131. VICTORIA: STATUTES (1839-76)
An act for the establishment of county and district constables by the authority of justices of the peace.... Be it ... enacted ... that, in all cases where it shall be made to appear to the justices of the peace of any county in England or Wales in general or quarter sessions assembled ... that the ordinary officers appointed for preserving the peace are not sufficient for the preservation of the peace and for the protection of the inhabitants and for the security of property within the county, it shall be lawful for them to set forth the same by a report in writing under the hands of the majority of the justices there present, and to declare how many constables are needed, in their opinion, to be appointed within their county for the purposes aforesaid, and the rates of payment which it would be expedient to pay to the chief and other constables; and every such report shall be sent to one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state....
And whereas it is expedient that the rules for the government, pay, clothing, and accoutrements and necessaries of such constables as may be appointed under this act be uniform, as nearly as may be: be it enacted that such rules shall be from time to time made by one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state, but not so as to increase the number of men proposed to be appointed; and the rules so made shall be sent to the clerk of the peace for each county in which ... this act shall be in operation....
And be it enacted that, as soon as any such rules, as finally settled, shall have been received from the secretary of state, the justices of the county in general or quarter sessions assembled ... shall, subject to the approval of the secretary of state, appoint a person duly qualified according to the rules to be chief constable of the county....
And be it enacted that the salaries and allowances of the chief constable and other constables, and all other expenses incurred in providing them with such clothing, accoutrements, and necessaries as are allowed by the rules, and in putting this act in execution, shall be paid by the treasurer of the county out of the county rate....
Ibid., LXXIX, 508 f.: 2-3 Victoria, c. 93.
An act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the services of the ordnance department and the vesting and purchase of lands and hereditaments for those services and for the defence and security of the realm....[1]
And be it enacted that it shall be lawful for the principal officers of her majesty's ordnance for the time being to enter on, survey, and mark out, or to cause to be surveyed and marked out, any lands, buildings, or other hereditaments or easements wanted for the service of the ordnance department, or for the defence of the realm, or to stop up or divert any public or private foot-paths or bridle-roads, and to treat and agree with the owner or owners of such lands, buildings, hereditaments, or easements, or with any person or persons interested therein, either for the absolute purchase thereof, or for the possession or use thereof during such time as the exigence of the public service shall require....
And be it enacted that, in case any ... person or persons interested in any such lands, buildings, or other hereditaments, which shall be so marked out and surveyed as aforesaid, shall ... refuse or decline to treat or agree; or by reason of absence shall be prevented from treating or agreeing with the said principal officers; or shall refuse to accept such sum of money as shall be offered by the said principal officers as the consideration for the absolute purchase of such lands, buildings, or other hereditaments, or such annual rent or sum as shall be offered for the hire thereof ...; then ... it shall be lawful for the said principal officers to require two or more justices of the peace ... to put the said principal officers ... into immediate possession of such lands, buildings, or other hereditaments, which such justices ... are hereby required to do ... and shall also issue their warrants to the sheriff of the county ... to summon a jury.... And the jury, on hearing any witnesses and evidence that may be produced, shall on their oaths ... find the compensation to be paid....
Ibid., LXXXII, 793 f.: 5-6 Victoria, c. 94.
(C) Repeal of the Navigation Acts (1849)
An act to amend the laws in force for the encouragement of British shipping and navigation.... Be it enacted ... that, from and after the first day of January, 1850, the following acts and parts of acts shall be repealed....[2]
And be it enacted that no goods or passengers shall be carried coastwise from one part of the united kingdom to another ... except in British ships.... And be it enacted that no goods or passengers shall be carried from one part of any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America to another part of the same possession except in British ships. Provided always and be it enacted that, if the legislature ... of any such British possession shall present an address to her majesty praying her majesty to authorize ... the conveyance of goods or passengers from one part of such possession to another part thereof in other than British ships, or if the legislatures of any two or more possessions, which ... her majesty in council shall declare to be neighbouring possessions, shall present addresses ... praying her majesty to place the trade between them on the footing of a coasting trade ... , it shall thereupon be lawful for her majesty by order in council so to authorize....
And be it enacted that, in case it shall be made to appear to her majesty that British vessels are subject in any foreign country to any prohibitions or restrictions as to the voyages in which they may engage, or as to the articles which they may import into or export from such country, it shall be lawful for her majesty ... by order in council to impose such prohibitions or restrictions ... as her majesty may think fit ... , to place the ships of such country on as nearly as possible the same footing in British ports....
Ibid., LXXXIX, 70 f.: 12-13 Victoria, c. 25.
(D) County and Borough Police Act (1856)
An act to render more effectual the police in counties and boroughs in England and Wales.... Be it ... enacted ... as follows: —
In every county in which a constabulary has not been already established for the whole of such county under the ... acts of the second and third and third and fourth years of her majesty ...[3] the justices of such county, at the general or quarter sessions ... , shall proceed to establish a sufficient police force for the whole of such county....
It shall be lawful for her majesty, by warrant under her royal sign-manual, to appoint during her majesty's pleasure three persons as inspectors under this act, to visit and inquire into the state and the efficiency of the police appointed for every county and borough, and whether the provisions of the acts under which such police are appointed are duly observed and carried into effect ...; and each of the inspectors so appointed shall report generally upon such matters to one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state, who shall cause such reports to be laid before parliament. And such inspectors shall be paid, out of such money as may be provided by parliament for the purpose, such salaries and allowances as shall be determined by the commissioners of her majesty's treasury.
Upon the certificate of one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state that the police of any county or borough established under the provisions of the said acts and this act, or any of them, has been maintained in a state of efficiency in point of numbers and discipline for the year ending on the 29th of September then last past, it shall be lawful for the commissioners of her majesty's treasury to pay from time to time, out of the moneys provided by parliament for the purpose, such sum toward the expenses of such police for the year mentioned in such certificate as shall not exceed one-fourth of the charge for their pay and clothing....
Ibid., XCVI, 360 f.: 19-20 Victoria, c. 69.
(E) Petitions of Right Act (1860)
An act to amend the law relating to petitions of right, to simplify the proceedings, and to make provisions for the costs thereof. Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to petitions of right ... and to assimilate the proceedings as nearly as may be to the course of practice and procedure now in force in actions and suits between subject and subject: be it therefore enacted ... as follows: —
A petition of right may, if the suppliant think fit, be intituled in any one of the superior courts ... at Westminster in which the subject matter of such petition, or any material part thereof, would have been cognizable if the same had been a matter in dispute between subject and subject ... , and shall set forth with convenient certainty the facts entitling the suppliant to relief, and shall be signed by such suppliant, his counsel, or attorney. The said petition shall be left with the secretary of state for the home department in order that the same may be submitted to her majesty for her majesty's gracious consideration, and in order that her majesty, if she shall think fit, may grant her fiat that right be done; and no fee or sum of money shall be payable by the suppliant on so leaving such petition, or upon his receiving back the same. Upon her majesty's fiat being obtained to such petition, a copy of such petition and fiat shall be left at the office of the solicitor to the treasury with an endorsement thereon ... praying for a plea or answer on behalf of her majesty within twenty-eight days; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the said solicitor to transmit such petition to the particular department to which the subject matter of such petition may relate, and the same shall be prosecuted in the court in which the same shall be intituled or in such other court as the lord chancellor may direct....
Upon every such petition of right the ... judgment ... shall be that the suppliant is or is not entitled either to the whole or to some portion of the relief sought by his petition, or such other relief as the court may think right; and such court may give a ... judgment that the suppliant is entitled to such relief, and upon such terms and conditions, if any, as such court shall think just.... Whenever, upon any such petition of right, a judgment ... shall be given ... that the suppliant is entitled to relief ... , any one of the judges of the court in which such petition shall have been prosecuted shall and may, upon application in behalf of the suppliant ... , certify to the commissioners of her majesty's treasury or to the treasurer of her majesty's household ... the tenor and purport of the same....
It shall be lawful for the commissioners of her majesty's treasury, and they are hereby required to pay the amount of any moneys and costs ... out of any moneys in their hands for the time being legally applicable thereto, or which may be hereafter voted by parliament for that purpose; provided such petition shall relate to any public matter. And in case the same shall relate to ... any matter affecting her majesty in her private capacity ... , the amount to which the suppliant is entitled shall be paid to him out of such funds or moneys as her majesty shall be graciously pleased to direct to be applied for that purpose....
Ibid., C, 117 f.: 23-24 Victoria, c. 34.
(F) Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865)
An act to remove doubts as to the validity of colonial laws.... Be it ... enacted ... as follows: —
The term "colony" shall in this act include all of her majesty's possessions abroad in which there shall exist a legislature, as hereinafter defined, except the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and such territories as may for the time being be vested in her majesty under or by virtue of any act of parliament for the government of India. The terms "legislature" and "colonial legislature" shall severally signify the authority, other than the imperial parliament or her majesty in council, competent to make laws for any colony. The term "representative legislature" shall signify any colonial legislature which shall comprise a legislative body of which one-half are elected by inhabitants of the colony. The term "colonial law" shall include laws made for any colony either by such legislature as aforesaid or by her majesty in council. An act of parliament, or any provision thereof, shall, in construing this act, be said to extend to any colony when it is made applicable to such colony by the express words or necessary intendment of any act of parliament. The term "governor" shall mean the officer lawfully administering the government of any colony. The term "letters patent" shall mean letters patent under the great seal of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Any colonial law which is or shall be in any respect repugnant to the provisions of any act of parliament extending to the colony to which such law may relate, or repugnant to any order or regulation made under authority of such act of parliament, or having in the colony the force and effect of such act, shall be read subject to such act, order, or regulation, and shall, to the extent of such repugnancy, but not otherwise, be and remain absolutely void and inoperative. No colonial law shall be or be deemed to have been void or inoperative on the ground of repugnancy to the law of England, unless the same shall be repugnant to the provisions of some such act of parliament, order, or regulation as aforesaid. No colonial law passed with the concurrence of or assented to by the governor of any colony, or to be hereafter so passed or assented to, shall be or be deemed to have been void or inoperative by reason only of any instructions with reference to such law or the subject thereof which may have been given to such governor by or on behalf of her majesty by any instrument other than the letters patent or instrument authorizing such governor to concur in passing or to assent to laws for the peace, order, and good government of such colony, even though such instructions may be referred to in such letters patent or last-mentioned instrument.
Every colonial legislature shall have, and be deemed at all times to have had, full power within its jurisdiction to establish courts of judicature, and to abolish and reconstitute the same, and to alter the constitution thereof, and to make provision for the administration of justice therein; and every representative legislature shall, in respect to the colony under its jurisdiction, have and be deemed at all times to have had full power to make laws respecting the constitution, powers, and procedure of such legislature; provided that such laws shall have been passed in such manner and form as may from time to time be required by any act of parliament, letters patent, order in council, or colonial law for the time being in force in the said colony.
Ibid., CV, 129 f.: 28-29 Victoria, c. 63.
(G) British North America Act (1867)
An act for the union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the government thereof, and for purposes connected therewith. Whereas the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their desire to be federally united into one dominion under the crown of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a constitution similar in principle to that of the united kingdom; and whereas such a union would conduce to the welfare of the provinces and promote the interests of the British Empire; and whereas, on the establishment of the union by authority of parliament, it is expedient, not only that the constitution of the legislative authority in the dominion be provided for, but also that the nature of the executive government therein be declared; and whereas it is expedient that provision be made for the eventual admission into the union of other parts of British North America: be it therefore enacted ... as follows: —
I. Preliminary. This act may be cited as the British North America Act, 1867. The provisions of the act referring to her majesty the queen extend also to the heirs and successors of her majesty, kings and queens of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
II. Union. It shall be lawful for the queen, by and with the advice of her majesty's most honourable privy council, to declare by proclamation that on and after a day therein appointed, not being more than six months after the passing of this act, the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick shall form and be one dominion under the name of Canada; and on and after that day those three provinces shall form and be one dominion under that name accordingly.... Canada shall be divided into four provinces: named Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The parts of the province of Canada (as it exists at the passing of this act) which formerly constituted respectively the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada shall be deemed to be severed, and shall form two separate provinces: ... the province of Ontario and ... the province of Quebec....
III. Executive Power. The executive government and authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the queen.
The provisions of this act referring to the governor general extend and apply to the governor general for the time being of Canada.... There shall be a council to aid and advise in the government of Canada, to be styled the queen's privy council for Canada; and the persons who are to be members of that council shall be from time to time chosen and summoned by the governor general and sworn in as privy councillors, and members thereof may be from time to time removed by the governor general.
All powers, authorities, and functions which under any act of the parliament of Great Britain, or of the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or of the legislature of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Canada, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, are at the union vested in or exercisable by the respective governors or lieutenant governors ... individually, shall, as far as the same continue in existence and capable of being exercised after the union in relation to the government of Canada, be vested in and exercisable by the governor general with the advice, or with the advice and consent of, or in conjunction with the queen's privy council for Canada or any members thereof, or by the governor general individually, as the case requires; subject nevertheless (except with respect to such as exist under acts of the parliament of Great Britain or of the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) to be abolished or altered by the parliament of Canada....
The command-in-chief of the land and naval militia, and of all naval and military forces of and in Canada, is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the queen.
IV. Legislative Power. There shall be one parliament for Canada, consisting of the queen, an upper house styled the senate, and the house of commons. The privileges, immunities, and powers to be ... exercised by the senate and by the house of commons ... shall be such as are from time to time defined by act of the parliament of Canada, but so that the same shall never exceed those at the passing of this act ... exercised by the commons house of parliament of the united kingdom....
The senate shall, subject to the provisions of this act, consist of seventy-two members who shall be styled senators. In relation to the constitution of the senate, Canada shall be deemed to consist of three divisions: (1) Ontario; (2) Quebec; (3) the maritime provinces, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Which three divisions shall ... be equally represented in the senate as follows: Ontario by twenty-four senators; Quebec by twenty-four senators; and the maritime provinces by twenty-four senators, twelve thereof representing Nova Scotia and twelve thereof representing New Brunswick.
The qualifications of a senator shall be as follows: (1) He shall be of the full age of thirty years; (2) He shall be either a natural-born subject of the queen naturalized by an act of the parliament of Great Britain ... or of the legislature of one of the provinces ... before the union, or of the parliament of Canada after the union; (3) He shall be legally or equitably seised as of freehold for his own use and benefit of lands or tenements ... within the province for which he is appointed of the value of $4000 over and above all rents, dues, debts, charges, mortgages, and incumbrances ... charged on or affecting the same; (4) His real and personal property shall be together worth $4000 over and above his debts and liabilities; (5) He shall be resident in the province for which he is appointed....
The governor general shall from time to time, in the queen's name ... , summon qualified persons to the senate.... The number of senators shall not at any time exceed seventy-eight. A senator shall, subject to the provisions of this act,[4] hold his place in the senate for life....
The house of commons shall, subject to the provisions of this act, consist of 181 members, of whom 82 shall he elected for Ontario, 65 for Quebec, 19 for Nova Scotia, and 15 for New Brunswick....[5]
Until the parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all laws in force in the several provinces at the union relative to ... the qualifications ... of persons to be elected or to sit or vote as members of the house of assembly ... in the several provinces ... shall respectively apply to elections of members to serve in the house of commons.... The number of members of the house of commons may be from time to time increased by the parliament of Canada, provided the proportionate representation ... prescribed by this act is not thereby disturbed.
Bills for appropriating any part of the public revenue, or for imposing any tax or impost, shall originate in the house of commons. It shall not be lawful for the house of commons to adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address, or bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or of any tax or impost, to any purpose that has not been first recommended to that house by message of the governor general in the session in which such vote, resolution, address, or bill is proposed.
Where a bill passed by the houses of the parliament is presented to the governor general for the queen's assent, he shall declare, according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this act and to her majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in the queen's name, or that he withholds the queen's assent, or that he reserves the bill for the signification of the queen's pleasure. Where the governor general assents to a bill in the queen's name, he shall by the first convenient opportunity send an authentic copy of the act to one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state; and, if the queen in council within two years after receipt thereof by the secretary of state thinks fit to disallow the act, such disallowance ... shall annul the act from and after the day of such signification. A bill reserved for the signification of the queen's pleasure shall not have any force unless and until, within two years from the day on which it was presented to the governor general for the queen's assent, the governor general signifies, by speech or message to each of the houses of parliament or by proclamation, that it has received the assent of the queen in council.
V. Provincial Constitutions. For each province there shall be an officer styled the lieutenant governor, appointed by the governor general in council by instrument under the great seal of Canada. A lieutenant governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor general; but any lieutenant governor appointed after the commencement of the first session of the parliament of Canada shall not be removable within five years from his appointment, except for cause assigned....
The executive council of Ontario and Quebec shall be composed of such persons as the lieutenant governor from time to time thinks fit and, in the first instance, of the following officers: namely, the attorney general, the secretary and registrar of the province, the treasurer of the province, the commissioner of crown lands, and the commissioner of agriculture and public works, with, in Quebec, the speaker of the legislative council and the solicitor general. The constitution of the executive authority in each of the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall ... continue as it exists at the union until altered under the authority of this act.
There shall be a legislature for Ontario, consisting of the lieutenant governor and of one house styled the assembly of Ontario. The legislative assembly of Ontario shall be composed of eighty-two members, to be elected to represent the eighty-two electoral districts set forth in the first schedule to this act. There shall be a legislature for Quebec, consisting of the lieutenant governor and of two houses, styled the legislative council of Quebec and the legislative assembly of Quebec. The constitution of the legislature of each of the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall ... continue as it exists at the union until altered under the authority of this act....
The following provisions of this act respecting the parliament of Canada — namely, the provisions relating to appropriation and tax bills, the recommendation of money bills, the assent to bills, the disallowance of acts, and the signification of pleasure on bills reserved — shall extend and apply to the legislatures of the several provinces as if those provisions were here re-enacted and made applicable in terms to the respective provinces and the legislatures thereof....
VI. Distribution of Legislative Powers. It shall be lawful for the queen, by and with the advice and consent of the senate and house of commons, to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Canada in relation to all matters not coming within the classes of subjects by this act assigned exclusively to the legislatures of the provinces; and for greater certainty, but not so as to restrict the generality of the foregoing terms of this section, it is hereby declared that ... the exclusive legislative authority of the parliament of Canada extends to all matters coming within the classes of subjects next hereinafter enumerated: that is to say, (1) the public debt and property; (2) the regulation of trade and commerce; (3) the raising of money by any mode or system of taxation; (4) the borrowing of money on the public credit; (5) postal service; (6) the census and statistics; (7) militia, military and naval service, and defence; (8) the fixing of and providing for salaries and allowances of civil and other officers of the government of Canada; (9) beacons, buoys, lighthouses, and Sable Island; (10) navigation and shipping; (11) quarantine and the establishment and maintenance of marine hospitals; (12) sea-coast and inland fisheries; (13) ferries between a province and any British or foreign country or between two provinces; (14) currency and coinage; (15) banking, incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money; (16) savings banks; (17) weights and measures; (18) bills of exchange and promissory notes; (19) interest; (20) legal tender; (21) bankruptcy and insolvency; (22) patents of invention and discovery; (23) copyrights; (24) Indians and lands reserved for the Indians; (25) naturalization and aliens; (26) marriage and divorce; (27) the criminal law except the constitution of courts of criminal jurisdiction, but including the procedure in criminal matters; (28) the establishment, maintenance, and management of penitentiaries; (29) such classes of subjects as are expressly excepted in the enumeration of the classes of subjects by this act assigned exclusively to the legislatures of the provinces. And any matter coming within any of the classes of subjects enumerated in this section shall not be deemed to come within the class of matters of a local or private nature comprised in the enumeration of the classes of subjects by this act assigned exclusively to the legislatures of the provinces.
In each province the legislature may exclusively make laws in relation to matters coming within the classes of subjects next hereinafter enumerated: that is to say, (1) the amendment from time to time ... of the constitution of the province, except as regards the office of lieutenant governor; (2) direct taxation within the province in order to the raising of a revenue for provincial purposes; (3) the borrowing of money on the sole credit of the province; (4) the establishment and tenure of provincial offices and the appointment and payment of provincial officers; (5) the management and sale of the public lands belonging to the province and of the timber and wood thereon; (6) the establishment, maintenance, and management of public and reformatory prisons in and for the province; (7) the establishment, maintenance, and management of hospitals, asylums, charities, and eleemosynary institutions in and for the province other than marine hospitals; (8) municipal institutions in the province; (9) shop, saloon, tavern, auctioneer, and other licences, in order to the raising of a revenue for provincial, local, or municipal purposes; (10) local works and undertakings other than such as are of the following classes — (a) lines of steam or other ships, railways, canals, telegraphs, and other works and undertakings connecting the province with any other or others of the provinces or extending beyond the limits of the province; (b) lines of steamships between the province and any British or foreign country; (c) such works as, although wholly situate within the province, are before or after their execution declared by the parliament of Canada to be for the general advantage of Canada or for the advantage of two or more of the provinces —; (11) the incorporation of companies with provincial objects; (12) the solemnization of marriage within the province; (13) property and civil rights in the province; (14) the administration of justice in the province, including the constitution, maintenance, and organization of provincial courts both of civil and of criminal jurisdiction, and including procedure in civil matters in those courts; (15) the imposition of punishment by fine, penalty, or imprisonment for enforcing any law of the province made in relation to any matter coming within any of the classes of subjects enumerated in this division; (16) generally all matters of a merely local or private nature in the province.
In and for each province the legislature may exclusively make laws in relation to education....[6] In each province the legislature may make laws in relation to agriculture in the province, and to immigration into the province. And it is hereby declared that the parliament of Canada may from time to time make laws in relation to agriculture in all or any of the provinces and to immigration into all or any of the provinces; and any law of the legislature of a province relative to agriculture or to immigration shall have effect in and for the province as long and as far only as it is not repugnant to any act of the parliament of Canada.
VII. Judicature. The governor general shall appoint the judges of the superior, district, and county courts in each province, except those of the courts of probate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.... The parliament of Canada may, notwithstanding anything in this act, from time to time provide for the constitution, maintenance, and organization of a general court of appeal for Canada, and for the establishment of any additional courts for the better administration of the laws of Canada....
XI. Admission of Other Colonies. It shall be lawful for the queen, by and with the advice of her majesty's most honourable privy council, on addresses from the houses of the parliament of Canada, and from the houses of the respective legislatures of the colonies or provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, to admit those colonies or provinces, or any of them, into the union; and on address from the houses of the parliament of Canada to admit Rupert's Land and the Northwestern Territory, or either of them, into the union, on such terms and conditions in each case as are in the addresses expressed and as the queen thinks fit to approve, subject to the provisions of this act. And the provisions of any order in council in that behalf shall have effect as if they had been enacted by the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
Public General Statutes, II, 5 f.: 30 Victoria, c. 3.
(H) Representation of the People Act (1867)
An act further to amend the laws relating to the representation of the people in England and Wales.... Be it enacted ... as follows: —
Every man shall, in and after the year 1868, be entitled to be registered as a voter and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in parliament for a borough, who is qualified as follows: that is to say, (1) is of full age, and not subject to any legal incapacity; and (2) is on the last day of July in any year and has during ... the preceding twelve calendar months been an inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house within the borough; and (3) has during the time of such occupation been rated as an ordinary occupier in respect of the premises so occupied by him within the borough to all rates, if any, made for the relief of the poor in respect of such premises; and (4) has, on or before the twentieth day of July in the same year, bona fide paid an equal amount in the pound to that payable by other ordinary occupiers in respect of all poor rates that have become payable by him in respect of the said premises up to the preceding fifth day of January. Provided, that no man shall under this section be entitled to be registered as a voter by reason of his being a joint occupier of any dwelling-house.
Every man shall, in and after the year 1868, be entitled to be registered as a voter and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in parliament for a borough, who is qualified as follows that is to say, (1) is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity; and (2) as a lodger has occupied in the same borough separately and as sole tenant for the twelve months preceding the last day of July in any year the same lodgings, such lodgings being part of one and the same dwelling-house, and of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of £10 or upwards; and (3) has resided in such lodgings during the twelve months immediately preceding the last day of July, and has claimed to be registered as a voter at the next ensuing registration of voters.
Every man shall, in and after the year 1868, be entitled to be registered as a voter and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in parliament for a county, who is qualified as follows....[7]
From and after the end of this present parliament, no borough which had a less population than 10,000 at the census of 1861 shall return more than one member to serve in parliament....[8]
In all future parliaments the university of London shall return one member to serve in parliament. Every man whose name is for the time being on the register of graduates constituting the convocation of the university of London shall, if of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, be entitled to vote in the election of a member to serve in any future parliament for the said university....[9]
Whereas great inconveniences may arise from the enactments now in force limiting the duration of the parliament in being at the demise of the crown: be it therefore enacted that the parliament in being at any future demise of the crown shall not be determined or dissolved by such demise, but shall continue so long as it would have continued but for such demise, unless it should be sooner prorogued or dissolved by the crown — anything in the act passed in the sixth year of her late majesty Queen Anne ... in any way notwithstanding.[10]
Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to offices of profit the acceptance of which from the crown vacates the seats of members accepting the same, but does not render them incapable of being re-elected: be it enacted that, where a person has been returned as a member to serve in parliament since the acceptance by him from the crown of any office described in schedule H to this act annexed, the subsequent acceptance by him from the crown of any other office or offices described in such schedule in lieu of and in immediate succession the one to the other shall not vacate his seat....
Schedule H: Offices of Profit Referred to in This Act: —
Lord High Treasurer
Commissioner for Executing the Offices of Treasurer of the Exchequer of Great Britain and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland
President of the Privy Council
Vice-President of the Committee of Council for Education
Comptroller of Her Majesty's Household
Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household
Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household
Equerry or Groom in Waiting on Her Majesty
Any Principal Secretary of State
Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Exchequer
Paymaster General
Postmaster General
Lord High Admiral
Commissioner for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral
Commissioner of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings
President of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Plantations
Chief Secretary for Ireland
Commissioner for Administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in England
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Judge Advocate General
Attorney General for England
Solicitor General for England
Lord Advocate for Scotland
Solicitor General for Scotland
Attorney General for Ireland
Solicitor General for Ireland
Ibid., II, 1082 f.: 30-31 Victoria, c. 102.
An act to provide for public elementary education in England and Wales. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
... There shall be provided for every school district a sufficient amount of accommodation in public elementary schools, as hereinafter defined, available for all the children resident in such district for whose elementary education efficient and suitable provision is not otherwise made, and where there is an insufficient amount of such accommodation ... , the deficiency shall be supplied in manner provided by this act. Where the education department ... are satisfied and have given public notice that there is an insufficient amount of public school accommodation for any school district, and the deficiency is not supplied as hereinafter required, a school board shall be formed for such district and shall supply such deficiency; and, in case of default by the school board, the education department shall cause the duty of such board to be performed in manner provided by this act....
Every public elementary school shall be conducted in accordance with the following regulations ...: namely, (1) It shall not be required, as a condition of any child being admitted into or continuing in the school, that he shall attend or abstain from attending ... any religious observance or any instruction in religious subjects, in the school or elsewhere ...; (2) The time or times during which any religious observance is practised or instruction in religious subjects is given at any meeting of the school shall be either at the beginning or at the end ... of such meeting ...; (3) The school shall be open at all times to the inspection of any of her majesty's inspectors ...; (4) The school shall be conducted in accordance with the conditions required to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain an annual parliamentary grant.
For the purpose of determining with respect to every school district the amount of public school accommodation, if any, required for such district, the education department ... shall consider whether any and what public school accommodation is required for such district; and in so doing they shall take into consideration every school ... , whether actually situated in the school district or not, which in their opinion gives ... efficient elementary education to ... the children of such district.
The education department shall publish a notice of their decision as to the public school accommodation for any school district.... If any persons, being either ratepayers of the district ... or the managers of any elementary school in the district, feel aggrieved by such decision, such persons may ... apply in writing to the education department for, and the education department shall direct the holding of, a public inquiry.... If no public inquiry is directed, or after the receipt of the report made after such inquiry ... , the education department may, if they think that the amount of public school accommodation for the district is insufficient, publish a final notice ... directing that the public accommodation therein mentioned ... be supplied. If, after the expiration of a time not exceeding six months ... , the education department are satisfied that all the public school accommodation required by the final notice ... has not been so supplied, nor is in course of being supplied ... , the education department shall cause a school board to be formed for the district, as provided in this act; and shall send a requisition to the school board ... requiring them to take proceedings forthwith for supplying the public school accommodation mentioned in the requisition....
Every school provided by a school board shall be conducted under the control and management of such board in accordance with the following regulations: the school shall be a public elementary school within the meaning of this act; no religious catechism or religious formulary, which is distinctive of any particular denomination, shall be taught in the school.... Every child attending a school provided by any school board shall pay such weekly fee as may be prescribed by the school board, with the consent of the education department; but the school board may from time to time, for a renewable period not exceeding six months, remit the whole or any part of such fee in the case of any child when they are of opinion that the parent of such child is unable from poverty to pay the same....
The school board shall be elected in manner provided by this act: in a borough by the persons whose names are on the burgess roll of such borough for the time being in force, and in a parish not situate in the metropolis by the ratepayers.... The number of members of a school board shall be such number, not less than five nor more than fifteen, as may be determined in the first instance by the education department and afterwards, from time to time, by a resolution of the school board approved by the education department....[11]
The expenses of the school board ... shall be paid out of a fund called the school fund. There shall be carried to the school fund all moneys ... in any manner whatever received by the school board.... Any sum required to meet any deficiency in the school fund ... shall be paid by the rating authority out of the local rate. The school board may serve their precept on the rating authority, requiring such authority to pay the amount specified therein....
Every school board may from time to time, with the approval of the education department, make by-laws for all or any of the following purposes: (1) requiring the parents of children of such age, not less than five years nor more than thirteen years, as may be fixed by the by-laws to cause such children, unless there is some reasonable excuse, to attend school; (2) determining the time during which children are so to attend school ...; (3) providing for the remission or payment of the whole or any part of the fees of any child ...; (4) imposing penalties for the breach of any bylaws.... Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse: namely, (1) that the child is under efficient instruction in some other manner; (2) that the child has been prevented from attending school by sickness or any unavoidable cause; (3) that there is no public elementary school open which the child can attend within such distance, not exceeding three miles ... , as the by-laws may prescribe. The school board, not less than one month before submitting any by-law under this section for the approval of the education department, shall deposit a printed copy of the proposed by-laws at their office for inspection by any ratepayer and supply a printed copy thereof gratis to any ratepayer, and shall publish a notice of such deposit. The education department, before approving of any by-laws, shall be satisfied that such deposit has been made and notice published, and shall cause such inquiry to be made in the school district as they think requisite. Any proceeding to enforce any by-law may be taken and any penalty for the breach of any by-law may be recovered in a summary manner; but no penalty imposed for the breach of any by-law shall exceed such amount as with the costs will amount to 5s. for each offence; and such by-laws shall not come into operation until they have been sanctioned by her majesty in council.
Ibid., V, 443 f.: 33-34 Victoria, c. 75.
An act to amend the law relating to procedure at parliamentary and municipal elections.... Be it enacted ... as follows: —
... In the case of a poll at an election the votes shall be given by ballot. The ballot of each voter shall consist of a paper ... showing the names and description of the candidates. Each ballot paper shall have a number printed on the back and shall have attached a counterfoil with the same number printed on the face. At the time of voting the ballot paper shall be marked on both sides with an official mark and delivered to the voter within the polling station; and the number of such voter on the register of voters shall be marked on the counterfoil; and the voter, having secretly marked his vote on the paper and folded it up so as to conceal his vote, shall place it in a closed box in the presence of the officer presiding at the polling station ... , after having shown to him the official mark on the back....
Every officer, clerk, and agent in attendance at a polling station shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting in such station and shall not communicate, except for some purpose authorized by law, before the poll is closed, to any person any information as to the name or number on the register of voters of any elector who has or has not applied for a ballot paper or voted at that station, or as to the official mark. And no such officer, clerk, or agent, and no person whosoever, shall interfere with or attempt to interfere with a voter when marking his vote, or otherwise attempt to obtain in the polling station information as to the candidate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has voted, or communicate at any time to any person any information obtained in a polling station as to the candidate for whom any voter in such station is about to vote or has voted, or as to the number on the back of the ballot paper given to any voter at such station....
Ibid., VII, 193 f.: 35-36 Victoria, c. 33.
An act for the constitution of a supreme court and for other purposes relating to the better administration of justice in England.... Be it enacted ... as follows: —
From and after the time appointed for the commencement of this act, the several courts hereinafter mentioned — that is to say, the high court of chancery of England, the court of queen's bench, the court of common pleas at Westminster, the court of exchequer, the high court of admiralty, the court of probate, the court for divorce and matrimonial causes, and the London court of bankruptcy — shall be united and consolidated together, and shall constitute, under and subject to the provisions of this act, one supreme court of judicature in England.
The said supreme court shall consist of two permanent divisions, one of which, under the name of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, shall have and exercise original jurisdiction, with such appellate jurisdiction from inferior courts as is hereinafter mentioned, and the other of which, under the name of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, shall have and exercise appellate jurisdiction, with such original jurisdiction, as hereinafter mentioned, as may be incident to the determination of any appeal.
Her majesty's high court of justice shall be constituted as follows....[12] Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, whenever the office of a judge of the said high court shall become vacant, a new judge may be appointed thereto by her majesty by letters patent. All persons to be hereafter appointed to fill the places of the lord chief justice of England, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the common pleas, and the lord chief baron ... shall continue to be appointed to the same respective offices with the same precedence and by the same respective titles ... as heretofore.... All the judges of the said court shall have in all respects, save as in this act is otherwise expressly provided, equal power, authority, and jurisdiction.... The lord chief justice of England ... shall be president of the said high court of justice in the absence of the lord chancellor.
Her majesty's court of appeal shall be constituted as follows: — There shall be five ex officio judges thereof and also so many ordinary judges, not exceeding nine at any one time, as her majesty shall from time to time appoint. The ex officio judges shall be the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice of England, the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the common pleas, and the lord chief baron of the exchequer.... The lord chancellor ... shall be president of the court of appeal....
The high court of justice shall be a superior court of record and, subject as in this act mentioned, there shall be transferred to and vested in the said high court of justice the jurisdiction which, at the commencement of this act, was vested in ... all or any of the courts following....[13]
There shall not be transferred to or vested in the said high court of justice, by virtue of this act, (1) any appellate jurisdiction of the court of appeal in chancery or of the same court sitting as a court of appeal in bankruptcy; (2) any jurisdiction of the court of appeal in chancery of the county palatine of Lancaster; (3) any jurisdiction usually vested in the lord chancellor or in the lords justices of appeal in chancery ... in relation to the custody of the persons and estates of idiots, lunatics, and persons of unsound mind; (4) any jurisdiction vested in the lord chancellor in relation to grants of letters patent or the issue of commissions or other writings to be passed under the great seal of the united kingdom; (5) any jurisdiction exercised by the lord chancellor in right of or on behalf of her majesty as visitor of any college or of any charitable or other foundation; (6) any jurisdiction of the master of the rolls in relation to records in London or elsewhere in England.
The court of appeal established by this act shall be a superior court of record, and there shall be transferred to and vested in such court all jurisdiction and powers of the courts following: that is to say, (1) all jurisdiction and powers of the lord chancellor and of the court of appeal in chancery in the exercise of his and its appellate jurisdiction, and of the same court as a court of appeal in bankruptcy; (2) all jurisdiction and powers of the court of appeal in chancery of the county palatine of Lancaster ...; (3) all jurisdiction and powers of the court of the lord warden of the stannaries, assisted by his assessors ...; (4) all jurisdiction and powers of the court of exchequer chamber; (5) all jurisdiction vested in or capable of being exercised by her majesty in council, or the judicial committee of her majesty's privy council, upon appeal from any judgment or order of the high court of admiralty or from any order in lunacy made by the lord chancellor or any other person having jurisdiction in lunacy.
The said court of appeal shall have jurisdiction and power to hear and determine appeals from any judgment or order, save as hereinafter mentioned, of her majesty's high court of justice, or of any judges or judge thereof, subject to the provisions of this act, and to such rules and orders of court, for regulating the terms and conditions on which such appeals shall be allowed, as may be made pursuant to this act. For all the purposes of and incidental to the hearing and determination of any appeal within its jurisdiction and the amendment, execution, and enforcement of any judgment or order made on any such appeal, and for the purpose of every other authority expressly given to the court of appeal by this act, the said court of appeal shall have all the power, authority, and jurisdiction by this act vested in the high court of justice....
No error or appeal shall be brought from any judgment or order of the high court of justice or of the court of appeal ... to the house of lords or to the judicial committee of her majesty's privy council....[14]
In every civil cause or matter commenced in the high court of justice, law and equity shall be administered by the high court of justice and the court of appeal respectively....
Her majesty by commission of assize or by any other commission, either general or special, may assign to any judge or judges of the high court of justice or other persons usually named in commissions of assize, the duty of trying and determining within any place or district specially fixed for that purpose by such commission ... any cause or matter depending in the said high court or the exercise of any civil or criminal jurisdiction capable of being exercised by the said high court.... And any commissioner or commissioners appointed in pursuance of this section shall, when engaged in the exercise of any jurisdiction assigned to him or them in pursuance of this act, be deemed to constitute a court of the said high court of justice....
For the more convenient dispatch of business in the said high court of justice ... , there shall be in the said high court five divisions ... , called respectively the Chancery Division, the Queen's Bench Division, the Common Pleas Division, the Exchequer Division, and the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division.... His majesty in council may from time to time, upon any report or recommendation of the council of judges of the supreme court ... , order that any reduction or increase in the number of divisions of the high court of justice, or in the number of the judges of the said high court ... may ... be carried into effect....
All appeals from petty or quarter sessions, from a county court, or from any other inferior court, which might before the passing of this act have been brought to any court or judge whose jurisdiction is by this act transferred to the high court of justice, may be heard and determined by divisional courts of the said high court of justice.... The determination of such appeals respectively by such divisional courts shall be final, unless special leave to appeal from the same to the court of appeal shall be given....[15]
Ibid., VIII, 306 f.: 36-37 Victoria, c. 66.
(L) Appellate Jurisdiction Act (1876)
An act for amending the law in respect of the appellate jurisdiction of the house of lords and for other purposes. Be it enacted ... as follows: —
... Subject as in this act mentioned, an appeal shall lie to the house of lords from any order or judgment of any of the courts following: that is to say, (1) of her majesty's court of appeal in England; and (2) of any court in Scotland from which error or an appeal, at or immediately before the commencement of this act, lay to the house of lords by common law or by statute; and (3) of any court in Ireland from which error or an appeal, at or immediately before the commencement of this act, lay to the house of lords by common law or by statute.
Every appeal shall be brought by way of petition to the house of lords, praying that the matter of the order or judgment appealed against may be reviewed before her majesty the queen in her court of parliament, in order that the said court may determine what of right and according to the law and custom of this realm ought to be done in the subject matter of such appeal.
An appeal shall not be heard and determined by the house of lords unless there are present at such hearing and determination not less than three of the following persons, in this act designated lords of appeal: that is to say, (1) the lord chancellor of Great Britain for the time being; and (2) the lords of appeal in ordinary to be appointed as in this act mentioned; and (3) such peers of parliament as are for the time being holding or have held any of the offices in this act described as high judicial offices.
For the purpose of aiding the house of lords in the hearing and determination of appeals, her majesty may, at any time after the passing of this act, by letters patent appoint two qualified persons to be lords of appeal in ordinary, but such appointment shall not take effect until the commencement of this act. A person shall not be qualified to be appointed by her majesty a lord of appeal in ordinary unless he has been, at or before the time of his appointment, the holder for a period of not less than two years of some one or more of the offices in this act described as high judicial offices, or has been, at or before such time as aforesaid, for not less than fifteen years, a practising barrister in England or Ireland or a practising advocate in Scotland. Every lord of appeal in ordinary shall hold his office during good behaviour, and shall continue to hold the same notwithstanding the demise of the crown; but he may be removed from such office on the address of both houses of parliament. There shall be paid to every lord of appeal in ordinary a salary of £6000 a year.
Every lord of appeal in ordinary, unless he is otherwise entitled to sit as a member of the house of lords, shall, by virtue and according to the date of his appointment, be entitled during his life to rank as a baron by such style as her majesty may be pleased to appoint, and shall during the time that he continues in his office as a lord of appeal in ordinary, and no longer, be entitled to a writ of summons to attend and to sit and vote in the house of lords. His dignity as a lord of parliament shall not descend to his heirs. On any lord of appeal in ordinary vacating his office by death, resignation, or otherwise, her majesty may fill up the vacancy by the appointment of another qualified person.
A lord of appeal in ordinary shall, if a privy councillor, be a member of the judicial committee of the privy council, and, subject to the due performance by a lord of appeal in ordinary of his duties as to the hearing and determining of appeals in the house of lords, it shall be his duty, being a privy councillor, to sit and act as a member of the judicial committee of the privy council....
For preventing delay in the administration of justice, the house of lords may sit and act for the purpose of hearing and determining appeals, and also for the purpose of lords of appeal in ordinary taking their seats and the oaths, during any prorogation of parliament.... If on occasion of a dissolution of parliament her majesty is graciously pleased to think that it would be expedient, with a view to prevent delay in the administration of justice, to provide for the hearing and determination of appeals during such dissolution, it shall be lawful for her majesty, by writing under her sign-manual, to authorize the lords of appeal, in the name of the house of lords, to hear and determine appeals during the dissolution of parliament....
An appeal shall not be entertained by the house of lords without the consent of the attorney general or other law officer of the crown in any case where proceedings in error or on appeal could not hitherto have been had in the house of lords without the fiat or consent of such officer....
Be it enacted that, whenever any two of the paid judges of the judicial committee of the privy council have died or resigned, her majesty may appoint a third lord of appeal in ordinary in addition to the lords of appeal in ordinary hereinbefore authorized to be appointed. And on the death or resignation of the remaining two paid judges of the judicial committee of the privy council, her majesty may appoint a fourth lord of appeal in ordinary....[16]
Ibid., XI, 380 f.: 39-40 Victoria, c. 59.
[1] The earlier articles of this act repeal a long series of statutes running back to 1708; cf. no. 139E.
[2] Here are enumerated sections of eleven statutes running back to 1797. These statutes had modified the earlier Navigation Acts, such as no. 114D.
[3] For the first of these statutes, see no. 131A. The other statute was a supplementary enactment. The procedure for setting up a police force in a county remains the same under the present act.
[4] A senator is disqualified by loss of his property qualification, failure to attend two consecutive sessions of parliament, bankruptcy, or conviction of treason, felony, or infamous crime.
[5] The following articles divide the provinces into single member districts and provide for a readjustment of representation every ten years.
[6] Subject to certain provisions guaranteeing equal rights to Catholic and Protestant schools.
[7] The county franchises of 1832 (see no. 130A) are now reduced to two: freehold, copyhold, and leasehold for a term of sixty years of lands or tenements of the annual value of £5 and upwards; and occupation of lands or tenements of the ratable value of £12 and upwards.
[8] Thirty-eight such boroughs are listed. Furthermore, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds are each given an additional representative; a number of new boroughs are created; and certain counties are divided to form new constituencies.
[9] The universities of Oxford and Cambridge continue to be represented as before.
[10] No. 121B.
[11] Elaborate provisions are made for the organizing of school districts in the metropolis and, when expedient, for combining two or more districts.
[12] The members are the judges of the courts enumerated above, except such as may be appointed ordinary judges in the court of appeal.
[13] Those mentioned at the beginning of the act, together with certain minor courts.
[14] But see the following statute.
[15] The detailed provisions concerning the jurisdiction of the divisional courts and the procedure followed there and in the court of appeal are here omitted.
[16] Such lords of appeal in ordinary, on being made privy councillors, would become members of the judicial committee of the privy council; see the third paragraph above.