Metropolitan Police Act 1839
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(2 & 3 Vict.) C A P. XLVII.
[17th August 1839]
'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Tenth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Fourth, intituled , for the Purpose of establishing a new and more efficient System of Police in the Room of the inadequate local Establishments of nightly Watch and nightly Police, within the Limits in the said Act specified, therein called ‘The Metropolitan Police District:’ And whereas the System of Police established under the said Act hath been found very efficient, and may be yet further improved:' Be it therefore 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, That so much of an Actpassed in the Twenty-ninth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Second, intituled An Act for appointing a sufficient Number of Constables for the Service of the City and Liberty of Westminster, and to compel proper Persons to take upon them the Office of Jurymen, to prevent Nuisances and other Offences within the said City and Liberty , or of any other Act, as requires or authorizes the Appointment of any Constables or High Constable at any Court Leet, shall be repealed from the passing of this Act.
II Parts of Parishes may be added to the Police District.
II. 'And whereas by the said Act of the Tenth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Fourth Her Majesty is empowered, by the Advice of Her Privy Council, to order that any Parishes, Townships, Precincts, and Places, whether Parochial or Extra-parochial, in the Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Hertford, Essex , and Kent , of which any Part shall be situated within Twelve Miles of Charing Cross in the City of Westminster , shall be added to and form Part of the Metropolitan Police District: And whereas the Boundary of the District so formed is very irregular;' be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by the Advice of Her Privy Council, to order that any Place which is Part of the Central Criminal Court District, except the City of London and Liberties thereof, and such Places as are or may be included in any Act already passed or to be passed in this Session of Parliament, intituled London, and also that any Part of any Parish, Township, Precinct, or Place which is not more than Fifteen Miles distant fromCharing Cross in a straight Line may be added to and form Part of the Metropolitan Police District, although the whole of such Parish, Township, Place, or Precinct may not be added thereunto; and all the Provisions of this Act, and of the said Act as amended by this Act, shall extend and apply to the Parishes, Townships, Precincts, or Places, or the Parts thereof, so respectively added; and in case no separate Rate shall be levied for the Relief of the Poor in any Place or Part so added, the Police Rate shall be assessed and levied therein in like Manner as in Extra-parochial Places within the Metropolitan Police District in which no Rate is levied for the Relief of the Poor.
III Parishes added to the District to be within 3 & 4 W. 4. c. 89.
III. And be it enacted, That in every Case in which after the passing of this Act any Parish, Township, Precinct, or Place, or any Part thereof, shall become Part of the Metropolitan Police District, it shall be lawful for the Lord High Treasurer or Three or more Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by Warrant under their Hands and Seals, to direct the Issue, out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland , of an additional yearly Sum not greater in each Case than the Amount of Two-pence in the Pound upon the additional Rental assessed to the Metropolitan Police by reason of such Addition, free of all Rates, Taxes, and Impositions, to be paid and applied in aid of the Charge of maintaining the Police of the Metropolis, upon the same Conditions, with respect to the District so added to the Metropolitan Police District, as the Issue of a Sum not exceeding Sixty thousand Pounds out of the said Consolidated Fund is authorized, with respect to the Parishes and Places already within the Metropolitan Police District, by an Act passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituled ; and every Parish, Township, Precinct, or Place, or any Part thereof, within the Counties last aforesaid, which at any Time shall be Part of the Metropolitan Police District, shall be within all the Provisions of the last-recited Act as amended by this Act.
IV Repeal of 6 & 7 W. 4. c. 50. with a certain Limitation.
IV. And be it enacted, That an Act passed in the Seventh Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituledAn Act to authorize the placing of the Horse Patrol now acting under the Authority of the Chief Magistrate of the Public Office in Bow Street under the Authority of the Justices appointed for the Metropolitan Police District , is hereby repealed; but notwithstanding the Repeal of the said Act it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to appoint the Justices appointed and to be appointed under the said Act of the Tenth Year of the Reign of King George the Fourth to be Justices of the Peace for the Counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire , although they may not be qualified by Estate; and the said Justices shall be empowered to act as Justices in the last-mentioned Counties as fully as in any other Part of the Metropolitan Police District, and not further or otherwise, and shall be styled ‘The Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis.’
V Metropolitan Police Constables to act on the River Thames, &c.
V. And be it enacted, That the Constables belonging to the Metropolitan Police Force shall have all the Powers and Privileges of a Constable in the Counties ofBerkshire and Buckinghamshire , and upon the River Thames within or adjoining to the several Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Berkshire, Essex , and Kent , and within or adjoining to the City of London and the Liberties thereof, and in and on the several Creeks, Inlets, and Waters, Docks, Wharfs, Quays, and Landing Places, thereto adjacent, and shall act therein and thereupon, as fully as in any Part of the Metropolitan Police District.
VI Sum required to defray Charges of Thames Police, Horse Patrol, &c.
VI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Lord High Treasurer or Three or more Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by Warrant under their Hands and Seals, to direct the Issue out of the Consolidated Fund ofGreat Britain and Ireland to the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police District of a yearly Sum, not greater than Twenty thousand Pounds, free of all Rates, Taxes and Impositions, for defraying the increased Charge of the Establishment of the Metropolitan Police Force by reason of that Force being required to perform the Duties heretofore performed by the Horse Patrol and by the Surveyors and Constables of the Thames Police, and also the Issue of such further Sum as shall be needed for the Payment of the Superannuation Allowances of such Surveyors and Constables as have been superannuated under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Third Year of the Reign of King George the Fourth, or any subsequent Act for the more effectual Administration of the Office of a Justice of the Peace in and near the Metropolis, or who may hereafter become entitled to Superannuation Allowances under the Provisions of any such Act.
VII Constables may be sworn to act for the Palaces.
VII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners to administer to any Constable belonging to the Metropolitan Police Force an Oath to execute the Office of Constable within the Royal Palaces of Her Majesty and Ten Miles thereof; and every Constable who shall be so sworn shall have the Powers and Privileges of a Constable within the said Royal Palaces and Ten Miles thereof.
VIII Additional Constables may be appointed at the Cost of Individuals.
VIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of Police, if they shall think fit, on the Application of any Person or Persons showing the Necessity thereof, to appoint and swear any additional Number of Constables to keep the Peace at any Place within the Metropolitan Police District, at the Charge of the Person or Persons by whom the Application shall be made, but subject to the Orders of the said Commissioners, and for such Time as they shall think fit; and every such Constable shall have all the Powers, Privileges, and Duties of other Constables belonging to the Metropolitan Police Force: Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the Person or Persons on whose Application such Appointment shall have been made, upon giving One Calendar Month's Notice in Writing to the Commissioners, to require that the Constables so appointed shall be discontinued, and thereupon the Commissioners shall discontinue such additional Constables; and all Monies received on account of any such additional Constables shall be paid to the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police, and shall be accounted for by him in like Manner as other Monies receivable by him.
IX A Statement of the Number of Persons belonging to the Police Force to be annually laid before Parliament.
IX. And be it enacted, That, in addition to...
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