and the transcripts of the proceedings in appeal have been from time to time transmitted under the seal of the said courts, through the united company of merchants in England trading to the East Indies, to the office of his Majesty's said Privy Council, but the suitors in the causes so appealed have not taken the necessary measures to bring on the same to a hearing; be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall be lawful for his Majesty in Council to give such directions to the said united company and other persons for the purpose of bringing to a hearing before the said committee the several cases appealed or hereafter to be appealed to his Majesty in Council from the several Courts of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut in the East Indies, and for appointing agents and counsel for the different parties in such appeals, and to make such orders for security and payment of the costs thereof, as his said Majesty in Council shall think fit; and thereupon such appeals shall be heard and reported on to his Majesty in Council, and shall be by his Majesty in Council determined in the same manner, and the judgments, orders, and decrees of his Majesty in Council thereon shall be of the same force and effect, as if the same had been brought to a hearing by the direction of the parties appealing in the usual course of proceeding: Provided always, that such last-mentioned powers shall not extend to any appeals from the said Courts of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut other than appeals in which no proceedings have been or shall hereafter be taken in England on either side for a period of two years subsequent to the admission of the appeal by such Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut.

XXIII. And be it enacted, That in any case where any order shall have been made on any such appeal as last aforesaid, the same shall have full force and effect notwithstanding the death of any of the parties interested therein; but that in all cases where any such appeal may have been withdrawn or discontinued, or any compromise made in respect of the matter in dispute, before the hearing thereof, then the determination of his Majesty in Council in respect of such appeal shall have no effect.

XXIV. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for his Majesty in Council from time to time to make any such rules and orders as may be thought fit for the regulating the mode, form, and time of appeal to be made from the decisions of the said Courts of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, or any other Courts of Judicature in India or elsewhere to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope (from the decisions of which an appeal lies to his Majesty in Council), and in like manner from time to time to make such other regulations for the preventing delays in the making or hearing such appeals, and as to the expenses attending the said appeals, and as to the amount or value of the property in respect of which any such appeal may be made.

XXV. And whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the fifty-seventh year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Third, intituled 'An Act to facilitate the hearing and determining of Suits in Equity in his Majesty's Court of Exchequer at Westminster,' it was enacted that the Lord Chief Baron of the said Court for the time being should have power to hear and determine all causes, matters, and things which should be at any time depending in the said Court of Exchequer as a Court of Equity, and that if the said Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer should by sickness or any other unavoidable cause be prevented from sitting on the equity side of the said court for the purposes in the said act mentioned, then it should and might be lawful for his Majesty and his

successors to nominate and appoint from time to time by warrant under the royal sign manual, revocable at pleasure, any one other of the Barons of the degree of the Coif of the said court for the time being, to hear and determine the causes, matters, and things in the said act mentioned: And whereas by reason of the great increase of business on the common law or plea side of the said Court of Exchequer the Lord Chief Baron is prevented from giving so much time as heretofore to the sittings on the equity side o? the said court, and the sittings on such equity side of the said court being necessarily suspended during the absence of the Lord Chief Baron, great inconvenience is thereby sustained by the suitors and practitioners on the equity side of the said court: And whereas the Lord Chief Baron may by this act become liable to the performance of other additional duties unconnected with the said Court of Exchequer, and it is desirable that the said Court of Exchequer should sit as a Court of Equity without any unnecessary interruption, for the purpose of hearing and determining causes, matters, and things depending in the said court as a Court of Equity: And whereas doubts have arisen whether or not the above recited act extends to cases of the Lord Chief Baron being prevented from sitting by the performance of judicial duties elsewhere; be it therefore declared and enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty and his successors to nominate and appoint from time to time by warrant under the royal sign manual, revocable at pleasure, any one of the Barons of the degree of the Coif of the said court for the time being to hear and determine (on such days as the Lord Chief Baron of the said court shall sit on the common law side of the said court during the term, or shall preside at the sittings at Nisi Prius in London or Middlesex after the term, or shall attend at the Judicial Committee of his Majesty's Privy Council under the provisions of this act) all causes, matters, and things which shall at any time be depending in the said Court of Exchequer as a Court of Equity.

XXVI. And be it further enacted, That during the absence of the Chief Judge in Bankruptcy from the Court of Review established by virtue of an act passed in the first and second year of his present Majesty, intituled 'An Act to establish a Court in Bankruptcy,' by reason of his attendance at the said Judicial Committee by virtue of this act, any two judges of the said court shall and may form a Court of Review in Bankruptcy, and shall and may make, do, and execute all orders, acts, matters, powers, and things whatsoever which by virtue of the said act the judges of the said court or any three of them are authorized to make, do, or execute, and in all respects whatsoever as if three of the said judges were present, except that nothing herein contained shall authorize any two judges of the said court to hear and determine any matter brought under the review of the said court by way of appeal from the determination or decision of any commissioner or subdivision court appointed by virtue of the said act.

XXVII. And be it further enacted, That all the clauses and provisions contained in the said Act of Parliament which relate to the baron nominated and appointed under that Act shall apply and be extended to the baron nominated and appointed under the authority of this Act.

XXVIII. And be it enacted, That the said Judicial Committee shall have and enjoy in all respects such and the same power of punishing contempts and of compelling appearances, and that his Majesty in council shall have and enjoy in all respects such and the same powers of enforcing judgments, decrees, and orders, as are now exercised by the high Court of Chancery or the Court of King's Bench, (and

both in personam and in rem.) or as are given to any Court Ecclesiastical by an Act of Parliament passed in a session of Parliament of the second and third years of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled 'An Act for enforcing the Process upon Contempts in the Courts Ecclesiastical of England and Ireland;' and that all such powers as are given to Courts Ecclesiastical, if of punishing contempts or of compelling appearances, shall be exercised by the said Judicial Committee, and if of enforcing decrees and orders, shall be exercised by his Majesty in Council, in such and the same manner as the powers in and by such Act of Parliament given, and shall be of as much force and effect as if the same had been thereby expressly given to the said Committee or to his Majesty in Council.

XXIX. And be it further enacted, That, subject to such orders as his Majesty in Council shall from time to time make, it shall be lawful for the present registrar of the high Court of Admiralty, if he shall so think fit, either in person or by deputy, to attend the hearing by the said Judicial Committee of all causes and appeals which, but for this Act or the said last-mentioned Act, would have been heard by any court or commission which such registrar was entitled to attend, in person or by deputy, by virtue of his offices of registrar of the high Courts of Admiralty, Delegates, and Appeals for Prizes, and likewise, subject to any order of his Majesty in Council, to transact, perform, and do all acts, matters, and things that shall be found necessary, or have heretofore been done by the said registrar or his deputies in respect of such causes and appeals.

XXX. And be it enacted, That two members of his Majesty's Privy Council who shall have held the office of Judge in the East Indies or any of his Majesty's dominions beyond the seas, and who, being appointed for that purpose by his Majesty, shall attend the sittings of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, shall severally be entitled to receive over and above any annuity granted to them in respect of having held such office as aforesaid, the sum of four hundred pounds for every year during which they shall so attend as aforesaid, as an indemnity for the expence which they may thereby incur; and such sum of four hundred pounds shall be chargeable upon and paid out of the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

XXXI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be held to impeach or render void any treaty or engagement already entered into by or on behalf of his Majesty, or be taken to restrain his Majesty from acceding to any treaty, with any foreign prince, potentate, or power, in which treaty it shall be stipulated that any person or persons other than the said Judicial Committee shall hear and finally adjudicate appeals from his Majesty's Courts of Admiralty in causes of prize, but that the judgments, decrees, and orders of such other person or persons so appointed by treaty shall be of the same force and effect of which they would respectively have been if this Act had not been passed.

CAP. XXXVIII.-An Act to make further Regulations for facilitating the hearing Appeals and other Matters by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. [28th July, 1843.]

Whereas it has been found expedient to make further regulations for hearing and making report to her Majesty in appeals and other matters referred to the judicial committee of the Privy Council, and for the more effectual appointment

of surrogates in ecclesiastical and maritime causes of appeal, and for making orders or decrees incidental to such causes of appeal, and for the punishment of contempts, and compelling appearances and enforcement of judgments, orders, and decrees of her Majesty in Council, or of the said judicial committee, or their surrogates, in such causes of appeal: be it 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, that in any appeal, application for prolongation or confirmation of letters patent, or other matter referred or hereafter to be referred by her Majesty in Council to the judicial committee of the Privy Council, it shall be lawful for her Majesty, by order in Council or special direction under her royal sign manual, having regard to the nature of the said appeal or other matter, and in respect of the same not requiring the presence of more than three members of the said committee, to order that the same be heard, and when so ordered it shall be lawful that the same shall be accordingly heard by not less than three of the members of the said judicial committee, subject to such other rules as are applicable, or under this Act may be applicable, to the hearing and making report on appeals and other matters by four or more of the members of the said judicial committee. II. And be it enacted, That in respect of all incidents, emergents, dependents, and things adjoined to, arising out of, or connected with appeals from any ecclesiastical court, or from any admiralty or vice-admiralty court, (save in giving a definitive sentence, or any interlocutory degree having the force and effect of a definitive sentence,) the said judicial committee and their surrogates shall have full power, subject to such rules, orders, and regulations as shall from time to time be made by the said judicial committee, (with the approval of her Majesty in Council,) to make all such interlocutory orders and decrees, and to administer all such oaths and affirmations, and to do all such things as may be necessary, or the judges of the courts below appealed from or their surrogates in the cases appealed, or the judges of the courts appealed to or their surrogates, or the lords commissioners of appeals in prize causes or their surrogates, and the judges delegate or their condelegates under commissions of appeal under the great Seal in ecclesiastical and maritime causes of appeal, would respectively have had before an Act passed in the third year of the reign of his late Majesty, intituled an Act for transferring the powers of the high court of delegates, both in ecclesiastical and maritime causes, to his Majesty in Council, and another act passed in the following session of Parliament, intituled an act for the better administration of justice in his Majesty's Privy Council, were passed.

III. And be it enacted, That the surrogates and examiners of the arches court of Canterbury and the high court of admiralty of England, and such persons as shall from time to time be appointed surrogates or examiners of the said courts, shall be by virtue of this Act surrogates and examiners respectively of the judicial committee of the Privy Council in all causes of appeal from ecclesiastical courts and from any admiralty or vice-admiralty court.

IV. And be it enacted, That all orders, decrees, and things heretofore done and expedited in such causes of appeal by the surrogates appointed by the said judicial committee of the Privy Council shall be deemed to be valid and effectual, if otherwise lawfully done and expedited, notwithstanding any informality or want of authority in respect to the same in the orders of his late Majesty in Council of the fourth day of February one thousand eight hundred

and thirty-three, of the said judicial committee of the fifth day of February one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, of the order of his late Majesty in Council of the ninth day of December one thousand eight hundred and thirtythree, of an order of the said judicial committee of the tenth day of December one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and an order of his late Majesty in Council of the twelfth day of August one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five. V. And be it enacted, That, subject to such rules and regulations as may from time to time be made by the said judicial committee with the approval of her Majesty in Council, and save and in so much as the practice thereof may be varied by the said Acts of the reign of his late Majesty or by this Act, the said causes of appeal to her Majesty in Council shall be commenced within the same times, and conducted in the same form and manner, and by the same persons and officers, as if appeals in the same causes had been made to the Queen in Chancery, the high court of admiralty of England, or the lords commissioners of appeals in prize causes respectively; and all things otherwise lawfully done and expedited in the said causes of appeal by the registrar of the high court of admiralty of England, his deputy or deputies, in consequence of the passing of the said Acts of the reign of his late Majesty, shall be deemed to be valid to all intents whatsoever.

VI. And whereas by the provisions of the herein-before secondly-recited Act it was enacted, that the said judicial committee should have and enjoy in all respects such and the same power of punishing contempts and of compelling appearances, and that his Majesty in Council should have and enjoy in all respects such and the same powers of enforcing judgments, decrees, and orders, (both in personam and in rem,) as are given to any court ecclesiastical by an Act of Parliament passed in a session of Parliament of the second and third years of the reign of his Majesty king William the Fourth, intituled an Act for enforcing the process upon contempts in the courts ecclesiastical of England and Ireland, and that all such powers as are given to courts ecclesiastical, if of punishing contempts or of compelling appearances, should be exercised by the said judicial committee, and of enforcing decrees and orders should be exercised by his Majesty in Council, in such and the same manner as the powers in and by such Act of Parliament given, and should be of as much force and effect as if the same had been thereby expressly given to the said committee or to his Majesty in Council; be it enacted, That so much of the said Act as relates to the powers thereby given to the said judicial committee and to his Majesty in Council, under the last-recited Act, shall be repealed.

VII. And be it enacted, That for better punishing contempts, compelling appearances, and enforcing judgments of her Majesty in Council, and all orders and decrees of the said judicial committee or their surrogates, in all causes of appeal from ecclesiastical courts and from admiralty or vice-admiralty courts, her Majesty in Council and the said judicial committee and their surrogates shall have the same powers, by attachment and committal of the person to any of her Majesty's gaols, and subsequent discharge of any person so committed, as by any statute, custom, or usage belong to the judge of the high court of admiralty of England; and the said judicial committee shall have the same immunities and privileges as are conferred on the judge of the high court of admiralty of England under an Act passed in the fourth year of the reign of her Majesty, intituled an Act to improve the practice and extend the jurisdic