Court of Probate (Ireland) Act 1859
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1859 c. 31 |
| Year | 1859 |
(22 & 23 Vict.) C A P. XXXI.
[13th August 1859]
'WHEREAS in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Year *of Her present Majesty an Act was passed, intituled An Act to amend the Law relating to Probates and Letters of Administration inIreland, herein-after designated ‘The Court of Probate Act:’ And whereas it is expedient to amend the same:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
I Power to Judge of Court of Probate to sit in Chambers.
I. It shall be lawful for the Judge of the Court of Probate for the Time being to sit in Chambers for the Despatch of such Part of the Business of the said Court as can in the Opinion of the said Judge, with Advantage to the Suitors, be heard in Chambers; and the Times at which such Sittings shall be held shall from Time to Time be fixed by the Judge: Provided always, that no Question shall be heard in Chambers which either Party shall require to be heard in open Court.
II Treasury to cause Chambers to be provided.
II. The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall from Time to Time provide Chambers in which the Judge of the Court of Probate shall sit for the Despatch of such Business is aforesaid; and until such Chambers are provided elsewhere the said Judge shall sit in Chambers in any Room which he may find convenient for the Purpose.
III Judge's Powers when sitting in Chambers.
III. The Judge of the Court of Probate, when so sitting in Chambers, shall have and exercise the same Power and Jurisdiction in respect of the Business to be brought before him as if sitting in open Court.
IV Clerks may be Registrars, &c.
IV. Clerks having served Five Years in the Principal Registry of the Court of Probate shall be eligible to be appointed District Registrars of the said Court.
V Repeal of s. 22 of recited Act.
V. Section Twenty-two of the said Court of Probate Act shall be and the same is hereby repealed.
VI Where Personalty is under 200 l. County Court to have Jurisdiction.
VI. Where it appears by Affidavit to the Satisfaction of a Registrar of the Principal Registry that the Testator or Intestate in respect of whose Estate a Grant or Revocation of a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is applied for had at the Time of his Death his fixed Place of Abode in one of the Districts specified in Schedule (A.) to the said ‘Court of Probate Act,’ and that the Personal Estate in respect of which such Probate or Letters of Administration are to be or have been granted, exclusive of what the Deceased may have been possessed of or entitled to as a Trustee, and not beneficially, but without deducting anything on account of the Debts due and owing from the Deceased, was at the Time of his Death under the Value of Two hundred Pounds, and that the Deceased at the Time of his Death was not seised or entitled beneficially of or to any Real Estate of the Value of Three hundred Pounds or upwards, the Chairman of Quarter Sessions having Jurisdiction in the Place in which the Deceased had at the Time of his or her Death a fixed Place of Abode shall have the Contentious Jurisdiction and Authority of the Court of Probate in respect of Questions as to the Grant and Revocation of Probate of the Will or Letters of Administration of the Effects of such deceased Person, in case there be any Contention in relation thereto.
VII S. 58. of recited Act repealed.
VII. Section Fifty-eight of the said Court of Probate Act shall be and the same is hereby repealed.
VIII S. 63. to apply to Applications for Revocation.
VIII. The said Court of Probate Act, Section Sixty-three, shall, so far as Assistant Barristers or their Courts are concerned, apply to an Application for the Revocation of a Grant of Probate or Administration as well as to an Application for any such Grant.
IX Power to make Rules and frame Scales of Fees for theCounty Courts.
IX. The Power and Authority to make Rules and Orders for regulating the Proceedings of the Assistant Barristers Courts shall extend and be applicable to all Proceedings in the Assistant Barristers Courts under this Act, and also to framing a Scale of Costs and Charges to be paid to Counsel, Proctors, Solicitors, and Attorneys in respect of Proceedings in such Courts, under the said Court of Probate Act or this Act.
X Non-contentious Business pending in any EcclesiasticalCourt to be transferred.
X. All Non-contentious Business pending in any Ecclesiastical Court at the Time when ‘The Court of Probate Act’ came into operation shall be deemed to have been transferred to the Court of Probate, in the same Way as all pending Suits were transferred to the said Court under the said Act, and all Acts executed under the Authority of such Ecclesiastical Court with reference to such Business which would have been valid if the Authority of such Court had not been abolished shall be valid, and all Oaths and Bonds sworn and executed in manner required by any such Ecclesiastical Court in
* This appears to be a mis-recital of the Act intended. The Act relating to Probates, &c. inIreland is that recited in the Margin, viz., 20 & 21 Vict. c. 79. There is a Probate Act of 21 & 22 Vict. c. 95., but that is an Act to amend the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77. which relates to Probates and Administrations in England exclusively; ss. 7, 8, 14, 25, and 33 of the present Act evidently refer to the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 79. See Notes on ss. 8, 25, and 33, infra.
reference to such Business, prior to the Eleventh Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight shall continue to have and be deemed to have had the same Force and Effect in Law as they would have had if sworn and executed in pursuance of the Provisions of the said Act or of this ActXI Bonds given before 11 Jan. 1858 to remain in force.
XI. Bonds given to any Archbishop, Bishop, or other Person exercising Testamentary Jurisdiction in respect of Grants of Letters of Administration made prior to the Eleventh Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, or in respect of Grants made in pursuance of the Court of Probate Act or of this Act, whether taken under a Commission or Requisition executed before or after the said Eleventh Day of January , shall enure to the Benefit of the Judge of the Court of Probate, and, if necessary, shall be put in force in the same Manner and subject to the same Rules (so far as the same may be applicable to them) as if they had been given to the Judge of the said Court subsequently to that Day.
XII An Executor not acting or not appearing to a Citationto be treated as if he had renounced.
XII. Whenever an Executor appointed in a Will survives the Testator, but dies without having taken Probate, and whenever an Executor named in a Will is cited to take Probate, and does not appear to such Citation, the Right of such Person in respect of the Executorship shall wholly cease, and the Representation to the Testator and the Administration of his Effects shall and may, without any further Renunciation, go, devolve, and be committed in like Manner as if such Person had not been appointed Executor.
XIII Judge may amend Grants made before 11 Jan. 1858.
XIII. The Judge of the Court of Probate shall have and exercise the same Power of altering and amending Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made before the Eleventh Day ofJanuary One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight as any Ecclesiastical Court had and exercised in respect of such Grants.
XIV Provisions of 38 G. 3. c. 87. and 20 & 21 Vict.c. 79. extended to all Cases of Executors and Administrators.
XIV. The Provisions of an Act passed in the Thirty-eighth Year ofGeorge the Third, Chapter Eighty-seven, and of ‘The Court of Probate Act,’ shall be...
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