Crown priority over court-fees payment was upheld against competing claims to sale proceeds held in Court.

Court-fees certified as due from a pauper plaintiff were treated as a Crown debt, and the statutory recovery mechanism did not displace the Crown's prerogative right to priority over other creditors. The existence of a first charge on the subject-matter of the suit did not confine the Government to that source alone or require prior attachment of the fund in Court before payment could be claimed. As sale proceeds were available for distribution in Court, the Government was entitled to be paid first out of that fund, in preference to the plaintiff's other claim.

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Issues: Whether the Government was entitled to precedence in payment of court-fees certified as due from a pauper plaintiff out of the sale proceeds lying in Court, ahead of the plaintiff's other claims.

Analysis: The amount of court-fees certified under the decree was treated as a Crown debt. The Court held that the statutory provision governing pauper suits enabled recovery of the court-fees by the Government, but did not take away the Crown's prerogative right to priority in payment over other creditors. The existence of a first charge on the subject-matter of the suit did not restrict the Crown to that source alone or require prior attachment of the fund in Court before claiming payment. Since the sale proceeds in Court were available for distribution, the Crown was entitled to be paid first out of that fund.

Conclusion: The Government was entitled to priority payment of the certified court-fees out of the money in Court, in preference to the plaintiff's claim.

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