Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1953 c. 47 |
| Year | 1953 |
Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act , 1953
(1 & 2 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 47
An Act to make permanent provision with respect to certain matters with respect to which temporary provision has hitherto been made by or under Defence Regulations; to suspend the operation of subsection (1) of section thirty-one of the Road Traffic Act, 1934; to remove certain limitations on the exercise of the powers conferred on the court by virtue of the Settled Land and Trustee Acts (Court's General Powers) Act, 1943; to empower certain persons subject to the Naval Discipline Act to take affidavits and declarations outside the United Kingdom; to save the previous operation of Regulation fifty-five F of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, after the revocation or expiry thereof; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[31st July 1953]
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, as follows:—
1 Permanent enactment of provisions contained in certain Defence Regulations.
1. The provisions set out in the First Schedule to this Act, which reproduce provisions contained in the Defence Regulations revoked by the Third Schedule to this Act, with minor modifications and adaptations and the addition of transitional provisions, shall have permanent effect.
2 Permanent enactment of provisions of Defence \(Trading with the Enemy) Regulations, 1940.
2. The provisions set out in the Second Schedule to this Act, which reproduce the provisions of the Defence (Trading with the Enemy) Regulations, 1940, in force at the commencement of this Act, with minor modifications and adaptations, the addition of transitional provisions and the omission of Regulation seven, shall have permanent effect, and accordingly the said Regulations are hereby revoked.
3 Extension of control of certain explosives.
(1) The Secretary of State may by order impose, in addition to those imposed in relation thereto by the Explosives Act, 1875, such prohibitions or restrictions on the use of gunpowder and safety fuses and the transfer, whether for consideration or not, of the possession thereof or property therein as appear to him to be necessary or expedient in the public interest; and any such order may prohibit the doing of anything restricted by the order except under the authority of a licence granted by such person as may be specified in the order.
(2) The Secretary of State may by order make provision for requiring that, subject to any exemptions for which provision may be made by the order, a person who enters into a prescribed transaction with respect to an explosive to which this subsection applies shall make and shall keep for the prescribed period a record containing the prescribed particulars of the transaction and shall produce the record to such person and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.
This subsection applies to gunpowder, safety fuses and any explosive to which an Order in Council made under section forty-three of the Explosives Act, 1875, for the time being applies, and for the purposes of this subsection the expression ‘prescribed’ means, in relation to an order, prescribed by the order.
(3) An order under this section may make provision for any incidental or supplementary matters for which the Secretary of State thinks it expedient for the purposes of the order to provide.
(4) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of an order under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to both.
(5) On the coming into operation of the order first made under this section, Regulation two BA of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which empowers the Secretary of State to impose prohibitions and restrictions on the keeping and transfer of explosives and other substances) shall be revoked, but (without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) of this section) that order may contain provision with respect to any matters for which it appears to the Secretary of State expedient to provide for the purposes of the transition to the provisions of that order from the provisions of any order under the said Regulation two BA which is in force immediately before the revocation thereof.
4 British seamen's cards.
(1) The Minister of Transport may by order make provision—
(a ) for the issue under the order, to persons who, not being aliens within the meaning of the British Nationality Act, 1948, are employed or engaged, or ordinarily employed or engaged, on ships, of cards (in this section referred to as ‘British seamen's cards’) in such form and containing such particulars with respect to the holders thereof and such other particulars (if any) as may be prescribed by the order, and for requiring such persons to apply for such cards;
(b ) for the issue, subject to the payment of such fee as may be prescribed by the order with the approval of the Treasury, of fresh British seamen's cards in place of such cards which have been lost, destroyed or defaced;
(c ) for requiring the holders of British seamen's cards to produce them to such persons and in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the order;
(d ) for the surrender of British seamen's cards in the event of the holders thereof dying and in such other circumstances as may be prescribed by the order, and for the issue, in such circumstances as may be so prescribed, of fresh British seamen's cards in place of surrendered cards;
(e ) for any incidental or supplementary matters for which the Minister of Transport thinks it expedient for the purposes of the order to provide;
and any provisions of an order having effect by virtue of paragraph (a ) of this subsection may be so framed as to apply to all such persons as are mentioned in that paragraph or any class of such persons and as to have effect subject to any exemptions for which provision may be made by the order.
(2) For the purposes of the foregoing subsection, the expression ‘ship’ has the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.
(3) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of an order under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
(4) Section one hundred and four of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (which penalizes the forgery and fraudulent use of a certificate of competency) shall have effect as if references therein to such a certificate included references to a British seaman's card.
(5) Any expenses incurred by the Minister of Transport for the purposes of this section shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament and any fees received under an order made under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.
(6) Regulation forty-five A of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which empowers the Minister of Transport to provide by order for the issue of identity cards to seamen) and the entry in the Third Schedule to those Regulations relating to the said Regulation forty-five A are hereby revoked, but any order under that Regulation which is in force at the commencement of this Act shall, so far as it could have been made under this section, be deemed to have been so made.
5 Power of local authorities to continue to let certain land for use as allotment gardens.
(1) Regulation sixty-two A of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which authorizes a local authority to let, to tenants for use as allotment gardens or to a society having as its object the cultivation of vacant land for the purpose of subletting to tenants for such use, land occupied by the authority, unoccupied land to the possession of which they are entitled and land forming part of a park or open space which is under their management or control) is hereby revoked; but, notwithstanding the revocation of that Regulation but subject to the following provisions of this section, a local authority may let—
(a ) for use by the tenants as allotment gardens; or
(b ) to a society having as its object the cultivation of vacant land, for the purpose of subletting for such use,
any land which, at the commencement of this Act, is let by them under the said Regulation sixty-two A or is appropriated for letting thereunder, notwithstanding anything in any Act (including a private or local Act) or any trust or covenant or restriction affecting the land.
(2) The powers conferred by the foregoing subsection on a local authority shall cease to be exercisable with respect to any land upon its being returned to use as part of a park or open space or otherwise appropriated for use for any purpose other than the letting thereof as mentioned in paragraph (a ) or (b ) of the foregoing subsection or upon its being sold or otherwise disposed of by the authority.
(3) Section six of the Allotments Act, 1950 (which provides that the foregoing provisions of that Act, other...
To continue reading
Request your trial