Commissioners Clauses Act 1847
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1847 c. 16 |
(10 & 11 Vict.) C A P. XVI.
[23d April 1847]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to comprise in One Act sundry Provisions usually contained in Acts of Parliament authorizing the Execution of Undertakings of a public Nature by Bodies of Commissioners, Trustees, or other Persons, not being Joint Stock Companies, and that as well for avoiding the Necessity of repeating such Provisions in each of the several Acts relating to such Undertakings as for ensuring greater Uniformity in the Provisions themselves:' 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 this Act shall extend only to such Undertakings or Commissioners as shall be authorized or constituted by any Act of Parliament hereafter to be passed, which shall declare that this Act shall be incorporated therewith; and all the Clauses of this Act, save so far as they shall be expressly varied or excepted by any such Act, shall apply to the Commissioners constituted by such Act and to the Undertaking for carrying on which such Commissioners shall be constituted, so far as the same shall be applicable thereto respectively; and such Clauses, with the Clauses of every other Act which shall be incorporated therewith, shall, save as aforesaid, form Part of such Act, and be construed therewith as forming One Act.
And with respect to the Construction of this Act, and any Act incorporated therewith, be it enacted as follows:
II ‘the special Act:’
II. The Expression ‘the special Act’ used in this Act shall be construed to mean any Act which shall be hereafter passed, constituting a Body of Commissioners as herein-after defined for the Purpose of carrying on any Undertaking, and with which this Act shall be incorporated; and the Word ‘prescribed’ used in this Act, in reference to any Matter herein stated, shall be construed to refer to such Matter as the same shall be prescribed or provided for in the special Act; and the Sentence in which such Word occurs shall be construed as if, instead of the Word ‘prescribed,’ the Expression ‘prescribed for that Purposein the special Act’ had been used; and the Expression ‘the Undertaking’ shall mean the Undertaking or Works, of whatever Nature, which shall by the special Act be authorized to be executed or carried on; and the Expression‘the Commissioners’ shall mean the Commissioners, Trustees, Undertakers, or other Persons or Body Corporate constituted by the special Act, or thereby intrusted with Powers for executing the Undertaking.
III Interpretations in this and the special Act:
III. The following Words and Expressions, both in this and the special Act, and any Act incorporated therewith, shall have the several Meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the Subject or the Context repugnant to such Construction; (that is to say,)
Words importing the Singular Number only shall include the Plural Number; and Words importing the Plural Number only shall include the Singular Number:
Words importing the Masculine Gender only shall include Females:
The Word ‘Person’ shall include a Corporation, whether aggregate or sole:
The Word ‘Lands’ shall extend to Messuages, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments or Heritages of any Tenure:
The Word ‘Month’ shall mean Calendar Month:
The Expression ‘Superior Courts,’ where the Matter submitted to the Cognizance of the Court arises inEngland or Ireland , shall mean Her Majesty's Superior Courts of Record at Westminster or Dublin , as the Case may require, and shall include the Court of Common Pleas of the County Palatine of Lancaster and the Court of Pleas of the County of Durham ; and where such Matter arises in Scotland shall mean the Court of Session:
The Word ‘Oath’ shall include Affirmation in the Case of Quakers, and any Declaration lawfully substituted for an Oath in the Case of any other Persons allowed by Law to make a Declaration instead of taking an Oath:
The Word ‘County’ shall include Riding or other Division of a County having a separate Commission of the Peace, and inScotland Stewartry, and any Ward or other Division of a County or Stewartry having a separate Sheriff, and it shall also include County of a City or County of a Town:
The Word ‘Justice’ shall mean Justice of the Peace acting for the Place where the Matter requiring the Cognizance of any such Justice arises; and where any Matter is authorized or required to be done by TwoJustices, the Expression ‘Two Justices’ shall be understood to mean Two or more Justices met and acting together:
The Word ‘Sheriff’ shall mean the Sheriff Depute of the County or Ward of a County inScotland and the Steward Depute of the Stewartry in Scotland in which any Matter submitted to the Cognizance of the Sheriff arises, and shall include the Substitutes of such Sheriff Depute and Steward Depute respectively:
The Expression ‘Quarter Sessions’ shall mean Quarter Sessions as defined in the special Act; and if such Expression be not there defined, it shall mean the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace which shall be held at the Place nearest to the Undertaking for the County or Place in which the Undertaking, or the principal Office thereof, is situate, or for some Division of such County having a separate Commission of the Peace:
The Expression ‘the Clerk’ shall mean the Clerk of the Commissioners, and shall include the Word ‘Secretary:’
The Expression ‘the Town’ shall mean the Town or District named in the special Act within which the Powers of the Commissioners are to be exercised.
And with respect to citing this Act or any Part thereof, be it enacted as follows:
IV Short Title of this Act.
IV. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament, and in legal Instruments, it shall be sufficient to use the Expression ‘TheCommissioners Clauses Act, 1847.’
V Form in which Portions of this Act may be incorporated with other Acts.
V. For the Purpose of incorporating Part only of this Act with any Act of Parliament hereafter to be passed, it shall be enough to describe the Clauses of this Act with respect to any Matter in the Words introductory to the Enactment with respect to such Matter, and to enact that the Clauses so described, or that this Act, with the Exception of the Clauses so described, shall be incorporated with such Act; and thereupon all the Clauses of this Act so incorporated shall, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted by such Act, form Part of such Act, and such Act shall be construed as if such Clauses were set forth therein with reference to the Matter to which such Act relates.
With respect to the Qualification of Commissioners, be it enacted as follows:
VI Joint Owners or Occupiers when qualified eligible as Commissioners.
VI. Where by the special Act the Qualification of the Commissioners is made to depend upon their being rated in respect of Property of a given Amount, then if Two or more Persons be jointly rated in respect of any Property, each of such Persons shall, subject to the Provisions herein and in the special Act contained, be eligible to be chosen a Commissioner, provided the Property in respect of which such Persons are rated be of a rateable yearly Value, which, when divided by the Number of Persons so rated, will give to each a sufficient rateable yearly Value according to the Provisions of this and the special Act.
VII Same Property not to give Two Qualifications.
VII. The same Property shall not at the same Time give a Qualification as Commissioner to one Person as the Owner, and to another as the Occupier thereof.
VIII No Bankrupt, &c. to be a Commissioner.
VIII. No Bankrupt or Insolvent, or Person not qualified as required by the special Act, shall be capable of being or continuing a Commissioner.
IX No Person holding Office or concerned in a Contract to be a Commissioner.
IX. Any Person who at any Time after his Appointment or Election as a Commissioner shall accept or continue to hold any Office or Place of Profit under the special Act, or be concerned or participate in any Manner in any Contract, or in the Profit thereof, or of any Work to be done under the Authority of such Act, shall thenceforth cease to be a Commissioner, and his Office shall thereupon become vacant.
X Shareholders in Companies not disqualified by reason of Contracts.
X. Provided always, That no Person being a Shareholder or Member of any Joint Stock Company established by Act of Parliament shall be prevented from acting as a Commissioner by reason of any Contract entered into between such Company and the Commissioners; but no such Commissioner, being a Member of such Company, shall vote on any Question relating to the Execution of this or the special Act in which such Company is interested.
XI ...
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