Railway Regulation Act, 1840

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RAILWAY REGULATION ACT 1840

CHAPTER XCVII.

An Act for regulating Railways.[¹] [10th August 1840.]

[Preamble.]

[Ss. 1, 2 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17. S. 1 refers to the Board of Trade as “The Lord of the Committee of her Majesty’s Privy Council appointed for trade and foreign plantations.”]

Returns to be made by railway companies.

3. [²] The lords of the said committee may order and direct every railway company to make up and deliver to them . . . a table of all tolls, rates, and charges from time to time levied on each class 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.

Penalty for making false returns.

4. [¹] 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 misdemeanor.

[Ss. 5, 6 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17.]

Copies of existing byelaws to be laid before the board of Trade, &c.

7. And whereas many railway companies are or may hereafter be empowered by Act of Parliament to make byelaws, 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 byelaws, 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 many 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 byelaw, 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.

No future byelaws to be valid till two calendar months after they have been laid before the Board of Trade.

8. No such byelaw, 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 byelaw, 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 byelaw, 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.

Board of Trade may disallow byelaw.

9. It shall be lawful for the lords of the said committee, at any time either before or after any byelaw, 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 byelaw, 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.

[Ss. 10, 12 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17.]

Punishment of servants of railway companies guilty of misconduct.

13. It shall be lawful for any officer or agent of any railway company, or for any special constable duly appointed, and all such persons as they may call to their assistance, to seize and detain any engine driver, guard, porter, or other servant in the employ of such company, who shall be found drunk while employed upon the railway, or commit any offence against any of the byelaws, rules, or regulations of such company, or shall wilfully, maliciously, or negligently do or omit to do any act whereby the life or limb of any person passing along or being upon the railway belonging to such company, or the works thereof respectively, shall be or might be injured or endangered, or whereby the passage of any of the engines, carriages, or trains shall be or might be obstructed or impeded, and to convey such engine driver, guard, porter, or other servant so offending, or any person counselling, aiding, or assisting in such offence, with all convenient despatch, before some justice of the peace for the place within which such offence shall be committed, without any other warrant or authority than this Act; and every such person so offending, and every person couselling, aiding, or assisting therein as aforesaid, shall, when convicted before such justice as aforesaid, (who is hereby authorized and required, upon complaint to him made upon oath, without information in writing, to take cognizance thereof, and to act summarily in the permises,) in the discretion of such justice, be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two calendar months, or, in the like discretion of such justice, shall for every such offence forfeit to her Majesty and sum not exceeding ten pounds, and in default of payment thereof shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labour as aforesaid, . . .

Justice of the peace may send any case to be tried by the quarter sessions.

14. 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 cognizance 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.

[S. 15 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17.]

Punishment of persons obstructing the officers of any railway company, or trespassing upon any railway.

16. If any person shall wifully 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, or any of the stations or other works or premises connected therewith, and shall refuse to quit the same upon request to him 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 authorized and required, upon complaint to him upon oath, to take cognizance 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. . . .

Proceedings not to be quashed for want of form, or removed into the superior courts.

17. 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.

Enactments empowering two justices to decide disputes respecting the proper places for openings in the ledges or flanches of railways, repealed.

18. 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 expence 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 in 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 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.

Board of Trade to determine such disputes in future.

19. 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.

[S. 20 rep 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17.]

Meaning of the words “railway” and “company.”

21. 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 lesses, executors, administrators, and assigns, unless the subject or context be repugnant to such construction.

[S. 22 rep. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78. s. 17.]

[¹ Short title “The Railway Regulation Act, 1840.” See 55 & 56 Vict., C. 10. This Act is applied to tramways in Ireland, subject to certain provisions, by 22 & 24 Vict. c. 152. s. 46.]

[² Rep., except so much as relates to a table of tolls, rates, and charges, 34 & 35 Vict. c. 78, s. 17.]

[¹ See note to s. 3.]