[Act 26 of
1864] [14st April,
1864] Repealed by Act 15 of 1882 Passed by the Governor-General of India in Council. (Received the assent of the Governor-General on the 14st April
1864.) An Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Courts of Small Causes at
Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and to provide for the appointment of an
increased number of Judges of those Courts. Whereas it is expedient to increase the limit of the jurisdiction of the
Courts of Small Causes held under Act IX of 1850 (for the more easy recovery of
small debts and demands in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay), and to increase the
number of Judges of the said Courts: It is enacted as follows:? The words ?Local Government? and ?High Court? as used in this Act, shall
bear respectively the same meaning as the words ?Governor in Council? and
?Supreme Court,? as used in the said Act IX of 1850. The jurisdiction of the Courts held or to be held under the said Act IX
of 1850 shall extend to the recovery of any debt, damage, or demand exceeding
the sum of five hundred Rupees but not exceeding the sum of one thousand
Rupees, and to all actions in respect thereof (except the several actions
specified in the proviso in Section XXV of the same Act), provided that the
cause of action shall have arisen or the defendant at the time of bringing the
action shall dwell or carry on business or personally work for gain within the
local limits of the jurisdiction of the Court. If both parties shall agree by a Memorandum signed by them or by their
Attornies and filed with the Clerk of the Court of Small Causes, that the said
Court shall have power to try any action (not included in the proviso in
Section XXV of Act IX of 1850), in which the debt or damage claimed or value of
the property in dispute whether on balance of account or otherwise shall exceed
the sum of one thousand Rupees, then and in such case the said Court shall have
jurisdiction to try such action. The powers and provisions of Act VII of 1847 (to regulate distresses for
small rents in Calcutta) shall be extended to the recovery of all arrears of
rent not exceeding one thousand Rupees, and the Judges of the Calcutta Court of
Small Causes under Act IX of 1850 shall be empowered to exercise within their
jurisdiction the extended powers of the said Act VII of 1847: and the said Act
shall be construed as if, instead of Calcutta and the Settlement of Port
William in Bengal, the limits of the jurisdiction of the Court had been therein
mentioned, and the Judges of the Calcutta Court of Small Causes under Act IX of
1850 instead of the Commissioners of the Court therein mentioned, and the
amount of one thousand Rupees instead of one hundred Rupees, and the forms
contained in the Schedule annexed to the said Act VII of 1847 shall be altered
accordingly, and shall refer to Act IX of 1850 and to this Act instead of to
Act VII of 1847. The powers and provisions of Section XCI of Act IX of 1850 are hereby
extended so as to apply to the case of any person who Shall hold or occupy any
house, land, or tenement of which the value or the rent payable in respect
thereof does not exceed the rate of one thousand Rupees by the year and the
said Section XCI of Act IX of 1850 shall be read as if the words ?five hundred?
were omitted, and the words ?one thousand? substituted for them. The several powers and provisions of the said Act IX of 1850 and all
rules, orders, and regulations which have been or may be made in pursuance of
the said Act, shall extend to all debts, damages, and demands which may be sued
for in the said Courts exceeding the sum of five hundred Rupees, and to all
proceedings and judgments for the recovery of the same, or otherwise in
relation thereto respectively, as fully and effectually, to all intents and
purposes, as the same respectively are now or may be applicable to debts,
damages, and demands within the present jurisdiction of the said Courts. In any cause of an amount exceeding five hundred Rupees, the Judges of
the said Courts of Small Causes shall reserve any question of law or equity or
any question as to the admission or rejection of any evidence as to which they
shall entertain any doubts, or which they shall he requested by either party to
the suit to reserve, for the opinion of the High Court, and shall give judgment
contingent upon the opinion of the said High Court, on a case which they shall
thereupon be entitled to state to the said Court. If only two Judges sit
together and shall differ in opinion, the question on which they differ shall
be so reserved. When judgment is given contingent upon the opinion of the High Court,
the party against whom such judgment is given shall, unless he be willing to
submit to such judgment, forthwith give security to be approved by the Clerk of
the Court, for the costs of the reference to the High Court and for the amount
of the judgment; provided nevertheless, that such security, so far as regards
the amount of the judgment, shall not be required in any case where the Judge
of the Court of Small Causes who tried the suit shall have ordered the defendant
to pay the amount of such judgment into the hands of the Clerk of the said
Court, and the same shall have been paid accordingly; Costs arising from the reserving the question to be at the discretion of
the High Court.? and the said High Court may either order a new trial on such
terms as it thinks fit, or may order judgment to be entered for either party as
the case may be, and may make such order with respect to the costs of reserving
the question and stating the same for their opinion, and otherwise arising
thereout or connected therewith, as such High Court may think proper. And all
orders made by the High Court under this Section shall be final. If any action shall after the passing of this Act be commenced in the
High Court, for any cause other than those specified in Section C of Act IX of
1850, for which a summons might have been taken out from a Court held under the
said Act IX of 1850 or under this Act, and in which such Court would have had
jurisdiction, and if a verdict shall be found for the plaintiff for a sum less
than one thousand Rupees if the said action is founded on contract, or less
than three hundred Rupees if it is founded on wrong, the plaintiff shall have
judgment to recover such sum only and no costs, and if a verdict shall not be
found for the plaintiff, the defendant shall be entitled to his costs as
between Attorney and client, unless in either case the Judge who shall try the
case shall certify that by reason of the difficulty, novelty, or general
importance of the case, or of some erroneous course of decisions in like cases
in the Court of Small Causes, the action was fit to be brought in the High
Court. If any person shall bring any suit in the High Court in respect of any
grievance committed by the Clerk, Bailiff, or Officer of any Court held under
Act IX of 1850 or under this Act, or under color or pretence of the process of
the said Court, and upon the trial of the action no greater damages shall be
found for the plaintiff than the sum of one thousand Rupees, no cost shall be
awarded to the plaintiff in such action unless the Judge shall certify in Court
that the action was fit to be brought in the High Court. There shall be payable in the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta, Madras,
and Bombay respectively, in every cause of an amount to which jurisdiction is
given to the said Court by this Act, the fees set forth in the Schedule hereto
annexed, besides the sum of two annas in each Rupee of the amount sued for, so
far as such amount does not exceed five hundred Rupees, and one anna in the
Rupee so far as such amount exceeds five hundred Rupees, which fee shall be
paid over to the same account as that to which the fees payable under Section
XIX of Act XX of 1850 are paid over. Whereas by Section VIII of the said Act IX of 1850, provision is made
for the appointment of so many persons as may be necessary not exceeding three,
to be Judges of the said Courts of Small Causes respectively, it is hereby
enacted that it shall be lawful for the local Government with the previous
sanction of the Governor-General of India in Council, to appoint as many
persons as may be necessary to be Judges of the said Courts respectively. The fees to be taken by Barristers at Law and Attornies practising in
the said Courts in cases brought within the jurisdiction given by this Act,
shall be as follows:?an Attorney shall be entitled to have or recover a sum not
exceeding fifty-one Rupees for his fees and costs, and in no case shall any fee
exceeding eighty-five Rupees be allowed for employing a Barrister as Counsel in
the cause. The expense of employing a Barrister or an Attorney, or both a
Barrister and an Attorney, either by plaintiff or defendant, shall not be
allowed as costs, unless by order of the Judge, and the Judges of the said
Court shall determine in what cases such expenses shall be so allowed. Of the Judges appointed under Section VIII of the said Act IX of 1850,
the one who is a Barrister at Law or Advocate of one of the High Courts of
India or of the Court of Session of Scotland shall be styled the First Judge.
The First Judge shall make such arrangements as he shall think fit, with regard
to the distribution of the suits and of the general business of the Court among
the various Judges thereof: and he may vary such arrangements from time to
time. The Local Government may, with the sanction of the Governor-General of
India in Council, declare that the whole or any part or parts of the Code of
Civil Procedure shall be applicable to any Court held under Act IX of 1850 or
under this Act: and the procedure prescribed in the said Code or the part or
parts thereof so declared to be applicable shall thereupon be the procedure
followed in such Court: Provided that no right of appeal or review shall in any
case be given by any declaration made under this Section. This Act and the said Act IX of 1850 shall be read and construed as one
Act, as if the several provisions in the said Act contained, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act, were repealed and re-enacted in this Act. SCHEDULE Of FEES Sums not above. Every Summons or Subp?na. Warrant. Rs. Rs. As. Rs. As. 600 2 4 6 0 700 2 8 7 0 800 2 12 8 0 900 3 0 9 0 1,000 3 4 10 0Small Cause
Courts Presidency-towns Act, 1864 [Repealed]
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