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Decree by default.
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59. In any action in a Civil Bill Court for a debt or liquidated money demand, the plaintiff, instead of issuing a process in the ordinary form, may (upon lodging with the Clerk of the Peace an affidavit to the effect set forth in the form in Schedule B. to this Act) issue a process to which shall be annexed a notice to the effect set forth in the form in Schedule C. to this Act; and if such last-mentioned process and notice be issued, they shall be personally served on the defendant fourteen days at the least before the sessions at which the defendant shall be by such process required to appear; and if the defendant shall not, within seven days after service of such process and notice, inclusive of the day of service, give to the Clerk of the Peace a notice in writing of his intention to defend, signed by himself or his attorney, the chairman may at such sessions, upon proof of the personal service of such process and notice, and upon reading the affidavit lodged as aforesaid, but without further evidence, make a decree against the defendant for the amount of the plaintiff's claim and costs Where the defendant shall give such notice of his intention to defend, the Clerk of the Peace shall immediately upon the receipt of such notice, send a letter to the plaintiff or his attorney, by post, stating therein that the defendant has given such notice. Where the defendant shall neglect to give such notice of defence within the time limited, but shall appear at the sessions, and prove to the satisfaction of the chairman that he has just grounds of defence upon the merits, and satisfactorily explains his neglect, the chairman may, upon such terms as to him shall seem just, adjourn the hearing either to the next sessions or to any subsequent day during the same sessions, of which adjournment the Clerk of the Peace shall, in manner aforesaid, give notice to the plaintiff or to his attorney. Where the defendant shall have given notice of defence, or shall have obtained an adjournment as aforesaid, the process shall be entered tried and determined in the same manner as if the same had been issued in the ordinary form; and if a decree shall be made for the full amount of the plaintiff's claim (but not otherwise), the plaintiff shall, in addition to the ordinary costs, be entitled to such sum for the costs of the process and notice, and of the affidavit aforesaid, as shall be prescribed by order to be made as hereinafter provided.
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