City of London (Union of Parishes) Act 1907

City of London (Union of Parishes) Act 1907 An Act to provide for the union of the parishes in the city of London into one parish and to make better provision for the local government of the said city and for other purposes. Whereas the mayor aldermen and commons of the city of London in common council assembled (hereinafter called “the Common Council”) have power under the City of London Sewers Act 1848 and the Acts amending the same to direct the alderman or his deputy and the major part of the Common Councilmen of every ward within the said city from time to time to make a rate called the sewer rate for the maintenance of the sewerage and drainage of the said city and another rate called the consolidated rate for maintaining the streets in the said city and the other purposes in the said Acts mentioned: And whereas the Common Council have also power under the City of London Police Act 1839 and the Acts amending the same to order and direct that a rate (commonly called “the police rate”) shall be made in the several wards of the said city by the alderman or his deputy and the major part of the Common Councilmen of each ward to raise money for defraying three equal fourth parts of the expenses of the police force of the said city: And whereas there are at present more than one hundred parishes comprised within the city of London which are united in one union called “the City of London Union” having a board of guardians elected for such union: And whereas separate overseers are appointed for each of the said parishes and separate valuation lists are made for and separate poor rates are levied in each of the said parishes and the multiplication of valuation lists rate books demand notes and other documents leads to unnecessary expense: And whereas it is expedient that the said city should be constituted one parish for all other than ecclesiastical or charitable purposes or purposes of income tax inhabited house duty or land tax and that the Common Council should be constituted the overseers of such parish: And whereas certain lists of voters for the said city are now prepared by the secondary of the city of London and it is expedient that the duties now performed by the overseers of the said parishes respectively in respect of the preparation of lists of voters should be performed by the said secondary: And whereas it is expedient that the powers of the board of guardians of the said City of London Union to appoint the assessment committee of the said union should be transferred to and vested in the Common Council: And whereas it is expedient that the Common Council should be empowered to make levy and collect one rate over the said city for the purposes of their expenses under the City of London Sewers Act 1848 the City of London Police Act 1839 and the Acts amending or extending the same respectively and also to make one poor rate over the said city and that provision should be made for making levying and collecting the said rates together: And whereas it is expedient that such further provisions as are hereinafter contained should be made for carrying into effect the objects aforesaid and otherwise in relation to the local government of the said city: And whereas the objects aforesaid cannot be attained without the authority of Parliament: This Act may be cited for all purposes as the City of London (Union of Parishes) Act 1907. In this Act if not inconsistent with the context the following terms have the meanings hereinafter respectively assigned to them (that is to say):— The expression “powers” includes rights jurisdiction capacities privileges and immunities; The expression “duties” includes responsibilities and obligations; The expression “liabilities” includes liability to any proceeding for enforcing any duty or for punishing the breach of any duty and includes all debts and liabilities to which any authority whose powers duties or liabilities are by this Act transferred to the Common Council are or would but for this Act be liable or subject to whether accrued due at the date of the transfer or subsequently accruing and includes any obligation to carry or apply any money to any sinking fund or to any particular purpose; The expression “powers duties and liabilities” includes all powers duties and liabilities conferred or imposed by or arising under any local and personal Act; and The expression “office” includes any place situation or employment and the expression “officer” shall be construed accordingly. The local Act passed in the second and third years of the reign of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria chapter 94 intituled “An Act for regulating the Police in the City of London” is in this Act referred to as “theCity of London Police Act 1839.” On and after the appointed day the parishes and places specified in the schedule to this Act (in this Act called “the existing parishes”) shall for all purposes other than ecclesiastical or charitable purposes or purposes of income tax inhabited house duty or land tax be united and shall form one parish to be called “the parish of the city of London” and shall continue to form the City of London Poor Law Union. All property debts and liabilities of the existing parishes including all property held under any trust for any of the said parishes or the inhabitants or parishioners thereof (not being a trust for ecclesiastical or charitable purposes) shall become the property debts and liabilities of the parish of the city of London and in the case of property held in trust as aforesaid shall be held in trust for the same purpose as before the appointed day and the Common Council shall have power (when they so resolve) to nominate trustees for the purposes of this section: Provided that such property has not been included in any scheme established under the authority of an Order in Council or a scheme of the Charity Commissioners or of the Board of Education and is not held upon a trust for ecclesiastical or charitable purposes. Nothing in this Act shall affect the ecclesiastical area boundaries or divisions of any parish or except as expressly provided by this Act shall prejudice vary or affect any right interest or jurisdiction in or over any property held for ecclesiastical or charitable purposes which now is applicable for the benefit of any of the existing parishes or the inhabitants thereof. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . On and after the appointed day the Common Council shall be the overseers of the parish of the city of London and shall appoint such officers as may be required to assist in the transaction of the business and shall defray the expenses of and incidental to the performance of the duties of overseers and from and after the appointed day no authority other than the Common Council shall appoint collectors of poor rate Provided that the secondary of the city of London shall have the powers and duties and be subject to the liabilities of overseers with respect to the preparation of lists of voters in the said city. Any document (other than lists of voters) required to be signed by overseers may be signed by the town clerk of the city of London or such other person as the Common Council may appoint in that behalf. Subject to the provisions of this Act the Common Council may authorise or appoint a committee or committees to consist of members of the said Council to perform all or any of the duties of overseers by this Act transferred to or vested in the said Council. Every committee shall report their proceedings to the Common Council but to the extent to which the Common Council so direct the acts and proceedings of the committee shall not require the approval of the Common Council Provided that a committee shall not raise money by loan or by rate or spend any money beyond the sum allowed by the Common Council. A scheme under this Act may make such provisions as appear necessary for adapting the enactments relating to the registration of electors to the provisions of this Act with respect to the powers and duties of the secondary and overseers. On and after the appointed day every precept issued by any authority for the purpose of obtaining money which is ultimately to be raised out of a rate within the parish of the city of London other than a precept sent to the guardians of the city of London Union by the Local Government Board or by a body containing representatives elected by the said guardians shall be sent to the Common Council at the Guildhall addressed to the Common Council or the town clerk Any such precept if so sent and addressed shall be deemed to be personally served on the Common Council and shall be executed by them “Precept” in this section includes any order certificate warrant or other document of a like character. As from the appointed day subject to the provisions of this Act the property powers duties and liabilities of the vestry (not being property powers duties or liabilities relating to ecclesiastical affairs or charities) in each of the existing parishes shall be transferred to the Common Council and in any Act (whether local or general) relating to any of such parishes references to the vestry except in relation to ecclesiastical affairs or charities shall be construed as references to the Common Council Provided that any building which belongs to any body whose powers and duties are transferred to the Common Council by or under this Act and which has been erected wholly or partly on a churchyard shall with its appurtenances be transferred to and vest in the Common Council subject to such right of use for church purposes as may be given by a scheme under this Act. Nothing in this Act shall transfer to or vest in the corporation or in any way prejudice or affect any property rights powers or privileges vested in the trustees under an Act of 10 George IV. c. 96 being “An Act for taking down the Parish Church of Saint Dunstan in the West in the City of London and building a new Church in lieu thereof.” After the appointed day His Majesty’s lieutenants for the city of London may from time to time in lieu of issuing precepts as heretofore issue precepts to the Common Council requiring them to raise the sums of money therein mentioned for the purpose of defraying the necessary charges and incidental expenses of the militia under the Militia (City of London) Act 1820 (commonly known as “the Trophy Tax”) and the Common Council shall comply with every such precept by raising the amount mentioned in the precept . . . and the amount so raised shall be paid by the Common Council to the said lieutenants and applied by them under and in accordance with the provisions of the said Act or any other Act dealing therewith for the time being in force. Nothing in this section contained shall be deemed or construed to confer on the Common Council any right or power of administering or dealing with any sums of money raised by them under this section. Every rate made by the Common Council under this Act shall be signed by the town clerk of the city of London or such other person as the Common Council shall appoint in that behalf and shall be published on the day on which it is made or on the day following at the Guildhall in the same manner as poor rates are now by law directed to be published and such signature and publication shall be sufficient. A rate made by the Common Council shall be deemed to be made on the day when it is signed as aforesaid. Where any Act passed before or after the passing of this Act requires or directs that any notice or other document shall or may be given or published in the manner in which notice of a rate allowed by justices is required to be published a publication of such notice or document in the manner and at the place hereinbefore prescribed by this Act for the publication of rates shall be a sufficient compliance with such requirement or direction. The Local Government Board may on the application of the Common Council make such schemes as are required for carrying this Act into effect. A scheme under this section may provide— For such adjustments as may be required for carrying into effect any of the provisions of this Act or for preventing any injustice with respect to the incidence of any rate or the discharge of any liability or otherwise; For repealing or modifying any local Act other than the London Building Act 1894 or any Act amending the same; and may contain any incidental consequential or supplementary provisions which may appear to be necessary or proper for the purposes of the scheme. The provisions of section 213 subsections (3) and (4) of section 214 and section 218 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 with respect to a scheme under Part XI. of that Act shall apply in the case of any scheme under this Act with the necessary modifications Provided that notification in the London Gazette and in such other manner as the Local Government Board may direct of a draft scheme having been prepared or of a scheme having been settled and of the place where copies of it can be inspected and obtained shall be substituted for publication of the draft scheme or schemes in the London Gazette or in the manner required by the seventh schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. Subject to the provisions of the section of this Act whereof the marginal note is “Ward expenses” nothing in this Act shall affect the division of the city of London into wards or the holding of the wardmote in any of such wards or the appointment of ward clerks beadles and other officers in the said wards. The Local Government Board may direct any inquiries to be held by their inspectors which they may deem necessary in regard to the exercise of any powers conferred upon them or the giving of any consents under this Act and the inspectors of the Local Government Board shall for the purposes of any such inquiry have all such powers as they have for the purposes of inquiries directed by that Board under the Public Health Act 1875. The Common Council shall pay to the Local Government Board any expenses incurred by that Board in relation to any inquiries referred to in this section including the expenses of any witnesses summoned by the inspector holding the inquiry and a sum to be fixed by that Board not exceeding three guineas a day for the services of such inspector. Any expenses incurred in the execution of this Act by the Common Council with respect to which no other provision is made may be defrayed by the Common Council out of such rate or rates and (if out of more than one rate) in such proportion as the Common Council may in their discretion having regard to the object of the expenditure deem just. The masters of the bench of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and the masters of the bench of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple respectively shall as from the appointed day on demand pay to the Common Council their proportionate share of so much of the general rate as is levied by the Common Council for the purposes of the City of London Police Acts 1839 1874 1889 and 1894 which share shall bear the same proportion to the whole of that part of the general rate which is levied for the purposes aforesaid as the rateable value of the places known as the Inner and Middle Temples bears to the aggregate of the rateable values of those places and of the parish of the city of London and as from such day no rate shall be levied by the Common Council in either of the places known as the Inner and Middle Temples respectively for the purposes of the City of London Police Acts aforesaid Provided nevertheless that any rate made for the purposes of the City of London Police Acts aforesaid prior to the appointed day shall be recoverable by the Common Council as if this Act had not been passed. Such respective masters shall pay to the Common Council at the times when and in the manner in which they are now payable to the mayor and commonalty and citizens of the city of London the contributions payable by them under the order of the Honourable Mr. Justice Farwell made on the seventeenth day of December one thousand nine hundred and three in the action in the High Court of Justice (1900 P. No. 1224) of which the short title is “Patchett and others v. the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London” and the said judgment shall be read and construed as if the Common Council were referred to therein instead of the mayor and commonalty and citizens of the city of London. Nothing in this Act shall affect the provisions of the parish of Saint Giles Cripplegate Vestry Act 1869 so far as it relates to the ecclesiastical and charitable affairs of the parish of Saint Giles Without Cripplegate except so far as any provisions of that Act relating to overseers of the said parish are varied or affected by this Act. Nothing in this Act contained shall repeal or vary sections 17 and 18 of the Saint Botolph Without Aldgate Tithe Rate Act 1888 or alter prejudice or affect the rights interest of exemptions by those sections conferred upon or reserved to the Metropolitan Railway Company the Metropolitan District Railway Company or the Metropolitan and District Joint Committee. Nothing in this Act or in any scheme to be made under this Act shall confer or derogate from or otherwise affect any exemption or deduction from or allowance out of any rate to which this Act relates or any privilege of or provision for being rated on any exceptional principle of valuation. Functions of Board of Guardians of City of London Poor Law Union now exercisable as to vaccination by Area Health Authority and as to their remaining functions by Secretary of State and Supplementary Benefits Commission: Local Government Act 1929 (c. 17), ss. 1, 18(g), Sch. 10, National Health Service Act 1946 (c. 81), ss. 19, 26, National Assistance Act 1948 (c. 29), ss. 1, 2, 64(1), Sch. 7 Pt. I, London Government Act 1963 (c. 33), ss. 4, 45, Ministry of Social Security Act 1966 (c. 20), ss. 2, 3, Schs. 1, 8, S.I. 1968/1699 and National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 (c. 32), ss. 5, 14 Functions of Local Government Board now exercisable by Secretary of State: Ministry of Health Act 1919 (c. 21), s. 3(1)(a)(5), Sch. 1, S.I. 1951/753, 1900 (1951 I, pp. 1354, 1347) and 1970/1681 Words of enactment omitted under authority of Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (c. 62), s. 3 Militia (City of London) Act 1820 cited or referred to by its short title under Authority of Statute Law Revision Act 1893 (c. 14), s. 3 1848 c. clxiii. 1839 c. xciv. Ss. 3, 4, 5 (4) (5), 6-10, 15 (3), 24, 28, 36 repealed by S.I. 1965/508 Functions of Board of Education now exercisable by Secretary of State for Education and Science: Education Act 1944 (c. 31), s. 2 and S.I. 1964/490 S.11(1)(4) amended with substitution of “the town clerk” for “the secondary” by City of London (Various Powers) Act 1968 (c. xxxvii), s. 3(1)(a)(2) Words repealed (subject to the savings in S.I. 1990/777, reg. 4 Sch. 2) by Local Government and Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 149, Sch. 13 Pt. I 1829 c. xcvi. Ss. 14, 29 repealed by Local Government Act 1948 (c. 26), Sch. 2 Pt. II S. 15 repealed (subject to the savings in S.I. 1990/777, reg. 4, Sch. 2) by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 149, Sch. 13 Pt. I 1820 c. 100. Ss. 17, 18 repealed by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 149, Sch. 13 Pt. I Ss. 19, 21 repealed (subject to the savings in S.I. 1990/777, reg. 4, Sch. 2) by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 149, Sch. 13 Pt. I S. 22 repealed by Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70), Sch. 30 1894 c. cxxxvii. 1882 c. 50. S. 25 repealed by City of London (Various Powers) Act 1950 (c. v), Sch. 2 S. 26 repealed by Criminal Justice Act 1972 (c. 71), Sch. 6 Pt. I 1875 c. 55. S. 30(2) amended with the substitution for the reference to three guineas of the equivalent of that amount in the new currency by Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1) 1874 c. ii. 1889 c. cxxvii. 1894 c. vii. 1869 c. viii. 1888 c. lxix.