War Damage Act 1943
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1943 c. 21 |
| Year | 1943 |
War Damage Act, 1943
(6 & 7 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 21.
An Act to consolidate the War Damage Act, 1941, the War Damage (Amendment) Act, 1942, and the War Damage (Amendment) Act, 1943 (other than provisions thereof for amending the War Risks Insurance Act, 1939).
[3rd June 1943]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Preliminary.
Preliminary.
1 Provision to be made with respect to war damage toland and to goods.
(1) There shall be made, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of Part I of this Act,—
(a ) payments by the War Damage Commission out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of war damage to land occurring during the risk period, that is to say, the period beginning with the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and continuing until such date as may be specified as the date for the termination of the risk period in an order made by the Treasury and approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament; and
(b ) contributions by persons interested in land towards the expense of making such payments.
(2) The Board of Trade may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of Part II of this Act, operate insurance schemes whereby the Board undertake the liability of insuring persons against war damage to goods, and may, to the extent provided by the said provisions, make payments in respect of war damage to goods otherwise than under the schemes.
2 Definition of ‘war damage’.
(1) In this Act the expression ‘war damage’ means—
(a ) damage occurring (whether accidentally or not) as the direct result of action taken by the enemy, or action taken in combating the enemy or in repelling an imagined attack by the enemy;
(b ) damage occurring (whether accidentally or not) as the direct result of measures taken under proper authority to avoid the spreading of, or otherwise to mitigate, the consequences of such damage as aforesaid;
(c ) accidental damage occurring as the direct result—
(i) of any precautionary or preparatory measures taken under proper authority with a view to preventing or hindering the carrying out of any attack by the enemy; or
(ii) of precautionary or preparatory measures involving the doing of work on land and taken under proper authority in any way in anticipation of enemy action,
being, in either case, measures involving a substantial degree of risk to property:
Provided that the measures mentioned in paragraph (c ) of this subsection do not include the imposing of restrictions on the display of lights or measures taken for training purposes.
(2) For the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to payments in respect of war damage under Part I thereof, the War Damage Commission may, with the consent of the Treasury, treat as damage of the kind mentioned in paragraph (b ) of the preceding subsection any physical change in land, whether or not being such as to cause depreciation in the value thereof, which is the direct result of measures taken under proper authority to meet the circumstances created by damage occurring as mentioned in paragraph (a ) of the preceding subsection.
(3) For the purposes of this section, such action against the enemy as is referred to in paragraph (a ) of sub-section (1) thereof—
(a ) shall, in relation to any ship or aircraft taking part in such action, be deemed to continue until the ship or aircraft has returned to its base;
(b ) includes naval, military or air reconnaissances and patrols.
(4) References in the subsequent provisions of this Act to the occurrence of war damage shall be construed as references to the taking of the action or measures specified in this section from which that damage results.
3 The War Damage Commission.
(1) For the purposes of this Act, there shall be constituted a Commission, to be called the War Damage Commission (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Commission’), consisting of persons appointed by the Treasury in accordance with the First Schedule to this Act, which shall be charged with the duty of executing the provisions of Part I of this Act relating to the making of payments in respect of war damage to land, and shall exercise such other functions as are conferred upon them by this Act.
(2) The Commission shall, as respects such matters as may be specified in regulations made by the Treasury, exercise their functions under this Act (including any discretionary power exercisable by them) subject to and in accordance with the provisions of regulations so made:
Provided that any regulations made for the purposes of this subsection shall be of a general character, and nothing in this subsection shall be construed as authorising the making of any regulations requiring the Commission to exercise any of their functions in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.
(3) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and procedure of the Commission.
4 Assignment of proceedings arising under this Act tospecial judges.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may nominate such number of judges of the High Court as appears to him to be expedient as nominated judges for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Subject to rules of court, and to any power of transfer from one judge to another, any proceedings in the High Court for the enforcement of any right conferred by this Act shall, so far as is practicable, be heard and determined by one or more, as the case may require, of the nominated judges; and if in any proceedings in the High Court an issue arises which involves the determination of the construction or effect of this Act, the court or a judge thereof may, in accordance with and subject to rules of court, direct that the proceedings be heard and determined as aforesaid.
(3) This section shall not extend to Scotland.
(4) In its application to Northern Ireland this section shall have effect with the substitution, for the references in subsection (1) thereof to the Lord Chancellor and to the High Court, of references to the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and to the Supreme Court.
Part I.
Land: Payments in respect of War Damage and Contributions towards Expense of making Payments.
Payments in respect of damage to land: nature, amount and recipients generally.
5 Hereditaments that are to be units for payments inrespect of damage to land.
(1) For the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to payments in respect of war damage, land sustaining war damage shall, subject to the provisions of the next succeeding subsection, be dealt with in such units as the Commission may determine, and land which is to constitute a unit for those purposes is in this Act referred to as a ‘hereditament.’
(2) Hereditaments shall be of two kinds consisting respectively of—
(a ) buildings (excluding buildings the use of which is accessory to the use of other land and which would not be readily marketable apart from that other land) or parts of such buildings, and the sites of such buildings or of parts thereof; and
(b ) land other than as aforesaid:
Provided that there shall be included in a hereditament that comprises a building falling within paragraph (a ) of this subsection, or a part of such a building, any land (including a building) which, though not falling within that paragraph, might be expected ordinarily to be occupied with the first-mentioned building or part and is so situated that war damage thereto, if not made good, would be likely to affect substantially the value of the first-mentioned building or part.
A hereditament that comprises a building falling within paragraph (a ) of this subsection, or a part of such a building, is in this Act referred to as a ‘developed hereditament’.
6 Nature of payments in respect of damage to land.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, a payment to be made thereunder shall be of one or other of the following kinds that is to say,—
(a ) a payment of cost of works, being a payment of an amount determined by reference to the cost of works executed for making good the damage, as provided by section eight of this Act; or
(b ) a value payment, being a payment of an amount determined by reference to the depreciation in the value of the hereditament caused by the damage, as provided by section ten of this Act.
(2) Where either a payment of cost of works or a value payment is made in respect of war damage to a hereditament, there shall be made, in addition to that payment, a payment (in this Act referred to as a ‘temporary works payment’) of an amount equal to the proper cost of any works reasonably executed for temporarily meeting the circumstances created by the damage, being—
(a ) where a payment of cost of works is made, works, other than those taken into account in computing the amount of that payment, executed between the occurrence of the damage and the time when it is made good;
(b ) where a value payment is made, works executed between the occurrence of the damage and the time when the Commission's determination to make that payment, and not a payment of cost of works, has been notified to all persons having an interest in the hereditament who have made a request in...
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