The Queen against The Worksop Local Board of Health
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 14 June 1865 |
| Date | 14 June 1865 |
| Court | Court of the Queen's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 122 E.R. 1084
IN THE COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH AND THE EXCHEQUER CHAMBER
S. C. 34 L. J. M. C. 220; 10 L. T. 297; 11 Jur. N. S. 1015; 13 W. R. 253. Explained, Barnsley Local Board v. Sedwick, 1867, L. R. 2 Q. B. 193. See Smith v. Southampton Corporation, [1902] 2 K. B. 250.
[951] the queen against the worksop local board of health. [Wednesday, June 14th, 1865.]-Board of Health. 11 & 12 Viet. c. 63, ss. 89, 98, 149. District rate. Seal of Board. Estimate.-1. The absence in the rate book of the seal of The Local Board of Health and the signature of five of its members, as required by The Public Health Act, 1848, 11 & 12 Viet. c. G3, s. 149, in the case of a non-corporate district, is a fatal objection to the validity of a district rate under that Act.-2, Concesaum, that the estimate for a rate required by sect. 98 of that Act may be both for prospective and retrospective expenses, at least if the latter were within the six months limited by sect. 89.-3. Qufere, whether a district rate under that Act is rendered void when the estimate on which it is founded, as required by sect. 98, does not shew with sufficient distinctness the sums required for each of the purposes in respect of which the rate was made? [S. C. 34 L. J. M. C. 220; 10 L. T. 297; 11 Jur. N. S. 1015; 13 W. R. 253. Explained, Barnsley Local Board v. Sedgwiclc, 1867, L. R. 2 Q. B. 193. See Smith v. Southampton Corporation, [1902] 2 K. B. 250.] Special case stated by the Quarter Sessions of the county of Nottingham. The parish of Worksop, in the county of Nottingham, was duly formed in 1852 into a non-corporate district for the purposes of The Public Health Act, 1848, and the provisions of The Local Government Act, 1858, have been duly applied thereto. There is a Local Board of Health elected by the owners of property and ratepayers within the district. Alfred Brodhurst, a ratepayer within the district, is the appellant, and the Local Board of Health are the respondents. On the 7th June, 1862, the Local Board gave public notice of their intention to make a general district rate. The rate was in fact intended to be made to raise money for the payment partly of future charges aud expenses, and partly of charges and expenses incurred within six months before the making of the rate. An estimate of the money required for the purposes in respect of which the rate was to be made was prepared and approved [952] by the Local Board before proceeding to make the rate. This estimate was entered in the rate book as follows :- "21 & 22 Viet. cap. 98. Estimate of the money required for the purposes in respect of which the general district rate hereafter set forth is to be made. "Purposes. s. d. Salaries of officers . . . . . . 178 10 0 Rents, rates, and collector's poundage . . . . 70 18 3 Wateiing the public streets and expenses of fire engine . Gl 0 0 Printing, stationery, advertising, and postage . . 40 3 7 Election expenses. Filling in and covering old sewers and drains, and cleansing sewers and outfall . . 65 0 0 Law charges, surveyor's instruments, and incidental expenses . 7400 489 11 10 5B. *S. 9M. THE QUEEN V, WORKSOP LOOAL BOARD OF HEALTH 1085 "The rateable value of the property assessable for the above rate ....... 30,184 19 2 The amount of the rate necessary to be made for such pur poses upon each pound of such value , . . Sixpence. "The above estimate has been submitted to The Local Board and approved of by them. "As witness my hand, this 2nd day of June, 1862. " (Signed) egbert white, " Clerk of the said Board." The rate book and the minute book of the Board, containing the details of actual expenditure upon which the calculations of the estimate were based, were duly [953] kept in the office of the Board open to public inspection. The rate was declared made by a resolution of the Board passed at a Board Meeting, on the 16th June, 1862, and entered upon the minutes of that meeting, which were signed in due course by the chairman at the next meeting of the Board. The resolution was as follows:- " The clerk produced general district rate at sixpence in the pound amounting to 4281. 15s. lljd.,and the recoverable arrears amounting to 391. 19s. 3d.; and it was moved by Mr. Worth and seconded by Mr. Marlin, and unanimously resolved, that the rate now produced be and the same is declared made, and that the clerk do cause notice of the making thereof to be given as required by law." The rate was set forth in the rate book under this heading:- " An assessment for a general district rate made by the Local Board of Health for the district of Workaop for defraying such expenses as are by The Public Health Act, 1848, and The Local Government Act, 1858, chargeable upon that rate, this 16th day of June, 1862, after the rate of sixpence in the pound, upon the several occupiers and other parties liable by law to be assessed thereto, to commence and be payable on the 17th day of June, 1862." No seal or signature of the Board was affixed to the rate in the rate book, : The making of the rate was duly published. Alfred Brodhurst appealed against the rate on several grounds, and the appeal was heard at the Quarter Sessions held on the 20th October, 1862. The- material objections to the rate urged at the trial were these:- First. That the Local Board of Health hail no power, [954] under the 89th section of the Public Health Act, 1848, to make one and the same rate for the payment of future expenses and of expenses previously incurred. Second. That the estimate of the money required for the purposes in respect of which the rate was to be made did not shew the several sums required for each of such purposes with the particularity required by the 98th section of The Public Health Act, 1848. Third. That the rate was void under the 149th section of The Public Health Act, 1848, for want of the seal of the Local Board and the signature of five of its members to the :ratei in the rate book. Tbe Quarter Sessions held that the Local Board had power to make one ar)d the same rate for future and past expenditure : that the purposes in respect of whi jh the rate was to be made were set forth in the estimate with sufficient particularity: but that the rate was void for want of the seal of The Board and the signature of five of its members. And they quashed the rate subject to the opinion of this Court to be taken by consent of both parties upon all the three above grounds of objection. The case was argued for the first time in Easter Term, 1864, April 23rd, before Cockburn C.J. and Shee J. Welsby and Cave, for the appellant.-The 89th section of The Public Health Act, 1848, 11 & 12 Viet. c. 63, enacts "That the Local Board of Health may make and levy the said special and general district rates, or any or either of them, prospectively, in order to raise money for the payment of future charges and expenaes, or retrospectively in order to raise motley for the payment of charges and expenses which may have been incurred at any time within six months [955] before the making of the rate; &c." And sect. 98 enacts, "That the Local Board of Health, before proceeding to make any general or special district rate or private improvement rate uuder this Act, shall causa au estimate to be prepared of the mouey required for 1086 THE QUEEN I'. WORKSOP LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH 5 B. & S. 986. the purposes in respect of which the rate ia to be made, shewing the several sums required for each of auch purposes, the rateable value of the property assessable, and the amount of rate which for those purposes it is necessary to make upon eacb pound of such value; and the estimate bo made shall forthwith, after being approved of by the said Local Board, be entered in the rate book, aud be kept at their office, open to public inspection during office, hours thereat." The rate here professes to be a general district rate under sect. 87, which enacts, " That the treasurer shall keep a separate account, to be called ' the district fund account,' and the monies carried to such account under the directions of this Act shall be applied by the Local Board of Health in defraying auch of the expenses incurred or to be incurred by the said Local Board in carrying this Act into execution, and not otherwise expressly provided for, as they may think proper; and the said Local Board shall from time to time, when and as often as occasion may require, make and levy, in addition to any other rate, a rate or rates to be called 'general district rates,' for defraying such expenses as are charged upon that rate by this Act, and such other expenses of executing this Act in any district as are not provided for by any other rate, or defrayed out of the said district fund account." But it must be a special district rate under sect. 86, and such rates are abolished by The Local Government Act, 1858, 21 & 22 Viet. c. 98, s. 54. [Cockburn C.J. Then this would [956] come under the latter part of sect. 87 of the first Act, which provides for the expenses of executing the Act which are not provided for by any other rate.] Perhaps so. The first point may be given up. But on the second the present estimate does not shew with sufficient distinctness the several purposes for which the rate is made. The statute has placed great power in the hands of the Board, the exercise of which ought to be carefully watched, as much jobbing would ensue if a rate could be made for a lump sum without specifying for what purposes. [They also urged the necessity of the seal of the Local Board to the rate, under sect. 149, which enacts, "That whenever the consent, sanction, or approval or authority of the General Board of Health is required by the provisions of this Act, the same shall be in writing under their seal and the hands of two or more members thereof; and whenever the consent, sanction, approval, or authority of the Local Board of Health is so required the same shall (in the case of a...
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