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77/í7 Green Bag.
appear to require. He may direct that there shall be no pleadings of any kind, the en dorsement on the writ being in his judgment a sufficient notice to the defendant of the nature of the plaintiff's claim, and the letters or other admissions by the defendant of the defence the latter is going to set up. He may, on the contrary, not only require plead ings, but he may rule both parties to furnish the other with further particulars of any alle gations in their pleadings. He may also order the production and inspection of books and other documents, and the admission of facts therein contained, in order to prevent the expense of formal proof of such books or documents or facts at the trial. He may also give leave for the delivery by either party of interrogatories to the other, or for a . commission to issue for the examination of witnesses, either within or without the juris diction. And, finally, he will name the place of the trial, and, after deferring to the wishes of the parties, will state whether the trial shall be with or without a jury. This clears ..away a great deal of the preliminary matter . which would otherwise serve to clog the machinery of the courts. Afterwards, if ap plications of any kind are to be made, they must be made to the same master who set tled the directions. If, for example, cither party complains of the other's pleadings, or objects to the particulars as being insufficient, or wants further discovery, the master is asked to settle these matters also. One of the most important and useful of the master's functions is to hear applications for judgment in what are known as " Or der 14" summonses. In all actions where the plaintiff seeks only to recover a debt or liquidated demand in money, arising after a contract express or implied — as for instance on a bill of exchange or note or cheque, or other simple contract debt — or on a contract or bond under seal for payment of a liquidated amount; or on a statute where the sum sought to be recovered is a fixed sum of money; or on a guarantee where the claim
against the principal is for a fixed sum, the plaintiff may specially endorse upon his writ the relief or remedy to which he claims to be entitled, and may then, under Order 14 of the rules of court, apply for leave to enter final judgment for the amount endorsed on his writ. In support of his application he need only file an affidavit made by himself or by any other person who can swear positively to the facts, verifying the cause of action and amount claimed, and stating that in his belief there is no defence to the action. The mas ter may, therefore, unless the defendant by affidavit or his own viva voce evidence or otherwise shall satisfy him that he has a good defence to the action on its merits, make the order allowing the plaintiff to enter judg ment; or he may give the defendant leave to defend upon condition that he pay the money in dispute into court, or find security for it. This may seem a hardship, but the rule rarely if ever prevents an honest defendant who has a good defence to an action on the merits from defending the action. He has the op portunity of disclosing the merits in his affi davit, and it is the practice to refuse the order for judgment if there is any reasonable pros pect of an honest defence being set up. For amere technical defence, however, very little consideration is shown. From every ruling of the master in the way of an order there is an immediate appeal to a judge in cham bers. And herein lies another explanation of the means by which the time of the trial court is saved. There is constantly, or at least daily, in attendance at a particular room in the courts, a judge whose time, or so much of it as is necessary, is devoted to hearing motions and applications. He may exercise all or any part of the jurisdiction vested in a single judge in the High Court of Justice, but in practice he confines himself to those motions or applications of an interlocutory nature. Any one desiring to apply to him must give notice to his clerk, and a list of his business is prepared and published in the daily cause
