Land Drainage Act 1861
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1861 c. 133 |
| Year | 1861 |
(24 & 25 Vict.) C A P. CXXXIII.
[6th August 1861]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Law relating to the Drainage of Land for Agricultural Purposes:' 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:
Preliminary.
1 Short Title.
1. This Act may be cited for all Purposes as ‘TheLand Drainage Act, 1861.’
2 Act to apply to England only.
2. This Act, in so far as the same relates to Commissions of Sewers shall include any Commission of Sewers granted by Her Majesty, and for the Time being in force, whether such Commission is or is not granted in pursuance of this Act, or has or has not been granted previously to this Act, and in so far as the same relates to Commissioners of Sewers shall include Commissioners acting under any such Commission as aforesaid, but it shall not extend toScotland or Ireland , or to any Part of the Metropolis as defined by the Act passed in the Session holden in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and twenty, intituled An Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis .
3 Definition of Terms.
3.‘Watercourse’ shall include all Rivers, Streams, Drains, Sewers, and Passages through which Water flows:
‘Person’ shall include any Body of Persons, corporate or unincorporate, unless there is something in the Context inconsistent therewith:
‘Owner,’ as used throughout this Act, except where it is otherwise defined in the Provisions relating to Rating, shall have the same Meaning as it has in ‘The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845,’
PART I.
Commissions of Sewers.
Assignment of New Limits.
4 Commissions of Sewers may be issued for new Areas on Recommendation of Inclosure Commissioners.
4. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, upon the Recommendation of the Inclosure Commissioners, to be obtained on such Application and subject to such Conditions as are herein-after mentioned, to direct Commissions of Sewers into all Parts ofEngland , inland as well as maritime, and to assign as the Limits for the Jurisdiction of such Commissions any Areas that may be thought most expedient, having regard to the Levels and other Facilities for Drainage within such Areas, with Power for Her Majesty to include within the Limits of any Commission of Sewers any Area to which a Commission of Sewers may not hitherto have been assigned, or any Area either wholly or partially within the Limits of an existing Commission of Sewers; subject to this Proviso, that no Alteration shall be made affecting the Jurisdiction of any Commissioners of Sewers without the Consent of a Special Meeting of such Commissioners.
5 Recommendation of Inclosure Commissioners to be obtained on Petition of Proprietors, after Investigation by an Inspector.
5. The following Proceedings shall be taken for the Purpose of obtaining the Recommendation of the Inclosure Commissioners to the Grant of a Commission of Sewers:
(1) (1.) A Petition shall be presented to the Inclosure Commissioners, stating the proposed Boundaries of the Area to be comprised within the Limits of the Commission, by Reference to a Map, or in such other Manner as the Commissioners think expedient, and signed by the Proprietors of One Tenth Part of the Land within such Boundaries:
(2) (2.) The Petition shall be supported by such Evidence as the Inclosure Commissioners require; but the Matter thereof shall not be entertained until the Petitioners have given such Security as the Inclosure Commissioners may require for the Payment of Costs in the event of the Petition being unsuccessful:
(3) (3.) Upon the Receipt of such Petition the Inclosure Commissioners may, if they think fit, send an Inspector to the Place, for the Purpose of making Inquiries as to the Genuineness of the Petition, and as to the Propriety of the proposed Boundaries, and as to the Number of Proprietors assenting to or dissenting from the Prayer of the Petition:
(4) (4.) Before commencing such Inquiry the Inspector shall give such Notice as the Inclosure Commissioners direct of his Intention to make the same, and of a Time and Place at which he will be prepared to hear all Proprietors desirous of being heard before him on the Subject of such Inquiry, and of a further Time, being not less than Fourteen Days, within which all Proprietors, intending to dissent from the Prayer of the Petition, must express such Dissent:
(5) (5.) The Inclosure Commissioners shall dismiss the Petition if the Proprietors of One Third Part of the Land within the proposed Boundaries express their Dissent from the Prayer thereof, in Writing addressed to the Inclosure Commissioners, and sent to their Office in London within such Time as aforesaid; but if no such Dissent be expressed, and if the Commissioners, after hearing the Report of their Inspector, approve of the proposed Boundaries, either with or without Modification, One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State shall convey an Intimation of such Approval to Her Majesty; and a Commission of Sewers for the Area as proposed by the Petitioners, or as modified by the Inclosure Commissioners, shall thereupon be issued.
6 Definition of Proprietors.
6. The following Persons shall be deemed to be Proprietors for the Purposes of this Act; that is to say,
(1) (1.) Any Person entitled for his own Benefit, at Law or in Equity, for an Estate in Fee, to the Possession or Receipt of the Rents and Profits of any Freehold or Copyhold Land, whether such Land is or not subject to Incumbrances:
(2) (2.) Any Person absolutely entitled in possession, at Law or in Equity, for his own Benefit, to a beneficial Lease of Land of which not less than Twenty-five Years are unexpired, whether such Land is or not subject to Incumbrances; but no Lease shall be deemed to be a beneficial Lease, within the Meaning of this Act, if the Rent reserved thereon exceeds One Third Part of the full annual Value of the Land demised by such Lease:
(3) (3.) Any Person entitled under any existing or future Settlement, at Law or in Equity, for his own Benefit, and for the Term of his own Life, or the Life of any other Person, to the Possession or Receipt of the Rents and Profits of Land of any Tenure, whether subject or not to Incumbrances, in which the Estate for the Time being subject to the Trusts of the Settlement is an Estate for Lives or Years renewable for ever, or is an Estate renewable for a Term of not less than Sixty Years, or is an Estate for a Term of Years of which not less than Sixty are unexpired, or is a greater Estate than any of the foregoing Estates:
(4) (4.) The Word ‘Settlement,’ as herein used, shall include any Act of Parliament, Will, Deed, or other Assurance whereby particular Estates or particular Interests in Land are, created, with Remainders or Interests expectant thereon:
(5) (5.) Any Body Corporate, any Corporation Sole, any Trustees for Charities, and any Commissioners or Trustees for Ecclesiastical, Collegiate, or other public Purposes, entitled at Law or in Equity, in the Case of Freehold Estates or Copyhold Estates in Fee, and in the Case of Leasehold Estates to a Lease for an unexpired Term of not less than Sixty Years.
7 Trustees to be deemed Proprietors in certain Cases.
7. Where any Proprietor is herein-before defined is a Minor, or of unsound Mind, or a married Woman, the Guardian, Committee, or Husband, as the Case may be, of such Proprietor, shall be the Proprietor within the Meaning of this Act; subject to this Proviso, that a married Woman entitled for her separate Use, and not restrained from Anticipation, shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be treated as if she were not married.
8 Provision as to Proprietorship by Corporations and Companies.
8. Where a Corporation Aggregate, a Joint Stock or other Company, or any Body of Proprietors or Undertakers, is Proprietor of any Land, such Corporation, Company, Body of Proprietors or Undertakers respectively, shall be deemed to be One Proprietor for the Purpose of giving an Assent or Dissent under this Act, and may express their Assent or Dissent in Writing under their Common Seal in the Case of a Corporation, and in any other Case under the Hands of Three Directors or other Persons in the Direction or Management of the Company or Concern; but no Member of such Corporation, nor Proprietor or Person interested in such Company or Concern, shall be entitled to dissent individually as a Proprietor in respect of such Land.
9 Provision as to Joint Proprietors.
9. Where several Persons are Proprietors of Land as Joint Tenants, Coparceners, or Tenants in Common in undivided Moieties, they shall in respect of such Land be accounted as One Proprietor, but the Concurrence of the Proprietors of Two Third Parts of such Land shall be deemed to be the Concurrence of the whole.
10 Provision in case of no Proprietor.
10. When any Portion of Land comprised within the Boundaries referred to in any such Petition as is herein-before mentioned appears to have no Proprietor within the Meaning of this Act, or the Proprietor cannot...
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