Parliamentary Deposits Act, 1846

PARLIAMENTARY DEPOSITS ACT 1846

CHAPTER XX.

An Act to amend an Act of the Second Year of Her present Majesty, for providing for the Custody of certain Monies paid, in pursuance of the Standing Orders of either House of Parliament, by Subscribers to Works or Undertakings to be effected under the Authority of Parliament.[1] [18th June 1846.]

[Preamble recites 1 & 2 Vict. c. 117.]

[S. 1 (repealing recited Act) rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

Authority to deposit money required by standing orders of either house of Parliament to be deposited by subscribers to any undertaking to be executed under authority of Parliament.

2. In all cases in which any sum of money is required by any standing order of either House of Parliament, either now in force or hereafter to be in force, to be deposited by the subscribers to any work or undertaking which is to be executed under the authority of an Act of Parliament, if the director or person, or directors or persons, having the management of the affairs of such work or undertaking, not exceeding five in number, shall apply to one of the clerks in the office of the clerk of the Parliaments with respect to any such money required by any standing order of the lords spiritual and temporal in Parliament assembled, or to one of the clerks of the private bill office of the House of Commons with respect to any such money required by any standing order of the commons in Parliament assembled, to be deposited, it shall be lawful for the clerk so applied to, by warrant or order under his hand, to direct that such sum of money shall be paid in manner herein-after mentioned; (that is to say,) into the Bank of England, in the name and with the privity of the accountant general of the Court of Chancery in England, if the work or undertaking in respect of which the sum of money is required to be deposited is intended to be executed in that part of the United Kingdom called England, or into any of the banks in Scotland established by Act of Parliament or royal charter, in the name and with the privity of the Queen’s remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, at the option of the person or persons making such application as aforesaid, in case such work or undertaking is intended to be executed in that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland, or into the Bank of Ireland, in the name and with the privity of the accountant-general of the Court of Chancery in Ireland, in case such work or undertaking is intended to be made or executed in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and such warrant or order shall be a sufficient authority fur the accountant-general of the Court of Chancery in England, the Queen’s remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, and the accountant general of the Court of Chancery in Ireland, respectively, to permit the sum of money directed to be paid by such warrant or order to be placed to an account opened or to be opened in his name in the bank mentioned in such warrant or order.

Payment of deposit.

Transfer or deposit of securities in lieu money.

3. It shall be lawful for the person or persons named in such warrant or order, or the survivors or survivor of them, to pay he sum mentioned in such warrant or order into the bank mentioned in such warrant or order, in the name and with the privity of the officer or person in whose name such sum shall be directed to be paid by such warrant or order, to be placed to his account there ex parte the work or undertaking mentioned in such warrant or order, pursuant to the method prescribed by any Act or Acts for the time being in force for regulating monies paid into the said courts, and pursuant to the general orders of the said courts respectively, and without fee or reward; and every such sum so paid in, or the securities in or upon which the same may be invested as herein-after mentioned, or the stocks, funds, or securities authorized to be transferred or deposited in lieu thereof as herein-after mentioned, shall there remain until the same, with all interest and dividends, if any, accrued thereon, shall be paid out of such bank, in pursuance of the provisions of this Act: Provided always, that in case any such director or person, directors or persons, having the management of any such proposed work or undertaking as aforesaid, shall have previously invested in the three per centum consolidated or the three per centum reduced bank annuities, Exchequer bills, or other government securities, the sum or sums of money required by any such standing order of either house of Parliament as aforesaid to be deposited by the subscribers to any work or undertaking which is to be executed under the authority of an Act of Parliament, it shall be lawful for the person or persons named in such warrant or order, or the survivors or survivor of them, to deposit such Exchequer bills or other government securities in the bank mentioned in such warrant or order, in the name and with the privity of the officer or person in whose name such sum shall by such warrant or order be directed to be paid, or to transfer such government, stocks or funds into the name of the officer or person; and such transfer or deposit shall be directed by such clerk of the office of the clerk of the Parliaments, or such clerk of the private bill office of the House of Commons, as the case may be, in lieu of payment of so much of the sum of money required to be de posited as aforesaid as the same Exchequer bills or other the government stocks or funds will extend to satisfy at the price at which the same were originally purchased by the said person or persons, director or directors as aforesaid, such price to be proved by production of the broker’s certificate of such original purchase.

Investment of deposit paid into Bank of England or Bank of Ireland.

4. If the person or persons named in such warrant or order, or the survivors or survivor of them, desire to have invested any sum so paid into the bank of England or the Bank of Ireland, or any interest or dividend which may have accrued on any stocks or securities so transferred or deposited as aforesaid, the court in the name of whose accountant general the same may have been paid may, on a petition presented to such court in a summary way by him or them, order that such sum or such interest or dividends shall, until the same be paid out to the parties entitled to the same in pursuance of this Act, be laid out in the three per centum consolidated or three per centum reduced bank annuities, or any government security or securities, at the option of the aforesaid person or persons, or the survivor or survivors of them.

Repayment of deposit.

Certificate required in certain cases.

Granting certificate, &c. not to make the chairman or speaker signing the same liable.

5. On the termination of the session of Parliament in which the petition or bill for the purpose of making or sanctioning any such work or undertaking shall have been introduced into Parliament, or if such petition or bill shall be rejected or finally withdrawn by some proceeding in either house of Parliament, or shall not be allowed to proceed, or if the person or persons by whom the said money was paid or security deposited shall have failed to present a petition, or if an Act be passed authorizing the making of such work or undertaking, and if in any of the foregoing cases the person or persons named in such warrant or order, or the survivors or survivor of them, or the majority of such persons, apply by petition to the court in the name of whose accountant general the sum of money mentioned in such warrant or order shall have been paid, or such Exchequer bills, stocks, or funds shall have been deposited or transferred as aforesaid, or to the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, in case such sum of money shall have been paid in the name of the said Queen’s remembrancer, the court in the name of whose accountant-general or Queens remembrancer such sum of money shall have been paid, or such Exchequer bills, stocks, or funds shall have been deposited or transferred, shall by order direct the sum of money paid in pursuance of such warrant or order, or the stocks, funds, or securities in or upon which the same may have been invested, and the interest or dividends thereof, or the Exchequer bills, stocks, or funds so deposited or transferred as aforesaid, and the interests and dividends thereof, to be paid or transferred to the party or parties so applying, or to any other person or persons whom they may appoint in that behalf; but no such order shall be made in the case of any such petition or bill being rejected or not being allowed to proceed, or being withdrawn or not being presented, or of an Act being passed authorizing the making of such work or undertaking unless upon the production of the certificate of the chairman of committees of the House of Lords with reference to any proceeding in the House of Lords, or of the speaker of the House of Commons with reference to any proceeding in the House of Commons, that the said petition or bill was rejected or not allowed to proceed, or was withdrawn during its passage through one of the houses of Parliament or was not presented, or that such Act was passed, which certificate the said chairman or speaker shall grant on the application in writing of the person or persons, or the majority of the persons, named in such warrant, or the survivor or survivors of them: Provided always, that the granting of any such certificate, or any mistake or error therein or in relation thereto, shall not make the chairman or speaker signing the same liable in respect of any monies, stocks, funds, and securities which may be paid, deposited, invested, or transferred in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, or the interest or dividends thereof.

[1 Short title, “The Parliamentary Deposits Act, 1846.” See 55 & 56 Vict. c. 10.]