Gieves v O'Conor

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 22 July 1924
• Date: 22 July 1924
• Court: King's Bench Division (Irish Free State)

Gieves v. O'Conor.

GIEVES

Limited

and

O'CONOR

(I. F. S.)

Practice - Registering certificate of English judgment in Irish Free State - Judgments Extension Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 54), sect. 1 - Application to the Irish Free State - Constitution of the Irish Free State, Article 73 - Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann éireann) Act,1922 (No. 1 of 1922), Sch. I, Article 73 - Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922 (13 Geo. 5, Sess. 2, c. 2), sect. 1 - The Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 67), sect. 41, sub-s. 1.

The certificate of an English judgment may be registered under the Judgments Extension Act, 1868, in the Irish Free State.

Decision of the Court of Appeal in England in Wakely v. Triumph Cycle Co., [1924] 1 K.B. 214, not followed.

Exparte Application for liberty to register in the Irish Free State, pursuant to the Judgments Extension Act, 1868 (1), a judgment obtained by the plaintiffs in England. Messrs. Gieves, Limited, whose registered office is at 22 The Hard, Portsmouth, in the County of Hants, in England, naval and military outfitters, on the 22nd day of January, 1923, obtained judgment against E. H. O'Conor, of Charleville, Dunleer, County Louth, Ireland, therein stated to be of H.M.S. "Calliope," Reserve Fleet, The Nore, Chatham, in the County of Kent, in England, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy (retired), before the said District

Registry of the said Division of the said High Court, for payment of the sum of £24 5s. 3d. on account of the price of goods sold and delivered, with the sum of £8 9s. 6d. for costs, which judgment was obtained after default after personal service. Officials in the Judgments Office declined to register the certificate of the English judgment, and the matter was referred to the Master of the King's Bench Division, and he, having given the request for the registration consideration, declined to register the certificate of the judgment on the ground that the Judgments Extension Act no longer applied.

Meredith J.:—

The point of law to be decided on this application is whether or not the Judgments Extension Act, 1868, now applies in the Irish Free State. It obviously does apply if it was "in force in the Irish Free State," within the meaning of Article 73 of the Constitution, at the date of the coming into operation of the Constitution. That is a question the answer to which depends on the construction of the words "in force" as used in Article 73. It was held by the Court of Appeal in England in Wakely v.Triumph Cycle...