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F[JULY, 1927
The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
13
the Accountant of the Courts of Justice, on
stocks
and shares
in public companies
ordered to be transferred to the personal
representative of the deceased patient on the
discharge of the case out of Lunacy.
.,
$
The Taxing Master disallowed the items on
the
ground
that
the
demand
of
the
Accountant of the Courts of Justice was not
warranted by the Court Fees (Supreme Court
and High Court) Order, 1926, under which
the claim was made, and that the Solicitors
should not have paid the amounts charged.
The General Solicitor has offered me a very
clear argument in support of that ruling.
Though the matter might at first sight appear
perhaps doubtful, I have, upon an examina
tion of the Order, no doubt in the conclusion
at which I have arrived.
The Court Fees (Supreme Court and High
Court) Order, 1926, prescribes certain fees
and percentages to. be taken in the Court
Offices in respect of certain items as set out
in a schedule to the Order.
It is not a
complete,
self-contained Order
regulating
all the fees and percentages to be taken in
respect of all the business in all the Offices
of the Courts.
It is expressly stated in
Clause 2
to be an Order amending the
existing fees and percentages, and it is
provided that the existing fees and per
centages are to remain in force, save where
amended by that Order.
Now, turning to the schedule to the Order,
we find that it is divided into four com
partments.
The
first
three
of
these
compartments or divisions of the schedule
are distinguished from the fourth by the fact
that they relate to the fees to be taken in
certain offices, while the fourth relates to the
fees to be charged in certain matters, and is
•" so entitled—Lunacy and Minor Matters.
The
first compartment of
the schedule,
though not so headed, clearly prescribes fees
to be taken in the Central Office and other
Offices of the High Court. The second com
partment of the schedule provides fees to be
taken in the Taxing Office, and is so entitled.
The
third compartment of
the schedule
prescribes fees to be taken in the Accountant's
Office, and is so entitled. The fourth com
partment prescribes fees
to be
taken in
Lunacy and Minor Matters, and is so
entitled. These matters as a class are taken
i
out of the operation of the first three parts
of the schedule and are grouped apart for
separate treatment. This may be tested on
a point other than that raised on the present
application.- The second part of the schedule,
that prescribing fees to be taken in the
Taxing Office, clearly does not apply to
Lunacy and Minor Matters, because
the
fourth
compartment
of
the
schedule
prescribes the fees for taxing bills in these
matters.
It is clear, therefore, that the only part of
the schedule to the Order which applies to
Lunacy and Minor Matters is the fourth part
or division of
the schedule, which is so
entitled, and that none of
the fees set out
in
the first
three compartments of
the
schedule may be charged or taken in Lunacy
or Minor Matters. The existing fees and
percentages as amended by the fees and
percentages set out in the fourth compart
ment of the schedule to the Court Fees Order
of 1926 are the fees and percentages to be
charged and taken in Lunacy and Minor
Matters.
The Lunacy matters are very much more
numerous than the Minor Matters (now dealt
with in the same office), and the explanation
of the separate treatment of these matters
together is not far to seek.
A statutory
percentage
is
charged
on
the
estates
administered in the Lunacy Office (save in
the case of very small estates exempted on
account of poverty), and that percentage is
paid in consideration of work done by the
Officers of the Court. The other fees charged
must obviously be modified accordingly.
The fees which may be imposed in dealing
with property in other cases where no such
percentage is charged could not with any
justice be imposed on the estates in Lunacy.
Hence the differential treatment accorded to
these cases in the matter of Court Fees.
There was, therefore, no warrant in the
Court Fees Order for the fees demanded and
taken by the Accountant in the present case.
The fees having been wrongly charged, I
cannot accede to the application in the form
in which it is made.
I will, however, make
an Order directing the Committee or his
Solicitor
to obtain a
refund
from
the
Accountant
of
the moneys
erroneously
exacted by him.