the body of the debtor to prison. This prison is the common gaol of the county or place in which the defendant is resident, and which is used for the confinement of debtors in execution under the process of the Superior Courts, or in some other place of confinement in the county allowed for that purpose by order of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has, however, in very few instances exercised his power of allowing places of confinement other than the common gaol of the county to be used for the purposes of the County Court (i). It has been before mentioned that it is competent for the Judge, on sufficient cause shown, to stay a judgment or an execution, but neither can be stayed or reversed by writ of error or supersedeas thereon (k). It is to be observed that a privileged person (as a Queen's servant, for example), cannot be committed under these provisions (). 7. MODE OF OBTAINING AND ISSUING SUMMONS FOR COMMITMENT. of By the 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95, s. 98, it is enacted, "that it shall be lawful for any party who has obtained any unsatisfied judgment or order in any Court held by virtue of this act, or under any act repealed by this act, for the payment any debt or damages or costs, to obtain a summons from any County Court within the limits of which any other party shall then dwell or carry on his business; such summons to be in such form as shall be directed by the rules made for regulating the practice of the County Courts as herein provided, and to be served personally upon the person to whom it is directed, requiring him to appear at such time as shall be directed by the said rules to answer such things as are named in such summons; and if he shall appear in pursuance of such summons he may be examined upon oath touching his estate and effects, and the manner and circumstances under which he contracted the debt or incurred the damages or liability which is the subject of the action in which judgment has been obtained against him; and as to the means (i) Report of the County Court Commissioners. (k) See ante, pp. 123, 124. (1) Swann v. Dakins, 24 L. J. (N. S.) C. P. 131. and expectation he then had, and as to the property and means he still hath, of discharging the said debt or damages or liability, and as to the disposal he may have made of any property; and the person obtaining such summons as aforesaid, and all other witnesses whom the Judge shall think requisite, may be examined upon oath, touching the inquiries authorized to be made as aforesaid; and the costs of such summons and of all proceedings thereon shall be deemed costs in the cause." Commitment without Summons.]-The same statute provides, by sect. 101, "that in every case where the defendant in any suit brought in any County Court shall have been personally served with the summons to appear, or shall personally appear at the trial of the same, the Judge at the hearing of the cause, or at any adjournment thereof, if judgment shall be given against the defendant, shall have the same power and authority of examining the defendant and the plaintiff and other parties touching the several things hereinbefore mentioned, and of committing the defendant to prison, and of making an order, as he might have and exercise under the provisions herein before contained in case the plaintiff had obtained a summons for that purpose after the judgment obtained as hereinbefore mentioned (m). When a defendant does not dwell or carry on business in the district of the Court to which he has been summoned to appear to a plaint, he is not liable at the hearing of such summons to be committed under the last-mentioned section, whether he appears to such summons or not (n). Judgment Summons where the Defendant dwells or carries on Business out of the District.]—The new act provides that a judgment summons authorized by the above section may, by leave of the Judge, be obtained from the Court in which judgment was obtained, although the judgment debtor shall not then dwell or carry on business within the district of such Court, if the Judge shall think fit, in the exercise of his discretion, to grant such leave (0). (m) See Ex parte Purdy, 19 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 95. (n) Rules of Practice, r. 121. (o) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, s. 48. Before this provision a judge who committed a debtor not within his district, was held liable to an action for false imprisonment. Houlden v. Smith, 19 L. J. (N. S.) Q. B. 170. Form of Judgment Summons.]—The new act provides forms of judgment summonses issued under the above provisions, and warrants of commitment in respect of an unsatisfied judgment or order of a County Court; and all such summonses or warrants are sufficient to justify proceedings under them without any further statement of facts to show jurisdiction (p). Fees.]-The Court fee for every summons for commitment is threepence in the pound on the amount of the original demand then remaining due, and the hearing fee is sixpence in the pound on the same amount (q). Issuing and Service of a Judgment Summons.]—A judgment summons may issue at any time, without leave of the Court, except in cases provided for either by sect. 48 of 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, or by Rule 112 (r). It is forthwith delivered by the Registrar to the bailiff, and must be served personally not less than five clear days before the day on which the party is required to appear to such summons, unless at the hearing the Judge is satisfied, on the evidence on oath before him, that such party was about to remove from his dwelling or place of business, or was keeping out of the way to avoid service, in either of which cases service upon the party at any time before the time appointed for the appearance of such party is sufficient (s). Return of Warrants of Execution.]-Upon the issue of a judgment summons against a party, the bailiff must return into Court any warrant of execution against the goods of such party which may have been issued upon a judgment in the cause (t). Payments where a Judgment Summons is heard in two Courts and altered.]-Where a judgment summons is heard in a Court other than that in which judgment was obtained, and the order of such last-mentioned Court is altered by the Judge of the Court in which the judgment summons is heard, all payments under such order are made into, and execution (p) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, s. 61. dule C. See the forms in Schedule B. to that Act, post, Appendix, and also Form No. 54. (g) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 108, Sche (r) See post, p. 140. (s) Rules of Practice, r. 140. |