Obligation to make certain Returns.

Regulations as to matters of police.

officer of a company wilfully making a false return every is guilty of a misdemeanour (n). And within forty-eight hours after the occurrence of an accident, attended with serious personal injury to the public using a railway, the company are required to give notice thereof to the Commissioners of Railways, under a penalty of 51. for every day during neglect to give notice (o).

The Commissioners of Railways are also empowered to order any railway company to make a return of serious accidents occurring in the course of public traffic on a railway, whether attended with personal injury or not, in such form as they may require; and a like penalty of 5l. a day is incurred for neglect in making the return (p).

And, by a recent statute, the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury may revise the scale of tolls or purchase certain railways at the end of twenty-one years after the date of their acts of incorporation; and the directors of such companies are required, during the last three years of the said term, to keep certain accounts (q).

And, lastly, by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, railway companies subject to that act are required to send an annual account of their total receipts and expenditure of all funds levied by them, with a statement of the balance of such account, duly audited; and shall, if required, transmit a copy of such account to the clerks of the peace, and also to the overseers of the poor of the parishes through which the railway passes (r).

XI. It is lawful for any officer or agent of a railway

(n) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 4, post, App., 15.

(0) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 7, post, App.,

21.

(p) Id., s. 8, post, App., 22; and

see further on this subject, ante, 99. (q) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 5, post, App., 29; and see ante, 420.

(r) 8 Vict. c. 20, s. 107, post, App., 186.

Matters of Police,

company, or for any special constable duly appointed, and Regulations as to all such persons as they may call to their assistance, to seize and detain any engine driver, waggon driver, guard, porter, servant, or other person employed by such or by any other railway company, or by any other company or person, in conducting traffic upon the railway belonging to the said company, or in repairing and maintaining the works of the said railway, who shall be found drunk while so employed upon the railway, or who shall commit any offence against any of the bye-laws, rules, or regulations of the 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, or the works thereof, shall or might be injured or endangered, or where

by the passage of any of the engines, carriages, or trains

shall be or might be obstructed or impeded, and to convey such offender, 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 was committed (s), without any other warrant or authority than that act (5 & 6 Vict. c. 55); and every person so offending, and every person counselling, aiding, or assisting therein as aforesaid, when convicted before such justice as aforesaid, is liable to two months' imprisonment, with or without hard labour, or to pay a fine of 107. (t), or the justice may commit the person so charged for trial to the quarter sessions, and, on conviction, he may be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour (u).

And every person who shall wilfully do, or cause to be

(8) If the offence is committed in Scotland, see 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 18, post, App., 26.

(t) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 17, post, App., 26, extending 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 13, post, App., 17.

(u) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 14, post,
App., 18. Parties charged with

offences under 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s.
17, may also be tried at the sessions.
See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 2, post,
App., 20.

Matters of Police.

Regulations as to done, anything in such manner as to obstruct any engine or carriage using any railway, or to endanger the safety of persons conveyed upon the same, or shall aid or assist therein, is declared to be guilty of a misdemeanour, and may be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years (r).

It is also enacted, that, if any person shall wilfully 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 (y) 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 company; every such offender, and all others aiding and assisting therein, may be seized and detained by any such officer or agent, or any person whom he may call to his assistance, until such offender can be conveniently taken before some justice of the peace for the county or place wherein such offence was committed, who may inflict a fine of 5l. on the offender, and, in default of payment, imprison him for two months, if the fine be not in the meantime paid (z). Proceedings cannot be quashed for want of form, or be removed by certiorari (a).

And the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act enacts, that it shall be lawful for any officer or agent of the company, and all persons called by him to his assistance, to seize and detain any person who shall have committed any offence against the provisions of that or the special act, or any act incorporated therewith, and whose home and residence shall be unknown to such officer or agent, and con

(x) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 15, post, App., 18.

(y) See Manning v. The Eastern Counties Railway Company, 12 M.

& W. 237, ante, 248.

(2) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 16, post, App., 18.

(a) Id., s. 17, post, App., 19.

Matters of Police.

vey him, with all convenient despatch, before some justice, Regulations as to without any other warrant and authority than that and the special act; and such justice shall proceed, with all convenient despatch, to the hearing and determining of the complaint against such offender (b).

So, by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, all officers and servants, and other persons on behalf of the company, and all constables, gaolers, and peace officers, may lawfully apprehend and detain any person who shall travel, or attempt to travel, without having paid his fare, and with intent to avoid payment, or who shall knowingly and wilfully proceed beyond his distance, with intent to avoid payment of the additional fare, or who shall knowingly and wilfully refuse or neglect to quit the carriage on arriving at the point to which he has paid his fare (c).

And if any person wilfully obstructs any person setting out the line of the railway, or pulls up stakes or marks shewing the line, he is liable to a penalty of 51. (d).

bye-laws.

XII. The jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Railways Regulations as to in respect of bye-laws has been already considered (e).

A railway company may from time to time make regulations for the following purposes:

For regulating the mode by which, and the speed at which, carriages using the railway are to be propelled; For regulating the times of the arrival and departure of carriages;

(b) 8 Vict. c. 16, s. 156, post, App., 113. See also a similar clause in 8 Vict. c. 20, s. 154, post, App., 195.

(c) 8 Vict. c. 20, ss. 103, 104, post,

App., 185.

(d) Id., s. 24, post, App., 164.
(e) Ante, 93. See also the model
code usually adopted, ante, 95.

Regulations as to
Bye-laws.

For regulating the loading or unloading of carriages, and the weights which they are to carry;

For regulating the receipt and delivery of goods, and other things which are to be conveyed;

For preventing the smoking of tobacco, and the commission of any other nuisance, in carriages, or in the premises occupied by the company;

And, generally, for regulating the travelling upon, or using and working of the railway.

And, for better enforcing the observance of such regulations, the company may, subject to the provisions of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97 (ƒ), make bye-laws, and, from time to time, repeal or alter them; such bye-laws must be reduced into writing, and have the common seal of the company affixed; any person offending against a bye-law is liable to a penalty; and if the infraction of the byelaw is attended with danger and annoyance to the public, or hindrance to the company, they may interfere summarily to obviate the danger, &c. (g). The substance of such byelaws must be printed, and kept affixed on the front of the company's premises, otherwise a penalty may not be enforced (h). The company are justified in acting upon such bye-laws, and a provision is made for proving their publication (i).

The company may also make bye-laws, for regulating the conduct of their officers and servants, and for providing for the due management of the affairs of the company, and alter and repeal the same; such bye-laws must be authenticated by the seal of the company, and a copy given to

(f) Post, App., 15.

(g) 8 Vict. c. 20, s. 109, post, App., 187.

(h) Id., s. 110, post, App., 187.

(i) Id., s. 111, post, App., 187. And see 8 & 9 Vict. c. 113, s. 1, post, App.