Metropolitan Police Courts Act 1840
| Year | 1840 |
(3 & 4 Vict.) C A P. LXXXIV.
[7th August 1840]
'WHEREAS by an Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, intituled , it is among other things enacted, that in the Construction of that Act the Word ‘Magistrate’ shall be taken to include every Justice of the Peace acting in and for any Part of the Metropolitan Police District for which no Police Court shall be established, and that if any Offence against that Act shall have been committed, or the Offender apprehended in any Part of the Metropolitan Police District for which no Police Court shall be established as aforesaid, the Matter of such Complaint may be also heard and determined by any Two or more Justices acting in and for the County in which the Offence was committed or the Offender apprehended; and it is expedient that the Meaning of these Enactments be more clearly expressed, and that further Provision be made for defining the Divisions for which Police Courts are established within the Metropolitan Police District:' 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assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That so much of the said Act as is herein-before recited shall be repealed.
II Queen in Council may constitute Police Court Divisions, and define and alter their Extent and Number.
II. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, with the Advice of Her Privy Council, from Time to Time to constitute within the Metropolitan Police District so many Police Court Divisions as to Her Majesty shall seem fit, and to define the Extent thereof, and from Time to Time to alter the Number and Extent of such Police Court Divisions, and to assign a Division to each of the Police Courts already established, and to establish a Police Court for each of the other Divisions: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to restrain the Police Magistrates appointed to the said Courts from acting in all Places within the Limits of their Commissions as fully in all respects as if this Acthad not been made; and be it further provided, that there shall not be more than Twenty-seven Magistrates appointed to execute the Duties of Justices of the Peace at the said Courts.
III So much of 2 & 3 Vict. c. 71. as requires the daily Attendance of a Police Magistrate at the Courts to apply only to those Courts already established.
III. 'And whereas by an Act passed in the last Session of Parliament, intituledAn Act for regulating the Police Courts in the Metropolis , it is provided, that One of the Magistrates appointed to the said Courts shall attend on every Day (except as therein excepted) at each of the Police Courts established or to be established within the Metropolitan Police District: And whereas the Business of a Police Court in the outer Parts of the Metropolitan Police District will not require the daily Attendance of One of the said Magistrates;' be it enacted, That so much of the last-recited Act as requires the daily Attendance of One of the said Magistrates at each of the said Courts shall be taken to apply only to the Police Courts now established inBow Street , and in the Parishes of Saint Margaret Westminster, Saint James Westminster, Saint Marylebone, Saint Andrew Holborn, Saint Leonard Shoreditch, Saint Mary Whitechapel , and Saint John of Wapping , in the County of Middlesex , and Saint Saviour in the County of Surrey , and shall continue to apply to the said Courts, wheresoever they may from Time to Time be holden or removed to within the Metropolitan Police District.
IV Police Magistrates may be ordered to attend at other Courts.
IV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if She shall think fit, with the Advice of Her Privy Council, to order that a Police Magistrate or Magistrates shall attend regularly at any Police Court or Courts hereafter to be established, either daily or on such Days and Times as Her Majesty, by the Advice aforesaid, shall order; and it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, from Time to Time, with the Advice aforesaid, to alter or rescind any such Order.
V Orders in Council to be published in the Gazette.
V. And be it enacted, That every Order in Council, either for constituting or altering a Police Court Division, or for assigning a Division to the Police Courts already established, or for establishing or removing a Police Court, or for ordering the regular Attendance of a Police Magistrate or Magistrates at any Police Court or Courts, or for altering or rescinding any such Order, shall be published in theLondon Gazette , and shall take effect from the Time appointed for that Purpose by the said Order.
VI Any Two Justices may act with the Authority of a Police Magistrate.
VI. And be it enacted, That any Two Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within the Metropolitan Police District shall have, while sitting together publicly in the Court or Room used for holding Special or Petty Sessions of the Peace in any Part of the said District within the Limits of their Commission, except in the Divisions to be assigned to the Police Courts already established, and any Two Justices of the Peace for the City ofLondon and the Liberties thereof, having Jurisdiction within the City of London and the Liberties thereof, shall within the said City of London and the Liberties thereof have all the Powers, Privileges, and Duties which any One Magistrate of the said Police Courts has while sitting in one of the said Courts by the Two recited Acts of the last Session of Parliament or either of them: Providedalways, that whenever a new Police Court shall have...
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