Riot (Damages) Act 1886
| Year | 1886 |
Riot (Damages) Act, 1886
(49 & 50 Vict.) CHAPTER 38.
An Act to provide Compensation for Losses by Riots.
[25th June 1886]
W HEREAS by law the inhabitants of the hundred or other area in which property is damaged by persons riotously and tumultuously assembled together are liable in certain cases to pay compensation for such damage, and it is expedient to make other provision respecting such compensation and the mode of recovering the same:
Be it therefore 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, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as theRiot (Damages) Act, 1886.
2 Compensation to persons for damage by riot.
(1)2.—(1.) Where a house, shop, or building in any police district has been injured or destroyed, or the property therein has been injured, stolen, or destroyed, by any persons riotously and tumultuously assembled together, such compensation as herein-after mentioned shall be paid out of the police rate of such district to any person who has sustained loss by such injury, stealing, or destruction; but in fixing the amount of such compensation regard shall be had to the conduct of the said person, whether as respects the precautions taken by him or as respects his being a party or accessory to such riotous or tumultuous assembly, or as regards any provocation offered to the persons assembled or otherwise.
(2) (2.) Where any person having, sustained such loss as aforesaid has received, by way of insurance or otherwise, any sum to recoup him, in whole or in part, for such loss, the compensation otherwise payable to him under this Act shall, if exceeding such sum, be reduced by the amount thereof, and in any other case shall not be paid to him, and the payer of such sum shall be entitled to compensation under this Act in respect of the sum so paid in like manner as if he had sustained the said loss, and any policy of insurance given by such payer shall continue in force as if he had made no such payment, and where such person was recouped as aforesaid otherwise than by payment of a sum, this enactment shall apply as if the value of such recoupment were a sum paid.
3 Mode of awarding compensation.
(1)3.—(1.) Claims for compensation under this Act shall be made to the police authority of the district in which the injury, stealing or destruction took place, and such police authority shall inquire into the truth thereof, and shall, if satisfied, fix such compensation as appears to them just.
(2) (2.) A Secretary of State may from time to time make, and when made, revoke and vary regulations respecting the time, manner, and conditions within, in, and under which claims for compensation under this Act are to be made, and all claims not made in accordance with such regulations may be excluded. Such regulations may also provide for the particulars to be stated in any claim, and for the verification of any claim, and of any facts incidental thereto, by statutory declarations, production of books, vouchers, and documents, entry of premises, and otherwise, and may also provide for any matter which under this Act can be prescribed, and for the police authority obtaining information and assistance for determining the said claims.
(3) (3.) The said regulations shall be published in the London Gazette, and every police authority shall cause the same to be published in their police district, and copies thereof to be at all times sold to any applicant at a price not exceeding sixpence for each copy.
4 Right of action to person aggrieved.
(1)4.—(1.) Where a claim to compensation has been made in accordance with the regulations, and the claimant is aggrieved by the refusal or failure of the police authority to fix compensation upon such claim, or by the amount of compensation fixed, he may bring an action against the police authority to recover compensation in respect of all or any of the matters mentioned in such claim and to an amount not exceeding that mentioned therein, but if in such action he fails to recover any compensation or an amount exceeding that fixed by the police authority, he shall pay the costs of the police authority as between solicitor and client.
(2) (2.) If the amount of compensation for which such action is brought does not exceed one hundred pounds, the action shall be brought in the county court for any district in which any part of the police district is situate.
5 Payment of compensation and expenses, and raising of money.
(1)5.—(1.) Where any compensation under this Act has been fixed by or recovered in an action against the police authority, that authority shall, on the prescribed conditions having been complied with, pay in the prescribed manner the amount of such compensation out of moneys held by them or their treasurer on account of their police force, and shall also pay out of the said moneys, all costs and expenses payable by them in or incidental to the execution of this Act; and the amount required to meet the said payments (in this Act referred to as riot expenses), shall be raised as part of the police rate.
(2) (2.) In the case of a county divided into districts within the meaning of the County Police Act, 1840 , as amended by section four of the County and Borough Police Act, 1856 , the riot expenses shall be defrayed by the district in which the injury, stealing, or destruction took place, as part of the local expenditure thereof.
(3) (3.) Where the police forces of a borough and a county have been consolidated, riot expenses shall be paid by the county and borough respectively in such proportions as may have been agreed upon by the police authority for the county and the council of the borough, and if no agreement is made, in such proportions as a Secretary of State may from time to time determine; and such agreement may from time to time be made in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as an agreement to consolidate the said police forces.
(4) (4.) Where the police rate is limited, an addition to that rate shall, if necessary, be levied for the purpose of raising, the sum required to pay riot expenses under this Act.
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