M'Queen v Johnson [1835] CA 13_682b (11 March 1835)

Subject_ Agent and Client.— Agents not entitled to charge against their clients the expense of Court business conducted by them under the name of procurators duly entered, while not themselves entered as such.

Johnson having reclaimed, the Court (June 21, 1834) pronounced this interlocutor:—“Adhere to the interlocutor complained of, in so far as it finds that the defender is not entitled to claim or take credit for his disbursements at the time when he had no license or certificate as an agent; quoad ultra, remit to the Lord Ordinary to hear parties further, and do as to his Lordship may seem just; reserving all questions as to expenses.”

The cause having now come before Lord Moncreiff, as Ordinary, in place of Lord M'Kenzie, removed to the Inner House, his lordship pronounced the following interlocutor, adding the subjoined note: * —“The Lord Ordinary having considered the closed record, with the interlocutor of remit by the Court, and having heard parties' procurators on the question, _________________ Footnote _________________

“It was stated to the Lord Ordinary, on the authority of counsel, that, in the case of Urquhart, the party had agreed to pay the outlays. If it were to appear that the judgment on that point was pronounced of consent, it might alter the weight of the case as a precedent. But the report, though short, is very pointed. It bears that the defender stated that the pursuer had not paid the account; and it bears a short note of the Lord President's speech, in which he in the most positive terms makes the distinction between the fees of agency and the outlays.

Against this interlocutor M'Queen reclaimed; and the Court, for the purpose of establishing a fixed rule on the subject, agreed to consult the judges of the other Division. After consultation—