British Museum Act 1963
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1963 c. 24 |
| Year | 1963 |
one appointed by Her Majesty;fifteen appointed by the Prime Minister;four appointed by the F1Lord President of the Council on the nominations of the Presidents of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy, the British Academy and the Society of Antiquaries of London respectively; andfive appointed by the Trustees of the British Museum.(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the tenure of office and proceedings of the Trustees.The Trustees of the British Museum shall have power, subject to the restrictions imposed on them by virtue of any enactment (whether contained in this Act or not) , to enter into contracts and other agreements, to acquire and hold land and other property, and to do all other things that appear to them necessary or expedient for the purpose of their functions. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, it shall be the duty of the Trustees of the British Museum to keep the objects comprised in the collections of the Museum within the authorised repositories of the Museum, except in so far as they may consider it expedient to remove them temporarily for any purpose connected with the administration of the Museum and the care of its collections.(2) Where it appears to the Trustees that any such objects cannot conveniently be kept within the authorised repositories, they may store them at other premises in Great Britain if satisfied that they can be stored in those premises without detriment to the purposes of the Museum.(3) It shall be the duty of the Trustees to secure, so far as appears to them to be practicable, that the objects comprised in the collections of the Museum (including objects stored under the preceding subsection) are, when required for inspection by members of the public, made available in one or other of the authorised repositories under such conditions as the Trustees think fit to impose for preserving the safety of the collections and ensuring the proper administration of the Museum.(4) Objects vested in the Trustees as part of the collections of the Museum shall not be disposed of by them otherwise than under section 5 or 9 of this Act F2or section 6 of the Museums and Galleries Act 1992.The Trustees of the British Museum may lend for public exhibition (whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere) any object comprised in the collections of the Museum: the object is a duplicate of another such object, orthe object appears to the Trustees to have been made not earlier than the year 1850, and substantially consists of printed matter of which a copy made by photography or a process akin to photography is held by the Trustees, orin the opinion of the Trustees the object is unfit to be retained in the collections of the Museum and can be disposed of without detriment to the interests of students:(2) The Trustees may destroy or otherwise dispose of any object vested in them and comprised in their collections if satisfied that it has become useless for the purposes of the Museum by reason of damage, physical deterioration, or infestation by destructive organisms.(3) Money accruing to the Trustees by virtue of an exercise of the powers conferred by this section F3or section 6 of the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 shall be laid out by them in the purchase of objects to be added to the collections of the Museum.(1) There shall be a Director of the British Museum, who shall be a person appointed by the Trustees with the approval of the Prime Minister and shall hold office on such terms and subject to such conditions as the F27Secretary of State may direct, and who shall be responsible to the Trustees for the care of all property in their possession and for the general administration of the Museum.(2) The Trustees may, subject to the consent of the F4Minister for the Civil Service as to numbers and conditions of service, appoint such other officers and servants as the Trustees think fit; and there shall be paid to the Director and to officers and servants so appointed such salaries, allowances and other remuneration as the F27Secretary of State may determine.(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Trustees of the British Museum shall within three years after the commencement of this Act and subsequently at intervals of not more than three years prepare and lay before each House of Parliament a report on the Museum. (1) There shall be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, known as the Trustees of the F6Natural History Museum and hereafter in this Act referred to as “the Natural History Trustees”, which from the commencement of this Act shall have the general management and control of the F6the Natural History Museum; and on that commencement the functions with respect to that Museum of the Trustees of the British Museum shall cease.
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