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24 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE
there was a filacer for every county, but now there are not above seven or eight
filacers altogether, and each has eight or then different counties.F.L. Cox
Esq
22 February,
1825
What counties have you?—Norfolk, Stafford, Northamptonshire, Shropshire,
Rutland, Monmouth, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, Poole, Lancaster, Chester, and
Durham.
Can you enumerate the fees that are received on common process?—There is
a fee of 10 d. paid to the filacer upon signing each writ upon common process; there
is a fee of 1 s. paid upon the appearance to that writ ; at this moment I do not
recollect that there is any other fee received upon common process, but that are the
principal fees received by the filacers. The other fess are of small amount ; the
10 d. is paid whether it is a bailable writ or a common process ; I do not think there
is any other fee applicable to causes under 10 l.
Lunæ, 7° die Martin, 1825.
LORD VISCOUNT ALTHORP, in the Chair.
Mr. Thomas Dax and Mr. Thomas Dax, Jun' called in ; and Examined.Mr.
Thomas Dax,
dan Mr.
Thomas Dax, Jun.
7 March,
1825.
(To Mr. Thomas Dax.)—WHAT office do you hold?—I hold that of secondary
and senior attorney in the court of the Exchequer.
How many secondaries are there in the Exchequer?—Only one ; only myself.
Do you hold it in your own right or as deputy for any one?—In my own right.
Will the emoluments of that office be at all affected by this Bill?—Very much.
In what way?—It will operate as to the subpoena, which is the principal writ in
the office of Pleas, it will nearly suppress and do away them ; our subpoenas issue
for small sums, perhaps ten or fifteen pounds, I should not suppose there are
a dozen subpoenas of above ten or fifteen pounds.
The subpoena is issued principally to recover small debts?—It is.
Why is that?—Because it is so convenient ; I recollect Mr. Baron Eyre was
applied to suppress that, by Sir James Wallace, when he was attorney general,
and his lordship sent us ti give him the particulars of a writ or subpoena ; and
he was so confident of its convenience, for it does not require personal service, that
he would not suffer it to be suppressed ; he said that it was the best writ that was
extant, it was the least expensive and the most convenient, because it did not
require personal service
Is that the only ground on which it is superior to the writs, except the expense?
—Frequently debts are settled upon it ; because the next process issued for non-
appearance is an attachment, and when they are arrested upon that attachment,
they may be discharged immediately, on entering a common
appearance.
Have you looked at the list for the purpose of ascertaining how many subpoenas
issue in a year?—I have not exactly ; but I should suppose one third of the writs
in the office are subpoenas.
How many subpoenas issue from the office of Pleas in the course of the year?—
A couple thousand.
Can you make a return of the profits of your office upon subpoenas?—I am in
a particular situation different from every body else in the office ; my father and
my brother were attorneys in the court of King's Bench and Common Pleas, and my
father thought he could do no better for me than to put me wholly into the
Exchequer, and I was put to a gentleman who had no business but in the Exche-
queer ; I have never brought or defended an action in the King's Bench or Common
Pleas in my life ; I am only concerned for agents in town who sue out nothing but subpoenas.
Can you make a return of the fees you receive on subpoenas for any number of
years back, distinguishing them from the others?—Certainly I can ; but I do not
make out a dozen writs in a year, but subpoenas.
What is the expense of the issuing of a subpoena, independently of the service?—
The expense of the subpoena is about five or six and twenty shillings. What
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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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