The discussion on the amendment has turned very largely on the question of pleadings and their precise value in securing the due administration of justice. On the one hand we have it contended that these are merely unnecessary formalities calculated to create delay and to pile up costs against litigants. I have been unable to share that view, and nothing that has been said in the course of the debate has convinced me that it would be a desirable thing to dispense with pleadings in dealing with jurisdiction as great as that which is now exercised by the Circuit Courts.
Deputy Johnson made one comment that, perhaps, was somewhat sounder than most of his comments. It was that the £50 limit, based on the limit of the jurisdiction of the old County Court, is scarcely reasonable now in view of the altered money values, and that even assuming that we were to adhere to the conception that cases that would have come within the jurisdiction of the County Court in the past might now be allowed to go without pleadings, that there is a case for extending the limit up to £100. There was considerable discussion with the Rule-making Committee on this and other matters before these rules were made, and the view of the Committee in favour of the proposal set out in the rules was very definite and emphatic.
I want to put it to the Dáil, however, that in view of the expression of opinion here, and in view of certain knowledge I have as to the opinions in the Seanad, I am prepared to leave over until next Session the further consideration of this set of rules, that is the Circuit Court Rules, and to have further consultations with the Committee with regard to them. I would be prepared to take up again this question of pleadings and to go into the matter at greater length and in more detail than has been possible up to the present.
I have no very great confidence that I will be able to induce the Committee to change their view on the matter; I am prepared to admit that, and I will discuss with them again this question of pleadings or at any rate the raising of the limit below which pleadings can be dispensed with. I will bring to their attention the views that have been expressed here in the course of this debate. I therefore propose to withdraw the motion seeking the approval of the Circuit Court Rules and to proceed with the consideration of the District Court Rules.