MERCANTILE LAW AMENDMENT ORDINANCE, 1864
Title
MERCANTILE LAW AMENDMENT ORDINANCE, 1864
Description
ORDINANCE No. 1 of 1864.
Mercantile Law Amendment Ordinance, 1864.
AN ORDINANCE to amend the Laws of Trade and Commerce.
[13th Sepermber, 1864.] No. 1 of 1864.
Mercantile Law Amendment Ordinance, 1864.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the
Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Mercantile Law Amendment
Ordinance, 1864.
2. No special promise to be made by any person after the commence-
ment of this Ordinance to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of
another person, being in writing and signed by the party to be charged
therewith or some other person by him thereinto lawfully authorized,
shall be deemed invalid to support an action, suit, or other proceeding to
charge the person by whom such promise has been made, by reason only
that the consideration for such promise does not appear in writing or by
necessary inference from a written document.
3. Every person who, being surety for the debt or duty of another
or being liable with another for any debt or duty, pays such debt or
performs such duty shall be entitled to have assigned to him, or to a
trustee for him, every judgment, specialty, or other security which is
held by the creditor in respect of such debt or duty, whether such
judgment, specialty, or other security is or is not deemed at law to have
been satisfied by the payment of the debt or performance of the duty,
and such person shall be entitled to stand in the place of the creditor,
and to use all the remedies, and , if need be and upon aproper indemmity,
to use the name, of the creditor in any action or other proceeding, at
law or in equity, in order to obtain from the principal debtor or any
co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, as the case may be, indemmifi-
cation for the advances made and loss sustained by the person who has
so paid such debt or performed such duty, and such payment or per-
formance so made by such surety shall not be pleadable in bar of any
such action or other proceeding by him: provided always that no
co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, shall be entitled to recover from
any other co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, by the means aforesaid,
more than the just proportion to which, as between those parties them-
selves, such last-mentioned person is justly liable.
4. All actions of account or for not accounting, and suits for such
accounts as concern the trade of merchandise, between merchant and
merchant, their factors or servants, shall be commenced and sued within
six years after the cause of such actions or suits; and no claim in
respect of a matter which arose more than six years before the com-
mencement of any such action or suit shall be enforceable by action or
suit by reason only of some other matter of claim comprised in the
same account having arisen within six years next before the commence-
ment of such action or suit.
5. No person or persons who is or sre entitled to any action or suit with
respect to which the period of limitation within which the same shall be
brought is fixed by section 3 of the Act 21 James 1 Chapter 16, entitled
' An Act for Limitation of Actions, and for avoiding of Suits in Law,'
or by section 17 of the Act 4 Anne Chapter 16, entitled ' An Act for
Amendment of the Law, and the better Advancement of Justice,' or by
section 5 of the Act 53 George 3 Chapter 127, entitled ' An Act for
the better Regulation of Ecclesiastical Courts in England; and for the
more easy Recovery of Church Rates and Titles,' or by section 40,41,
and 42 of the Act 3 & 4 William 4 Chapter 27, entitled ' An Act for
the Limitation of Actions and Suits relating to Real Property, and for
simplifying the Remedies for trying the rights thereto,' or by section
3 of the Act of the same reign and year Chapter 42, entitled ' An Act
for the further Amendment of the Law, and the better Advancement of
Justiice,' or by section 20 of the Act 16 & 17 Victoria chapter 113,
entitled ' An Act to amend the Procedure in the Superior Courts of
Common Law in Ireland,' shal be entitled to any time within which
to commence and sue such actipn or suit beyond the period so fixed for
the same by the enactments aforesaid, by reason only of such person or
some one or more of such persons being, at the time of such cause of ac-
tion or suit accrued,absent from the Colony, or, in the cases in which,
by virtue of any of the aforesaid enactments, imprisonment is now a dis-
ability, by reason of such person or some one or more of such persons
being imprisoned at the time of such cause of action or suit accrued.
6. Where such cause of action or suit with respect to which the
period of limitation is fixed by the enactments aforesaid oor any of them
lies against two or more joint debtors, the person or persons who is or
are entitled to the same shall not be entitled to any time within which
to commence and sue any such action or suit against any one or more
of such joint debtors who is or are not absent from the Colony at the
time such cause of action or suit accrued, by reason only that some
other one or more of such joint debtors was or were at the time such
cause of action accrued so absent; and such person or persons so
entitled as aforesaid shall not be barred from commencing and suinh
any action or suit aginst the joint debtor or joint debtors who was
already recovered aginst any one or more of such joint debtors who
was not or were not abent at the time aforesaid.
7. In referende to the provisions of sections 1 and 8 of the Act 9
George 4 chapter 14, entitled ' An Act for rendering a written Memo-
randum necessary to the Validity of certain Promises and Engage-
ments' and section 24 of the said Act 16 & 17 Victoria Chapter 113,
an acknowledgment or promise made or contained by or in a writing
signed by agent of the party chargeable thereby, duly authorized to
make such acknowledgment or promise, shall have the samw dffect as if
such writing had been signed by such party himself.
8. In reference to the provisions of the said section 3 of the Act 21
James 1 Chapter 16, the said section 3 of the Act 3 & 4 William 4
Chapter 42, and the said section 20 of the Act 16 & 17 Victoria
Chapter 113, when there are two or more co-contractors or co-
debtors, whether bound or liable jointly only or jointly and severally,
or executors or administrators of any contractor, no such co-contractor
or co-debtor, or executor or administrator, shall lose the benefit of the
said enactments, or any of them, so as to be chargeable in respect or
by rason only of payment of any principal, interest, or other mony by
any other or others of such co-contrctors or co-debtors or executors or
administrators.
9. It shall be lawful for the Chief Justice to make rules and regula-
tions and to frame writs and proceedings for the purpose of giving
effect to this Ordiance, and from time to time amendsuch rules,
orders, and forms, and such rules, orders, and forms, or amended rules,
orders, and forms, shall be submitted to the Legislative Council, who
may allow, disallow, or alter the same, and the rules, orders, and forms
so allowed or altered shall be of the same sorce and effect as id they had
been speciallu enacted herein.
A.D. 1864. Ordinance No. 13 of 1864.
Short title. Consideration for guarantee need not appear by writing. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97, s. 3. Right of surety who discharges liability to assignment of all securities held by creditor. Ib. s. 5. Limitation of actions for merchants' accounts. Ib. s. 9. Certain periods of limitation of actions and suits not to be extended by absence from the Colony or imprisonment of person entitled. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 10. Period of limitation to run as to joint debtors in the Colony, though some absent. Ib. s. 11. Extension of certain enactments to acknowledge- ment by agent. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 13. Saving of benefit of statute to contractor or debtor whose co-contractor or co-debtor makes payment. Ib. s. 14. Making of rules and regulations, etc. Ib. s. 15.
Mercantile Law Amendment Ordinance, 1864.
AN ORDINANCE to amend the Laws of Trade and Commerce.
[13th Sepermber, 1864.] No. 1 of 1864.
Mercantile Law Amendment Ordinance, 1864.
BE it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the
Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Mercantile Law Amendment
Ordinance, 1864.
2. No special promise to be made by any person after the commence-
ment of this Ordinance to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of
another person, being in writing and signed by the party to be charged
therewith or some other person by him thereinto lawfully authorized,
shall be deemed invalid to support an action, suit, or other proceeding to
charge the person by whom such promise has been made, by reason only
that the consideration for such promise does not appear in writing or by
necessary inference from a written document.
3. Every person who, being surety for the debt or duty of another
or being liable with another for any debt or duty, pays such debt or
performs such duty shall be entitled to have assigned to him, or to a
trustee for him, every judgment, specialty, or other security which is
held by the creditor in respect of such debt or duty, whether such
judgment, specialty, or other security is or is not deemed at law to have
been satisfied by the payment of the debt or performance of the duty,
and such person shall be entitled to stand in the place of the creditor,
and to use all the remedies, and , if need be and upon aproper indemmity,
to use the name, of the creditor in any action or other proceeding, at
law or in equity, in order to obtain from the principal debtor or any
co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, as the case may be, indemmifi-
cation for the advances made and loss sustained by the person who has
so paid such debt or performed such duty, and such payment or per-
formance so made by such surety shall not be pleadable in bar of any
such action or other proceeding by him: provided always that no
co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, shall be entitled to recover from
any other co-surety, co-contractor, or co-debtor, by the means aforesaid,
more than the just proportion to which, as between those parties them-
selves, such last-mentioned person is justly liable.
4. All actions of account or for not accounting, and suits for such
accounts as concern the trade of merchandise, between merchant and
merchant, their factors or servants, shall be commenced and sued within
six years after the cause of such actions or suits; and no claim in
respect of a matter which arose more than six years before the com-
mencement of any such action or suit shall be enforceable by action or
suit by reason only of some other matter of claim comprised in the
same account having arisen within six years next before the commence-
ment of such action or suit.
5. No person or persons who is or sre entitled to any action or suit with
respect to which the period of limitation within which the same shall be
brought is fixed by section 3 of the Act 21 James 1 Chapter 16, entitled
' An Act for Limitation of Actions, and for avoiding of Suits in Law,'
or by section 17 of the Act 4 Anne Chapter 16, entitled ' An Act for
Amendment of the Law, and the better Advancement of Justice,' or by
section 5 of the Act 53 George 3 Chapter 127, entitled ' An Act for
the better Regulation of Ecclesiastical Courts in England; and for the
more easy Recovery of Church Rates and Titles,' or by section 40,41,
and 42 of the Act 3 & 4 William 4 Chapter 27, entitled ' An Act for
the Limitation of Actions and Suits relating to Real Property, and for
simplifying the Remedies for trying the rights thereto,' or by section
3 of the Act of the same reign and year Chapter 42, entitled ' An Act
for the further Amendment of the Law, and the better Advancement of
Justiice,' or by section 20 of the Act 16 & 17 Victoria chapter 113,
entitled ' An Act to amend the Procedure in the Superior Courts of
Common Law in Ireland,' shal be entitled to any time within which
to commence and sue such actipn or suit beyond the period so fixed for
the same by the enactments aforesaid, by reason only of such person or
some one or more of such persons being, at the time of such cause of ac-
tion or suit accrued,absent from the Colony, or, in the cases in which,
by virtue of any of the aforesaid enactments, imprisonment is now a dis-
ability, by reason of such person or some one or more of such persons
being imprisoned at the time of such cause of action or suit accrued.
6. Where such cause of action or suit with respect to which the
period of limitation is fixed by the enactments aforesaid oor any of them
lies against two or more joint debtors, the person or persons who is or
are entitled to the same shall not be entitled to any time within which
to commence and sue any such action or suit against any one or more
of such joint debtors who is or are not absent from the Colony at the
time such cause of action or suit accrued, by reason only that some
other one or more of such joint debtors was or were at the time such
cause of action accrued so absent; and such person or persons so
entitled as aforesaid shall not be barred from commencing and suinh
any action or suit aginst the joint debtor or joint debtors who was
already recovered aginst any one or more of such joint debtors who
was not or were not abent at the time aforesaid.
7. In referende to the provisions of sections 1 and 8 of the Act 9
George 4 chapter 14, entitled ' An Act for rendering a written Memo-
randum necessary to the Validity of certain Promises and Engage-
ments' and section 24 of the said Act 16 & 17 Victoria Chapter 113,
an acknowledgment or promise made or contained by or in a writing
signed by agent of the party chargeable thereby, duly authorized to
make such acknowledgment or promise, shall have the samw dffect as if
such writing had been signed by such party himself.
8. In reference to the provisions of the said section 3 of the Act 21
James 1 Chapter 16, the said section 3 of the Act 3 & 4 William 4
Chapter 42, and the said section 20 of the Act 16 & 17 Victoria
Chapter 113, when there are two or more co-contractors or co-
debtors, whether bound or liable jointly only or jointly and severally,
or executors or administrators of any contractor, no such co-contractor
or co-debtor, or executor or administrator, shall lose the benefit of the
said enactments, or any of them, so as to be chargeable in respect or
by rason only of payment of any principal, interest, or other mony by
any other or others of such co-contrctors or co-debtors or executors or
administrators.
9. It shall be lawful for the Chief Justice to make rules and regula-
tions and to frame writs and proceedings for the purpose of giving
effect to this Ordiance, and from time to time amendsuch rules,
orders, and forms, and such rules, orders, and forms, or amended rules,
orders, and forms, shall be submitted to the Legislative Council, who
may allow, disallow, or alter the same, and the rules, orders, and forms
so allowed or altered shall be of the same sorce and effect as id they had
been speciallu enacted herein.
A.D. 1864. Ordinance No. 13 of 1864.
Short title. Consideration for guarantee need not appear by writing. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97, s. 3. Right of surety who discharges liability to assignment of all securities held by creditor. Ib. s. 5. Limitation of actions for merchants' accounts. Ib. s. 9. Certain periods of limitation of actions and suits not to be extended by absence from the Colony or imprisonment of person entitled. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 10. Period of limitation to run as to joint debtors in the Colony, though some absent. Ib. s. 11. Extension of certain enactments to acknowledge- ment by agent. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 13. Saving of benefit of statute to contractor or debtor whose co-contractor or co-debtor makes payment. Ib. s. 14. Making of rules and regulations, etc. Ib. s. 15.
Abstract
A.D. 1864. Ordinance No. 13 of 1864.
Short title. Consideration for guarantee need not appear by writing. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97, s. 3. Right of surety who discharges liability to assignment of all securities held by creditor. Ib. s. 5. Limitation of actions for merchants' accounts. Ib. s. 9. Certain periods of limitation of actions and suits not to be extended by absence from the Colony or imprisonment of person entitled. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 10. Period of limitation to run as to joint debtors in the Colony, though some absent. Ib. s. 11. Extension of certain enactments to acknowledge- ment by agent. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 13. Saving of benefit of statute to contractor or debtor whose co-contractor or co-debtor makes payment. Ib. s. 14. Making of rules and regulations, etc. Ib. s. 15.
Short title. Consideration for guarantee need not appear by writing. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97, s. 3. Right of surety who discharges liability to assignment of all securities held by creditor. Ib. s. 5. Limitation of actions for merchants' accounts. Ib. s. 9. Certain periods of limitation of actions and suits not to be extended by absence from the Colony or imprisonment of person entitled. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 10. Period of limitation to run as to joint debtors in the Colony, though some absent. Ib. s. 11. Extension of certain enactments to acknowledge- ment by agent. 19 & 20 Vict. C. 97 s. 13. Saving of benefit of statute to contractor or debtor whose co-contractor or co-debtor makes payment. Ib. s. 14. Making of rules and regulations, etc. Ib. s. 15.
Identifier
https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/561
Edition
1901
Volume
v1
Subsequent Cap No.
23
Cap / Ordinance No.
No. 1 of 1864
Number of Pages
4
Files
Collection
Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online
Citation
“MERCANTILE LAW AMENDMENT ORDINANCE, 1864,” Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online, accessed January 21, 2025, https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/561.
