Ord. 13-1846. Manner of pledging certificates. stock of any joint-stock company now existing, or to be hereafterestablished, within this Colony, to pledge, or to have pledged, such share for any purpose, object, or consideration for which movable property may lawfully be pledged, by pledging, or having pledged, in manner and form as in the next succeeding section mentioned, the certificate of such share, and the person receiving such pledge,. (called hereafter in this Ordinance the pledgee) shall be deemed and taken as against the pledger and his creditors, whether in execution or insolvency, and all persons claiming from, through or under him, or them, to have a good and valid hypothec, or lien upon the said certificate, and upon the said share, and to be in the same plight and condition, in regard to such share as if the same like the certificate thereof, were a thing capable of being actually handed over and deposited with such person, and had actually so. been; Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to alter or affect the mutual rights or claims of the company, in which such share exists and the owner of any such share, which rights or claims, notwithstanding any such pledge, shall be deemed and judged of precisely as if such pledge had never been effected. And provided also, that nothing in this Ordinance contained, shall extend to supersede, invalidate, or otherwise affect any special provision in any trust deed contained, touching and concerning the manner and form in which alone pledges of shares, shall be constituted and effected. 2. And be it enacted, that every such share as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken, as against the pledger, his heirs, and creditors, to be or to have been lawfully and effectually pledged, when and as often as the certificate of such share shall be, or shall have been, delivered into and detained in the actual custody and possession of the pledgee; having endorsed thereon, in fitting words, a cession of the said share made in favour of the pledgee, by the person entitled to cede the same, or having thereon the blank endorsement of such person so entitled, or otherwise, when in reference to the certificate so delivered and detained as aforesaid, some instrument, note, or memorandum in writing, shall be, or shall have been, made containing a description of the share pledged, and a statement of the purpose, object or consideration, for which the same shall have been pledged. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to deprive any pledge sought to be effected. in any manner or form other than is in this section mentioned, of any force or validity which it might otherwise have had. And provided also, that nothing in this Ordinance contained, shall be deemed, or taken to abridge, alter or affect the right, if any, of any pledgee of any share to retain the same for or account of any future or other debt or demand, not contemplated at the time of the original pledge, or mentioned in any such instrument, note or memorandum as aforesaid, which right shall be judged of and determined according to the ordinary rules of law relative to the detention of movables pledged, for the security of future or other debts or demands. 3. And whereas certificates of shares which have been pledged, or otherwise delivered, upon good consideration, may, through fraud, be alleged, or through mistake be supposed, to be lost or destroyed, and thereupon application for fresh certificates may be made to the directors of the company in which the shares exist: And whereas a sudden or secret compliance with any such application might tend to the prejudice of pledgees or other persons, and it is therefore expedient, to provide for the protection of such pledgees or other persons, and, at the same time, to provide, for the issue of fresh certificates in cases where the original certificates shall appear to have been really lost or destroyed; Be it enacted, that in every case in which any such application as aforesaid shall be made to the directors of any joint-stock company, such directors, in case they shall not have knowledge or notice that the share in regard to which the fresh certificate is applied for is in pledge, or otherwise disposed of, shall, (but at the cost and charge of the applicant) insert an advertisement in the Government Gazette, and in such one of the newspapers in the Colony as they shall select, stating that an application has been made for a fresh certificate for the share numbered and issued to as the proprietor thereof, upon the ground that the original or former certificates of the said share has been lost or destroyed (as the case may be), and that, should no objection be lodged at the office of the company on or before some certain day to be fixed in such advertisement, (not being less than fourteen days from the date of the last publication of the said advertisement), the said fresh certificate will be issued as requested. 4. And be it enacted, that in case no such objection as aforesaid shall be lodged, it shall and may be lawful for the said directors to issue, or cause to be issued, the fresh certificate applied for, and such directors shall not, nor shall the company, incur thereby any liability whatsoever: Provided always, that if any pledgee of any certificate or share shall have at any time before the application for a fresh certificate, given notice in writing at the office of the company, that the same has been pledged to him, or if the pledgee of any certificate and share shall lodge an objection in pursuance of any such advertisement, and the directors shall, nevertheless, without the consent of such pledgee, or the decree of some competent Court, issue such fresh certificate, such directors shall be personally responsible to such pledgee for any loss or damage which he may thereby sustain. 5. And be it enacted, that in case the pledgee of any original or former certificate of any share of which a fresh certificate is applied for as aforesaid, shall not have given notice in writing of such pledge at the office of the company, or after such advertisement as aforesaid shall have been duly published, shall not within the time Ord. 14-184. Interpretation clause. in that behalf specified, lodge an objection to the issue of any fresh certificate, and the directors shall, in consequence, have issued or caused to be issued such certificate to the person applying for the same, every subsequent purchaser or pledgee dealing bona fide, and without notice of the older pledge, upon the faith of the fresh certificate as evidence of the ownership of the share which it represents, shall be entitled to be preferred to the full extent of his claims and demands above or before the original pledgee: Provided, however, that such original pledgee shall still be entitled to be preferred above or before the person by whom, or in whose right or supposed right any such fresh certificate shall have been obtained, and above or before his heirs, and above or before his creditors, whether in execution or insolvency, but so, however, as not to require any execution creditor to refund any moneys actually paid out to him, or to require the creditors of auy insolvent estate to refund any dividends by them actually received. 6. And be it enacted, that in the interpretation of this Ordinance the term person, shall embrace any co-partnership or company, and that the singular number shall include several persons as well as one person, and that the masculine gender shall include females as well as males. Exclusion of 7. And be it enacted, that nothing in this Ordinance contained shall extend to the district of Natal. Natal. Time of taking effect. Preamble. 8. And be it enacted, that this Ordinance shall commence and take effect from and after the date of the promulgation thereof. No. 14.-Sd. P. Maitland.] [March 25, 1846, Ordinance for improving the Law of Evidence. (') WHEREAS the inquiry after truth in Courts of Justice is often obstructed by incapacities created by the present law, and it is desirable that full information as to the facts in issue both in criminal and civil cases should be laid before the persons who are appointed to decide upon them and that such persons should exercise their judgment on the credit to be given to the witnesses Repeal of portions adduced and on the truth of their testimony: Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that so much of the Ordinance No. 72, 1830, entituled "Ordinance for altering, amending, and declaring in certain respects the Law of Evidence within this Colony," and of the Ordinance No. 19, 1845, entituled "Ordinance for altering, amending, and declaring in certain respects the Law of Evidence within the District of Natal," and of former laws. 1 See Ord. 72, 1830; Acts 4, 1861; 3, 1864; 17, 1874 § 4, 5, 8; 21, 1877; 13, 1886 §§ 6-8; 18, 1891 2: also Acts 5, 1890 § 27; 12, 1890 § 19; 13, 1891 § 14: 34, 1891 § 56; 35, 1891 § 61; 9, 1892 § 63; 25, 1892 §§ 82, 88, 121, 127, 165, 197. of any other law or custom heretofore in force in any part of this Colony as is repugnant to or inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be repealed, and the same is hereby repealed accordingly. Ord. 11--1846. petency of witness 2. And be it enacted that no person offered as a witness shall Abolition of incomhereafter be incompetent to give evidence in any action, suit, or from prior convicproceeding by reason that such person has been previously convicted of any crime or offence. tion. petency from inter law as to evidence of 3. And be it enacted that no person offered as a witness shall Abolition of incomhereafter be incompetent to give evidence in any action, suit, est. or proceeding by reason of any interest which such person may have in the matter in question or in the event of such action, suit, or proceeding. Provided, however, that nothing herein contained, Retention of old shall be construed so as to alter or in anywise affect the law parties. relative to the giving or requiring of the oath or evidence of either party to any suit, action, or proceeding, which oath or evidence shall hereafter be received or required in such cases, and none other as those in which the same might lawfully have been received or required, previously to the passing of this Ordinance. And provided also, that this Ordinance shall not be construed so as to No change as to render competent to give evidence, any person though not a defendants. party on the record, in whose immediate and individual behalf any action, suit, or proceeding may either, wholly or in part be instituted or defended, or the husband or wife of any such person respectively. (') 4. [Superseded by § 2 Act 4 of 1861.] actual plaintiffs or private prosecutor. 5. And be it enacted that no person shall hereafter be incompetent Competency of to give evidence in any case by reason that in such case he prosecutes at his own instance for any crime or offence. Provided, however, that when any such person shall in any such case seek Exception. the recovery or restitution of any money, matter, or thing he shall not by virtue of anything in this Ordinance contained be deemed (if otherwise competent to give evidence) to be rendered competent so to do. (") 6. [Repealed by § 11, Act 4 of 1861.] 7. [Repealed by Act No. 18, 1891.] [Sections 8 and 9 provide for the taking effect of this Ordinance in Natal.] 10. And be it enacted that nothing in this Ordinance contained Non-application to suits pending. shall apply to or affect any suit, action, or proceeding which shall be pending at the time of the commencement of this Ordinance. See § 2 and 6, Act 4 of 1861. *See § 2 ibid. No. 15.] [April 24, 1846, Ordinance for rectifying certain Title Deeds heretofore issued to certain of the Settlers of 1820. [Expired. Vide Act No. 24, 1856, and Act No. 7, 1859.] Ordinance to amend the Law regarding Marriages within the District of Natal. Ordinance for securing the due Performance of Burgher Duty. [Expired 1st August, 1846.] No. 20.] [May 4, 1846. Ordinance for regulating the Levy of the Burgher Force of Cape. Town and Green Point. [Expired 1st August, 1846.] No. 21.] [Sept. 24, 1846. Ordinance for amending the Law relating to the Rights of Execution Creditors within the District of Natal. No. 22.] [Sept. 24, 1846. Ordinance for Punishing the Concealment of the Birth of Children within the District of Natal. No. 23.] Natal. [Sept. 24, 1846. Ordinance for Licensing Retail Shops within the District of |