ARBITRATION AWARDS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11056, 23 August 1907, Page 6

ARBITRATION AWARDS.

ENFORCEMENT UPHELD BY APPEAL COURT. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Appeal Court gave judgment yesterday m the case ol Keddie v. Millar, involving the power of the Arbitration Court to enforce payment of its fines by imprisonment. Four of the Bench, the Chief Justice, and Mi- Justices Cooper, Chapman, and Button decided that the Arbitration Court had not been granted any power to enforce its fines. Sub-sec-tion E of section 101 of the Act provides that a certificate under the hand of, the clerk and seal of the Court may be filed m any Court having civil jurisdiction to the extent of the amount of the fine; and shall thereupon, according to its tenor, be enforceable m pJI respects as a final judgment of such Court m its civil jurisdiction to the 'final certificate. There is no doubt the matter was a criminal matter, but thcj^ statute states its enforcement is to be as if it were a final; judgment of the Court. In this case, as the certificate was filed' m the Supreme Court m its civil jurisdiction, reference must therefore be made to the code of civil procedure to learn how a final judgment on the civil side of the Supreme Court is enforced. After detailing the processes laid down, ia this code, the Chief Justice says : "In.ii;; opinion appellant is entitled to avail himself" of the provisions of rule 386, as the order has not been transformed into a judgment for money recovered m an action for debt or damages, nor has it to be enforced as if it were judgment m that form of action. In my opinion little aid can be got from the consideration of other clauses or sections of the Arbitration Act m interpretation of subsection. E, but even if reference were made to the history of legislation, m my opinion it would be seen tliat the Legislature assumed that under similar provisions an attachment could issue. The question is really, what does this sub-sec-tion provide? It has. hot been suggested that. any. other section modifies or varies this sub-section E. It may be that it appears strange that a fine of £10 cox be enforced by an attachment which might entail imprisonment for as long as twelve months, whilst a fine under some sections of the Act up to a much larger amount than £10 may not be visited with a lengthy imprisonment. On the other hand, a breach of award may lead to a fine of £500. Can. it be that these laiige fines of £500 should not entail possible imprisonment, whilst minor offences under sub-section F of section 81 might "entail imprisonment? Is the failure to attend as a witness, for -which a fine of £10 is imposed, of less moment than a breach of award', for which a fine of £500 is imposed? And yet, if the Act is not construed as we have construed it, for the minor offence imprisonment may be imposed, but not for the latter, though the fine is fifty times larger. Other examples might be given. H, however, other provisions of the Act were considered, they would not show the interpretation which I have put on, that sub-section E of section 191 was contrary to what might be termed the general scope of the Act. Whilst therefore, I concur m the statement that before a power of> attachment ought to be deemed applicable, the statute must be plain and clear. lam of opinion that the statute, read m its ordinary meaning, intended to give, and did give, all the power to enforce an order for payment of the fine that rule 386 of the code of civil procedure gives, and that an order for payment of a fine did not become a judgment for money m an action for debt or damages, so as to bring it within the exception mentioned m the rule. There have been many cases cited and many legal by-paths trodden m argument, but m my opinion the issue is us I have stated it, and little or no aid can be got m interpreting the statute from perusal of these clauses or from exploring these by-paths. lam of opinion that appellunt must succeed, and the judgment below reversed to the direction of the Supreme Court to issue an attachment.