Acts and Regulations

2011, c.135 - Crown Debts Act

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Current to 1 January 2024
2011, c.135
Crown Debts Act
Deposited May 13, 2011
Definition of “public money”, “debt due the Crown”
1In this Act, “public money”, “debt due the Crown” or words of similar import include all money belonging to the Province, and all demands due the Province arising from any source.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.1
Power of Attorney General to bring action
2The Attorney General may proceed in The Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick at the suit of the King against a Crown debtor for the recovery of a debt or demand due the Crown.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.2; 1979, c.41, s.33; 1981, c.6, s.1; 2023, c.17, s.53
Procedure
3The proceedings in an action under section 2 and for the enforcement of a judgment following from the action shall be as nearly as possible the same as in an action between subject and subject in The Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.3; 1979, c.41, s.33; 2023, c.17, s.53
Date from which action binds lands of debtor
4No scire facias is necessary to establish a Crown debt under this Act, but the lands of the debtor are bound in the case of specialties from the date of it, which date shall be set out in the pleadings and judgment, and in the case of simple contract debts from the time of signing the judgment.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.4
Costs
5(1)In legal proceedings instituted by or on behalf of the Crown against any person in respect of lands, tenements or hereditaments, or of goods or chattels belonging or accruing to the Crown, or in respect of any sum of money due the Crown, the proceeds of which, or the rents or profits of which lands, tenements and hereditaments, shall belong to or form part of the public revenue of the Province, costs shall be awarded to the Crown when judgment is given for the Crown in the same manner and under the same provisions as apply in proceedings between subject and subject; and the costs shall be paid to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board and become part of the Consolidated Fund.
5(2)If in a proceeding referred to in subsection (1) judgment is given against the Crown, the defendant is entitled to costs in the same manner as in proceedings between subject and subject; and the costs, when taxed, shall be paid by warrant on the treasury.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.5; 2019, c.29, s.41; 2023, c.17, s.53
Power to make rules and orders
6(1)The judges of The Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick may make rules and orders for regulating the pleadings and practice in informations, actions, and other proceedings by the Crown as they think proper, in order to assimilate the pleadings and practice as nearly as possible to the practice and proceedings in actions between subject and subject.
6(2)The procedure in actions between subjects applies except when it is altered by any rules made under subsection (1).
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.6; 1979, c.41, s.33; 1983, c.8, s.8; 2023, c.17, s.53
Appointment of receiver
7The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may appoint fit persons to receive debts due the Crown when transmitted to them for collection, which persons shall execute bonds to the Crown with security to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.7; 2023, c.17, s.53
Duties of receiver
8A receiver appointed under section 7 shall with all diligence collect debts due the Crown and pay all money collected to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board, retaining for the receiver’s services the commission, in addition to costs of proceedings necessarily paid or incurred by the receiver, not exceeding the rate of $10 on every $100 the receiver may collect, that may be allowed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, but not to exceed in any one year the sum of $400.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.8; 2019, c.29, s.41
Default by receiver
9When it appears clearly by the accounts kept by or in the office of a person employed in the collection or management of the revenue, or in accounting for it, or by the person’s written acknowledgement, that the person has by virtue of the person’s office or employment received public money amounting to a sum certain that the person has neglected or refused to pay over to the officer duly appointed to receive the money, and in the manner and at the time lawfully appointed, then, on affidavit of the facts by an officer cognizant of them and authorized by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, made before a judge of any court having jurisdiction in civil matters to the amount of the sum, the judge may grant judgment against that person and in favour of the Crown for that sum.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.9; 2013, c.32, s.10; 2023, c.17, s.53
When person deemed to have received public money
10If a person receives public money to be applied to a specific purpose, and does not apply it within the time or in the manner provided by law, or if a person, having held any public office, ceases to hold that office and has in the person’s hands public money received by that person as the officer to be applied to a specific purpose to which the person has not applied it, that person shall be deemed to have received the public money for the Crown and may be notified by the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board to pay the money to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board and the money may be recovered from that person as a debt due the Crown, and an equal sum may in the meantime be applied to the purpose to which the money ought to have been applied.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.10; 2019, c.29, s.41
Courts in which Crown may proceed with action
11Despite any of the above provisions, the Attorney General, Crown officer or receiver may proceed for the recovery of any debt due the Crown in any court having jurisdiction in civil matters.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.11; 1979, c.41, s.33; 1981, c.6, s.1
Saving of existing Crown remedies
12Nothing in this Act affects any other remedy that the Crown has by virtue of any other law for recovering or enforcing the payment or delivery of public money or property belonging to the Crown in possession of any person.
R.S.1973, c.C-37, s.12
N.B. This Act was proclaimed and came into force September 1, 2011.
N.B. This Act is consolidated to June 16, 2023.