Report No. 63
4.3. Power of the court to award interest.-
So far as the power of the court to award interest is concerned, it is to be noted that the power is expressed1 in section 1 as exercisable by "the court before which such debts or sums may be recovered". Several questions have arisen by reason of these words. In the first place, are they confined to an ordinary civil suit? It may be noted that in the corresponding current English Act,2 there is a provision worded as follows (only the material portion is quoted):-
"(1) In any proceedings tried in any court of record for the recovery of any debt or damages, the court may, if it thinks fit, order that there shall be included in the sum for which judgment is given interest at such rate as it thinks fit on the whole or any part of the debt or damages for the whole or any part of the period between the date when the cause of action arose and the date of the judgment".
1. Para. 4.1, supra.
2. Section 3(1), Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1934.
Back
