Improvement of Live Stock (Licensing of Bulls) Act 1931
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1931 c. 43 |
Improvement of Live Stock (Licensing of Bulls) Act, 1931
(21 & 22 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 43.
An Act to provide for the improvement of live stock by regulating the keeping and importation of bulls and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[31st July 1931]
B E it enacted by the King'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 Restrictions on keeping bulls.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, it shall not be lawful on or after the appointed day to keep a bull which has attained the prescribed age, unless a licence or permit in respect of the bull is for the time being in force under this Act, or unless the bull attained the prescribed age before the appointed day, and any person who keeps a bull in contravention of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds in the case of a first offence, or twenty pounds in the case of a second or subsequent offence.
(2) For the purpose of any proceedings in respect of an offence under this section, it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that the bull had attained the prescribed age at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed and had not attained that age before the appointed day, but it shall be a good defence for a person charged with such an offence to prove that the bull was not bred by him, that he took all reasonable steps to ascertain the age of the bull, and that he had reason to believe that the bull—
(a ) had not attained the prescribed age at the time when the offence was alleged to have been committed; or
(b ) had attained that age before the appointed day.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed to keep a bull if he owns the bull or has the bull in his possession or custody.
2 Licences and permits for bulls.
(1) On application being made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time, or such further time as the Minister may in any case allow, and on payment of such fee (not exceeding five shillings) as may be prescribed, the Minister shall, subject to the provisions of this section and if satisfied that the prescribed conditions as to inspection and marking have been complied with, grant in the prescribed form to the owner of any bull—
(a ) a licence to keep the bull for breeding purposes; or
(b ) a permit to keep the bull for any other purpose.
(2) The Minister may refuse to grant or may revoke a licence in respect of a bull, if the bull appears to him to be—
(a ) of defective or inferior conformation and likely to beget defective or inferior progeny; or
(b ) permanently affected with any contagious or infectious disease; or
(c ) permanently affected with any other disease rendering the bull unsuitable for breeding purposes;
and may revoke a licence in respect of a bull, if any condition of the licence is contravened or not complied with.
(3) The Minister may refuse to grant or may revoke a permit on any grounds which appear to him sufficient.
(4) If the Minister refuses to grant or revokes a licence or permit, he shall give notice to that effect, in the case of a refusal of a licence or permit, to the applicant therefor, and, in the case of a revocation of a licence or permit, to the owner or the person stated therein to be the owner of the bull, and any such notice given in respect of a licence shall state the grounds for the refusal or revocation.
(5) If notice is duly given in accordance with the last foregoing subsection to a person who is not the owner of the bull, it shall be the duty of that person forthwith to take all reasonable steps to inform the owner accordingly, and, if he fails to do so, he shall be liable to indemnify the owner against any loss the owner may suffer by reason of the failure.
(6) It shall be a good defence for a person charged with the offence of keeping a bull in contravention of this Act to prove that, at the date when the offence is alleged to have been committed, application had been duly made for a licence or permit in respect of the bull and the Minister had not given notice of his decision on that application.
(7) Where the Minister is satisfied that a licence or permit granted under this Act has been lost or destroyed, he may, on application made in the prescribed manner and on payment of the prescribed fee, issue to the holder of that licence or permit a duplicate thereof, and thereupon all the provisions of this Act with respect to a licence or permit shall apply to the duplicate as if it were the original licence or permit.
3 Change of ownership and duration of licence or permit.
(1) Upon any change in the ownership of a bull in respect of which a licence or permit is in force under this Act (other than a change in consequence of the death of the holder), the holder of the licence or permit shall forthwith deliver it to the new owner together with any notice of suspension received by him in respect of the bull the terms of which have not already been endorsed thereon, and shall send by post to the Minister written notice of the name and address of the new owner, and the new owner, upon delivery to him of the licence or permit, shall become the holder thereof for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Upon the death of the holder of a licence or permit in force under this Act, his personal representative shall become the holder thereof for the purposes of this Act.
(3) Any person becoming the holder of a licence or permit under the foregoing provisions of this section shall, within one month thereafter, send the licence or permit by post to the Minister, together with a request for the transfer thereof, and the Minister shall thereupon transfer the licence or permit to that person by endorsement or otherwise.
(4) If any licence or permit is not sent to the Minister in accordance with the last foregoing subsection, it shall become void at the expiration of the said period of one month, but without prejudice to an application for a new licence or permit, as the case may be.
(5) A licence or permit granted under this Act in respect of a bull shall remain in force until one of the following events occurs, that is to say, until—
(a ) the licence or permit is revoked or becomes void under this Act; or
(b ) the bull dies or is castrated; or
(c ) the bull has been outside Great Britain for a consecutive period of fourteen days or such longer consecutive period as the Minister may allow; or
(d ) in the case of a permit, the period specified therein expires.
In computing for the purposes of this subsection how long a bull has been outside Great Britain, the period of its absence shall be deemed to begin at the time when it is put on board any ship for the purpose of being carried out of Great Britain and to end at the time when it is landed in Great Britain on its return.
(6) On a licence or permit ceasing to be in force the holder thereof shall return it to the Minister within fourteen days.
(7) If the holder of a licence or permit fails to comply with any of the requirements of subsection (1) or subsection (5) of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.
4 Conditions of licence or permit.
(1) It shall be a condition of a licence or permit granted under this Act that the holder thereof shall—
(a ) forthwith notify the Minister of any change of his address; and
(b ) submit the bull to which the licence or permit relates to inspection at any reasonable time, either at the place where the bull is for the time being or at any other reasonable place, by any officer of the Ministry when required by such an officer so to do, and render all reasonable assistance to that officer for the purpose of the inspection.
(2) An applicant for a permit under this Act shall state in his application the place where he proposes to keep the bull to which the application relates, and, unless the Minister otherwise directs, that place shall be specified in the permit and it shall be a condition of the permit that the bull shall be kept at that place or such other place as may from time to time, on application made in the prescribed manner, be substituted in the permit for the place theretofore specified.
(3) If it appears to the Minister that a bull, in respect of which a licence is about to be or has been granted, is temporarily affected by a disease or defect rendering the bull unsuitable for breeding purposes, the Minister may by notice (in this Act referred to as a ‘notice of suspension’) served in the prescribed...
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