THE HIGHWAY (RAILWAY CROSSINGS) ACT, 1839.1-2 & 3 VICT. 1 Cited as "The Highway (Railway Crossings) Act, 1839" (Short Titles Act, 1896). AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH YEARS OF THE REIGN HIGHWAYS.-[17th August 1839.] Preamble.1 1 Repealed by Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1890, 53 & 54 Vict. c. 51. I. Proprietors of railroad to maintain gates where any railroad crosses the highways, &c.—. 1 Wherever a railroad crosses or shall hereafter cross any turnpike road or any highway or statute labour road for carts or carriages in Great Britain, the proprietors or directors of the company of proprietors of the said railroad shall make and maintain good and sufficient gates across each end of such turnpike or other road as aforesaid at each of the said crossings, and shall employ good and proper persons to open and shut such gates, so that the persons, carts, or carriages passing along such turnpike or highway shall not be exposed to any danger or damage by the passing of any carriages or engines along the said railroad; and any complaint for any neglect in respect of the said gates shall be made within one calendar month after the said neglect to any justice of the peace, or if in Scotland to the sheriff of the county, who may summon the party so complained against to appear before them or him at the next petty session or court to be holden for the district or division within which such gates are situate, who shall hear and decide upon the said complaint: 1 Preceding words repealed by 53 & 54 Vict. c. 51. Penalty £5 for each day's neglect.-And the proprietor or director so offending shall for each and every day of such neglect forfeit any sum not exceeding five pounds, together with such costs as to the justices or sheriff depute aforesaid before whom the conviction shall take place shall seem fit. II. How penalties shall be recovered and applied.-. . .1 The penalties by this Act imposed, and the costs to be allowed and ordered by the authority of this Act, shall in England be recovered and applied in the same manner as any penalties and costs under the said Act, and in Scotland shall be recovered and applied to the maintenance of the statute labour roads within the district where the offence is committed. III.1 1 Preceding words repealed by 51 & 52 Vict. c. 57. 1 Repealed by Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1874, 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96. 1839. 3 & 4 VICT. Cap. 97. REGULATION OF RAILWAYS ACT, 1840.1-3 & 4 VICT. CAP. 97. 1 Cited as "The Railway Regulation Act, 1840" (Short Titles Act, 1896). The Railway Regulation Acts 1840-93 are: 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, The Railway Regulation Act, 1840; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, The Railway Regulation Act, 1842; 7 & Vict. c. 85, The Railway Regulation Act, 1844; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, The Regulation of Railways Act, 1868; 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78, The Regulation of Railways Act, 1871; 36 & 37 Vict. c. 76, The Railway Regulation Act (Returns of Signal Arrangements, Working, etc.), 1873; 52 & 53 Vict. c. 57, The Regulation of Railways Act, 1889; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 29, The Railway Regulation Act, 1893. AN ACT FOR REGULATING RAILWAYS.-[10th August 1840.] This Act, with the exception of the following sections, is repealed by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78, Sched. 2, but see the Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1883, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39, and the Interpretation Act, 1889, 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63. The preamble is repealed by the Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1890, 53 & 54 Vict. c. 51. III. Returns to be made by railway companies....1 The lords of the said committee2 may order and direct every railway company to make up and deliver to them returns, according to a form to be provided by the lords of the said committee [of the aggregate traffic in passengers, according to the several classes, and of the aggregate traffic in cattle and goods respectively, on the said railway, as well as of all accidents which shall have occurred thereon attended with personal injury], and also a table of all tolls, rates, and charges from time to time levied on each class [of] passengers, and on cattle and goods, conveyed on the said railway; and if the returns herein specified shall not be delivered within thirty days after the same shall have been required, every such company shall forfeit to her Majesty the sum of twenty pounds for every day during which the said company shall wilfully neglect to deliver the same; and every such penalty may be recovered in any of her Majesty's courts of record: provided always, that such returns shall be required, in like manner and at the same time, from all the said companies, unless the lords of the said committee shall specially exempt any of the said companies, and shall enter the grounds of such exemption in the minutes of their proceedings.4 1 The words "and be it enacted that" are omitted wherever they occur by 51 & 52 Vict c. 57. 2 Her Majesty's Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations-i.e. Board of Trade. The portion within brackets appears to be repealed by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. 4 See sec. 100 of The Railway Clauses Act, 1845. Further returns are required by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, sec. 3 et seq.; 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78, sec. 9; 36 & 37 Vict. c. 76, sec. 4; 41 Vict. c. 20, sec. 2; 51 & 52 Vict. c. 25, sec. 32; 52 & 53 Vict. c. 57, sec. 4. IV. Penalty for making false returns.-Every officer of any company who shall wilfully make any false return to the lords of the said committee shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour. VII. Copies of existing bye-laws to be laid before the Board of Trade; otherwise to be void. And whereas many railway companies are or may hereafter be empowered by Act of Parliament to make bye-laws, orders, rules, or regulations, and to impose penalties for the enforcement thereof, upon persons other than the servants of the said companies, and it is expedient that such powers should be under proper control; be it enacted, that true copies of all such bye-laws, orders, rules, and regulations made under any such powers by every such company before the passing of this Act, certified in such manner as the lords of the said committee shall from time to time direct, shall, within two calendar months after the passing of this Act, be laid before the lords of the said committee; and that every such bye-law, order, rule, or regulation not so laid before the lords of the said committee within the aforesaid period shall, from and after that period, cease to have any force or effect, saving in so far as any penalty may have been then already incurred under the same. VIII. No future bye-laws to be valid till two calendar months after they have been laid before the Board of Trade.-No such bye-law, order, rule, or regulation made under any such power, and which shall not be in force at the time of the passing of this Act, and no order, rule, or regulation annulling any such existing bye-law, rule, order, or regulation which shall be made after the passing of this Act, shall have any force or effect until two calendar months after a true copy of such bye-law, order, rule, or regulation, certified as aforesaid, shall have been laid before the lords of the said committee, unless the lords of the said committee shall, before such period, signify their approbation thereof. IX. Board of Trade may disallow bye-laws.—It shall be lawful for the lords of the said committee, at any time either before or after any bye-law, order, rule, or regulation shall have been laid before them as aforesaid shall have come into operation, to notify to the company who shall have made the same their disallowance thereof, and, in case the same shall be in force at the time of such disallowance, the time at which the same shall cease to be in force; and no bye-law, order, rule, or regulation which shall be so disallowed shall have any force or effect whatsoever, or, if it shall be in force at the time of such disallowance, it shall cease to have any force or effect at the time limited in the notice of such disallowance, saving in so far as any penalty may have been then already incurred under the same. XIII. PUNISHMENT OF SERVANTS OF RAILWAY COMPANIES GUILTY OF MISCONDUCT.-The section is substantially re-enacted, amended, and practically superseded by 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, sec. 17-vide infra-and partially repealed by the Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1892, 55 & 56 Vict. c. 19. XIV. Justice of the peace empowered to send any case to be tried by the quarter sessions.1-Provided always, that (if upon the hearing of any such complaint he shall think fit) it shall be lawful for such justice, instead of deciding upon the matter of complaint summarily, to commit the person or persons charged with such offence for trial for the same at the quarter sessions for the county or place wherein such offence shall have been committed, and to order that any such person so committed shall be imprisoned and detained in any of her Majesty's gaols or houses of correction in the said county or place in the meantime, or to take bail for his appearance, with or without sureties, in his discretion; and every such person so offending, and convicted before such court of quarter sessions as aforesaid (which said court is hereby required to take cognisance of and hear and determine such complaint), shall be liable, in the discretion of such court, to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years. 1 See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, sec. 18. XVI. For punishment of persons obstructing the officers of any railway company or trespassing upon any railway.—If any person shall wilfully obstruct or impede any officer or agent of any railway company in the execution of his duty upon any railway, or upon or in any of the stations or other works or premises connected therewith, or if any person shall wilfully trespass upon any railway,1 or any of the stations or other works or premises connected therewith, and shall refuse to quit the same upon request to him 1840. 3 & 4 VICT. Cap. 97. made by any officer or agent of the said company, every such person so offending, and all others aiding or assisting therein, shall and may be seized and detained by any such officer or agent, or any person whom he may call to his assistance, until such offender or offenders can be conveniently taken before some justice of the peace for the county or place wherein such offence shall be committed, and when convicted before such justice as aforesaid (who is hereby authorised and required, upon complaint to him upon oath, to take cognisance thereof, and to act summarily in the premises), shall, in the discretion of such justice, forfeit to her Majesty any sum not exceeding five pounds, and in default of payment thereof shall or may be imprisoned.2 1 See 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, sec. 23. 2 Subsequent words repealed by 55 & 56 Vict. c. 19. As to the powers of railway companies in dealing with obstruction and trespass, see Law of Rlys. pp. 526, 527, and cases there cited. XVII. Proceedings not to be quashed for want of form or removed into the superior courts.-No proceeding to be had and taken in pursuance of this Act shall be quashed or vacated for want of form, or be removed by certiorari, or by any other writ or process whatsoever, into any of her Majesty's courts of record at Westminster or elsewhere, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. XVIII. Repeal of all provisions in railway Acts that empower two justices to decide disputes respecting the proper places for openings in the ledges or flanches of railways. And whereas many railway companies are bound, by the provisions of the Acts of Parliament by which they are incorporated or regulated, to make, at the expense of the owner or occupier of lands adjoining the railway, openings in the ledges or flanches thereof (except at certain places on such railway in the said Acts specified), for effecting communications between such railway and any collateral or branch railway to be laid down over such lands, and any disagreement or difference which shall arise as to the proper places for making any such openings in the ledges or flanches is by such Acts directed to be referred to the decision of any two justices of the peace within their respective jurisdictions: and whereas it is expedient that so much of every clause, provision, and enactment in any Act of Parliament heretofore passed, as gives to any justice or justices the power of hearing or deciding upon any such disagreement or difference as to the proper places for any such openings in the ledges or flanches of any railway, should be repealed; be it therefore enacted, that so much of every such clause, provision, and enactment as aforesaid shall be repealed. XIX. Board of Trade to determine such disputes in future.-In case any disagreement or difference shall arise between any such owner or occupier or other persons, and any railway company, as to the proper places for any such openings in the ledges or flanches of any railway (except at such places as aforesaid), for the purpose of such communication, then the same shall be left to the decision of the lords of the said committee, who are hereby empowered to hear and determine the same in such way as they shall think fit, and their determination shall be binding on all parties.1 1 See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, sec. 12, and 8 & 9 Vict. c. 33, sec. 69. XXI. Meaning of the words "railway" and "company."-Wherever the word "railway" is used in this Act it shall be construed to extend to all railways constructed under the powers of any Act of Parliament, and intended for the conveyance of passengers in or upon carriages drawn or impelled by the power of steam or by any other mechanical power; and wherever the word "company" is used in this Act, it shall be construed to extend to and include the proprietors for the time being of any such railway, whether a body corporate or individuals, and their lessees, executors, administrators, and assigns, unless the subject or context be repugnant to such construction. 1840. THE RAILWAY REGULATION ACT, 1842.1-5 & 6 VICT. CAP. 55. 1 Cited as "The Railway Regulation Act, 1842" (Short Titles Act, 1896). AN ACT FOR THE BETTER REGULATION OF RAILWAYS, AND FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF TROOPS.-[30th July 1842.] Preamble.1 1 Omitted by the Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1890, 53 & 54 Vict. c. 51. I. Commencement of this Act.1 1 Sections 1, 3, and 23 are repealed by the Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1874, 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96. II. Recited Act and this Act to be construed together. III. OPENING OF RAILWAYS.1-Sections 1 and 2 of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, are here recited and repealed, the following provisions being substituted. 1 The following sections, relating to the opening of railways, are extended by 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78, sec. 5. IV. Notice of intended opening of railway. . . . No railway or portion of any railway shall be opened for the public conveyance of passengers until one calendar month after notice in writing of the intention of opening the same shall have been given by the company to whom such railway shall belong, to the lords of the committee of her Majesty's Privy Council appointed for trade and foreign plantations, and until ten days after notice in writing shall have been given by the said company to the lords of the said committee of the time when the said railway or portion of railway will be, in their opinion, sufficiently completed for the safe conveyance of passengers, and ready for inspection.2 1 The words "and be it enacted that," wherever they occur, are omitted by the Stat. Law Rev. Act (No. 2), 1888, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 57. 2 See Att.-Gen. v. G. W.R. (1872), 7 L. R. Ch. 767; Grantham Canal Co. v. Ambergate R.C. (1852), 21 L.J. Q.B. 322; Att.-Gen. v. Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton R.C. (1854), 2 W.R. 330; Law of Rlys. p. 761. V. If railway opened without notice company to forfeit £20.—If any railway or portion of any railway shall be opened without such notice as aforesaid, the company to whom such railway shall belong shall forfeit to her Majesty the sum of twenty pounds for every day during which the same shall continue open until the said notices shall have been duly given and shall have expired; and every such penalty may be recovered in any of her Majesty's courts of record, or in the Court of Session, or in any of the sheriffs' courts in Scotland. C 1842. |