The Queen against The Cambridge Gas Light Company
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1838 |
| Date | 01 January 1838 |
| Court | Court of the Queen's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 112 E.R. 763
IN THE COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH
S. C. 3 N. & P. 262; 7 L. J. M. C. 50; 2 Jur. 742.
the queen against the cambridge gas light company. 1838. A company, under an Act of Parliament, erected in the parish of A., in Cambridge, a gasometer and other gas apparatus, and laid down mains and pipes in that and other parishes, and also in extra-parochial land belonging to certain colleges in the university. The company supplied light by means of such pipes, &c., to the several parishes and colleges. Held, that the company were rateable as occupiers of the land in the different parishes by their apparatus, pipes, &c.; and were (a) Rex v. The West Biding of Yorkshire, 7 East, 588. (b) The West Riding of Yorkshire v. Rex, 5 Taunt. 284. (c) 7 East, 588; affirmed in Dom. Proc. 5 Taunt. 284. 764 THE QUEEN V. THE CAMBRIDGE GAS LIGHT COMPANY 8 AD. ft B. 74. properly assessed upon the sum which a tenant would pay yearly for the apparatus, pipes, &o., deducting the annual average expense of renovating the same, but not profits of the trade (though profits in trade were not assessed in any of the parishes); and deducting also the annual value of the apparatus and pipes lying in extra-parochial land. And that the resulting amount was to be distributed among the assessments of the several parishes, in proportion, not to the payments made for lights in the respective parishes, but to the quantity of land occupied by the apparatus, &c., in each parish. [S. C. 3 N. & P. 262 ; 7 L. J. M. C. 50; 2 Jur. 742.] On an appeal against a poor-rate for the parish of St. Mary the Great in the town of Cambridge, wherein the Cambridge Gas Light Company was assessed at 701. for " the mains arid other pipes and other apparatus for the conveyance of gas, belonging to the company, situate, being, lying, and fixed in the ground in the parish of St. Mary the Great," the sessions confirmed the rate, subject to the opinion of this Court upon a case, which was substantially as follows. [74] By atat. 4 & 5 W. 4, c. xxiv., local and personal, public, entitled " An Act to Incorporate a Company for Better Supplying with Gas the Town of Cambridge," &c., certain persona, and their successors, were incorporated by the name of the Cambridge Gas Light Company, for the purpose of making coal-gas, coke, &c., and for lighting and supplying with gas all persons, and all colleges, halls, public places, roads, streets, &c., and any churches, chapels, theatres, &c., and private houses, shops, counting-houses, warehouses, manufactories, &c., within the town and University of Cambridge, or the precincts and neighbourhood thereof respectively, arid they were empowered to sell such coal gas, coke, &c., in such manner as they might think proper (sect. 1). The company was also empowered (sect. 58) to erect retorts, gasometers, &o., upon any lands which they might purchase for that purpose, and to break up the soil and pavement of any of the footways, and carriage ways of any roada, streets, &o., and other public passages and places, and also (with consent of owners and occupiers) of any private ground, &c., in the said town, and to make culverts, &c., and to dig trenches and drains, and to lay mains and other pipes, and put stopcocks from such pipes, from the gasometer and other works, in, under, and along such public places, &e., as aforesaid, in such manner as should be necessary for carrying the Act into execution, or supplying such lights as aforesaid. Powers were also given (sect. 69) to the company to contract for lighting with the commissioners for lighting and paving the town of Cambridge, and with any persons, [75] bodies, politic, corporate, or collegiate, &c., within the town and University of Cambridge respectively. It was also provided (sect. 102) that, for all the purposes of the Act, the town and University of Cambridge should comprise and be deemed co-extensive with the fourteen parishes in the said town. In pursuance of the said Act, the company have purchased lands and premises in the parish of St. Andrew the Less, within the town of Cambridge, and erected thereon buildings, gasometers, retorts, and other necessary works and apparatus, for making gas and coke, and have broken up the soil and pavement of the several public streets and ways, and (with the consent of owners and occupiers) of divers of the private grounds, &c., in the several parishes, and have fixed therein proper mains and pipes for the conveyance of gas along the streets and into the several colleges, halls, shops, &c., of the university and town. They also manufacture for sale a considerable quantity of coke and tar at their said works and premises in St. Andrew the Less. The several colleges and halls in the university were all founded before 43 Eliz. (1601), except Downing College, which was founded in 1800 ; and, with the exception of Downing College (and of some modern additions to others), no college or hall in the university is, or ever has been, rated to the relief of the poor. The various parishes, however, in which the colleges and halls are locally situate, in perambulating their respective boundaries, have been accustomed to go into and pass through the colleges and halls, and to affix their boundary marks therein. Several of the colleges [76] and halls are lighted by the company with gas, which is supplied from their works by the mains and pipes fixed in the ground, and which pass into and through various 8 AD. & E. 77. THE QUEEN V. THE CAMBRIDGE GAS LIGHT COMPANY 765 parishes as aforesaid, and, among others, into and through the parish of St. Mary the Great. The lands, buildings, gasometers, retorts, and other works and apparatus for making gas, coke, and tar, together with the mains and pipes for conveying gas through the town, colleges, and halls, would let to a responsible tenant at a rent of 24001. a year, the tenant paying all rates and outgoings for making the subject of occupation productive, and doing all the ordinary repairs required, but not providing for the renewal of the various works...
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