The Queen against The Dock Company at Kingston upon Hull
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 April 1852 |
| Date | 21 April 1852 |
| Court | Court of the Queen's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 118 E.R. 122
Queen's Bench Division
S. C. 7 Railw. Cas. 836; 21 L. J. M. C. 153; 16 Jur. 543. Distinguished, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board v. Liverpool Overseers, 1872, L. R. 7 Q. B. 643. Commented on, Sculcoates Union v. Kingston-upon Hull Dock Company, [1895] A. C. 136.
the queen against the dock company at kingston upon hull. Wednesday, April 21st, 1852. The Hull Dock Company were proprietors of several docks, made at different times and under successive Acts of Parliament. The docks communicated with each other and with the river Humber, and extended into several parishes. Every vessel paid a single toll, which became due on entry into the docks and was paid then, or on clearance outwards ; and she was entitled by such payment to go into any one or more of the docks at the will of her own master, or under the direction of the company's harbour master, who had certain powers for regulating the position of vessels. All the payments, at whatever dock received, were carried to one general account.-Held that the poor rate upon so much of the docks as lay in any parish must be assessed, not according to the actual receipts in that parish, but to the proportion which the area of docks within that parish bore to the entire area of the docks. For that, in such a case, an assessment on the acreage principle was unavoidable; though an assessment on the basis of earnings within the parish is preferable where the nature of the case permits it. [S. C. 7 Railw. Gas. 836; 21 L. J. M. C. 153 ; 1G Jur. 543. Distinguished, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board v. Liverpool Overseers, 1872, L. E. 7 Q. B. 643. Commented on, Sndmates Union v. King&ton-wpon-Hull Dock Company, [1895] A. C. 136.] On appeal, at the Hull Midsummer Sessions, 1851, against a rate for the relief of the poor, assessed upon the appellants in respect of their docks situate in the parishes of Holy Trinity and St. Mary in the town of Kingston upon Hull, which parishes are united for the relief of the poor (by division into eight wards under a local Act), the sessions confirmed the rate with costs, subject to the opinion of this Gourd upon a case, the material parts of which are as follows. The appellants are the owners and occupiers of the docks and basins after mentioned, situated at the port of Kingston upon Hull, which, previously to the construction of the oldest of the said docks, was an ancient [326] port formed by the river Hull; a part whereof, adjoining the town of Kingston upon Hull, is known by the name of the Old Harbour. The Old Harbour extends from a place formerly called Sculcote G-ote to the mouth of the river, and is vested in the mayor, aldermen and 18 Q. B. 327. THE QUEEN V. THE HULL DOCK. COMPANY 123 burgesses of the borough, who receive considerable dues in respect of vessels using the port. In 1774, by stat. 14 G. 3, e. 56, a. 17, the appellants were incorporated as the Dock Company at Kingston upon Hull; and, by sect. 15, the company were empowered to make the dock now called the Old Dock, most of the north part of which is in the parish of Sculcoates, and the south part is in the parishes of Holy Trinity and St, Mary. By sect. 22 the company were from time to time to repair, maintain, support and cleanse the said dock and certain other works in the said Act mentioned, and by them to be provided by virtue of the Act. By sect. 25, the said dock and the works connected therewith were vested in the said company. By sect. 42, in consideration of the great charges, &c. of making the said dock and works and keeping the same in repair, certain rates or duties of tonnage were granted to the said company for every ship or vessel (the King's ships of war and ships employed in His Majesty's service excepted) coming into or going out of the said harbour, basin or dock within the port of Kingston upon Hull, or unlading or putting on shore, or lading or taking on board, any of their cargo or any goods, within the said port, for every ton a certain sum of money, varying in amount (as in the said section is mentioned) according to the ports or places therein specified between which and the pott of Hull the said vessels might come or go or trade; which [327] rates or duties were vested in the dock company. The time at which these rates or duties were directed to be paid is pointed out in the following terms : " And shall be paid at the time of such ship's or vessel's entry inwards, or clearance or discharge outwards, or, in case any ships or vessels shall not enter as aforesaid, then, at any time before such ships or vessels shall proceed from the said port, at the Custom House in the said port; so as no ship or vessel shall be subject or liable to the payment of the said rates or duties, or any of them, more than once for the same voyage, both out and home, notwithstanding such ship or vessel may go out and return with a loading of goods or merchandize." (The case then referred to sects. 46-52, as to measurement of ships and collection of duties, and sect. 53, as to annual meetings of the company and accounts to be rendered there, &c.) By sects. 67 to 70 the Guild of the Trinity House of Kingston upon Hull are empowered to appoint a dock master and assistants, with power to direct the mooring or removing of vessels. The dock now called the Old Dock, with the quays and works mentioned in this Act, was constructed (a) within the statutory time. The entrance into this dock from the Old Harbour was through its basin, situate in one of the respondent parishes. The liability of the appellants to be rated in the parish of Sculcoates for so much of the said dock as lies in that parish was established in the Court of King's Bench in 1786 (b). Stat. 42 G. 3, c. xci., local and personal, public (passed in 1802), for making additional basins or docks at Kingston upon Hull, recites (sect. 1), the before mentioned [328] Act and its provisions generally; and it authorizes and requires the said Dock Company to make the Humber Dock and basin. And by sect. 2 it is enacted : "That the said recited Act, and all and every the rates and duties, powers, authorities, provisions, regulations, clauses, penalties, forfeitures, matters, and things, therein and thereby given, granted, vested, levied, or to be executed " (except so far as they are altered, &c. by this Act), "shall be and they are hereby declared to be in full force, as well in regard to the said additional basin or dock, and other works hereby directed or intended to be made, and for effecting all the other purposes of this present Act, as for the purposes of the said...
To continue reading
Request your trial