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ON COUNTY COURTS BILL
Mr. Harris.
22 February,
1825.
common jury causes, 1s. 8d. a piece, and in criminal actions, 3s. that has been the
custom for some years.
On what the other part of the proceedings in civil actions do you receive any fee
besides the jury?—Upon special bails, upon affidavits, and upon some paper books,
that pass to the treasury, we receive a small fee from all those things.
A special bail never takes place in causes under 10l.?—It does not.
Supposing a cause under 10l. is decided without going to a jury, by default, do
you receive any fee?—No, it does not come to court ; where the cause is tried,
there we receive 1s, 6d. a piece upon common juries, and upon special juries, 3s.
the same as in Crown cases.
Is there any instance of a special jury being impannelled in a cause to be tried
under 10l.?—No.
the the only cases in which you would be affected by the passing of the County
Courts Bill, would be in common jury cases?—In common jury cases, and I do
not think we should be great sufferers if the Bill was to pass, because as far as
I recollect, from the beginning of a term till the settling down causes after term,
I do not suppose there are above twenty-five or thirty causes at most, under 10l.tried, therefore it would not hurt us more than that, and in special bails it would
not hurt us at all ; then the next thing, where it would hurt us is, in affidavits,
because there are a vast number of causes in different parts of the kingdom, where,
from the commencement of a suit till the end of it, a number of affidavits will arise,
which are sworn either at the judges chambers here, or in court ; they may go to
which they please, but it would lessen us in affidavits.
Could you make a return to the Committee of the amount of the fees you have
received upon common jury cases, and upon affidavits, during the last ten years?—
No, I could not ; I have kept no account myself, and there are none of us that can do that, but I have a pretty good guess, having been there nearly forty years.
F.L. Cox, Esquire, called in ; and Examined.
F.L. Cox.
Esq.
WHAT office do you hold?—I am filacer in the Common Please.
Your office is an office for life?—It is.
Is it an office that is purchased?—It was not purchased by me, but it is a saleable
office.
From what do your emoluments in it arise?—The emoluments arise from fees
paid in signing writs issued out of the Common Please, also upon appearances to
those writs, upon special bail bail filed, justification of bail, and renders and other matters
of the same nature.
Are there any fees except upon the writs in causes where common bail is taken,
that is, where the causes are under 15l.?—Yes; a great majority of writs are so, because our fees arise upon signing all writs, and a large proportion of writs issued
are not bailable, but whether they are for sums under 10l. we have no means of
judging.
The fees you receive upond other processes besides the signing of writs, do not
apply to actions under 10l.?—Yes ; the appearances to those writs entirely apply
to these, because the appearances only apply to common process; I believe the only
fees we receive, the signing of writ and the appearance; I am not aware of any
other fee applying to this sort of action.
About what is the amount of emolument you receive from signing writs?—
I can ascertain that by examining the accounts, because I can dissect the fees; and
I can state what fees have arisen upon common process, and what upon other pro-
cess, but that will leave it uncertain how much of that common process applied to
debts under 10l.
[The Witness was directed to make a return of the fees applying to common
process which he had received for the last ten years.
]
Do all the filacers receive the same fees?—They are all the same in amount, and
in every respect.
The account given by one filacer will answer for all?—They are all precisely the
same; but in one county there will be a larger quantity of writs issued than in
another ; but the fee taken upon the writ is the same in one county as in another.
The filacers divide the counties between them?—One filacer is appointed to
a certain county, and another filacer to another county ; I should think, originally, there
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county courts bill / minutes of evidence / taken before the select committee on the / bill / for preventing delays and expenses in the proceedings of county courts, and for the more easy and speedy recovery of small debts, in england and wales |
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