43 & 44 VICT. Cap. 42.

not been a workman of nor in the service of the employer, nor engaged in his work.5

1 By the Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1894, 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56, the preceding words "after the commencement of this Act," in sec. 1, are repealed.

2 See Millward v. M.R. (1884), 14 Q. B.D. 68; Bunker v. M.R. (1883), 47 L.T. 476. 3 See Gibbs v. G. W.R. (1884), 12 Q.B.D. 208; Cox v. G.W.R. (1882), 9 Q.B.D. 106; M'Cord v. Cammell, L.R. (1896) A.C. 57.

See Doughty v. Firbank (1883), 10 Q.B.D. 358.

5 As to the liability at common law, see Law of Rlys. pp. 797-799.

II. Exceptions to amendment of law.-A workman shall not be entitled under this Act to any right of compensation or remedy against the employer in any of the following cases; that is to say,

(1) Under subsection 1 of section 1, unless the defect therein mentioned arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied owing to the negligence of the employer, or of some person in the service of the employer, and entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works, machinery, or plant were in proper condition:

(2) Under subsection 4 of section 1, unless the injury resulted from some impropriety or defect in the rules, bye-laws, or instructions therein mentioned; provided that where a rule or bye-law has been approved, or has been accepted as a proper rule or bye-law by one of her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, or by the Board of Trade or any other department of the Government, under or by virtue of any Act of Parliament, it shall not be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be an improper or defective rule or bye-law:

(3) In any case where the workman knew of the defect or negligence which caused his injury, and failed within a reasonable time to give, or cause to be given, information thereof to the employer or some person superior to himself in the service of the employer, unless he was aware that the employer or such superior already knew of the said defect or negligence.

III. Limit of sum recoverable as compensation.—The amount of compensation recoverable under this Act shall not exceed such sum as may be found to be equivalent to the estimated earnings, during the three years preceding the injury, of a person in the same grade employed during those years in the like employment, and in the district in which the workman is employed at the time of the injury.

IV. Limit of time for recovery of compensation.-An action for the recovery under this Act of compensation for an injury shall not be maintainable unless notice that injury has been sustained is given within six weeks, and the action is commenced within six months from the occurrence of the accident causing the injury, or, in case of death, within twelve months from the time of death: provided always, that in case of death the want of such notice shall be no bar to the maintenance of such action if the judge shall be of opinion that there was reasonable excuse for such want of notice.

of

V. Money payable under penalty to be deducted from compensation under Act. There shall be deducted from any compensation awarded to any workman, or representatives of a workman or persons claiming by, under, or through a workman, in respect of any cause of action arising under this Act, any penalty or part of a penalty which may have been paid in pursuance any other Act of Parliament to such workman, representatives, or persons in respect of the same cause of action; and where an action has been brought under this Act by any workman, or the representatives of any workman, or any persons claiming by, under, or through such workman, for compensation

in respect of any cause of action arising under this Act, and payment has not previously been made of any penalty or part of a penalty under any other Act of Parliament in respect of the same cause of action, such workman, representatives, or person shall not be entitled thereafter to receive any penalty or part of a penalty under any other Act of Parliament in respect of the same cause of action.

VI. Trial of actions.-(1) Every action for recovery of compensation under this Act shall be brought in a county court, but may, upon the application of either plaintiff or defendant, be removed into a superior court in like manner and upon the same conditions as an action commenced in a county court may by law be removed.

(2) Upon the trial of any such action in a county court before the judge without a jury one or more assessors may be appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of compensation.

(3) For the purpose of regulating the conditions and mode of appointment and remuneration of such assessors, and all matters of procedure relating to their duties, and also for the purpose of consolidating any actions under this Act in a county court, and otherwise preventing multiplicity of such actions, rules and regulations may be made, varied, and repealed from time to time in the same manner as rules and regulations for regulating the practice and procedure in other actions in county courts.

"County Court" shall, with respect to Scotland, mean the "Sheriff's Court," and shall, with respect to Ireland, mean the "Civil Bill Court."

In Scotland any action under this Act may be removed to the Court of Session at the instance of either party, in the manner provided by, and subject to the conditions prescribed by, section 9 of The Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act, 1877. In Scotland the sheriff may conjoin actions arising out of the same occurrence or cause of action, though at the instance of different parties, and in respect of different injuries.

VII. Mode of serving notice of injury.—Notice in respect of an injury under this Act shall give the name and address of the person injured, and shall state in ordinary language the cause of the injury and the date at which it was sustained, and shall be served on the employer, or, if there is more than one employer, upon one of such employers.

The notice may be served by delivering the same to or at the residence or place of business of the person on whom it is to be served.

The notice may also be served by post by a registered letter addressed to the person on whom it is to be served at his last known place of residence or place of business; and, if served by post, shall be deemed to have been served at the time when a letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary course of post; and, in proving the service of such notice, it shall be sufficient to prove that the notice was properly addressed and registered.

Where the employer is a body of persons corporate or unincorporate, the notice shall be served by delivering the same at or by sending it by post in a registered letter addressed to the office, or, if there be more than one office, any one of the offices of such body.

A notice under this section shall not be deemed invalid by reason of any defect or inaccuracy therein, unless the judge who tries the action arising from the injury mentioned in the notice shall be of opinion that the defendant in the action is prejudiced in his defence by such defect or inaccuracy, and that the defect or inaccuracy was for the purpose of misleading.

VIII. Definitions.-For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

The expression "person who has superintendence entrusted to him" means

1880.

43 & 44 VICT.

Cap. 42.

a person whose sole or principal duty is that of superintendence, and who is not ordinarily engaged in manual labour;

The expression "employer" includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate:

The expression "workman" means a railway servant and any person to whom The Employers and Workmen Act, 1875, applies.

IX. Commencement of Act.1

1 Repealed by 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56.

X. Short title.-This Act may be cited as "The Employers' Liability Act, 1880," and shall continue in force till the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and to the end of the then next Session of Parliament, and no longer, unless Parliament shall otherwise determine, and all actions commenced under this Act before that period shall be continued as if the said Act had not expired.1

1 Continued by the Expiring Laws Continuance Acts.

45 & 46 VICT. THE POST OFFICE (PARCELS) ACT, 1882.-45 & 46 VICT. Cap. 74. Cap. 74.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE POST OFFICE ACTS WITH RESPECT TO THE
CONVEYANCE OF PARCELS.-[18th August 1882.]

Preamble. Whereas the Postmaster-General, with the consent of the Treasury, has made an arrangement with the railway companies named in the First Schedule to this Act whereby the Postmaster-General will pay to the said railway companies and such other railway companies as become parties to the arrangement under this Act the remuneration to railway companies for services rendered by them in relation to the conveyance of parcels, and the said railway companies, through the medium of the London Railway Clearing Committee, will apportion such remuneration among the different railway companies, and such remuneration will consist of the sums hereinafter mentioned:

And whereas the Treasury propose, on the representation of the Postmaster-General, to make regulations in pursuance of the Acts relating to the Post Office with respect to the posting, forwarding, conveyance, and delivery of parcels, and to provide that parcels of the weights mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act shall be carried at the rates in that schedule mentioned, and on different conditions from ordinary postal packets:

And whereas it is expedient to make the provisions hereinafter appearing respecting such parcels and for carrying into effect the said arrangement:

And whereas the Bill for this Act has, so far as the same affects the railway companies named in the First Schedule to this Act, been assented to by them:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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:

I. Short title. This Act may be cited as "The Post Office (Parcels) Act, 1882."

II. Remuneration to railway companies for carriage of parcels.-In the event of any regulations being made by the Treasury in pursuance of the Post Office Acts and providing for the conveyance of parcels by post on different conditions from ordinary postal packets, the following provisions shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect:

(1) The Postmaster-General shall from time to time pay to the railway
companies parties to the arrangement under this Act the amount
hereinafter mentioned as the remuneration of all railway companies in
respect of the conveyance of parcels by such companies, and the amount.
so paid (in this Act referred to as the railway remuneration) shall be in
substitution for any other remuneration in respect of the conveyance of
such parcels, and every railway company shall render in respect of such
parcels the services required by this Act, and shall accept the said
payment in full satisfaction and discharge for the said services.
(2) The amount of the railway remuneration shall be eleven-twentieth
parts of the gross receipts of the Postmaster-General from such of the
said parcels as are conveyed by railway;

Provided that if at any time in pursuance of regulations of the Treasury
the weights of or rates of postage for parcels differ from those mentioned
in the Second Schedule to this Act, the railway companies parties
to the arrangement under this Act may, by notice under the hand of
the secretary to the London Railway Clearing Committee, require a re-
vision of the amount of the railway remuneration, and the amount as
determined on such revision shall be substituted for the above-
mentioned eleven-twentieth parts of the gross receipts, subject never-
theless, in the event of any further change in the weights of or rates
of postage for parcels, to another revision on notice requiring the
same given either by the railway companies or by the Postmaster-
General, and so on from time to time.

(3) In the case of a revision the amount of railway remuneration shall be a sum to be paid to the companies collectively in manner provided by this Act, and if such amount is not determined by agreement between the Postmaster-General and the railway companies, parties to the arrangement under this Act, the amount shall be referred to arbitration in manner provided by this Act.

(4) The provisions of this section (in this Act referred to as the arrangement under this Act) shall continue in force during a period of twentyone years next after the said regulations come into operation, and thereafter until the expiration of twelve months' notice to determine the same given by the Postmaster-General on the one side, or by the railway companies on the other, either before or after the expiration of the said twenty-one years.

III. Services to be rendered by railway companies.-During the continuance of the arrangement under this Act the railway companies shall render the following services :

(1) Every railway company shall convey by any train by which passengers, goods, or parcels are conveyed all such parcels as may be tendered for conveyance by such train, whether such parcels be under the charge of a person appointed by the Postmaster-General or not, and notwithstanding that no notice has been given to the company with respect to the conveyance of such parcels :

Provided that the conveyance of parcels by mail and express trains shall be limited so as not to affect prejudicially the convenient and punctual working of those trains.

1882.

45 & 46 VICT. Cap. 74.

(2) Every railway company shall afford all reasonable facilities for the receipt and delivery of the sacks, hampers, boxes, or other receptacles containing the parcels at any of their stations without requiring them to be booked or interposing any other delay, and shall perform the service of transferring such sacks, hampers, boxes, or other receptacles to and from the vehicles of the Postmaster-General at the outwards and inwards railway stations.1

1 See Reg. v. L. and N.W.R. (1896), 65 L.J. Q. B. 516.

(3) Every railway company shall convey, free of charge, but in a manner
convenient to them but not interfering with his custody of the parcels,
any servant of the Postmaster-General appointed to take charge of the
parcels during their conveyance by railway; but if such person during
the conveyance receives any injury, and the company pay any sum for
damages or costs in respect of such injury, or on account of death
arising from such injury, the Postmaster-General shall pay to the
company one half of such sum, but if the sum is paid by the company
under agreement or by way of compromise of any claim, the Post-
master-General shall not be liable to pay one half unless his written
consent has been previously given to the payment of such sum.
(4) If the parcels are in charge of a person appointed by the Postmaster-
General, every railway company shall permit such person, if he thinks fit,
by himself or his assistants, to deliver and receive the parcels at any
station at which the train by which the sacks, hampers, boxes, or other
receptacles containing the parcels are intended to be or are conveyed is
appointed to stop and during the time limited for such stoppage, but
nevertheless shall, if required by such person, assist him in transferring
the sacks, hampers, boxes, or other receptacles to and from the vehicles
of the Postmaster-General.

be

(5) Every railway company shall, if the Postmaster-General so require, provide in every train, not being an express or mail train, a special parcels van or other separate accommodation for sorting parcels carried by such train, and the Postmaster-General shall pay to such company in respect of the said van or accommodation such amount as may agreed on, or, in case of difference, be determined by arbitration. IV. Calculation of gross receipts.-The gross receipts of the Postmaster General from parcels conveyed by railway for the purposes of this Act(a) shall be calculated without any deduction whether for the cost of stamps, or otherwise; and

(b) shall not include such extra charges (over and above the usual rate of postage) as may be from time to time fixed by the said regulations; and (c) shall include the rates of postage which would be chargeable for Government parcels, if they were sent by private persons, notwithstanding that the same may be conveyed without being stamped; and (d) As regards foreign parcels shall be taken to be the same amount as would have been the gross receipts of the Postmaster-General in respect of such parcels if they had been inland parcels of the same weight. V. Payments to Clearing Committee.-(1) The Postmaster-General shall from time to time, and at least once in every three months, and within seven weeks after the expiration of the period to which such accounts respectively relate, render to the railway companies parties to the arrangement under this Act, through the medium of the London Railway Clearing Committee, such accounts as may be reasonably necessary to show the sums due to railway companies in respect of railway remuneration under this Act, and shall keep