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If the dung or soil of any stable, cowhouse, or pigstye, or other collection of refuse matter, elsewhere than in any farmyard, be at any time allowed to accumulate within the limits of the special Act for more than thirty days, or for more than seven days after a quantity exceeding one ton has been collected in any place not allowed by the commissioners, such dung, soil, or refuse, if not removed within forty-eight hours after notice from any officer of the commissioners for that purpose, shall become the property of the commissioners, and they, or any person with whom they have at that time any subsisting contract for the removal of refuse, may sell and dispose of the same, and the money thence arising shall be applied towards the purposes of the special Act.
If at any time the officer of health, or, if for the time being there be no officer of health, any two surgeons or physicians, or one surgeon and one physician, residing within the limits of the special Act, certify under his or their hand to the commissioners that any accumulation of dung, soil, or filth, or other noxious or offensive matter, within the limits of the special Act, ought to be removed, as being injurious to the health of the inhabitants, the clerk to the commissioners shall forthwith give notice to the owner or reputed owner of such dung, soil, or filth, or to the occupier of the land where the same are, to remove the same within twenty-four hours after such notice; and in case of failure to comply with such notice, the said dung, soil, or filth shall thereupon become vested in the commissioners, and they, or any person with whom they have at that time contracted for the removal of all such refuse, may sell and dispose of the same, and the money thence arising shall be applied towards the purposes of the special Act.
If at any time the officer of health, or, if for the time being there be no officer of health, any two surgeons or physicians, or one surgeon and one physician, residing within the said limits, certify under his or their hands to the commissioners that any house or part of any house or building within the limits of the special Act is in such a filthy or unwholesome condition that the health of the inmates or of the neighbours is thereby affected or endangered, or that the whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying of any house or building or any part thereof would tend to prevent or check infectious or contagious disease therein, or that any drain, privy, or cesspool is in such a defective state that the health of the neighbours is thereby affected or endangered, the commissioners shall order the occupier of such house or part thereof to whitewash, cleanse, and purify the same, and the owner of such drain, privy, or cesspool to amend the condition thereof, in such manner and within such time as the commissioners deem reasonable; and if such occupier or owner do not comply with such order, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F150p] for every day’s neglect thereof; and in such case the commissioners may cause such house or any part thereof to be whitewashed, cleansed, and purified, or the condition of such drain, privy, or cesspool to be amended, and may recover the expence thereof from such occupier or owner, in the same manner as damages.
F1Words substituted by virtue of Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1)
No coffin containing a corpse shall be buried in any grave within the limits of the special Act, not being a vault or catacomb without at least thirty inches of soil between the ordinary surface of such burial ground and the upper side of the coffin; and if the person having the preparation or the immediate charge of the preparation of the grave to receive such coffin permit the coffin to be buried in such grave, or if the person having the control of the burial ground knowingly permit any coffin to be buried in any grave, in which there is not left after the burial thereof thirty inches at least of soil, measuring from the ordinary surface of such burial ground to the upper side of the coffin, the person having the immediate charge of the preparation of the grave, and the person having the control of the burial ground in which such burial is made, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale].
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
If any candle-house, melting-house, melting-place, or soap-house, or any slaughter-house, or any building or place for boiling offal or blood, or for boiling or crushing bones, or any pigstye, necessary house, dunghill, manure heap, or any manufactory, building, or place of business, within the limits of the special Act, be at any time certified to the commissioners by the inspector of nuisances or officer of health, or, if for the time being there be no inspector of nuisances or officer of health, by any two surgeons or physicians, or one surgeon and one physician, to be a nuisance or injurious to the health of the inhabitants, the commissioners shall direct complaint to be made before two justices; and any justice may summon before any two justices the person by or on whose behalf the work complained of is carried on, and such justices shall inquire into such complaint, and they may, by an order in writing under their hands, order such persons to discontinue or remedy the nuisance within such time as to them shall appear expedient: Provided always, that if it appear to such justices that in carrying on any business complained of the best means then known to be available for mitigating the nuisance or the injurious effects of such business have not been adopted, they may suspend their final determination, upon condition that the person so complained against shall undertake to adopt within a reasonable time such means as the said justices shall judge to be practicable, and order to be carried into effect, for mitigating or preventing the injurious effects of such business.
If any such nuisance, or the cause of any such injurious effects as aforesaid, be not discontinued or remedied within such time as shall be ordered by the said justices, the person by or on whose behalf the business causing such nuisance is carried on shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such nuisance shall be continued or unremedied after the expiration of such time as aforesaid: Provided always, that when any person who thinks himself aggrieved by any such order shall, according to the provisions of this or the special Act, appeal against any such order, such person shall not be liable to discontinue or remedy the nuisance or cause of the injurious effects mentioned therein, or to pay any penalty, until after the expiration of five days after the determination of such appeal and the confirmation of such order, unless such appeal cease to be prosecuted.
The commissioners may direct any prosecution for any public nuisance whatsoever created, permitted, or suffered within the limits of the special Act, and may order proceedings to be taken for the recovery of any penalties, and for the punishment of any persons offending against the provisions of this or the special Act, or of any Act incorporated therewith, and may order the expences of such prosecution or other proceedings to be paid out of the rates authorized to be imposed under the provisions of this and the special Act.
Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to render lawful any act or omission on the part of any person which is, or but for this Act would be, deemed to be a nuisance at common law, nor to exempt any person guilty of nuisance at common law from prosecution or action in respect thereof, according to the forms of proceeding at common law, nor from the consequences upon being convicted thereof.
And with respect to the construction of houses for prevention of fire, be it enacted as follows:
The party walls of all buildings erected after the passing of the special Act within the limits thereof shall be carried through and above the roof, to form a parapet of not less than twelve inches in height, measured at right angles with the slope of the roof, above the covering of the roof of the highest building to which such party walls belong; and all such party walls, and the external walls of all buildings erected after the passing of the special Act in or near any street, or within the curtilage of any house adjoining any street, shall be constructed of incombustible materials, and the coverings of the roofs thereof shall not, without the previous consent in writing of the commissioners, be constructed of combustible materials; and it shall not be lawful for the owner of any building within the limits of the special Act, having at the passing of the special Act a roof covered with thatch or other combustible material, and contiguous to or adjoining to any other building, to suffer such covering to such roof to remain for a longer period than seven years after the passing of the special Act, unless with the consent in writing of the commissioners; and every person who shall erect any building, or cover any roof, or suffer the covering of any roof to continue, contrary to the provision herein contained, and who shall not remove or alter the same within one month after notice given to him for that purpose by the commissioners, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one pound for every day that such building or covering to such roof shall so continue.
And with respect to supplying buildings with fresh air, be it enacted as follows:
Before beginning to build any building intended to be used as a church, chapel, or school, or a place of public amusement or entertainment, or for holding large numbers of people for any purpose whatsoever, within the limits of the special Act, the person intending to build the same shall give fourteen days notice in writing to the commissioners, and shall accompany such notice with a plan and description of the manner proposed for its construction, with respect to the means of supplying fresh air to such building; and no person shall begin to build such building until the manner proposed for its construction, with respect to the means for supplying fresh air, have been approved of by the commissioners; and in default of sending such notice, or if any such building be erected without such approval, the commissioners may cause such building, or such part of it as they consider necessary, to be pulled down or altered, at the expence of the owner, and any expence incurred by the commissioners in so doing may be recovered as herein-before provided with respect to ruinous or dangerous buildings taken down or repaired by the commissioners.
Provided always, that if the commissioners fail to signify in writing their approval or disapproval of the manner of construction of such building, with respect to the means of supplying fresh air, shown on such plan and description as aforesaid, within fourteen days after receiving such notice, accompanied by such plan and description, the person giving such notice may, notwithstanding anything herein contained, proceed to build the building therein referred to in the manner shown on such plan and description; provided that such building be otherwise in accordance with the provisions of this and the special Act.
Provided also, that if the person so intending to build be dissatisfied with the determination of the commissioners as to the said proposed manner of construction, he shall have the same right of appeal against the determination of the commissioners, and such appeal shall be followed by the same incidents, as herein-before provided in the case of appeals against any order of the commissioners with respect to works to be constructed by or subject to the approval of the commissioners.
It shall not be lawful to let separately, except as a warehouse or storehouse, or to suffer to be occupied as a dwelling place, any cellar under any house in any court within the limits of the special Act, after the commissioners have given notice to the owners thereof that the letting of cellars as dwelling places in such court is prohibited from that time forth; and it shall be the duty of the commissioners to issue such notices from time to time, as soon as is convenient, until such notice has been given with respect to every court within the limits of the special Act.
It shall not be lawful to let separately, except as a warehouse or storehouse, or to suffer to be occupied as a dwelling place, any cellar or room under any house within the said limits, although not situated in a court, which cellar or room shall be less in height from the floor to the ceiling than seven feet, or which shall be less than one third of its height above the level of the street or ground adjoining the same, or otherwise shall not have two feet at least of its height from the floor to the ceiling above the said level, with an open area of two feet wide from the level of the floor of such cellar or room up to the level of the said street or ground, or which shall not have appurtenant thereto the use of a watercloset or privy and ashpit, according to the enactment herein contained, or which shall not also have a glazed window made to open to the full extent of the half thereof, the area of which is not less than six feet clear of the frame, and a fireplace with a chimney or flue, or which cellar, being an inner or back cellar let or occupied along with a front cellar as part of the same letting or occupation, has not a ventilating flue, (unless such inner or back cellar shall be part of a house built before the passing of the special Act,) or which shall not be well and effectually drained by means of a drain the bottom of which is one foot at least below the level of the floor of such cellar or room.
Every person who lets separately (except as aforesaid) or who knowingly suffers to be occupied for hire, as a dwelling place, any cellar or room within the limits of the special Act, contrary to the provisions of this and the special Act, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale], and a further penalty not exceeding [F325p] for every day during which such cellar or room is so occupied after conviction of the first offence.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
F3Words substituted by virtue of Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1)
And with respect to lodging houses, be it enacted as follows:
It shall not be lawful to keep or use as a public lodging house within the limits of the special Act any house, not being a licensed victualling house, which shall be related to the relief of the poor on a less sum than ten pounds, nor in any case unless such house shall have been registered as a lodging house in a book to be kept by the commissioners for that purpose; and every house shall be deemed a public lodging house within the meaning of this Act in which persons are harboured or lodged for hire for a single night, or for less than a week at one time, or any part of which is let for any term less than a week.
C1Reference to poor rate to be construed as reference to general rate: General Rate Act 1967 (c. 9), s. 116(2)
The commissioners shall cause a register to be kept in which shall be entered the names of all such persons as apply to have the houses occupied by them registered as lodging houses, and the situations of such houses; and the commissioners shall from time to time fix the number of lodgers who may be received into each such lodging house, and make rules for promoting cleanliness and ventilation in such lodging house; and they shall order that a ticket containing the number of lodgers allowed to be received into the house, and a table of rules for promoting cleanliness and ventilation, shall be hung up or placed in a conspicuous part of each room into which lodgers are received; and the keepers of all such lodging houses shall at all times observe the said rules, and give access to such lodging houses, when required by any persons appointed by the commissioners, for the purpose of inspection thereof, or for the purpose of performing therein any disinfecting process which the commissioners may order.
Every person who shall keep any lodging house, and receive lodgers therein, without such lodging houses having been duly registered, or who shall receive into the same more lodgers than shall be allowed by the commissioners, or who shall fail to keep such ticket or such table of rules as aforesaid hung up or displayed as required by the commissioners, or who shall neglect to cause such rules to be observed in any such lodging house, or who shall refuse to admit to such lodging house at all reasonable times any person appointed by the commissioners for any of the purposes aforesaid, or who shall wilfully obstruct any such person in performing any disinfecting process therein which the commissioners may order, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale] for each such offence.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
And with respect to lighting the town or district, be it enacted as follows:
The commissioners may contract for the prescribed period, or (where no period shall be prescribed) for any period not exceeding three years at any one time, with the owners of any gasworks, or with any other person, for the supply of such gas or oil or other means of lighting, and may provide such lamps, lamp posts, and other works, as the commissioners think necessary for lighting such streets.
If the commissioners, and the owners of any gasworks authorized by Act of Parliament to supply gas within the limits of the special Act, and with whom the commissioners may be desirous of contracting, shall not agree as to the price to be paid for such supply, then such price shall be settled by arbitration; and for that purpose the clauses of the M1Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 with respect to the settlement of disputes by arbitration, shall be incorporated with this and the special Act.
And with respect to the supply of water, be it enacted as follows:
The commissioners shall cause all existing public cisterns, pumps, wells, conduits, and other waterworks, used for the gratuitous supply of water to the inhabitants within the limits of the special Act, to be continued, maintained, and supplied with water, or they shall substitute other such works equally convenient, and shall cause them to be maintained and supplied with water, and such public cisterns and other works shall be vested in the commissioners, and be under their management and control; and the commissioners may construct any number of new cisterns, pumps, conduits, and other waterworks, for the gratuitous use of any persons who choose to carry the same away, not for sale, but for their own private use, and may supply with water any public baths or wash-houses; provided that the commissioners shall not construct any such new works without the prescribed approval, or, if no approval be prescribed, without the approval of the Commissioners of her Majesty’s Woods and Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings; and before giving their approval to the construction of any such new works the last-mentioned commissioners shall cause a local inquiry to be made in the manner prescribed by an M1Act of the last session of Parliament, intituled “An Act for making preliminary inquiries in certain cases of application for local Acts,” and shall withhold their inquiry if upon such inquiry they shall be satisfied that an equally good and abundant supply of water for such public purposes can be procured as cheaply by any other means than by the construction of such new works.
The commissioners may contract for the prescribed period, or (where no period shall be prescribed) for any period not exceeding three years at one time, with the owners of any waterworks, or any other person, for such supply of water as the commissioners shall think necessary for the purposes of this or the special Act.
If the commissioners, and the owners of any waterworks authorized by Act of Parliament to supply water within the limits of the special Act, with whom the commissioners may be desirous of contracting, do not agree as to the price to be paid for such supply, then such price (except where by the Act authorizing such waterworks some other mode of determining such price shall be provided) shall be settled by arbitration; and for that purpose the clauses of the M1Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845, with respect to the settlement of disputes by arbitration, shall be incorporated with this and the special Act.
And with respect to slaughter-houses, be it enacted as follows:
The commissioners may license such slaughter-houses and knacker’s yards as they from time to time think proper for slaughtering cattle within the limits of the special Act.
No place shalt be used or occupied as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard within the said limits which was not in such use and occupation at the time of the passing of the special Act, and has so continued ever since, unless and until a licence for the erection thereof, or for the use and occupation thereof as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard, have been obtained from the commissioners; and every person who, without having first obtained such licence as aforesaid, uses as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard any place within the said limits not used as such at the passing of the special Act, and so continued to be used ever since, shall for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale], and a like penalty for every day after the conviction for such offence upon which the said offence is continued.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
Every place within the limits of the special Act which shall be used as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard shall, within three months after the passing of such Act, be registered by the owner or occupier thereof, at the office of the commissioners, and on application to the commissioners for that purpose the commissioners shall cause every such slaughter-house or knacker’s yard to be registered in a book to be kept by them for that purpose; and every person who after the expiration of the said three months, and after one week’s notice of this provision from the commissioners, uses or suffers to be used any such place as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard, without its being so registered, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale] for such offence, and a penalty not exceeding [F350p] for every day after the first day during which such place shall be used as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard without having been so registered.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
F3Words substituted by virtue of Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1)
The commissioners shall from time to time, by byelaws, to be made and confirmed in the manner herein-after provided, make regulations for the licensing, registering, and inspection of the said slaughter-houses and knackers’s yards, and preventing cruelty therein, and for keeping the same in a cleanly and proper state, and for removing filth at least once in every twenty-four hours, and requiring them to be provided with a sufficient supply of water, and they may impose pecuniary penalties on persons breaking such byelaws; provided that no such penalty exceed for any one offence the sum of [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale], and in the case of a continuing nuisance the sum of [F350p] for every day during which such nuisance shall be continued after the conviction for the first offence.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
F3Words substituted by virtue of Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1)
The justices before whom any person is convicted of killing or dressing any cattle contrary to the provisions of this or the special Act, or of the non-observance of any of the byelaws or regulations made by virtue of this or the special Act, in addition to the penalty imposed on such person under the authority of this or the special Act, may suspend for any period not exceeding two months the licence granted to such person under this or the special Act, or, in case such person be the owner or proprietor of any registered slaughter-house or knacker’s yard, may forbid for any period not exceeding two months the slaughtering of cattle therein; and such justices, upon the conviction of any person for a second or other subsequent like offence, may, in addition to the penalty imposed under the authority of this or the special Act, declare the licence granted under this or the special Act revoked, or, if such person be the owner or proprietor of any registered slaughter-house, may forbid absolutely the slaughtering of cattle therein; and whenever the licence of any such person is revoked as aforesaid, or whenever the slaughtering of cattle in any registered slaughter-house or knacker’s yard is absolutely forbidden as aforesaid, the commissioners may refuse to grant any licence whatever to the person whose licence has been so revoked, or on account of whose default the slaughtering of cattle in any registered slaughter-house has been forbidden.
Every person who during the period for which any such licence is suspended, or after the same is revoked as aforesaid, slaughters cattle in the slaughter-house or knacker’s yard to which such licence relates, or otherwise uses such slaughter-house or knacker’s yard, or allows the same to be used as a slaughter-house or knacker’s yard, and every person who during the period that the slaughtering of cattle in any such registered slaughter-house or knacker’s yard is forbidden as aforesaid, or after such slaughtering has been absolutely forbidden therein, slaughters any cattle in any such registered slaughter-house, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale] for such offence, and a further penalty of five pounds for every day on which any such offence is committed after the conviction for the first offence.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
The inspector of nuisances, the officer of health, or any other officer appointed by the commissioners for that purpose, may at all reasonable times, with or without assistants, enter into and inspect any building or place whatsoever within the said limits kept or used for the sale of butchers’ meat, or for slaughtering cattle, and examine whether any cattle, or the carcase of any such cattle, is deposited there, and in case such officer shall find any cattle, or the carcase or part of the carcase of any beast, which appears unfit for the food of man, he may seize and carry the same before a justice, and such justice shall forthwith order the same to be further inspected and examined by competent persons; and in case upon such inspection and examination such cattle, carcase, or part of a carcase, be found to be unfit for the food of man, such justice shall order the same to be immediately destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such way as to prevent the same being exposed for sale or used for the food of man; and such justice may adjudge the person to whom such cattle, carcase, or part of a carcase, belongs, or in whose custody the same is found, to pay a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale] for every such animal, or carcase, or part of a carcase, so found; and the owner or occupier of any building or place kept or used for the sale of butchers’ meat, or for slaughtering cattle, and every other person, who obstructs or hinders such inspector or other officer from entering into and inspecting the same, and examining, seizing, or carrying away any such animal, or carcase, or part of a carcase, so appearing to be unfit for the food of man, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F1 [F2£25]][F1level 1 on the standard scale] for each offence.
F1
“level 1 on the standard scale” substituted (E.W.) for “£25” by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46
F2Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)(6)(9)
And with respect to things to be done by the commissioners by special order only, be it enacted as follows:
Where by this or the special Act the commissioners are empowered to do anything by special order only, it shall not be lawful for them to do such things unless the resolution to do the same have been agreed to by the commissioners in some meeting whereof special notice has been given, and has been confirmed in a subsequent meeting held not sooner than four weeks after the preceding meeting, and which subsequent meeting has been advertised once at least in each of the weeks intervening between the two meetings in some newspaper circulating within the limits of the special Act, and of which special notice in writing has been given to each of the commissioners.
Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847