“RELIC OF THE PAST”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 192, 29 July 1932, Page 8

“RELIC OF THE PAST”

CLAIM BASED ON 1737 ACT. PROCEEDINGS BY LANDLORD. Wellington, July 28. On a claim based on the of the Distress for Rent Act of 1737, passed in the reign of George 11., under a section described by Mr T. B. McNeill, S.M., as a “relic of the past,” James Dean Davidson, a landlord, succeeded at the Magistrate’s Court in establishing his right to obtain from a tenant, W. A. Hamilton, the double value of his furniture owing to the fact that Hamilton was held to have removed it from Davidson’s house when he knew that Davidson intended to seize it by way of distress for arrears of rent.

Mr McNeill, who heard the case, also held that in addition to the sum of £lB5, which was Davidson’s estimate of the double value of the furniture, Hamilton was apparently liable for arrears of rent amounting to £62. Although Mr McNeill held that the plaintiff, Davidson, must succeed in his action, he reserved the matter of fixing the amount actually to be paid by the defendant, Hamilton, until the posi. tion had been discussed by the solicitors for both sides and the defendant, had had an opportunity of giving his estimate of the value of the furniture. Mr McNeill said that he would like to hear argument as to whether or not both the rent and double value could under the circumstances be claimed.