M'Lachlan v. Bell and Another

Held (rev . judgment of Lord Kincairney) that the pursuer's averments were irrelevant, and that absolvitor must be pronounced, on the ground (1) that, apart from the allegation as to breaking open the door of the room, there was no relevant averment of damage; (2) that in breaking open the door for the purpose of obtaining an inventory of the bankrupt's estate, the defender was acting in the discharge of his duty; and (3) that assuming any legal wrong to have been done by his doing this, it was the bankrupt and not the pursuer who had suffered that wrong.

On the 13th May 1895 Mrs Jane Borland or M'Lachlan, wife of George M'Lachlan, farmer, Craigthorn Farm, near Strathaven, raised an action for £200 damages against Thomas Bell, sheriff-officer, Hamilton, interim judicial factor appointed under the Bankruptcy Act 1856, sec. 16, on the sequestrated estate of the pursuer's husband, and against the said Thomas Bell's cautioner.

Sequestration of the estate of the pursuer's husband was awarded on 17th November 1894, and the defender Thomas Bell was appointed interim judicial factor on his estate by the Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire at Hamilton, pending the appointment of a trustee.

Up to Martinmas 1894 the bankrupt had occupied the farm of Kirkland House, Avondale.

The pursuer pleaded—“The defender having acted unwarrantably, wrongfully, and illegally, to the injury of the pursuer, she is entitled to decree as craved with expenses.”