BENJAMIN OGLE, ESQUIRE,
GOVERNOR.
NOVEMBER. 1799.
and the service hath been or shall be proved to the satisfaction of
the chancellor, the chancellor is
hereby authorised, by order, to limit a certain day, on or before which
the said defendant shall ap-
pear in person, or by a solicitor, and put in a good and sufficient
answer to each interrogatory con-
tained in the bill, or plea or demurrer to the same, and if a copy
of the said order shall be inserted
agreably to the chancellor's cirections, in some convenient news-paper,
or personally served on the
defendant at least three months before such day limitted, and the defendant
shall not have so appear-
ed ans answered, the chancellor shall, at discretion, either take the
bill pro confesso, or direct a com-
mission to issue for taking depositions, and shall finally decree as
to him shall seem consistent with the
established principles of equity, in the same manner as if the defendant
had appeared and answered,
and depositions had been taken in the usual manner.
II. AND BE IT ENACTED, That in any cause instituted, or hereafter to
be instituted, in the court
of chancery, if an attachment for want of appearance or answer shall
have been or shall be duly re-
turned served or attached, and the defendant served or attached shall
not appear at the day of the
return, the chancellor is hereby authorised, on application of the
complainant or complainants, by
order, to limit a certain day in the following term, on or before which
day the defendant shall appear
in person, or by a solicitor, and put in a good and sufficient answer
to each interrogatory contained
in the bill, or a plea or demurrer to the same, or otherwise the chancellor,
on the application of the
compainant, and at discretion, may either take the bill pro confesso,
or direct a commission to issue for
taking depositions, and shall finally decree as to him shall seem consistent
with the established princi-
ples of equity, in the same manner as iff the defendant had appeared
and answered, and depositions
had been taken in the usual way; provided nevertheless, that if at
any time before a decree shall be passed, a defendant, nonresident or attached
as aforesaid, shall appear as aforesaid, and immediately put
in such answer, there shall be the same proceedings as if he had regularly
appeared and answered.
III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That if, on the death of a complainant, any
bill of revivor hath been
or shall hereafter by filed in the court of chancery, and the defendant
hath or shall have removed out
of the state, the chancellor shall have full power to make such order,
and direct such proceedings, as
may appear to him best calculated to promote substantial justice; provided,
that the said defendant's
answer hath been or shall have been put in before the death of such
complainant; and provided also,
that the said defendant shall be alive at the time of such order or
proceedings.
IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That if any bill in chancery hath been, or shall
be filed, against an
infant out of the state, there shall, at the chancellor's discretion,
be the same proceedings, and the
chancellor may decree, as if the infant out of the state, except those
cases in which proceedings against
infants out of the state are already provided for by law, there shall
be liberty reserved for the said
infant, within eighteen calendar months from the date of the decree,
or within six such months after
the said infant shall attain the age of twenty-one years, and likewise
for any heir of the said infant,
in case the said infant shall not so long live, within six months after
the death of the said infant, or
within six months after such heir shall attain such age, to shew cause
wherefore the decree ought not
to have been passed; and the bill to be filed by such infant or heir
for shewing cause as aforesaid,
shall, as the case may require, either be filed against the original
complainant or complainants, or
any person or persons claiming or holding under him, her or them, and
on such bill filed, the chan-
cellor shall, at discretion, direct either the usual proceedings by
subpoena, or such notice as he shall
think proper, according to the nature of the case, of the bill and
of its substance and object, and of
a day by him limitted, not less than four months after notice, for
the defendant or defendants to file
an answer to such bill of revision; and if an answer be not accordingly
filed, the chancellor may
proceed to a reconsideration or revision of the decree before passed,
or he may direct depositions, or
other proofs, ex parte, to be received as evidence in addition to the
former proceedings; and in case
of the defendant's appearing to such bill of revision, additional evidence
and proceedings may be had,
and the chancellor shall pass such decree for or against the original
complainant or complinants, or
his, her or their representative or representatives aforesaid, or person
or persons having the benefit
of the original decree, as the established principles or equity shall
to him appear, under all the cir-
cumstances of the case, to require.
V. AND, whereas in certain cases, and particularly where a defendant
hath been duly summoned,
and has stood out the process of the court, the chancellor is by law
directed absolutely to take the
bill pro confesso, and in other cases of non-appearance of the defendant,
he may at discretion, either
take the bill pro confesso, or direct a commission for taking depositions:
And whereas it appears unrea-
sonable that in any case whatever the chancellor should be directed
absolutely to take the bill or bare
allegations |
CHAP.
LXXIX.
A day to be
limitted, &c.
In case of bill
of revivor,
chancellor to
direct, &c.
On bill filed
against an in-
fant to be the
same proceed-
ings, &c. |