National Library of Scotland Act 1925
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1925 c. 73 |
| Year | 1925 |
National Library of Scotland Act, 1925
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 73.
An Act to establish a National Library in Scotland on the foundation of the Library gifted for that purpose by the Faculty of Advocates, and for purposes connected therewith.
[7th August 1925]
Be 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 Establishment of Library and constitution of Board of Trustees.
(1) There shall be established and founded in Scotland a library with the name of the National Library of Scotland (in this Act referred to as ‘the Library’), and for the purpose of managing the Library and for the other purposes of this Act there shall be constituted a Board of Trustees (in this Act referred to as ‘the Board’), which shall be a body corporate by the name of ‘The Trustees of the National Library of Scotland,’ with perpetual succession and a common seal, and power to sue and be sued, and to acquire and hold property for the purposes of the Library and of this Act. Service on the Board of all legal processes and notices shall be effected by service on their secretary.
(2) The Board shall be constituted and their proceedings shall be determined in accordance with the provisions contained in the Schedule to this Act.
(3) Any document purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Board or to be signed in the name of the Board by the chairman or the secretary of the Board or any person authorised by the Board to act in that behalf shall be receivable in evidence of the particulars stated in that document.
2 Powers and duties of Board.
2. The Board shall have the general management and control of the Library, and for that purpose may—
3 Transfer of Advocates' Library.
(1) On the appointed day there shall by virtue of this Act be transferred from the Faculty of Advocates (hereinafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Faculty’) to the Board the entire contents of the Advocates' Library, with the exception of the Faculty's collection of law books, legal manuscripts and papers, the Faculty Records, and pictures and articles of furniture belonging to the Faculty, and the property so transferred shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be held by the Board for public use to all posterity.
(2) The transfer hereinbefore in this section provided shall have effect as a full discharge to the Faculty of all duties, obligations and liabilities incumbent on them with respect to the property transferred, whether under any Act of Parliament, charter, trust, gift, bequest, deed, or otherwise.
(3) The Faculty's collection of law books excepted from the aforesaid transfer shall remain vested in the Faculty for the purposes of their Law Library.
(4) Any question which may arise as to what are law books or legal manuscripts and papers, or pictures, or articles of furniture belonging to the Faculty within the meaning of this section shall be determined by the Keeper of the Advocates' Library.
(5) Nothing in this section contained shall affect the rights of any body or person other than the Faculty in or with respect to any book or other article forming part of the contents of the Advocates' Library which has been deposited therein for custody only, or which is not the property of the Faculty.
4 Transfer of funds of Endowment Trust.
(1) As soon as conveniently may be after the appointed day, the Trustees of the Endowment Trust shall convey and make over to the Board the funds in their possession as such Trustees, or the investments representing those funds, together with any accumulations of the income of those funds, after deducting—
(a ) the amount of any expenses incurred by the said Trustees in the execution and management of their Trust (including the expense of such conveyance); and
(b ) any sums which the said Trustees may have applied to the maintenance of the Advocates' Library:
to be held and administered by the Board subject to the provisions of this Act and to any specific direction or condition attaching to any part of those funds.
(2) The receipt of the Board shall have effect as a full discharge to the said Trustees of all their duties, obligations, and liabilities as Trustees of the Endowment Trust, and after the completion of the aforesaid conveyance that trust shall cease to exist.
5 Transfer of privilege under Copyright Act, 1911, 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 46. s. 15.
(1) From and after the appointed day, and subject to the provisions of this section, the privilege enjoyed by the Advocates' Library under the Copyright Act, 1911, shall be transferred to the Library, and section fifteen of that Act (which relates to the delivery of copies of books to the British Museum and other libraries) shall be amended by the substitution of the words ‘the National Library of Scotland’ for the words ‘the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh’ occurring therein.
(2) Copies of law books delivered for the Board as the authority of the Library under the said section as so amended shall be transmitted by the Board to the Faculty.
(3) The Board shall cause to be inserted in the written demands made for them under the said section as so amended such law books as may be named in writing to them by the Faculty.
(4) Copies of law books transmitted to the Faculty in pursuance of this section shall vest in the Faculty for the purposes of their Law Library.
(5) Any question which may arise between the Board and the Faculty as to what are law books within the meaning of this section shall be settled...
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