Page:HKGovGazette Old Series No 4.pdf/2



, Bart.

there was this day read at the Board a report from the Right Honourable the Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, dated the 20th May last past, humbly setting for that the Lords of the Judicial Committee have taken into consideration the practice of the Committee with a view to greater economy, despatch, and efficiency in the appellate jurisdiction of Her Majesty in Council, and that their Lordships have agreed humbly to report to Her Majesty that it is expedient that certain changes should be made in the existing practice in Appeals, and recommending that certain Rules and Regulations therein set forth should henceforth be observed, obeyed, and carried into execution, provided Her Majesty is pleased to approve the same:

, having taken the said Report into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and of the Rules and Regulations set forth therein, in the words following, videlicet;—

I. That, any former usage or practice of Her Majesty's Privy Council notwithstanding, an Appellant who shall succeed in obtaining a reversal or material alteration of any judgment, decree, or order appealed from, shall be entitled to recover the costs of the Appeal from the Respondent, except in cases in which the Lords of the Judicial Committee may think fit otherwise to direct.

II. That the Registrar or other proper officer having the custody of the records in any Court of special jurisdiction from which an Appeal is brought to Her Majesty in Council be directed to send by post, with all possible despatch, one certified copy of the transcript record in each cause to the Registrar of Her Majesty's Privy Council, Whitehall; and that all such transcripts be registered in the Privy Council Office, with the date of their arrival, the names of the parties, and the date of the sentence appealed from; and that such transcript be accompanied by a correct and complete index of all the papers, documents, and exhibits in the cause; and that the Registrar of the Court appealed from, or other proper officer of such Court, be directed to omit from such transcript all merely formal documents, provided such omission be stated and certified in the said index of papers; and that especial care be taken not to allow any document to be set forth more than once in such transcript; and that no other certified copies of the record be transmitted to agents in England by or on behalf of the parties in the suit; and that the fees and expenses incurred and paid for the preparation of such transcript be stated and certified upon it by the Registrar or other officer preparing the same.

III. That when the record of proceedings or evidence in the caused appealed has been printed or partly printed abroad, the Registrar or other proper officer of the Court from which the Appeal is brought shall be bound to send home the same in a printed form, either wholly or so far as the same may have been printed, and that he do certify the same to be correct, on two copies, by signing his name on every printed sheet, and by affixing the seal, if any, of the Court appealed from to these copies, with the sanction of the Court.

And that in all cases in which the parties in Appeals shall think fit to have the proceedings printed abroad, they shall be at liberty to do so, provided they cause fifty copies of the same to be printed in folio, and transmitted, at their expense, to the Registrar of the Privy Council, two of which printed copies shall be certified as above by the officers of the Court appealed from; and in this case no further expense for copying or printing the record will be incurred or allowed in England.

IV. That on the arrival of a written transcript of appeal at the Privy Council Office, Whitehall, the Appellant or the agent of the Appellant prosecuting the same shall be at liberty to call on the Registrar of the Privy Council to cause it, or such part thereof as may be necessary for the hearing of the case, and likewise all such parts thereof as the Respondent or his agent may require, to be printed by Her Majesty's Printer, or by any other printer on the same terms, the Appellant or his agent engaging to pay the cost of preparing a copy for the printer at a rate not exceeding one shilling per brief sheet, and likewise the cost of printing such record or appendix, and that one hundred copies of the same be struck off, whereof thirty copies are to be delivered to the agents on each side, and forty kept for the use of the Judicial Committee; and that no other fees for solicitors' copies of the transcript, or for drawing the joint appendix, be henceforth allowed, the solicitors on both sides being allowed to have access to the original papers at the Council Office, and to extract or caused to be extracted and copied such parts thereof as are necessary for the preparation of the petition of appeal, at the stationer's charge not exceeding one shilling per brief sheet.