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Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 26:"Page 12, line 6, leave out ““fair”” and insert ““just””" The noble Baroness said: My Lords, Amendment No. 26, in Clause 19(7), enables application to the High Court to rectify an entry in the register where that entry has been procured by fraud, and it would be ““fair”” to make the rectification. Government Amendment 26 provides instead that the rectification should be made only if it would be ““just”” to do so. Our Amendment No. 27 responds to one spoken to in Grand Committee by my noble friend Lord Williams of Elvel. He questioned whether the use of the word ““fair”” in subsection (7) is entirely apt. There was perhaps some concern that the test of whether an amendment was fair would be a difficult call, although I believe that my noble friend was also concerned that the court could seek to interfere in a decision made in good faith by the registration authority. On the latter point, I hope I can set my noble friend’s mind at rest: an application can be made under subsection (7) only where fraud is proven, and that will be a very difficult thing to prove. We believe it unlikely that many, if any, applications will come forward under this provision, but conclude that some protection is necessary if cases of fraud do arise. Even if fraud is proven, my noble friend was good enough to acknowledge in Grand Committee that the court should have some discretion as to whether an amendment is made. Our amendment will provide that should the court be satisfied that it would be ““just”” to make the amendment it could do so. That is the language used in an almost identical provision in Section 14 of the Commons Registration Act 1965. I hope that the noble Lords will agree that the provision in the 1965 Act has stood the test of time, and that it would be sensible to use the same form of words here. I beg to move.