The Queen against The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company. [QUEEN'S BENCH.]
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 20 November 1847 |
| Date | 20 November 1847 |
| Court | Court of the Queen's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 117 E.R. 477
QUEEN'S BENCH.
The Queen, against The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company. On appeal against a rate made, 20th November 1847, for the relief of the poor of the parish of Croydon in Surrey, by which the London, Brighton and South [314] Coast Railway Company were rated as after mentioned, and against which rate the company appealed, the sessions amended the rate by reducing the amount at which the appellants were rated from 21,3601. to 15,7651., subject to the opinion of this Court on the following case. The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company was established under the name of the London and Brighton Railway Company, by Act of Parliament passed 7 W. 4 & 1 Vict.(o), which authorised [316] them to make a railway to commence by (b) Wightman J. had left the Court. (a) Stat. 7 W. 4 & 1 Viet, c, cxix. (local and personal, public), "for making a 478 THE QUEEN V. THE LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND 15 Q. B. 316. a junction with a certain then intended railway called the London and Croydon Railway at or near Sellhurst Farm in the parish of Croydon, and to pass thence to Brighton ; and also to make a branch railway to Shoreham, another branch railway to Newhaven, and another branch railway to Lewes. Before the passing of that Act, an Act had been ob-[316]-tained by the South Eastern Eailway Company (a), whereby that company was established, and empowered to make a railway from the London and Croydon Railway to Dover, the line of which railway from the London and Croydon Eailway to Brighton, with branches to Shoreham, Newhaven, and Lewes." The following sections were especially referred to. Sect. 192 enacts: "That the said company or the directors of the said company shall and they are hereby required to cause a true and particular account to be kept and to be made up twice in every year, that is to say, on the 30th day of June and the 31st day of December, of the money received by or for the use of the said company by virtue of this Act, and of the charges and expenses attending the making, maintaining, and carrying on the said undertaking, and of all other the receipts and expenditure of the said company up to those periods respectively, which account shall be laid before the half-yearly general meeting of the said company herein-before directed to be held in the months of August and February respectively, and which account shall also be produced to any proprietor who shall require to be allowed to examine or inspect the same at any convenient time within fourteen days prior to the day of such half-yearly general meeting: provided always, that if the account so to be laid before any half-yearly general meeting shall not be considered satisfactory by such meeting, then and in such case the said meeting shall have power to appoint a committee of inspection, to consist of five proprietors, each of whom shall hold at least twenty shares in the said undertaking, who shall examine into such account, and report thereon to a future meeting of the said company to be held for that purpose by adjournment or otherwise; and for the purpose of such examination the said directors ahall, on demand, at all convenient times cause to be produced to auch committee or any three members thereof all books of accounts, vouchers, and documents in the possession of the said directors relating to the affairs of the said company." Sect. 193 enacts: "That it shall be lawful for the said company and they are empowered from time to time, at any half-yearly general meeting or at a special general meeting to be called for that purpose, to declare and make a dividend out of the clear profits of the said undertaking, and such dividend shall be after the rate of so much par share upon the several shares held by the members of the said company in the joint stock thereof: provided always, that such dividends shall not be made oftener than quarterly, and no dividends ahall be made exceeding the net amount of clear profit at the time being in the hands of the said company, nor whereby the capital of the said company shall in any degree be reduced or repaired" (sic). Sect. 257 enacts: "That in all cases in which the said company shall carry for their own profit upon the said railway any passengers, cattle, or other animals, goods, wares, or merchandize, articles, matters, or things, a separate account shall be duly kept shewing the amount of rates or tolls received by the said company, and of the tolls which would have been received by them for the use of the said railway in respect of such passengers," &c., "if carried by any other party or parties; and the overseers of the poor of the several parishes and townships through which the said railway shall pass shall have free access to and liberty to inspect the same at any times during the first fourteen days in the months of February and August in each year; and in case the said company shall refuse to keep such separate accounts as aforesaid the said company ahall be liable to pay the sum of 3001.; and in case the said company ahall refuse to permit any overseer of the parish through which the said main line of railway or branch railways shall respectively pass to inspect the said accounts as aforesaid, so far as relates to their own respective parishes, the said company of proprietors shall forfeit and pay the sum of 501. for each and every day the said company shall refuse auch inspection, and such penalties shall be recovered by action at law in the Dame of such overseer or any other person or persons in any of Her Majesty's Courts of Law at Westminster or elsewhere." (a) 6 & 7 W. 4, c. Ixxv. (local and personal, public), " for making a railway from the London and Croydon Railway to Dover, to be called ' The South Eastern Railway,'" 18 Q. B. 317. SOUTH COAST RAILWAY COMPANY 479 last mentioned railway was to pass for a considerable distance in a direction nearly parallel to and approaching the line of tha London and Brighton Railway as authorised by the first mentioned Act. And a provision was introduced into the first mentioned Act, that, if the South Eastern Railway Company should within two years obtain powers to divert their railway, so that the same should form a junction with the London and Brighton Railway at any point upon or to the northward of a place called Earlswood Common in the county of Surrey, the London and Brighton Railway Company was, on such payment as therein mentioned, to transfer to the South Eastern Railway Company so much of the London and Brighton Railway, and the works, &c., as should be at or to the northward of the point at which the junction of the South Eastern Railway with the London and Brighton Railway should be authorised to be made. Before the expiration of the said period of two years, viz. on 25th April 1839, an agreement was entered into between the London and Brighton Railway Company and the South Eastern Railway Company, by which it was (amongst other things) agreed: That, if Parliament should grant a diversion of the South Eastern Railway so that it should form a junction with the London and Brighton Railway at any point upon or to the northward of Earlswood Common aforesaid, the South Eastern [317] Railway Company, in lieu of being entitled to so much of the London and Brighton Railway as should be to the northward of the point of junction between the London and Brighton Railway and the South Eastern Railway, was to be entitled to an absolute transfer to themselves of the southern moiety (to be ascertained by exact measurement of the portion) of the London and Brighton Railway lying between the proposed points of junction thereof with the London and Croydon Railway, and with the South Eastern Railway, respectively, and of all stations, works, &c. ; and that, from and after the transfer to the South Eastern Railway Company of the said southern moiety of the line of the London and Brighton Railway between such points of junction as aforesaid, and if the authority of Parliament should be obtained enabling the said companies to enter into agreements respecting the use by them respectively of their several lines within the said points of junction, all the traffic of the South Eastern Railway Company passing in the carriages and trains of the same company (or of the lessee or lessees of the said company, to whom they should let the whole of their said railway), should, in consideration of the similar liberty and exemption next thereinafter secured to the London and Brighton Railway Company, be allowed to pass to and from the junction of the London and Brighton Railway with the London and Croydon Railway over the portion of the London and Brighton Railway which should connect such junction with the South Eastern Railway, without payment of any tolls or compensation to the London and Brighton Railway Company in respect of such passage; and, in consideration thereof, all the traffic of the London and Brighton Railway Company, [318] passing in the carriages and trains of the same company (or the lessee or lessees of the said company to whom they should let the whole of their said railway), should be allowed to pass over the portion of the London and Brighton Railway which should be transferred to the South Eastern Railway Company according to the foregoing provisions, without payment of any tolls or compensation to the South Eastern Railway Company in respect of such passage : but such traffic of each of the said companies should be carried on without wilful damage to the works of the other, and subject to such general regulations as should have been made by such other company for regulating the traffic upon their railway, and to such regulations ss should, from time to time, be made by the said companies jointly, relating to the premises; or that such arrangement should be made between the said companies under the authority of Parliament...
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