32. In every such case, issue shall be held to be joined Joinder of by the pleadings filed within the delay allowed for filing the issue. same respectively.

be filed.

33. In any such case, no Exception à la forme, Excep- Preliminary tion déclinatoire, Exception dilatoire, or other preliminary plea, pleas when to shall be received, unless the same be filed within four days from the day of the return of the Writ, or of the filing of the pleading to which such preliminary exception or pleading is opposed; and the delay within which any party must after- Delays for wards file his plea or pleas to the action or merits, shall be other pleas reckoned from the day of the date of the interlocutory judg ment on the preliminary plea, or the withdrawal of the same :--Provided always, that the plaintiff may, before answering Plaintiff may any such preliminary plea, demand of the defendant his plea demand plea or pleas to the action or merits, and if such last mentioned &c., befo e anplea or pleas be not filed on or before the fifth juridical day swering preli after such demand, such defendant shall, without any Acte of minary plea. foreclosure, become foreclosed from thereafter filing any plea to the action or merits, and there shall then be no issue raised between the plaintiff and defendant except on such preliminary plea or pleas, with regard to which the provisions of the Sect. 73 of 20 seventy-third section of the said Lower Canada Judicature Act V. c. 44, to of 1857, shall apply in so far as they may be consistent with apply, &c.

this Act.

to the action,

34. As soon as issue is joined in any such case, any Inscription party thereto may inscribe it for the addnction of evidence and or enquête and hearing: final hearing on the merits at the same time on any subsequent day in term, provided notice of such inscription be given to Notice therethe opposite party, at least three days before the day for which of the case is so inscribed, or such other number of days as may, from time to time, be fixed by any rule of practice to be made in that Lehalf, in the Districts of Quebec and Montreal, by the majority of the Judges residing therein respectively, and promulgated by any one of them sitting in Term, and in any other District by any Judge of the Superior Court in such District.

in proper

35. If the defendant in any such case do not appear, or If the defendhaving appeared do not, within the delay above limited, file ant do not apany plea, the case shall be dealt with as a non-appealable pear or plead case by default returnable in term, and the plaintiff may pro- time, plaintiff ceed therein in the manner prescribed with iegard to a non- may proceed appealable case by default when returned in term; but the by default, &c. plaintiff may inscribe any such case, as by defa 1, for the adduction of evidence and final hearing on the merits at the same time on any day in term, without giving notice to the defendant or opposite party.

36. If in any such case returned in vacation, the defendant Defendant desires to confess judgment, he inay do so in the manner and may con.css

judgment, under sects.

83 and 84 of 20 V. c. 44. Proviso.

Fees and costa

to the effect provided as to appealable cases in the Circuit Court by the eighty-third and eighty-fourth sections of the Lower Canada Judicature Act of 1849, chapter thirty-eight; Provided that in non-appealable cases returned in term, the defendant may confess judgment orally in open Court in the manner and to the effect provided by the said sections of the said Act of

1849.

37. Any tariff of fees and costs made before or after in such cases. the passing of this Act, for non-appealable cases in which pleadings in writing have been ordered by the Court, shall apply to contested non appealable cases returned in vacation, in any Circuit where such tariff is in force.

Every day a return day.

Proceedings in non appeal

able cases returnable in vacation;

cases so re

Magdalen Islands.

38. For any case over which the Circuit Court in the Circuit of the Magdalen Islands has jurisdiction, every day in term or in vacation, not being a Sunday or Holiday, shall be a return day.

39. In any non-appralable case in the said last mentioned Circuit made returnable in vacation, the mode of proceeding shall be as hereinabove provided with respect to nonappealable case returnable in vacation; and in any other or And in other appealable case over which the Circuit Court has jurisdiction in the said Circuit, the proceedings shall, if such case be returned in vacation, be the same as in an appealable case in Circuit Court in any other Circuit, returned in vacation ;---but able in tem, if such case be returned in term, the mode of proceeding therein shall be as provided by the one hundred and twentyseventh section of the Lower Canada Judicature Act of 1857, in so far as the provisions of that section are not inconsistent with this Act.

turnable;

But if return

8. 127 of 20

V. c. 44, to

apply.

In appeals from judg

ments by de 20 V c. 44, to

fault, s. 129 of

apply.

Exceptiona

40. In any case in which an appeal may lie from a jud ment by default, recorded by the Clerk of the Circuit of the Magdalen Islands,under the provisions hereinbefore made as to certain classes of cases,--the proceedings in appeal shall be as provided by the one hundred and twenty-n.mh section of the said Lower Canada Judicature Act of 1857, with respect to appeals from judgments rendered by the Circuit Court in the Circuit of the Magdalen Islands,-except that the first day on which the case in appeal from any judgment so recorded by default may be heard in the Court of Queen's Bench, shall be the juridical day in term next after the expiration of ninety days from the end of the delay allowed to file an opposition (as hereinbefore provided), to such judgment, if such delay expires on or after the first day of the Spring Term in the said Circuit, and before the first day of the Autumn Term therein,---and the first juridical day in term after the first day of June next after the expiration of the said delay for filing such opposition, if such delay expires

оп

on or after the first day of the Autumn Term in the said Circuit, and before the first day of the Spring Term therein.

Procedure generally.

not admitting

1. In the absence of any Judge of the Superior Court at Prothonotary the Chef-lieu of any District in vacation, the Prothonotary of may act for the said Court in and for such District may, in cases of Judge in cases evident necessity, and when by delay in the performance or delay. exercise thereof, a right might otherwise be lost or a wrong sustained, perform and exercise at such Chef-lieu any ministerial or judicial act or function which any Judge of the said Court might perform or exercise in vacation. But any order or His orders, judgment made or rendered by any Prothonotary under this &c., subject to section, shall be subject to revision by the Court, at its next revision, and sitting in such District, or by any Judge of the Court present ner. at the Chef-lieu before such sitting, provided the party requiring such revision do, on or before the third juridical day after the making or rendering of such order or judgment, file with the Prothonotary an exception thereto stating the grounds on which it is founded; and the execution of such order or judgment shall in all cases be suspended until the time for filing such exception has expired, and if an exception be filed, the suspension shall continue until the decision of the Judge after such revision as aforesaid.

in what man

duties.

42. It shall not be necessary for the Judges of the Superior Judges reliev Court to affix their official signatures to Writs of Execution ed from cerfrom the Superior Court, or to indorse the same, but the signa- tain routine ture of the Prothonotary to any such Writ shall be sufficient; nor shall it be necessary that the said Judges should sign Bonds of security in appeal or other Bonds, in any case, or should number or authenticate (parapher) Registers of Baptism, Marriages or Burials, in Lower Canada, but the said security Bonds or any other Bond or recognizance, may be received, acknowledged, and taken by the Prothonotary of the district in which such Bonds shall be required to be given, and be received by and acknowledged before him in the same manner and to the same legal effect as by any of the said Judges; and the said Registers may be presented to and numbered and authenticated (parapher) by the Prothonotary of the district with the same legal effect as by any of the said Judges; any law, ordinance, statute, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding ;---and all and every person now by law required to present and keep such Registers shall continue to be subject to all the requirements and penalties of the law in that respect as fully as if this enactment in this section had not been made: But nothing herein shall be construed to prevent any such Judge Proviso. from numbering or authenticating any such Register, or receiv- Judges may ing any such Bond as aforesaid, if he shall think fit so to do, act if they see with the same effect as before the passing of this Act: And fit. the return to any Writ of Appeal issuing from the Court of

Queen's

Bonds, &c., in
Circuit Court,

taken.

Queen's Bench in relation to any judgment or order of the Superior Court, may be made by, and the original papers and proceedings found in the Court concerning the same, may be sent up and certified to the said Court of Queen's Bench, by any Judge of the Superior Court, or by the Prothonotary thereof, at the place where such judgment or order was made.

43. Any Bond of security in appeal, or any other Bond or before whom' recognizance whatever required in any case in the Circuit they may be Court, may be received, acknowledged and taken either before a Judge of the Superior Court or before the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the place where such case is pending, with the same legal effect as if received, acknowledged or taken before a Judge of the said Court.

Powers of

ers for taking affidavits.

44. Every Commissioner for receiving Affidavits to be used Commission in the Superior Court in any District in Lower Canada, and whether such Commissioner resides in Upper or in Lower Canada, and whether he be appointed before or after the passing of this Act, and whether appointed by one Judge or by more than one Judge of the said Court, is hereby declared to have had and shall have full power and authority to receive Affidavits to be used in the Superior Court or in the Circuit Court in any and every District in Lower Canada.

Oaths under

16 V. c. 22,

and 18 V. c. 13, and

Commission

ers under 48 G. 3, c. 22;

45. The oath required by the eleventh paragraph of the second section of An Act to establish a Consolidated Municipal Loan Fund for Upper Canada, passed in the sixteenth year of Her Majesty's Reign, and extended to Lower Canada by An Act to extend and amend the Act to establish a Consolidated Municipal Loan Fund for Upper Canada, by applying the same Certain other to Lower Canada, and for other purposes, passed in the oaths may be eighteenth year of Her Majesty's Reign, or by any other protaken before vision of either of those Acts, and any oath required to be taken under any Act in which no mention is made of the name of the public functionary before whom such oath is to be taken, or any oath rendered necessary, or that may be required by the Governor in carrying into execution the provisions of any Act of the Legislature, may be administered by and taken before any Justice of the Peace, or any Commissioner appointed under An Act to authorize the Judges in Civil Causes, in this Province, to delegate the power of administering oaths, in certain cases therein mentioned, passed in the forty-eighth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, or any or Recorders Recorder in Lower Canada, within their several jurisdictions respectively; and any such oath already so taken before and administered by any one of such public functionaries, within their several jurisdictions, respectively, is declared valid to all intents and purposes.

in L. C.

Prothonot&ries, &c., to have powers

46. The Prothonotary of the Superior Court, the Clerk of the Crown, and the Clerk of the Peace respectively, in and for any District

under 14, 15

District, and the Inspector and Superintendent of Police of and duties asthe City of Quebec or of the City of Montreal, shall, each, signed to Cir-within the limits of his respective jurisdiction, have and cuit Judges perform all powers and duties which by the Act passed in the V. c. 83. Session held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled: An Act to authorize the confinement of Lunatics in cases where their being at large may be dangerous to the public, were vested in or assigned to any Circuit Judge in Lower Canada.

47. The Prothonotary of the Superior Court in and for Prothonotary any District shall have the same power as any Judge of the may receive security unsaid Court to receive security to his satisfaction under the der sect. 3 of third Section of the Act of 1849, chapter forty-two, to abolish im- 12 V. c. 42. prisonment for debt, and for the punishment of fraudulent debtors in Lower Canada, and for other purposes, or under any other provision of the said Act, from any Defendant arrested on a Writ of Capias ad respondendum, and being either in custody or under bail to the Sheriff, and to cause the sureties to justify their sufficiency on oath before him, and to admi- nister such oath, and to order the release of such Defendant or the discharge of the bail to the Sheriff, on the perfecting of such security.

cient for arrest

for attachment

48. If in an affidavit for obtaining a writ of saisie-arrêt What affidavit before Judgment under the tenth section of the ordinance of the shall be suffiGovernor and Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, of a trader detwenty-seventh George the Third, chapter four, or a writ of fendant and capias ad respondendum, under the said Act of 1849, chap- of his goods. ter forty-two, in addition to the allegation that the Defendant is personally indebted to the Plaintiff in the sum required by the said Act or by the said ordinance, as the case may be, it shall be alleged upon grounds specially stated in the affidavit that the Defendant is a trader, that he is notoriously insolvent, that he has refused to compromise or arrange with his creditors, or to make a cession de biens to them or for their benefit, and that he continues to carry on his trade, such debtor shall then be held to be about to secrete his goods and chattels with intent to defraud his creditors generally, or the Plaintiff in particular, and a writ of saisie-arrêt before judgment for attaching his estate, debts and effects, may issue under the said ordinance, and a writ of capias ad respondendum for arresting such Defendant, may also issue under the said Act:

:

be untrue.

Provided always, that if upon summary petition of such Proviso if Defendant, the grounds stated in the said affidavit appear to the affidavit any Judge of the said Court sitting at the place where such be shown to writ of capias ad respondendum issued, to be insufficient, or if it be proved to the satisfaction of such Judge, that when the said affidavit was made, such defendant was not a trader, or was not notoriously insolvent, or had not refused to compromise. or arrange with his creditors, or to make a cession de biens to

them