History of the Fylde of LancashirePorter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
History
History of the Fylde of Lancashire
Porter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
Lancashire (England) -- History
One clause of the act stated that if any person or persons affronted,
insulted, or abused, all or any of the commissioners, the clerk, or
officers of the court, either during the sitting or in going to or
returning from the same, or interrupted the proceedings, or obstructed
the clerk or sergeant in the lawful execution of their different offices,
he, she, or they should be brought before a justice of the peace, who
was hereby empowered to inflict on conviction a fine of not more than
40s., and not less than 5s. The jurisdiction of the court did not extend
to any debt or rent upon any lease or contract, where the title of any
lands, tenements, or hereditaments came in question; nor to any debt
arising from any last will or testament, or matrimony, or anything
properly belonging to the ecclesiastical courts; nor to any debt from any
horse-race, cock-match, wager, or any kind of gaming or play; nor from
any forfeiture upon any penal statute or bye-law; nor did it extend to
any debt whatsoever whereof there had not been contract, acknowledgment,
undertaking, or promise to pay within six years from the date of the
summons, although any of the above mentioned debts should not amount
to forty shillings. No attorney or solicitor was allowed to appear
before the commissioners as attorney or advocate on behalf of either
plaintiff or defendant, or to speak on any cause or matter before the
court in which he was not himself a party or witness, under a penalty
of five pounds for each offence. It was further enacted “that no action
or suit for any debt not amounting to the sum of forty shillings, and
recoverable by virtue of this act in the said Court of Requests, should
be brought against any person or persons, residing or inhabiting within
the jurisdiction thereof, in any of the king’s courts at Westminster,
or any other court whatsoever, or elsewhere, out of the said Court of
Requests, and no suit which had been commenced in the said Court of
Requests in pursuance of this act, nor any proceedings therein, should
or might be removed to any superior court, but the judgments, decrees,
and proceedings of the said court should be final and conclusive to all
intents and purposes; provided always, that nothing in this act should
extend, or be construed to extend, to prevent any person from suing
for small debts in any other court, where such suit might have been
instituted before the passing of this act.” The various fees to be paid
to the clerk of the court were—for entering every case, 6d.; for issuing
every summons, 6d.; for every subpœna, 6d.; for calling every plaintiff
or defendant before the court, 3d.; for every hearing or trial, 6d.; for
swearing every witness, plaintiff or defendant, 3d.; for every order,
judgment or decree, 6d.; for a non-suit, 6d.; for every search in the
books, 3d.; for paying money into court, 6d., if by instalments, 6d. in
the pound more; for every execution, 6d.; for every warrant of commitment
for misconduct in court, 1s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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