The Commons Commissioners Regulations 1971
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1971/1727 |
| Year | 1971 |
1971 No. 1727
COMMON
The Commons Commissioners Regulations 197126thOctober 1971
4thNovember 1971
17thNovember 1971
ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Regulation
1. Title and commencement.
2. Interpretation.
3. Notices, etc.
4. Substituted service.
5. Vacant benefices of the Church of England.
6. Periods for settlement of disputes about certain registrations.
7. Conflicting registrations.
8. Reference to Commissioner.
9. Documents to accompany reference.
10. Entry of reference.
11. Public notice of unclaimed land reference.
12. Proceedings to be consolidated or heard together.
13. Arrangements for hearing.
14. Notice of hearing of dispute.
15. Notice of hearing as to ownership of unclaimed land.
16. Access to objections.
PART II
HEARINGS
17. Holding of hearings.
18. Procedure generally.
19. Persons entitled to be heard.
20. Representation at hearing.
21. Default of appearance.
22. Evidence.
23. Attendance of witnesses.
24. Expert witnesses.
25. Rights of persons entitled to be heard.
26. Grounds of objection.
27. View of land.
28. Preliminary point of law.
29. Change of Commissioner.
PART III
DECISIONS
30. Notification of Commissioner's decision.
31. Decisions by consent.
32. Notification of final disposal of disputed registration.
33. Clerical errors.
SCHEDULE
FORMS
Form
36.(a) Notice of reference (dispute).
37. Notice of reference (unclaimed land).
38. Public notice of unclaimed land reference.
39. Witness summons to give oral evidence.
40. Witness summons to produce documents.
41. Notice of final disposal of disputed registration.
The Secretary of State for the Environment (as respects England except Monmouthshire) and the Secretary of State for Wales (as respects Wales and Monmouthshire) in exercise of their powers under sections 5(6), 6(2), 8(2), paragraphs (a), (b), (e), (g), (h) and (k) of subsection (1), and subsection (4) of section 19 of the Commons Registration Act 1965(b), and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, and after consultation with the Council on Tribunals under section 10(1) of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1971(c), hereby make the following Regulations :—
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Title and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Commons Commissioners Regulations 1971, and shall come into operation on 17th November 1971.
(a) Forms 1 to 35 were prescribed in previous statutory instruments under the Commons Registration Act 1965.
(b) 1965 c 64.
(c) 1971 c. 62.
Interpretation
2.—(1) The Interpretation Act 1889(a) applies for the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,—
"the Act" means the Commons Registration Act 1965 ;
"the Chief Commissioner" means the Chief Commons Commissioner, or the Commissioner appointed under section 17(3) of the Act to act for the time being in his stead ;
"the Clerk" means the Clerk for the time being of the Commissioners ;
"Commissioner" means a Commons Commissioner, and "the Commissioner", in relation to any matter, means the Commissioner by whom the matter falls to be dealt with ;
"concerned authority", in relation to a registration, means a local authority (other than the registration authority) in whose area any part of the land affected by the registration lies ;
"dispute" means a matter falling to be referred to a Commissioner under section 5(6) of the Act, and "disputed registration" shall be construed accordingly ;
"Form" followed by a number means the form so numbered in the Schedule to these Regulations, or a form to substantially the same effect ;
"General Regulation" followed by a number means the regulation so numbered in the Commons Registration (General) Regulations 1966(b) as amended (c) ;
"proceedings" includes any inquiry or proceedings under the Act ;
"question of the ownership of any unclaimed land" means a question falling to be referred to a Commissioner under section 8 of the Act (Vesting of unclaimed land) ;
"register map" means any map, other than a supplemental map, which, by virtue of any regulation made under the Act, for the time being forms part of a register ;
"register unit" bears the meaning assigned to that expression in General Regulation 10 ;
"registration" means a registration under section 4 of the Act ;
"substituted land" and, in relation to any substituted land, "the taken land", bear the same meanings as in General Regulation 28 ;
"supplemental map" bears the meaning assigned to that expression in General Regulation 20.
(3) In these Regulations a requirement to display a notice is a requirement to treat it, for the purposes of section 287 of the Local Government Act 1933(d) (Public notices), as if it were a public notice within that section.
(4) References in these Regulations to a person who appeared at a hearing are references to a person entitled to be heard at the hearing who, whether personally or by his representative, attended any part of the hearing and made his presence known to the Commissioner.
(5) Where the day or the last day on which anything is required or permitted by or in pursuance of these Regulations to be done is a Sunday,
(a) 1889 c. 63.
(b) S.I. 1966/1471 (1966 III, p. 3978).
(c) The amending instruments are not relevant to the subject matter of these Regulations.
(d) 1933 c. 51.
Christmas Day, Good Friday, bank holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning, the requirement or permission shall be deemed to relate to the first day thereafter which is not one of the days before-mentioned.
Notices, etc.
3.—(1) Any notice under these Regulations which is not required to be in any special form shall be in writing.
(2) Any notice or other document required or authorised by these Regulations to be sent or given to any person shall be deemed to have been duly sent or given to that person—
(a) where that person is a company, if the document is addressed to the secretary of the company at its registered office or at its principal office or place of business, and is either—
(i) sent by post by recorded delivery, or
(ii) delivered at the registered office, or at the principal office or place of business, of the company ;
(b) where that person is a public body, or a corporation, society or other body, if the document is addressed to the clerk, secretary, treasurer or other head officer of that body, corporation or society at its principal office, and is either—
(i) sent by post by recorded delivery, or
(ii) delivered at that office ;
(c) in any other case, if the document is addressed to that person, and is either sent by post by recorded delivery to his last known address, or is delivered there.
(3) Where any such document as aforesaid is to be given or sent to any person with respect to any land or rights belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice of the Church of England, a copy thereof shall be sent to the Church Commissioners.
(4) Any application or communication to be made to a Commissioner in respect of any proceedings shall be addressed to the Clerk.
(5) Nothing in this regulation affects the application of section 286 of the Local Government Act 1933 (Service of notices on local authorities, &c.), as amended.
Substituted service
4. If any person to whom any notice or other document is required to be sent or given for the purposes of these Regulations cannot be found, or has died and has no personal representative, or is out of the United Kingdom, or if for any other reason service upon any such person cannot be readily effected in accordance with these Regulations, the Chief Commissioner may dispense with service upon that person or may make an order for substituted service in such other form (whether by advertisement in a newspaper or otherwise) as the Chief Commissioner may think fit.
Vacant benefices of the Church of England
5. Where any land or rights belong to an ecclesiastical benefice of the Church of England, and the benefice is vacant, anything with respect to the land or rights which, if the benefice were full, might by virtue of the Act or these Regulations be done by the incumbent may be done by the Church Commissioners.
Periods for settlement of disputes about certain registrations
6.—(1) For the purposes of section 5(6) of the Act (which provides that, where an objection is made to a registration, then, unless the objection is withdrawn or the registration cancelled before the end of such period as may be prescribed, the registration authority shall refer the matter to a Commissioner) there is hereby prescribed, in relation to every objection to which this regulation applies, a period beginning with the date of the objection and ending with 17th December 1971.
(2) This regulation applies to every objection to a first period registration except—
(a) an objection deemed, by virtue of regulation 7(1) below (Conflicting registrations), to have been made after 30th June 1968 ;
(b) an objection to a registration which is deemed, by virtue of that regulation, to have been objected to after 30th June 1968 ; and
(c) an objection to a registration contained in a register unit which either contains, or is, by virtue of General Regulation 14 (Double registration of land), deemed to contain, a second period registration.
(3) In this regulation "first period registration" means a registration made before 1st July 1968 and "second period registration" means a registration made after 30th June 1968.
Conflicting registrations
7.—(1) Where there is a conflict between two registrations, then for the purpose of sections 5(6), 6 and 7 of the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations each shall be treated as an objection to the other, and each of those objections shall—
(a) be deemed to have been made at the date of the later of the two registrations, and
(b) where one of the registrations is cancelled, be deemed to have been withdrawn at the date of the cancellation.
(2) References in these Regulations to a dispute...
To continue reading
Request your trial