Commencement Power to court of chancery to award damages in certain cases. Damages may be assessed or question of fact arising in any suit may be tried by a jury before the court itself. Questions ordered to be tried by jury to be reduced into writing. Damages may be An Act to amend the Course of Procedure in the High Court I. This act shall commence and take effect from and after the first day of November, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and may be cited and referred to as The Chancery Amendment Act, 1858." II. In all cases in which the court of chancery has jurisdiction to entertain an application for an injunction against a breach of any covenant, contract or agreement, or against the commission or continuance of any wrongful act, or for the specific performance of any covenant, contract or agreement, it shall be lawful for the same court, if it shall think fit, to award damages to the party injured, either in addition to or in substitution for such injunction or specific performance, and such damages may be assessed in such manner as the court shall direct. III. It shall be lawful for the court of chancery, if it shall think fit, to cause the amount of such damages in any case to be assessed or any question of fact arising in any suit or proceeding to be tried by a special or common jury before the court itself; and the court of chancery may make all such rules and orders upon the sheriff or any other person for procuring the attendance of a special or common jury, for such assessment of damages or the trial of such question of fact, as may be made by any of the superior courts of common law at Westminster, and may also make any other orders which to the court of chancery may seem requisite; and every such jury shall consist of persons possessing the qualifications, and shall be struck, summoned, balloted for, and called in like manner, as if such jury were a jury for the trial of any cause in any of the said superior courts; and every juryman so summoned shall be entitled to the same rights and subject to the same duties and liabilities as if he had been duly summoned for the trial of any such cause in any of the said superior courts; and every party to any such proceeding shall be entitled to the same rights as to challenge and otherwise as if he were a party to any such cause; and generally for all purposes of or auxiliary to the assessment of damages or the trial of questions of fact by a jury before the court itself, and in respect of new trials, the court of chancery shall have the same jurisdiction, powers and authority in all respects as belong to any superior court of common law, or to any judge thereof for the like purposes; provided that from any order made by the court on an application made for a new trial there shall be the same right of appeal as from any other order of the court. IV. Any question of fact and any question as to the amount of damages which shall be so ordered to be tried by a jury before the court itself shall be reduced into writing in such form as the court shall direct, and at the trial the jury shall be sworn to try the said question, and a true verdict to give thereon according to the evidence; and upon every such trial the court of chancery shall have the same powers, jurisdiction and authority as belong to any judge of any of the said superior courts sitting at nisi prius. V. It shall also be lawful for the court of chancery, if it shall think fit, to before the court cause the amount of such damages in any case to be assessed, or any ques- assessed or question of fact arising in any suit or proceeding to be tried before the court tions of fact tried itself without a jury, and to cause the evidence on the trial of that question itself without a to be taken by the oral examination of witnesses and other proofs in open jury. court; and any question of fact, and any question as to the amount of damages which shall be so ordered to be tried before the court itself, shall be reduced into writing in such form as the court shall direct; and the verdict of the judge shall be of the same effect as the verdict of a jury under this act; and the proceedings upon and after such trial, as to the power of the court, the evidence and otherwise, shall be the same as in the case of trial by jury under this act: provided that, in the case of a trial under this section, any person may apply for a new trial, either to the judge before whom the trial was had, or to the court of appeal in chancery. VI. It shall also be lawful for the court of chancery, in any case in which it shall think fit so to do, to cause the amount of such damages to be assessed by a jury before any judge of one of the superior courts of common law at nisi prius, or at the assizes, or before the sheriff of any county or city, and for that purpose to issue a precept to the sheriff of such county or city as the court of chancery shall think fit, or where the sheriff is interested then to the coroner, requiring him to return, summon and impanel a common or special jury for the purpose aforesaid, in like manner as is done in cases of writs of inquiry at common law, which are to be executed before a judge or before the sheriff; and the court of chancery shall have power to set aside the verdict or inquisition on such inquiry, and to direct a new inquiry, in such manner and on such terms as the court shall think fit. VII. In any case in which all parties to a suit are competent to make admissions, any party may call on any other party by notice to admit any document, saving all just exceptions; and in case of refusal or neglect to admit, the cost of proving the document shall be paid by the party so neglecting or refusing, whatever the result of the cause may be, unless the court shall certify that the refusal to admit was reasonable; and no costs of proving any document shall be allowed unless such notice be given, except in cases where the omission to give the notice is, in the opinion of the taxing master, a saving of expense. Damages may be assessed by a jury before any judge of one of the superior courts of common law at nisi prius, sheriff of any county or city. or before the Where parties are competent to make admissions, call on any other any party may party to admit documents. SALES BY AUCTION. An Act for the Relief of the Suitors of the High Court of [1st July, 1852.] 42. Whereas by the act of the session holden in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of her present majesty, chapter fifteen, a certain duty of excise is imposed upon every licence to be taken out by every person exercising or carrying on the trade or business of an auctioneer in any part of the United Kingdom; and it is thereby enacted, that every person who exercises or carries on the business of an auctioneer, or who acts in such capacity at any sale or roup, and every person who sells or offers for sale any goods or chattels, lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interest therein, at any sale or roup where any person or persons become the purchaser of the same by competition, and being the highest bidder, or by any other mode of sale by competition, shall, except as hereinafter mentioned, Persons may sell by auction under an order of the court of chancery without being liable to do duty imposed by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 15. be deemed to carry on the trade or business of an auctioneer, and shall be required to take out such licence as thereby directed; and that every person who carries on the trade or business of an auctioneer as aforesaid without taking out such licence shall, except as thereinafter mentioned, forfeit one hundred pounds: And whereas doubts have arisen whether any sale or sales by way of auction can now be made under any order or decree of the court of chancery before any officer of the said court, or the persons by such officer in that behalf appointed, without rendering such officer or other person liable to take out such licence as by the said last-mentioned act is directed to be taken out by all persons acting as auctioneers; and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed: Be it therefore enacted, that it shall be lawful for any master in ordinary of the court of chancery, and for the chief clerk of any such master, and for every other person appointed in that behalf by any such master, to sell any goods or chattels, lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interests therein, under any decree or order of the said court, by auction, or by any other mode of sale by competition, without any licence as an auctioneer, and without being liable to the duty imposed by the said last-mentioned act, or any other act or acts now in force. |