Statutes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1938.tb00418.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1939 |
| Date | 01 March 1939 |
STATUTES
30
I
STATUTES
The
Coal
Act,
1938
Although
this
Act covers
a
very technical and specialist branch of
Law,
it
is
unusually interesting
to
the general lawyer in many ways.
Perhaps
it
is most interesting
as
a
striking illustration of the defects in
the present Parliamentary procedure.
It
is
in substance
a
socialist measure
passed unwillingly by
a
conservative Parliament. The Bill was more
amended in Parliament than any other measure in recent times and this
is
painfully clear when one considers in detail the various sections. The
whole Act suffers from an obvious conflict in the minds of its makers. A
section gives
a
power which is immediately cut down to the bone by a
host
of
provisoes.
The statute begins with an Act of Creation after the style of the first
Chapter of Genesis; “there shall be
a
coal commission.” This Coal Com-
mission
is
a
statutory Corporation aggregate and consists of
a
Chairman
and four other members appointed by the Board of Trade. Only
two
members need have had any practical experience in the Coal Mining
Industry.
It
is interesting to note that the Commission must give effect
to directions from the Board of Trade on all matters of “national interest,”
and
so
is
directly under the control of the Government of the day.
On
the “Vesting Date,” i.e. July Ist,
1942,
the fee simple interest in
all unworked coal and mines of coal vests automatically in the Coal Com-
mission and the function of the Commission
is
to manage and deal with the
coal with the object of promoting “the interests efficiency and better
organisation
of
the
Coal
Mining Industry.” Immediately following this
comprehensive provision there follows
a
sub-section which seems to cut
the powers of the Commission from under
its
feet. The Commission
is
expressly prohibited from “engaging in the business of coal mining or
carrying on any operations for coal mining purposes.” The Commission
is accordingly in the desirable position of owning all the coal but being
prohibited from itself dealing with
its
own property.
A minute’s thought will show the obvious technical difficulties
of
separating the ownership of coal and mines, i.e. shafts and underground
workings, from the ownership of the land itself. The Act solves these
difficulties by giving the Commission no rights of ownership over anything
but the bare coal and mines and only such easements
(if
any) over the
surface as already exist
in
regard to each particular holding.
It
is
a curious
omission in the Act that it does not state what rights
(if
any) the Com-
mission have to enter on the surface of land to sink a new shaft to enable
a
new seam to be worked. A right to withdraw support
is
given rather
grudgingly on paying full compensation for damage caused.
Section
15
of the Act
is
a
good example of the muddle caused by amend-
ments inconsistent with the intention
of
the Act. In this section the Com-
mission is given power to make new
underground
workings to get at the
coal, but there follow the inevitable provisoes that the Commission may
not
“
(a)
interfere with the surface of any land,
(b)
do any act which would
be
actionable by virtue of any servitude or restriction affecting the land,
and
(c)
do any other Act which would be actionable as
a
trespass and
which, if done, would be likely to cause actual damage other than of a
purely nominal amount.” There
is
accordingly no right to get the coal by
new workings
if
the surface owner is in any way affected.
It
might
be
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