General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862
(25 & 26 Vict.) C A P. CI.
[7th August 1862]
'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled Scotland,and for paving, draining, cleansing, lighting, and improving the same : And whereas an Act was passed in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled Scotland: And whereas an Act was passed in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled Scotlandto avail themselves of its Provisions for sanitary and other Improvements without at the same Time adopting its Provisions as regards the Establishment and Maintenance of a Police Force : And whereas it is expedient to make more effectual Provision for regulating the Police of Towns and populous Places in Scotland , and also for lighting, cleansing, paving, draining, supplying Water to and otherwise improving the same:' Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same:
1 Repeal of Acts.
1. The first and third recited Acts, and Sections Sixty to Seventy, both inclusive, of the second-recited Act, shall be and the same are hereby repealed, except only as regards any Burgh in which the Provisions of the said Acts or any Part thereof have, on or before the First Day ofAugust One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, been adopted, either in the Manner provided by the first-recited Act, or by the Incorporation of such Provisions or any Part thereof with any Local or Special Act relating to any such Burgh.
2 Short Title.
2. This Act may be cited for all Purposes as ‘TheGeneral Police and Improvement (Scotland )Act, 1862.’
3 Interpretation of Terms.
3. The following Words and Expressions in this Act shall have the Meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to such Construction; that is to say,
The Expression ‘Royal Burgh’ shall mean a Burgh having Magistrates and Councillors elected under the Powers of the Public General Act, Third and FourthWilliam the Fourth, Chapter Seventy-six, and also those Burghs enumerated in Schedule (F.) of the said Act:
The Expression ‘Parliamentary Burgh’ shall mean a Burgh having Magistrates and Councillors elected under the Powers of the Public General Act, Third and FourthWilliam the Fourth, Chapter Seventy-seven:
The Word ‘Burgh,’ when used alone, shall include not only Royal Burgh, Parliamentary Burgh, Burg incorporated by Act of Parliament, and Burgh of Regality and Barony, and contiguous Burghs of Regality and Barony, but also any populous Place the Boundaries whereof have been fixed and ascertained under the Provisions of the first-recited Act or of this Act:
The Expression ‘Parliamentary Boundaries’ shall mean the Boundaries of Burghs as fixed by the Public General Act, Second and ThirdWilliam the Fourth, Chapter Sixty-five:
The Expression ‘populous Place’ shall mean any Town, Village, Place, or Locality, not being a Burgh to which Magistrates and Councillors were provided by either of the said Acts, Third and FourthWilliam the Fourth, Chapters Seventy-six and Seventy-seven, containing a Population of Seven hundred Inhabitants or upwards; and for the Purposes of this Act Two or more contiguous Towns, Villages, Places, or Localities not being Burghs to which Magistrates and Councillors were provided as aforesaid, may be held to be a populous Place:
The Word ‘Person,’ and Words applying to any Person or Individual, shall apply to and include Companies and Corporations:
The Word ‘Householder’ shall mean a Male Occupier of Lands or Premises of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds or upwards, in all Burghs, except in populous Places containing less than One thousand Inhabitants, and in populous Places containing less than that Number of Inhabitants, it shall mean a Male Occupier of Lands or Premises of the yearly Value of Six Pounds or upwards:
The Word ‘Occupier’ shall include Tenant, but shall not include a Lodger or a Person in the Occupation as Tenant of a furnished House let for a less Period than One Year, but shall include the Person by whom such furnished House is so let:
The Word ‘Sheriff’ shall mean the Sheriff of and acting in the County of which he is Sheriff, and, except as regards the fixing and extending the Boundaries of Burghs and populous Places, shall include Sheriff Substitute, and also Steward and Steward Substitute:
The Expression ‘the Commissioners’ shall mean the Commissioners or Trustees for the Purposes of this Act acting in and for a Burgh by which this Act has been in whole or in part adopted; and ‘Trustees of Police’ shall include Trustees of any Town exercising the Functions of Police Commissioners under any Local Act:
The Words ‘Magistrates’ or ‘Magistrates and Council’ shall include the Lord Provost or Provost:
The Word ‘Magistrates’ shall mean a Magistrate or Judge having Police Jurisdiction under this Act or under any Local or General Act in force:
The Words ‘Clerk,’‘Treasurer,’ and ‘Collector’ shall mean the Clerk, Treasurer, and Collector respectively appointed by the Commissioners under the Provisions of this Act:
The Word ‘Lands’ and the Word ‘Premises’ shall include all Lands, Springs, Rights of Servitude, Dwelling Houses, Shops, Warehouses, Vaults, Cellars, Stables, Breweries, Manufactories, Mills, and the fixed or attached Machinery therein, Yards, Places, and other Heritages specified or included in the Act of the Seventeenth and EighteenthVictoria , Chapter Ninety-one, intituled An Act for the Valuation of Lands and Heritages in Scotland:
The Word ‘Street’ shall mean a public Street, and shall extend to and include any Road, Bridge, Quay, Lane, Square, Court, Alley, Close, Wynd, Vennel, Thoroughfare, and public Passage or other Place within the Burgh used either by Carts or Foot Passengers, not being a ‘private Street,’ and not being or forming Part of any Harbour, Railway, or Canal Station, Dept, Wharf, Towing-path, or Bank:
The Expression ‘private Street’ shall mean any Road, Street, or Place within the Burgh, (not being or forming Part of any Harbour, Railway, or Canal Station, Dept, Wharf, Towing-path, or Bank,) used by Carts, and either accessible to the Public from a public Street, or forming a common Access to Lands and Premises separately occupied, and which has not been before the Adoption of this Act well and sufficiently paved and flagged by the Owners of Premises fronting or abutting on said Street, and which has not been maintained as a public Street:
The Word ‘Owner’ shall include Joint Owner, Fiar, Liferenter, Feuar, or other Person in the actual Possession or Receipt of the Rents of Tenements, Lands, and Heritages of every Tenure or Description, and the Factor, Agent, or Commissioner of such Persons, or any of them, or any other Person, who shall intromit with or draw the Rents:
The Expression ‘Private Improvement Assessment’ shall mean any Assessment or Charge on any Person for private Improvement Expenses under this Act:
The Expression ‘District Assessment’ shall mean any Assessment or Charge (other than a ‘Private Improvement Assessment’) which is confined only to a Portion or District of any Burgh:
The Word ‘Cattle’ shall include any Horse, Mare, Gelding, Foal, Colt, Filly, Bull, Cow, Heifer, Ox, Calf, Ass, Mule, Ram, Ewe, Wether, Lamb, Goat, Kid, or Swine:
The Expression ‘Police Purposes’ or ‘Police Provisions’ of this Act, except when otherwise limited, shall mean and include the whole Act, excepting those Enactments under the Head with respect to the ‘Promotion of the Public Health’:
The Word ‘Carriage,’ shall include any Coach, Omnibus, Chariot, Fly, Car, Cabriolet, Gig, Brougham, Waggon, Timber Carriage, Dray, Truck, Hand-cart, Wheel-barrow, Hand-barrow, Lorry, or other Vehicle, used for the Conveyance of Goods or plying for Hire:
The Word ‘Broker’ or ‘Brokers’ shall extend to and include any Person or Persons dealing in second-hand Goods or Articles, or in Woollen Yarn or Waste, or in other unwrought Woollen Materials, or in old Metals, Bones, or Rags.
PART I.
ADOPTION OF THE ACT.
Section I.—Boundaries of Burghs
4 Boundaries of Royal Burghs, which send or contributeto send Members to Parliament.
4. The Boundaries of such Royal Burghs as send or contribute to send a Member or Members to Parliament shall, for the Purposes of this Act, include the whole Limits of such Burgh, as the same are defined by, or referred to in, the said Act, Third and FourthWilliam the Fourth, Chapter Seventy-six, or otherwise fixed by Law, unless it shall be resolved in adopting this Act that its Operation shall be limited to such Portion of the Burgh as is comprehended within the Parliamentary Boundaries.
5 Boundaries of Parliamentary Burghs.
5. The Boundaries of such Parliamentary Burghs as send or contribute to send a Member or Members to Parliament shall, for the Purposes of this Act, include the whole Limits of such Burgh, as the same are defied by, or referred to in, the said Act, Third and FourthWilliam the Fourth, Chapter Seventy-seven, or otherwise fixed by Law.
6 Boundaries of other Burghs, how to be fixed.
6. The Boundaries of all other Royal Burghs, Burghs erected or incorporated by Act of...
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