Valuation (Ireland) Act, 1852

VALUATION (IRELAND) ACT 1852

CHAPTER LXIII.

An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Valuation of rateable Property in Ireland. [30th June 1852.]

[Preamble recites 9 & 10 Vict. c. 110.]

[Ss. 1–9 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.) Ss. 1, 2 provided that the tenement valuation under recited Act was to be used for county assessments, subject to revision under this Act. S. 6 authorized the Lord Lieutenant to appoint a commissioner of valuation for the several counties. S. 7 authorized such commissioner to appoint valuators.]

Commissioner and valuators, &c. may enter upon tenements for purpose of making valuation, &c.

10. It shall and may be lawful for any Commissioner of Valuation to be appointed or continued under this Act, and for any valuators, surveyors, or other persons continued or appointed under this Act, from time to time to enter into and upon any tenements or hereditaments, for the purpose of making or carrying on any valuation or revision authorized by this Act: Provided always, that in every case in which it shall be necessary for any such commissioner, valuator, surveyor, or other person to enter any house, or any walled garden, or orchard or pleasure ground, and when the owner or occupier thereof shall oppose or refuse to allow such entry, such commissioner, valuator, surveyor, or other person shall give three days notice to the owner or occupier of such house, garden, orchard, or pleasure ground, requiring to be permitted to enter the same; and at any reasonable time after the delivery of such notice it shall be lawful to make such entry; such commissioner, valuators, surveyors, or other persons doing as little damage as may be in the execution of the powers to them granted by this Act, and making reasonable satisfaction (if required) to the owners of and other persons interested in any such tenements or hereditaments, gardens, orchards, or pleasure grounds, which shall or may be in any way hurt or damnified in or by the execution of any of the powers of this Act; and this Act shall be sufficient to indemnify such commissioner, valuators, surveyors, or other persons, and all persons acting in aid or under the orders of any of them, in the execution of this Act.

Tenements to be separately valued upon an estimate of the net annual value with reference to the prices of agricultural produce as herein specified.

Such valuation in regard to houses, &c. to be made upon an estimate of the net annual value.

11. In every valuation hereafter to be made, or to be carried on or completed under the provisions of this Act, the Commissioner of Valuation shall cause every tenement or rateable hereditament herein-after specified to be separately valued; and such valuation in regard to the land shall be made upon an estimate of the net annual value thereof with reference to the average prices of the several articles of agricultural produce herein-after specified, all peculiar local circumstances in each case being taken into consideration, and all rates, taxes, and public charges, if any, (except tithe rentcharge,) being paid by the tenant; (that is to say,)

Wheat at the general average price of seven shillings and sixpence per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Oats at the general average price of four shillings and tenpence per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Barley at the general average price of five shillings and sixpence per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Flax at the general average price of forty-nine shillings per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Butter at the general average price of sixty-five shillings and fourpence per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Beef at the general average price of thirty-five shillings and sixpence per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Mutton at the general average price of forty-one shillings per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

Pork at the general average price of thirty-two shillings per hundredweight of one hundred and twelve pounds:

And such valuation in regard to houses and buildings shall be made upon an estimate of the net annual value thereof; that is to say, the rent for which, one year with another, the same might in its actual state be reasonably expected to let from year to year, the probable average annual cost of repairs, insurance, and other expences (if any) necessary to maintain the hereditament in its actual state, or rates, taxes, or public charges, if any, (except tithe rentcharge,) being paid by the tenant.

What hereditaments are rateable.

12. For the purposes of this Act the following hereditaments shall be deemed to be the rateable hereditaments; viz., all lands, buildings, and opened mines; all commons and rights of common, and all other profits to be had or received or taken out of any land; and in the case of land or buildings used exclusively for public, scientific, or charitable purposes, as herein-after specified, half the annual rent derived by the owner or other person interested in the same, so far as the same can or may be ascertained by the said Commissioner of Valuation; and all rights of fishery; all canals, navigations, and rights of navigation; all railways and tramroads; all rights of way and other rights or easements over land, and the tolls levied in respect of such rights and easements, and all other tolls: Provided always, that no turf bog or turf bank used for the exclusive purpose of cutting or saving turf, or for making turf mould therefrom, for fuel or manure, shall be deemed rateable under this Act, unless a rent or other valuable consideration shall be payable for the same: And provided also, that no mines which have not been opened seven years before the passing of this Act shall be deemed rateable until the term of seven years from the time of opening thereof shall have expired; and no mines hereafter to be opened shall be deemed rateable until seven years after the same shall have been opened; and mines bonâ fide re-opened after the same shall have been bonâ fide abandoned shall be deemed an opening of mines within the meaning of this Act.

Repealed

[S. 13 rep. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 4. s. 13.]]

Valuation not to be increased on account of improvements under 10 & 11 Vict. c. 32. s. 4. &c.

14. No hereditament or tenement shall be liable to be rated in respect of any increase in the value thereof arising from any drainage, reclamation, or embankment from the sea or any lake or river, or any erection of farm, outhouse, or office buildings, or any permanent agricultural improvement as specified under the provisions of the Landed Property Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1847, section four, made or executed thereon within seven years next before the making of such valuation or revision.

[S. 15 (requiring the Commissioner to distinguish all hereditaments of a public nature, or used for charitable purposes, or for purposes of science, literature, and fine arts, as specified in 6 & 7 Vict. c. 36; and providing that the same should be exempt from assessment) rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 8. s. 1.]

No hereditaments to be deemed of a public nature, &c. unless so altogether and exclusively.

16. For the purposes of such valuation, no hereditaments or tenements, or portions of the same, shall be deemed to be of a public nature, or used for such charitable, scientific, or other purposes as herein-before specified, within the meaning of this Act, unless such hereditaments or tenements, or portions of the same respectively, shall be altogether of a public nature, or used exclusively for such charitable, scientific, or other purposes aforesaid; and the valuations or exemptions in such cases shall be subject to such and the like appeals against the same as are herein-after provided as to valuations in other cases.

Lists of valuation to be sent to treasurers of counties, clerks to guardians, and town councils.

17. When and so soon as the valuation or revision of valuation of all the hereditaments and tenements within any county, barony, or poor law union, county of a city, county of a town, shall be completed, the Commissioner of Valuation shall prepare and make out a list or table of the several hereditaments and tenements contained in each townland or other denomination therein, and of their respective valuations, signed by him the Commissioner of Valuation; and the said Commissioner of Valuation shall transmit a sufficient number of printed or written copies of such lists, so signed by him, to the treasurer of the county, and to the clerk of the board of guardians of each union in which the hereditaments and tenements contained in such schedule are situate, and to the town council of any city, borough, or town interested therein.

Clerks of boards of guardians to publish notices stating when and where lists may be inspected, &c.

18. Every clerk of any board of guardians to whom copies of any such lists shall be transmitted as aforesaid shall, within three days after the receipt of such lists, cause to be affixed a notice on the principal outer door or gate pier of the church, and of any one Roman Catholic chapel, and of any one Presbyterian meeting house, if any, within every parish or part of a parish (included in the union) in which any hereditaments or tenements contained in such list are situate, stating the time at which said lists were so transmitted, and the time and place at which said lists may be inspected, and shall, at all reasonable hours on every day, from and after the receipt of said lists, for twenty-one days then next ensuing, leave open for public inspection at the workhouse of the union, and at the station of each party of constabulary, if any, situate within any such parish, copies of the said lists, and shall permit extracts to be taken therefrom at all reasonable times as aforesaid: Provided always, that in all cases in which no clerk shall have been appointed to the board of guardians of any union, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners for administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland to appoint a person to act in his stead.

Complaint by person aggrieved in respect of valuation.

19. Within twenty-eight days from and after the receipt of the said lists by the clerk of any union as aforesaid any person aggrieved by reason of the valuation of any tenement or rateable hereditament, or by reason of any inaccurate statement of area or inaccurate description of any tenement or rateable hereditament, contained in such lists, or any other cause whatsoever, shall send by post or deliver to the clerk of the board of guardians of the union in which such hereditament or tenement is situate a notice in writing, duly signed by him the said person aggrieved, or by his known agent, setting forth the grounds of such grievance; and the said clerk of the board of guardians shall forthwith forward said notice to the Commissioner of Valuation at the office in Dublin of the general valuation of Ireland.

Powers of Commissioner to deal with such complaint.

20. The said Commissioner of Valuation shall, on receipt of every such notice as aforesaid, inquire into the subject matter thereof, and, if necessary, direct a valuator or surveyor, as the case may require, who shall not have been previously employed in making the original valuation contained in the lists as aforesaid, to view such hereditament or tenement, and investigate the complaint stated in such notice, and report thereon to the said Commissioner of Valuation; and should it appear to him the said Commissioner of Valuation from such report that the valuation or statement of the area of the tenement or rateable hereditament referred to in any of such notices requires amendment, the Commissioner of Valuation shall have power to alter and amend the valuation or statement of the area of the tenement or rateable hereditament so appealed against, and also to alter and amend the valuation or statement of the area of any other tenement or hereditament against which there shall have been no appeal, but which may appear to him to be similarly circumstanced with those respecting which appeals have been made, in order to render the valuation of every tenement or hereditament comprised in such list proportionate and uniform.

Commissioner to prepare and transmit statement of cases in which he shall have altered or refused to alter valuation, &c.

21. The Commissioner of Valuation shall make out and sign a statement of all cases in every townland or other denomination in which he shall have so altered or refused to alter the valuation or statement of the area of any tenement or hereditament, or otherwise amended the same as aforesaid, and shall transmit such list, so signed, to the clerk of the board of guardians of the union in which such tenements are situate, who shall, within three days after the receipt of said lists, make the same public, by notices, in the same manner as herein-before provided as to the publication of the primary valuation of tenements.

Appeal to quarter sessions from the valuation.

If appeal affects the valuation of other tenements, notice to be given to persons interested.

22. At any time within twenty-one days after the receipt of the said last-mentioned lists in the form as aforesaid by the clerk of the board of guardians, any person aggrieved by the valuation of any tenement or tenements contained in said list, and desiring to appeal therefrom, shall send or deliver to the clerk of the board of guardians a notice in writing, duly signed by him the said person aggrieved, or by his known agent, of his intention to appeal to the next general or quarter sessions of the peace for the division of the county, or for the county of a city or county of a town, in which said tenement or rateable hereditament may be situate, stating the ground of such appeal; but in case the next general or quarter sessions as aforesaid shall commence within forty days after the receipt of the said last-mentioned lists as aforesaid by the clerk of the board of guardians, such appeal shall be made to the succeeding general or quarter sessions as aforesaid; and the said clerk of the board of guardians of the union in which such property is situate shall forthwith forward the said notice to the Commissioner of Valuation, who shall be the respondent in the said appeal; and the clerk of the board of guardians shall cause a list of all such notices of appeal, with the names of the appellants and of the lands which are the subject of appeal, to remain open for inspection at the workhouse of the union; and if the cause of appeal shall be such as to require alteration to be made in the valuation of any tenement for which any other person or persons is or are liable to be rated, the appellant shall give like notice to such other person or persons, who shall, if he or they so desire, be heard upon such appeal; and within five days after notice given of any such appeal the person appealing shall enter into a recognizance in the sum of five pounds before some justice of the peace, with sufficient securities, conditioned to try such appeal at the general or quarter sessions of the peace for which such notice shall have been given, and to abide the order of and to pay such costs as shall be awarded by the court at such sessions; and within three days after such recognizance shall have been entered into, the magistrate before whom such recognizance shall have been entered, or clerk of the petty sessions, shall send the same by post, or shall forward the same to the office of the clerk of the peace for the respective county or place, there to remain of record, and open for public inspection, without payment of any fees.

Decision of quarter sessions on appeal to be final.

Costs.

23. The court before which any such appeal shall be brought as aforesaid is hereby empowered and required to hear and determine the matter of such appeal as stated in such notice of appeal, but not any other cause or matter of appeal, and to hear all parties who may be, directly or indirectly, interested in the cause of such appeal, and to make such order therein as to such court shall seem fit, and to award such costs to the party appealing or appealed against, or to any other party who shall be brought before the said court on the hearing of such appeal, whether the appellant shall prosecute such appeal or not, or shall appear at the hearing or not, as the said court shall think proper; and upon the hearing of any such appeal the said last-mentioned lists of valuation, signed by the Commissioner of Valuation, shall be deemed to be primâ facie evidence of the correctness of the valuations contained therein, till the contrary be shown to the court; and the determination of the said court in or concerning the premises shall be conclusive and binding on all parties to all intents and purposes whatsoever: Provided always, that if the costs of such appeal shall be awarded against the Commissioner of Valuation, such costs, when paid by such commissioner, together with the necessary costs incurred by such commissioner in defending such appeal, shall be deemed to be and charged as part of the expences of the valuation

Expences of clerk of guardians under this Act.

24. The guardians of the poor of the union shall, out of any funds under their control, pay to the clerk of the guardians, or other person appointed in his stead, the reasonable expences which he shall have incurred in the execution of this Act.

[S. 25 (Commissioner, on completion of valuation, to cause a final list to be printed, and send copies to clerks of boards of guardians, town councils, and treasurers of counties) rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

The county rates to be levied according to such final lists of valuation.

26. From and after the commencement of the summer assizes next ensuing the day on which such final lists of the valuation of any county shall be received by the treasurer of such county, all county or grand jury rates and assessments then and thereafter made, presented, or ordered in or for such county, or any townland therein, shall be levied within the respective townlands or townland, as the case may be, and on such tenements and hereditaments therein, according to the valuations contained in such final lists, and upon no other, until the same shall be revised in the manner herein-after mentioned: . . .

Poor rates and rates by town councils to be made according to such final lists of valuation.

27. Every rate for the relief of the destitute poor in every union which shall be made after thirty days from the time when the board of guardians of such union shall have received such final lists of the valuation of all the townlands comprised in such union, and every rate made by any town council within such union, shall be made upon the hereditaments and tenements liable thereto according to the valuation of each hereditament or tenement comprised in such lists so signed and transmitted as aforesaid by the Commissioner of Valuation, until the same shall be revised in the manner herein-after mentioned: . . .

So much of 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56., &c. as authorizes amendment, &c. of rates on account of value, shall not apply to any poor rate made in conformity with valuation.

28. So much of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, or of any Act or Acts amending the same, as may authorize the court, on appeal being made thereto, at any general or quarter sessions, to amend, alter, or quash any rate, on the ground of the net annual value assigned therein to any tenement or rateable hereditament, shall not extend to or apply to any rate for the relief of the destitute poor made and assessed on such tenement or rateable hereditament in conformity with the valuation thereof signed by the Commissioner of Valuation as aforesaid.

[Ss. 29, 30 rep. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 8. s. 1. S. 29 authorized boards of guardians to send lists of tenements requiring revision to the Commissioner of Valuation. S. 30 required the Commissioner on receipt of such list to cause a revision to be made and to prepare and sign a list of the tenements so revised and transmit the same to the guardians, the town council of the borough, and the treasurer of the county.]

Persons may appeal against such revision, in manner herein-before provided.

31. The owners or occupiers of all tenements the area or valuation of which shall have been altered as last aforesaid in the list signed by the Commissioner of Valuation shall have the same powers of appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation and to the quarter sessions, subject to the same conditions and provisions, and exercised in the same manner and to the same extent, as herein-before provided in regard to appeal: Provided always, that such total valuation of lands as last aforesaid of any townland shall not be increased or lessened at the hearing of any such appeal as aforesaid: Provided also, that when all the appeals, if any, so taken, shall have been heard and finally determined or disposed of in manner herein-before provided, the Commissioner of Valuation shall make out and transmit lists in the form as aforesaid of the tenements and properties so finally revised to the guardians of the poor of the union, and to the town council of the borough, and to the treasurer of the county, in which respectively such tenements and properties are situate.

Rates to be made in boroughs and unions according to the value in revised list.

32. In every rate to be made after thirty days from the receipt of such last-mentioned finally revised list of tenements or hereditaments in each year by the board of guardians of any union, or town council, the tenements or hereditaments included in the said list shall be rated according to the value thereof as set forth in the said list, in place of that specified in any former lists, until the same shall again be revised from time to time in the manner herein-before last mentioned.

County rates to be levied according to revised list.

33. And from and after the commencement of the summer assizes next ensuing the day on which such finally revised lists of the valuation of any county or barony in each year shall be received by the treasurer of such county, all grand jury or county assessments and rates shall be levied within the several townlands, and on such tenements and hereditaments therein, according to the valuations contained in such lists, in place of those specified in any former lists, until the same shall again be revised from time to time in the manner herein-before last mentioned.

A new valuation may be made of every county fourteen years after former valuation, &c. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 110.

34. And for the purpose of providing for the necessary revision of the valuation of the land in consequence of changes that may have taken place in the gross amount of the value of the several townlands from time to time, be it enacted, that at or after the termination of fourteen years from the period of the final completion of the first general tenement valuation of any poor law union, county, or barony, under the Act of the ninth and tenth years of her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and ten, or under this Act, it shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant on application by the grand jury of the county, if he shall think fit so to do, to direct the Commissioner of Valuation to make a general revision of the valuation of any such poor law union, county, or barony, and so from time to time at or after the expiration of every subsequent period of fourteen years from the final completion of the preceding general revision of the valuation to cause a new revision to be made, and upon each such occasion to cause notice to be given to the grand jury of such county, county of a city or county of a town, previous to such direction, by letter from the chief secretary, addressed to the secretary of the grand jury of such county, county of a city or county of a town, and also notice to be given to the clerks of the boards of guardians of the several unions or parts of unions contained within such county; and the said commissioner shall proceed therein as in the first general valuation or general revision of valuation of any county which may have been made under the provisions of this Act; and the grand jury of the said county, county of a city or county of a town, and all officers thereof, and every public officer or other person duly authorized, shall perform all acts required to be done by them or him in the same manner and within the same periods as herein-before is provided for the first general valuation or general revision of valuation of the said county, county of a city or county of a town, and shall have the same powers, privileges, and immunities in the performance of their respective duties; and the said new valuation, when completed, shall have the same effect and operation, to all intents and purposes, as the former general valuation or general revision of valuation, and shall supersede the same; and that which is hereby enacted in relation to such first general valuation or general revision of valuation, and the several proceedings relating thereto, and all matters connected therewith, shall apply in due course and under the same circumstances and conditions to such revision of the valuation to be made from time to time as aforesaid: . . .

Use of Ordnance Survey plans in revision.

35. And for the purpose of determining the contents of tenements from the detail afforded by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, be it enacted, that in all revisions of the valuation the latest revised publication of any of the plans of such ordnance survey shall be used by the valuators or surveyors employed in that behalf.

[Ss. 36–40 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 70. s. 4.]

Penalty for neglect of duty, obstruction, &c.

41. If any clerk to any board of guardians, clerk of the peace, secretary of a grand jury, treasurer of a county, town clerk, or any valuator appointed by the Commissioner of Valuation, or other person or persons, shall omit or neglect or refuse to do any matter or thing which any such person is by this Act required and directed to do in the execution of this Act, or if any person shall wilfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent any person acting in the execution of this Act, every person so offending shall forfeit a sum not exceeding ten pounds, in the discretion of the justices before whom such offender shall be convicted.

Recovery of penalties.

14 & 15 Vict. c. 93.

42. All penalties and forfeitures inflicted or imposed by this Act may be sued for and recovered in a summary way by the order and adjudication of any justice or justices of the peace at petty sessions, under and subject to the several provisions and regulations relating to summary jurisdiction contained in the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, and shall be applied in the manner by the said Act directed.

Proceedings for conviction of offenders not to be quashed for want of form, &c.

43. No proceedings to be had touching the conviction of any offender or offenders against this Act shall be quashed for want of form, nor be removed nor removable by certiorari, or any other writ or process whatsoever, into any of her Majesty’s courts of record at Dublin; and where any distress shall be made for any sum or sums of money to be levied by virtue of this Act, the distress itself shall not be deemed unlawful, nor the party or parties making the same be deemed a trespasser or trespassers, on account of any defect or want of form in the summons or conviction, or in the warrant of distress or other proceedings relating thereto; nor shall the party or parties distraining be deemed a trespasser or trespassers ab initio on account of any irregularity which shall be afterwards committed by the party or parties distraining, but the person or persons aggrieved by such irregularity shall and may recover full satisfaction for the special damage (if any) in an action on the case; but no plaintiff or plaintiffs shall recover in any action for such irregularity as aforesaid, if tender of sufficient amends hath been made, by or on behalf of the party distraining, before such action commenced.

Repealed

[S. 44 rep. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 56. (S.L.R.)]

Interpretation of terms.

9 Geo. 4. c. 82.

45. In the construction of this Act, unless there be anything in the subject or context repugnant to such construction, the word “inhabitant” shall include every one rated to the grand jury cess; the words “town council” and “council” shall include “town commissioners” under the Lighting of Towns (Ireland) Act, 1828, or any trustees or other body empowered by law to make local assessments; “clerk of the guardians” and “clerk” shall be understood to mean and include clerk of the board of guardians of the poor of the union, or other person appointed to act or acting in his stead; and the word “assizes” shall include “presenting term”; and the word “treasurer” shall include “finance committee”; and all provisions and directions in this Act contained relating to counties shall extend to all counties, counties of cities, counties of towns, and towns corporate in Ireland; and all the acts and duties by this Act required to be performed by the several grand juries at the assizes for any county shall and may, in the county of Dublin, be performed at the presenting terms by the grand jury of the said county duly met and impannelled, and in the county of the City of Dublin by the council of the borough of Dublin; and all provisions and directions relating to baronies shall extend to half baronies, and to all other divisions of counties being greater than parishes, and in reference to any county of a city or county of a town shall be deemed to mean and refer to such-county of a city or county of a town; and all provisions and directions relating to parishes shall extend to all chapelries or divisions of parishes or extra-parochial divisions; and all pro-disions and directions relating to townlands shall extend to all vivisions and sub-denominations of lands less than and being comprised within any parish; and the word “tenements” shall include rateable hereditaments; and the word “houses” shall include buildings; and the word “towns” shall include cities; and where any parish or union shall be situate in more than one county or barony, or partly in a county and partly in a county of a city, county of a town, or town corporate, the several parts of such parish shall be valued as a distinct parish in the several baronies or counties, or counties of cities or counties of towns, or towns corporate, to which they shall contribute to the payment of any county cess charges or grand jury rate.

Repealed

[S. 46 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

Apportionment of county, baronial, and parochial charges by a poundage rate, &c.

7 & 8 Vict. c. 106.

47. [Recital of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 106. s. 98.] It shall be lawful for the finance committee of the said county of Dublin, in making their apportionment of all charges under the County Dublin Grand Jury Act, 1844, to apportion, declare, and strike all county, baronial, or parochial charges imposed by grand jury presentments by a poundage rate upon each barony, parish, or denomination in the said county of Dublin, according to the valuation thereof contained in such printed list; and all applotments to be made under and in pursuance of any warrants issued by the finance committee of said county shall be made by a poundage rate upon the several tenements and hereditaments in such barony, parish, or denomination, according to the valuation thereof contained in such printed list: Provided always, that in making the poundage rate it shall not be necessary for the finance committee to adopt or take into account any smaller fraction than one fourth part of a penny in the pound, neither shall any rate so made be vitiated or impugned by reason of its exceeding the sum authorized by presentments to be raised, if the excess shall have been created by such fractions of not more than one fourth of a penny in the pound.

Saving of certain Acts. 10 & 11 Vict. c. 34.

48. Nothing in this Act contained shall repeal the provisions in the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, or in any Act incorporating the same, relative to the management of streets, or the liability to grand jury cess, or other payment in respect of making or repairing roads.

[Sched. rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]