94
(Civil)
BETWEEN
and
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JUDGMENT
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Godfrey, J.A. :
Introduction
plaintiff says the case is one in which it has properly invoked the provisions of
the Rules of the Supreme Court which enable a plaintiff, in an appropriate
case, to apply for summary judgment against the defendant, and that
accordingly this court ought to make an order for specific performance against
the defendant.
Summary judgment
This appeal has demonstrated once again that, although the Rules
of the Supreme Court have provided for many years a procedure whereby a
plaintiff can in an appropriate case apply for summary judgment against the
defendant, the purpose of this procedure, and the sort of case for which it is
suitable, is not always properly appreciated.
“It is a procedure in which, instead of trial first and then judgment, there is
judgment at once and never any trial” :
see Symon & Co. v. Palmer’s Stores (1903) Ltd [1912] 1 KB 259
per Buckley L.J. at p.266.
“People do not seem to understand that the effect of Ord. 14 is that, upon
the allegation of the one side or the other, a man is not permitted to defend
himself in court; that his rights are not to be litigated at all. There are some
things too plain for argument; and where there were pleas put in simply for
the purpose of delay, which only added to the expense, and where it was not
in aid of justice that such things should continue, Ord. 14 was intended to
put an end to that state of things, and to prevent sham defences from
defeating the rights of parties by delay and at the same time causing great
loss to the plaintiffs who are endeavouring to enforce their rights. But when
in such a case as this, Ord. 14 is applied, there are a great many things to be
said. I do not propose to enter into the merits of the case or the
comprehension of it, which is necessary to some extent in order to deal with
the merits. That question would have to be dealt with when the case is tried.
But I am bound to say that it startles me to think that in a case of this sort an
order should be made, the effect of which is that the defendant is not to be
heard to make his defence.” :
see Jacobs v. Booth’s Distillery Co. (1901) 85 L.T 262, per Lord
Halsbury LC.
Unless it is obvious that the defence put forward by the defendant is “frivolous
and practically moonshine, Ord. 14 ought not to be applied” : see Codd v.
Delap (1905) 92 LT 510, per Lord Lindley, at p.511.
For those who may believe that these sentiments are outdated, a
salutary reminder is provided in Crown House Engineering v. Amec Projects
Ltd (1990) 6 Const. Law Journal 141, where (at p.154), Bingham LJ says this :
“..... Ord. 14 is for clear cases; that is, cases in which there is no serious
material factual dispute and, if a legal issue, then no more than a crisp legal
question as well decided summarily as otherwise ..... The procedure is
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I regret to have to say that the present case is one to which the
summary procedure which the plaintiff has sought to invoke is manifestly
inappropriate. The plaintiff’s case depends on a contract of an unusual nature,
made as long ago as 1987; it is one of a number of such contracts made with
villagers in the New Territories in order to acquire their land for development
purposes, and, arguably, mutually dependent on each other. The writ was
issued on 29 September 1992 and the defendant put in a defence as long ago as
12 January 1993; the present application for summary judgment was launched
only following an amendment to the statement of claim made on 12 July 1994.
There are issues between the parties as to want of fairness in the contract and
as to the certainty of the contract; both as to the time of completion, and the
subject matter of the sale. There are issues of misrepresentation, and as to
whether, by his conduct, the defendant has waived his right to rely on any such
misrepresentation. Although the plaintiff protests otherwise, what the court has
really been asked to do is to try these issues on affidavit evidence (no less than
8 affidavits have been filed on the application), with the assistance of a number
of authorities as to the law (no less than 9 are listed, including 2 from the High
Court of Australia). Since the case will have to go to a proper trial, it is neither
necessary nor desirable that we in this court should review the detailed facts
which give rise to the dispute between the parties. The judge need not have
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done so either; but he did do so, and having done so, he came to the clear
conclusion that the plaintiff’s attempt to invoke the summary procedure here,
and thus to shut out the defendant from having his case heard at all, was
unjustified.
Conclusion
I agree with the judge. I would dismiss this appeal, with costs.
Ching, J.A. :
I agree.
Litton, V-P :
I agree that this appeal should be dismissed, for the reasons given
by Godfrey JA. I am, like him, concerned with the manner in which the
procedure under Order 86 rule 1 was used in the court below.
In the court below, what the judge did, in effect, was to have
conducted a “mini-trial” on affidavit evidence and, on the basis of such
evidence, he made certain “findings”. Such “findings”, by their very nature,
have no standing. It would be unfortunate if, as a result of those “findings”,
the plaintiff should be encouraged to embark upon more interlocutory
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skirmishes, seeking to strike out some of the paragraphs in the Defence under
Order 18 r19(1) of the Rules of the Supreme Court, relying upon the
observations of the judge. Such a proceeding would, in my view, be
unwarranted.
In my judgment, all that the judge was called upon to do - and all
that he should have done - was to have stated in a few words why he
concluded that the plaintiff had failed to satisfy him that the defendant had no
defence. Any observations beyond that were unnecessary and otiose.
I would dismiss the appeal and make an order nisi that the
plaintiff pays the costs of the appeal.
Mr. Ronny Tong QC & Mr. H.Y. Wong (M/s. Lo & Yip) for Appellant/ Plaintiff
Mr. Ronny Wong QC & Mr. Simon Leung (M/s. Richard Bryson, Victoria
Chan & Co.) for Respondent/Defendant