The Attorney-General (Cahill) v Allman, Scanlan and Walsh (1)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Judgment Date: 09 April 1906
• Date: 09 April 1906

The Attorney-General (Cahill)

and

Allman, Scanlan and Walsh (1).

Appeal.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE CHANCERY DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND

AND BY

THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL.

1906.

Practice — Costs — Relator — No visible means.

Where an action is brought by a relator, at the suit of the Attorney-General, to have a public trust carried out, or a charitable scheme settled, and where it appears that the defendants have a defence to the action, or that there is some question to be tried, the Court will order the relator, if without visible means, to give security for costs.

Action by the plaintiff for a declaration that the defendants are trustees of a sum of £1500, or of the moneys and other property representing the same, for the purpose of providing a public park or recreation ground for the people of Bandon; for an account of the dealings of the defendants with the fund; and to have the trusts carried into execution.

Prior to the month of May, 1896, Sir John Arnott had purchased the Bandon estate of the Duke of Devonshire. On the 6th May, 1896, there was a public reception in the Town Hall of Bandon, for the presentation of an address to Sir John Arnott, and on that occasion Lady Arnott presented a cheque for £1500 from Sir John Arnott, payable to the three defendants. The trusts upon which the £1500 was to be held were to provide a town park, or recreation ground, and a horse fair field for the accommodation of the townspeople of Bandon.

In 1898 and 1899, the defendants purchased a piece of land held in fee-simple, containing about 18 acres on the north side of the town of Bandon, from two landlords, Mr. F. J. Munns, and the trustees of the Arnott estate. The purchase money amounted to £909, and in addition the defendants paid as compensation to the occupying tenants and graziers upon the lands £465, the said two sums making together £1374. Since the purchase, the defendants had annually let the grazing of the land, subject to the right

of holding two free horse fairs thereon yearly, pending the laying out of the ground and completing it for the purposes of a town park. The two horse fairs had been held annually, and the defendants had obtained from an engineer a plan for laying out the grounds, but as this would involve an expenditure of £500, the defendants had been unable to carry it out for want of funds. The defendants had standing to their credit a sum of £139 8s. 10d., which...