Licensing (Scotland) Act 1903
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Licensing (Scotland) Act, 1903
(3 Edw. 7.) CHAPTER 25.
An Act to consolidate with Amendments the Laws relating to Licensing in Scotland.
[14th August 1903]
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:
Part I.
Constitution of Licensing and Appeal Courts.
1 Meetings of licensing courts for granting certificates.
1. For the purpose of granting certificates under this Act, there shall annually be held throughout Scotland, in lieu of the general half-yearly meetings held under the existing Acts, two general half-yearly meetings of the licensing courts to be constituted as hereinafter provided.
2 Burgh licensing courts.
2. For each burgh being a county of a city, and for each royal, parliamentary or police burgh containing a population of or exceeding seven thousand, and for each burgh containing a population under seven thousand but of or exceeding four thousand, the magistrates of which have power to grant certificates under the existing Acts, there shall be a separate licensing court, consisting of the magistrates of such burgh for the time being.
3 County licensing courts.
(1) The county council of every county shall, at any general or special meeting to be held not later than the third Tuesday of December one thousand nine hundred and three, and thereafter from time to time, determine in their discretion whether the county shall be divided into districts for the purposes of this Act (hereinafter called licensing districts). It shall be lawful for the county council, where the county is divided into districts in terms of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (hereinafter called local government districts), to determine that any one or any combination of two or more of such districts shall be a separate licensing district, but
(a ) No licensing districts other than local government districts or combinations thereof shall be constituted; and
(b ) No county not divided into local government districts shall be divided into licensing districts
without the consent of the Secretary for Scotland in either case both to the division and to the districts proposed. Every determination under this section shall be forthwith communicated to the Secretary for Scotland and published by advertisement in two successive weeks in a newspaper or newspapers circulating in the districts.
(2) For the purposes of this part of this Act every burgh, except those specified in the immediately preceding section, shall be deemed to form part of the county and of the local government or licensing district (if any) within which it is situate.
(3) For each county or, where a county is divided into licensing districts, for each licensing district there shall be a separate licensing court whereof the number of members shall in each case be in accordance with the scale contained in the First Schedule annexed hereto. One half of the members of such court shall in every case be elected by the justices of the peace for the county from their own number and one half by the county council from their own number.
(4) Provided always that where, for the purposes of this part of this Act, any burgh, the magistrates of which have power to grant certificates under the existing Acts, forms part of a county or district, the licensing court for such county or district shall be modified by the addition thereto of such number of members for every such burgh as the Secretary for Scotland shall determine by order under his hand, so that one member at least shall be added for every such burgh, and that the number of members for each burgh shall, as nearly as may be, bear the same proportion to the number of the court without such addition, as the population of the burgh bears to the population of the county or district excluding every such burgh: Provided further that such added members shall, in every case, be magistrates of the respective burghs, and the total number of members for any burgh shall not exceed the number of magistrates thereof.
4 Burgh and county courts of appeal.
(1) For the purpose of hearing appeals and applications for confirmation of new certificates under this Act, there shall be a court (hereinafter called ‘the court of appeal’), one half of the members of which shall in every case be elected by the justices of the peace from their own number and one half shall be burgh magistrates or county councillors respectively, as hereinafter provided.
(2) Except as hereinafter provided the court of appeal from a burgh licensing court shall be—
(a ) for each burgh being a county of a city, a separate court consisting of the members of the licensing court and of an equal number of justices of the peace for the county of a city; and
(b ) for each royal, parliamentary or police burgh (not being a county of a city) containing a population of or exceeding twenty thousand, a separate court consisting of the members of the licensing court and of an equal number of justices of the peace for the county within which the burgh is situate; and
(c ) in each county, for all the royal, parliamentary and police burghs situate therein containing a population of or exceeding seven thousand and under twenty thousand, one and the same court, consisting of burgh magistrates and justices of the peace for the county as specified in the Second Schedule annexed hereto.
(3) The court of appeal (a ) from a county licensing court, or, if the county is divided into licensing districts, from the several district licensing courts, and (b ) from any burgh licensing court for a burgh situate within the county which is not specified in the immediately preceding subsection, shall for each county be one and the same court, whereof one half of the members shall be county councilors for the county elected as hereinafter provided, and one half shall be justices of the peace for the county; and the number of members shall be such that the court, shall contain three more county councilors and three more justices of the peace than the county licensing court or the licensing court for the most populous licensing district within the county, as the case may be, in accordance with the Third Schedule annexed hereto.
5 Election and term of office of members of courts.
(1) The term of office of members of a licensing court or court of appeal being justices of the peace or county councilors, except in the case of those first elected, shall be three years. The members being justices of the peace shall be elected at the statutory meeting of quarter sessions in March one thousand nine hundred and four, and shall hold office till a meeting of justices of the peace to be held on the third Tuesday of December one thousand nine hundred and four, when they shall retire and their successors shall be elected, and thereafter such retirement and election shall take place every third year at a meeting of justices of the peace to be held on the third Tuesday of December. Every such meeting on the third Tuesday of December shall be held at the same place as the general meeting of the county council on that day. The members being county councilors shall be elected at the general meeting of the county council in December one thousand nine hundred and three or at any special meeting to be held not later than the first Tuesday of March one thousand nine hundred and four, and shall hold office till the general meeting of the county council in December one thousand nine hundred and four, when they shall retire and their successors shall be elected, and thereafter such retirement and election shall take place every third year at the general meeting of the county council in December: Provided that, in section eight of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 , the expression ‘purposes hereinafter mentioned’ shall be deemed to include the purposes of this part of this Act, subject to the condition that no county councillor representing a burgh having a separate licensing court or court of appeal, as the case may be, shall be entitled to act or vote in an election of members of a county licensing court or court of appeal respectively; and provided further that no justice of the peace, who is not entered on the valuation roll for a county or a burgh situate therein as a proprietor, tenant or occupier of lands or heritages, shall be entitled to act or vote in the election by the justices for the county of representatives from their own number to the county licensing court or court of appeal, or to a court of appeal from a burgh licensing court, or be eligible for election as a member of any of such courts.
(2) The members of a county or district licensing court, being magistrates of a burgh, and the members of a court of appeal from a burgh licensing court, being magistrates of a burgh containing a population under twenty thousand, shall, where necessary, be elected by the magistrates of the burgh in each case at a meeting to be summoned by the town clerk and to be held on any day within fourteen days after the annual election of town councilors in the year one thousand nine hundred and three, and in subsequent years as vacancies occur. The provost, or in his absence the senior bailie present, shall be chairman of such meeting. Each magistrate being a member of a county or district licensing court or of a court of appeal from a burgh licensing court shall hold office so long as he remains a magistrate of the burgh.
(3) Retiring members of a licensing...
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