Race Relations Act 1965
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1965 c. 73 |
Race Relations Act 1965
1965 CHAPTER 73
An Act to prohibit discrimination on racial grounds in places of public resort; to prevent the enforcement or imposition on racial grounds of restrictions on the transfer of tenancies; to penalise incitement to racial hatred; and to amend section 5 of the Public Order Act 1936.
[8th November 1965]
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:—
Discrimination
1 Discrimination in places of public resort.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person, being the proprietor or manager of or employed for the purposes of any place of in places of public resort to which this section applies, to practise discrimination on the ground of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins against persons seeking access to or facilities or services at that place.
(2) This section applies to the following places of public resort, that is to say—
(a ) any hotel, and any restaurant, caf, public house or other place where food or drink is supplied for consumption by the public therein;
(b ) any theatre, cinema, dance hall, sports ground, swimming pool or other place of public entertainment or recreation;
(c ) any premises, vehicle, vessel or aircraft used for the purposes of a regular service of public transport;
(d ) any place of public resort maintained by a local authority or other public authority.
(3) For the purposes of this section a person discriminates against another person if he refuses or neglects to afford him access to the place in question, or any facilities or services available there, in the like manner and on the like terms in and on which such access, facilities or services are available to other members of the public resorting thereto.
(4) Except as provided by sections 3 and 4 of this Act, no proceedings, whether civil or criminal, shall lie against any person in respect of an act or omission which is unlawful by virtue only of this section.
(5) In this section ‘hotel’ means an hotel within the meaning of the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 (that is to say an establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveller presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received) and any establishment which would be an hotel within the meaning of that Act apart from any discrimination on grounds mentioned in this section.
2 The Race Relations Board and conciliation committees.
(1) For the purposes of securing compliance with the provisions of section 1 of this Act and the resolution of difficulties arising out of those provisions, there shall be constituted a board to be known as the Race Relations Board, consisting of a chairman and two other members appointed by the Secretary of State.
(2) The Board shall constitute committees, to be known as local conciliation committees, for such areas as the Board consider necessary for the purposes of this section; and it shall be the duty of every such committee—
(a ) to receive and consider any complaint of discrimination in contravention of section 1 of this Act which may be made to them (or made to the Board and referred by the Board to them), being a complaint made by or with the authority in writing of the person against whom the discrimination is alleged to have been practised;
(b ) to make such inquiries as they think necessary with respect to the facts alleged in any such complaint; and
(c ) where appropriate, to use their best endeavours by communication with the parties concerned or otherwise to secure a settlement of any difference between them and a satisfactory assurance against further discrimination contrary to the said section 1 by the party against whom the complaint is made.
(3) In any case where the local conciliation committee are unable to secure such a settlement, or such a settlement and assurance, as aforesaid, or it appears to the committee that any such assurance is not being complied with, the committee shall make a report to that effect to the Race Relations Board; and if it appears to the Board, in consequence of such reports—
(a ) that there has taken place in any place of public resort to which the said section 1 applies a course of conduct in contravention of that section; and
(b ) that that conduct is likely to continue,
the Board shall report the matter to the Attorney General or the Lord Advocate, as the case may be.
(4) The local conciliation committees shall make to the Board such periodical reports with respect to the exercise of their functions as the Board may require, and the Board, shall, at such times as the Secretary of State may direct, make annual reports to the Secretary of State with respect to the exercise of their functions; and the Secretary of State shall lay before Parliament any report made to him under this subsection.
(5) The supplementary provisions contained in the Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Race Relations Board and local conciliation committees.
(6) In Part II of Schedule 1 to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 (bodies of which all members are disqualified under that Act) there shall be inserted (at the appropriate point in alphabetical order) the entry ‘The Race Relations Board and any local conciliation committee constituted by the Board under section 2 of the Race Relations Act 1965’; and the like amendment shall be made in the Part substituted for the said Part II by Schedule 3 to that Act in its application to the Senate and House of Commons of Northern Ireland.
3 Proceedings for enforcement of section 1 in England and Wales
(1) Civil proceedings for the enforcement of section 1 of this Act by injunction may be brought in England and Wales by the Attorney General; and if in proceedings under this section the court is satisfied—
(a ) that the defendant has (by himself or by his servants or agents) engaged in connection with a place of public resort to which section 1 of this Act applies in a course of conduct in contravention of that section; and
(b ) that he is likely, unless restrained by order of the court, to persist in such conduct,
the court may grant such injunction as appears to the court to be proper in all the circumstances, and in particular an injunction to restrain the defendant from committing or causing or permitting acts of discrimination in contravention of the said section 1 of such kinds, against such persons or against persons of such descriptions, as may be specified in the order of the court.
(2) In proceedings under this section, evidence of any communication made to the Race Relations Board, a local conciliation committee, or any officer or servant of the...
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