Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery. Assistance of the Master of the Rolls, may from Time to Time think fit by Order to make concerning the same. VII. The Provision contained in the Section numbered XXIX. Repeal of Part of the Act, intituled An Act for the Relief of the Suitors of the of 15 & 16 Vict. High Court of Chancery, passed in the Session of Parliament c. 87. s. 29. holden in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty (Chapter Eighty-seven), directing that the Duties of the Clerk of Reports (whose Office was before by the same Act abolished) should be performed by such Person or Persons as the Lord Chancellor should appoint for that Purpose, and providing for his or their Salary or Salaries, shall be and the same is hereby repealed, without Prejudice, nevertheless, to any Appointment already made under the same Provision. VIII. The Offices of the Two Clerks appointed under the lastmentioned Provision to perform the Duties of the Clerk of Reports shall be continued under this Act, and upon any Vacancy in either of those Offices it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor to fill up the Vacancy; and if and when the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance of the Master of the Rolls, shall deem the Appointment of more than Two Persons to be requisite for the due Performance of the Duties of the Clerk of Reports or otherwise for the due Despatch of the Business of the Report Office, it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor to appoint from Time to Time, in addition to such Two Clerks and their Successors as aforesaid, so many Clerks of and in the Report Office as Occasion may require and the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance last aforesaid, may direct, and from Time to Time to fill up all or any of the Vacancies which may occur in the Offices of the Clerks so appointed in addition as aforesaid. Number, &c. of Clerks in Report Office. Provision respecting other Duties of the 36. IX. Nothing in this Act contained shall be taken to repeal or alter, as far as regards James Thomas Fry, the present Master of Reports and Entries, any of the Provisions contained in the SecMaster of Retions numbered respectively XXXIV., XXXV., and XXXVI, of the said Act" for the Relief of the Suitors of the High Court of tries not reports and EnChancery," relating to the countersigning by the Master of Reports pealed as to and Entries of Notes or Cheques drawn by the Accountant General present Master. of the Court of Chancery upon the Bank of England, and the 15 & 16 Viet. Payment thereof by the same Bank, and directing that the Master c.87.ss. 34., 35, of Reports and Entries should also perform all such other Duties (as well as the Duties in the same Act mentioned) as the Lord Chancellor should from Time to Time by any Order direct, and the same Provisions shall respectively continue in full Force as far as regards the said James Thomas Fry, and the Lord Chancellor is hereby required to continue the said James Thomas Fry as an Officer of the Court of Chancery for the Performance of the Duties herein-before mentioned, or such other Duties as aforesaid, after and notwithstanding that the Abolition of the said Office may have taken effect under this Act. X. As long as the said James Thomas Fry shall continue to Provision for perform or shall be ready and willing to perform any Duty now Continuance of belonging to the Office of Master of Reports and Entries, or any presentMaster's Duty Salary. Additional Salary to pre sent Clerks of Writs in certain Salaries of the Power to Lord Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery. Duty which under the last-mentioned Provision he may be directed by the Lord Chancellor to perform, he shall continue to be entitled to receive the Salary attached to the Office of Master of Reports and Entries as if this Act had not been passed. XI. In case, upon the Abolition of the Office of the Master of Reports and Entries taking effect, any of the Persons now respectively holding the Offices of Clerks of Records and Writs shall be required under this Act to discharge the Duties of the Office of the Master of Reports and Entries, or any of them, and the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance of the Master of the Rolls, shall deem the Duties then devolving upon the said Persons to be too extensive in proportion to their present Salaries, they respectively may receive, in addition to their respective Salaries as Clerks of Records and Writs, such Salaries, not exceeding the Sum of Two hundred Pounds per Annum each, as the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance of the Master of the Rolls, shall by Order direct; but such additional Salaries shall cease in the event of the Vacancy now existing being filled up by the Appointment of a Fourth Clerk of Records and Writs, or in the event of the said Persons now respectively holding the Offices of Clerks of Records and Writs being relieved from the Duties of the Office of Master of Reports and Entries. XII. The Two Clerks already appointed and the Clerks who may be hereafter appointed to perform the Duties of the Clerk of Reports or to act in the Report Office shall respectively be entitled under this Act to receive such Salaries as the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance of the Master of the Rolls, shall from Time to Time by Order direct, but so that the whole Amount payable for all such Salaries shall not in any One Year exceed the Sum which, if equally divided between or among all such Clerks for the Time being, would admit of a Salary of Two hundred and fifty Pounds for each of them. XIII. And whereas Alexander McKean, One of the Two 'Persons already appointed by the Lord Chancellor under the Provision herein-before mentioned to perform the Duties of the 'Clerk of Reports, has been employed as a Clerk or as a Writer in the Report Office for a Period of Twenty-five Years in the whole, and had been employed previously thereto as a Writer attached to the Registrars Office of the Court of Chancery for a Period of Thirteen Years, and he is now of the Age of Sixtyseven Years, and is no longer capable of discharging efficiently the Duties which have been hitherto assigned to him in the Report Office: And whereas under the Circumstances aforesaid it is desirable that the Lord Chancellor should be empowered to order a suitable Retiring Allowance to be paid to the said Alexander McKean on his ceasing to be employed in the Report Office: Be it therefore enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor by Order to direct that, from and after the said Alexander McKean ceasing to be employed in the Report "Office, there shall be paid to him during his Life such Retiring Allowance, not exceeding the Sum of One hundred Pounds per Annum, Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery. Annum, as the Lord Chancellor shall think fit, upon such Terms and Conditions, if any, as the Lord Chancellor may in such Order think fit to annex thereto. c. 87. ss. 48. & XIV. All Salaries given under this Act shall grow due and be How Salaries, payable in such Manner, at such Times, to such Parties, and out Compensations, of such Fund, as are in the Section numbered XLVIII. of the &c. to be paid. said Act "for the Relief of the Suitors of the High Court of 15 & 16 Vict. Chancery mentioned respecting Salaries under that Act, and 50. such Retiring Allowance as may be ordered to be paid to the said Alexander McKean under this Act, shall grow due and be payable in such Manner, at such Times, to such Parties, and out of such Interest and Dividends as are in the Section numbered L. of the same Act mentioned respecting Retiring Allowances under that Act, subject nevertheless to the Payment of all such Salaries and other Sums of Money as are now payable out of such Fund, Interest, and Dividends respectively. XV. If any Person shall wilfully take or make any false Oath, Affirmation, or Declaration before any Solicitor authorized as in the Act of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Seventy-eight, is mentioned, such Person shall be subject to all the Pains and Penalties of Perjury, whether the same Oath, Affirmation, or Declaration shall or shall not have been taken or made at a Place at which, under the Provisions of the said last-mentioned Act, the same Oath, Affirmation, or Declaration might lawfully be taken or made; but every Solicitor before whom any Oath, Affirmation, or Declaration shall be taken or made under the last-mentioned Act shall state truly in the Jurat or Attestation at what Place the same Oath, Affirmation, or Declaration has been taken or made. 6 Persons taking false Oaths before Solicitors appointed under Acts guilty of Perjury. this and recited XVI. And whereas by divers Acts of Parliament the Court of Business which Chancery is empowered to make Orders in respect of the Dispo- Court is emsition of Trust Funds, and other Matters under its Jurisdiction, powered to disupon Petition presented or Motion made in a summary Way, pose of in a summary Way, without Bill, but such Orders cannot be made in respect of the may be dissame Matters upon Application at Chambers:' Be it therefore posed of at enacted, That the Business to be disposed of by the Master of the Chambers. Rolls and the Vice Chancellors respectively while sitting at Chambers shall comprise such of the Matters in respect of which the Court of Chancery is so as aforesaid empowered to make Orders in a summary Way as the Lord Chancellor, with the Advice and Assistance of the Master of the Rolls and the Vice Chancellors or of any Two of them, may by any General Order direct. And whereas by an Act passed in the Thirty-second Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third (Chapter Forty-two), intituled An Act to empower the High Court of 32 G. 3. c. 42. Chancery to lay out a further Sum of the Suitors Money upon proper Securities, and for applying the Interest towards discharging the Expenses of the Office of the Accountant General, and for building Offices for the Masters in Ordinary in Chan6 cery, and a Publick Office for the Suitors of the said Court, and "Offices for the Secretaries of Bankrupts and Lunaticks, and for building Repositories for securing the Title Deeds of the Suitors of 6 6 6 Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery. of the said Court and the Records and Proceedings of the Com'missioners of Bankrupts and Lunaticks, it was enacted (amongst ' other things) that out of the common and general Cash belong'ing to the Suitors of the Court of Chancery which then lay or should thereafter lie dead and unemployed in the Bank of England, a Sum not exceeding Three hundred thousand Pounds 'should, by virtue of any Order or Orders of the said Court to be made for that Purpose, be placed out in the Name of the Accountant General of the said Court on Government or Parliamentary Securities, and should be carried to an Account of Monies placed out for the Benefit and better Security of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery; and further, that out ' of the Interest and Dividends of the Securities so to be purchased as aforesaid there should be paid (amongst other Sums) such Sum or Sums of Money, not exceeding the Sum of Thirty thou'sand Pounds, as the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain or the Lord Keeper or the Lords Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal of Great Britain for the Time being should by any Order or Orders of the Court of Chancery direct to be applied in purchasing Ground for and in building and completing the Offices and Repositories therein-after directed to be built and completed, and in paying the other Expenses relating to the Execution of the Act now in recital not otherwise provided for, and such further Sum and Sums of Money, either yearly or in gross, as should be necessary for (amongst other Purposes) keeping the same Offices and Repositories in repair and insured from Fire; and further, that under the Direction of the Lord High 'Chancellor of Great Britain or the Lord Keeper or Lords Com'missioners for the Custody of the Great Seal of Great Britain for the Time being, by any Order or Orders of the Court of 'Chancery to be made for that Purpose, proper and convenient Offices for the Masters in Ordinary in Chancery and their Clerks, and for the Secretaries of Bankrupts and Lunatics and their 'Clerks, and safe and secure Repositories for the Deeds, Books, Papers, and Writings of and belonging to the Suitors of the 'said Court delivered or to be delivered to the Masters, and the 'Records, Proceedings, Deeds, Books, Papers, and Writings deli'vered or to be delivered to or left in the Custody of the Secretaries of Bankrupts and Lunatics respectively, together with a Public Office for the Suitors of the said Court in the Stead or 'Place of the then present Public Office, should be built and 'made fit for the Reception of the said Masters and Secretaries, and the Transaction of their respective Business therein, and that for those Purposes a proper Piece of Ground should be purchased, and such Houses or Buildings as might be upon such Ground, and that the Ground and Houses so to be purchased should be from Time to Time conveyed to and the same were thereby declared to be vested in His then Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, for the Purposes of the same Act; and further, that it should be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor of Great 'Britain or the Lord Keeper or the Lords Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal of Great Britain for the Time being, from Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery. from Time to Time by any Order of the Court of Chancery, to apply such Sum or Sums of Money as should be necessary in keeping the said Offices and Repositories so to be built and completed as aforesaid in good and sufficient Repair, and in insuring the same from Damage by Fire; and in the Act now in recital was contained a Proviso, and it was thereby further enacted and declared, that if at any Time thereafter the whole or any Part of the Money thereby directed or authorized to be placed out as 'aforesaid should be wanted to answer any of the Demands of the Suitors of the said Court of Chancery, then and in such Case the said Court might and should direct the same or any 'Part thereof to be called in, or the Securities in which the same should be placed to be disposed of, in order that the Suitors of 'the said Court might at all Times be paid their respective De'mands out of the common and general Cash belonging to such 'Suitors: And whereas, under the Authority and for the Purposes of the same Act, and by means of the Monies thereby provided, a piece of Ground situate in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, has been purchased, and a Building has been erected on Part thereof and kept in repair and insured, in which are or lately were placed the Offices of the Masters and the other Offices and Repositories in the 6 same Act mentioned: And whereas by the first-mentioned Act 15 & 16 Vict. ' of Her present Majesty (in the Section numbered LI.) it was c. 80. s. 51. enacted as follows: "Such of the Masters Offices in South"ampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, as shall not be assigned 6 6 "by the Lord Chancellor as Chambers for the Master of the "Rolls and Vice Chancellors respectively, or shall not be re"quired for the Masters, shall be appropriated to any other "Purposes connected with the Court of Chancery as the Lord "Chancellor may from Time to Time direct, or the same may "be let as Chambers and the Rent thereof paid to the Suitors “Fund; and when all the Masters have resigned, died, or have "been released under this Act, the Offices may be sold by Order ""of the Lord Chancellor, and the Proceeds of such Sale paid to "the Suitors Fund, in such Manner and to such particular "Account as the Lord Chancellor shall by any Order direct ; "and it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor by any Order to "direct that the Premises so to be sold and the Fee Simple and “Inheritance thereof shall vest in the Purchaser or Purchasers. "of the same, his or their Heirs and Assigns, or as he or they "shall direct, and such Order shall have the Effect of vesting "the same accordingly, without any Conveyance or other Assurance from Her Majesty in whom the same are now vested by ‹ “virtue of an Act passed in the Thirty-second Year of the Reign "of King George the Third, Chapter Forty-two:" And whereas fuller Powers than those given by the last-recited Enactment are requisite for enabling the Lord Chancellor to let, sell, or dispose ' of the Masters Offices therein mentioned, and it is desirable that the like Powers should extend not only over the said Masters 'Offices, but also over the whole of the Ground acquired under 6 66 • the |
