Argue and Walker v Henry

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 26 January 1926
• Date: 26 January 1926
• Court: High Court (Irish Free State)

Argue and Walker v. Henry

WILLIAM HENRY ARGUE and JOHN WALTER WALKER

Plaintiffs

and

LAURENCE HENRY

Defendant.

Practice - Transfer of action - Action commenced in the High Court - Transfer to the Circuit Court - Jurisdiction - Action for specific performance - - Agreement for sale of lands for over £1,000 - Valuation of lands under £60 - County Officers and Courts (Ireland) Act, 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 56), sect. 33 (d) - Courts of Justice Act, 1924 (No. 10 of1924), sects. 25, 48, and 51.

By sect. 33 (d) of the County Officers and Courts (Ir.) Act, 1877, the County Court has jurisdiction in all suits for the specific performance of any agreement for the sale or letting of any property where, in the case of a sale, the purchase money shall not exceed £500, or, in the case of a letting, the annual value of the property to which the suit relates shall not exceed £30.

By sect 48 (v) of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, the Circuit Court has jurisdiction in equity cases when the value of the personalty does not exceed £1,000 and the poor law valuation of the land does not exceed £60. And by sect. 51 of the Act there is transferred to the Circuit Court all jursidiction not expressly excepted which, at the commencement of the Act, was vested in County Court Judges.

Held, that the meaning of sect. 48 of the Courts of Justice Act, so far as it provides for the equity jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, is that the old equity jurisdiction of the County Court is to remain, subject to the modifications set out in the section, the principal of which is that £1,000 is substituted for £500 in the case of personalty, and £60 substituted for £30 as the amount of the poor law valuation in the case of land.

Accordingly, an action for specific performance of an agreement for the sale of land for £1,245 and £62 5s. auction fees could not have been instituted in the Circuit Court, and could not therefore be transferred to that Court; and, further, taking into account all the circumstances, the action was one fit to be retained in the High Court.

Motion to transfer.

Motion by defendant to transfer to the Circuit Court, to be held at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, an action instituted in the High Court for the specific performance of an agreement for the sale of land.

The lands in question, of which the poor law valuation was under £60, contained 15a. 1r. 16p., with the residence known as"Oakfield" standing thereon, and were situate in the County of Sligo. They were put up...