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Court for any period not exceeding two months in any year, and shall have the like power of making provision for the discharge of the duties of the office during such absence.

32. The Judge of the Court of Probate shall have and exercise, over proctors, solicitors, and attornies practising in the said court, the like authority and control as is now exercised by the Judges of any court of equity or common law over persons practising therein as solicitors or attornies.

33. When any requisition shall issue in pursuance of section 96. of "The Court of Probate Act, 1857," it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, out of such monies as may be provided and appropriated by Parliament for that purpose, to cause to be paid all such expenses attending the arranging, classification, indexing, carriage, or otherwise connected with the removal of the documents or books required by such requisition to be removed, as the Judge shall from time to time certify to the said Commissioners to be proper and necessary.

34. In calculating the time of service of any Judge of Her Majesty's superior courts of law or

equity in Ireland with reference to the retiring pension or annuity to be granted to such Judge on the resignation of his office, the period during which he shall have served as Judge of Her Majesty's Court of Probate in Ireland shall be allowed, in like and same manner as if he had during said period served as one of the Judges of Her Majesty's superior courts of law or equity in Ireland.

35. Sections 19. and 20. of the Chancery Appeal Court (Ireland) Act, 1856, so far as they refer to and include the Court of Prerogative in Ireland and the Judge thereof, shall be construed, deemed and taken to refer to and include the Court of Probate in Ireland and the Judge thereof, in like and the same manner as if the said Court of Probate in Ireland and the Judge thereof had been therein referred to and included, instead of the said Court of Prerogative in Ireland and the Judge thereof.

36. In citing this Act in any instrument, document, or proceeding it shall be sufficient to use the expression "Court of Probate Act (Ireland), 1859."

CAP. XXXII.

An Act to amend the Law concerning the Police in Counties and Boroughs in England and

Wales.

(13th August 1859.)

ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS.

1. Police districts under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88. and 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69. may be consolidated or merged.

2. County constables not to be required to act in any borough.

3. County constables not to vote in certain municipal elections.

4. Section 13. of 2 & 3 Vict c. 93. amended.

5. Limitation of borough watch-rate under 2 & 3 Vict. c. 28. and 3 & 4 Vict. c. 28. repealed.

6. Rates under the said Acts not to exceed 8d. in the pound.

7. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 14. repealed.

8. Superannuation fund to be provided for constables.

9. Rates of allowance from the said fund.

10. Power to grant gratuities to incapacitated constables who have not served fifteen years.

11. Fees received by constables of a borough to be paid to the superannuation fund.

12. Provision for insufficiency of superannuation fund.

13. Superannuation fund to vest in borough treasurer.

14. Moiety of penalty on summary conviction may be directed to be paid for the benefit of superannuation fund. 15. Provision for payment of allowances heretofore granted.—Rights, &c. under the repealed Act reserved.

16. How past services of existing constables to be reckoned for superannuation allowance.

17. Provision for the case of consolidation of county and borough police.

18. Justices may direct police to keep order in court of assize.

19. On promotion of constables from one force to another, half of past service may be reckoned as service in the latter force.

20. General or Quarter Sessions of counties. &c. may grant gratuities to widows of constables dying in service.

21. Act not to apply, as to superannuation fund, to places where such a fund has been already established. 22. Superannuation fund for the whole county of Lincoln to be one common fund.

23. Brighton watchmen's superannuation fund to be transferred to Brighton police superannuation fund. 24. Gratuities may be granted as reward for good service to police out of police-rates, &c.

VOL. XXXVII.-STAT.

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25. Embezzlement by constables punishable under 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 4. 26. Chief constable empowered to suspend constables.

27. Inspectors under 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69. still entitled to half-pay. 28. Repeal of parts of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88. as to local constables.

By this Act, it is enacted as follows:-
:-

1. The powers given to the Justices of the Peace in General or Quarter Sessions by section 27. of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, and by section 4. of the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, to alter from time to time the extent of police districts, shall extend and be deemed to have extended to authorize the union of two or more police districts, with or without any other alteration of limits, or the consolidation for police purposes of any such district or districts with the rest or with any part of their county.

2. No county constable shall, as such constable, be required to act in any borough having a separate police establishment, except in execution of warrants of Justices of such county, or by the order of his chief constable or superintendent; and in all cases of special emergency the chief constable or superintendent, when required so to do by the watch committee of any borough having a separate police establishment, shall have power to direct the county constables to act within such borough; and no constable of any borough having a separate police establishment shall as such constable be required to act out of his borough, except in execution of warrants of Justices of such borough, or in pursuance of directions from the watch committee in case of special emergency.

3. No chief or other constable already appointed or hereafter to be appointed for any county, under the Act, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, or the said Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, or the said Act, 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, shall during the time he continues to be such constable be capable of giving his vote for the election of any person to any municipal office in any borough within such county, or in any other borough in which such constable has authority, nor shall any such constable, by word, message, writing, or in other manner, endeavour to persuade any elector to give, or dissuade any elector from giving, his vote for the choice of any person to hold any municipal office in such borough; and if any such constable shall offend therein he shall forfeit the sum of 10., to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction, by any person who shall sue for the same within six months after the commission of the offence, and one-half of the sum recovered shall be paid to the person suing for the same, and the other half to the treasurer of the county, to be by him applied for the purposes of the police of the county.

4. So much of section 13. of the said Act, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, as provides that every constable who shall resign or withdraw himself without such leave or notice as therein mentioned shall be liable, on being convicted thereof before any two Justices of

the Peace for the county, to forfeit all arrears of pay then due to him, or to a penalty not more than 51., shall be repealed; and in case any constable under the said Acts, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, and 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, or any of them, shall resign or withdraw himself from his duty without such leave or notice as is required by the said section, such resignation or withdrawal shall be notified in writing, by the chief constable or by the superintendent under whom the offending constable may have been placed, to the treasurer of the county or the paymaster of the constabulary force, and all arrears of pay then due to such constable so resigning or withdrawing shall, without further proceeding in respect of his offence, be forfeited; and upon summary conviction of such offence before any two Justices of the Peace for the county such constable shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 5l.

5. So much of the Acts, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 28, for more equally assessing watch-rates in certain boroughs, and of the Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 28, to explain and amend the previously mentioned Act, as provides that the amount of watch-rate to be levied by the council of any borough shall not exceed in any one year the rate or sum of 6d. in the pound, or otherwise limits the discretion of the said council in relation to the amount of such rates, shall be repealed.

6. The watch-rates levied under the authority of the said Act may be of any amount, at the discretion of the council, not exceeding in any one year the sum of 8d. in the pound.

7. The Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 14, "for authorizing a borough police superannuation fund," shall be repealed; but any superannuation fund created or applied under that Act shall be transferred to and form part of the superannuation fund to be created or applied under this Act.

8. There shall be deducted from the pay of every constable belonging to the police force established in any borough under the Act, 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76, a sum after such yearly rate as the council of the borough may direct, not exceeding the rate of 21. 10s. in 1007. for a year, which sum so deducted, and also the monies accruing from stoppages from any of the said constables during sickness, and fines imposed on any of the said constables for misconduct, and from any portion of the fines imposed by any Justice of the Peace upon drunken persons, or for assaults upon police constables, and from moieties of fines and penalties awarded to informers (being police constables) on summary convictions as shall be directed by such Justice to

be paid for the benefit of this fund, and all monies arising from the sale of worn or cast clothing supplied for the use of the said constables, shall from time to time be invested in such manner as the council may direct, and the interest and dividends thereof, or so much of the same as shall not be required for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, shall be likewise invested in the like manner, and accumulate so as to form a superannuation fund, and shall be applied from time to time for payment of such superannuation or retiring allowances or gratuities as may be ordered by the watch committee, as hereinafter provided; and the council shall guarantee the security of the superannuation fund of their borough, and make good out of the borough fund or the borough rates any deficiency which may arise in such superannuation fund from the default of any treasurer or other person intrusted with the custody or management thereof.

9. It shall be lawful for the watch committee of any borough, with the approbation of the council, to order that any of the said constables who may be worn out or otherwise disabled from infirmity of mind or body be superannuated, and receive thereupon, out of the superannuation fund, a yearly allowance, subject to the following conditions, and not exceeding the following proportions; (that is to say,) if the constable has served with diligence and fidelity for fifteen years and less than twenty years, an annual sum not more than half his pay; if for twenty years or upwards, an annual sum not more than two-thirds of his pay; provided that if he be under sixty years of age it shall not be lawful to grant any such allowance unless upon the certificate of the chief or head constable that the constable to be superannuated is incapable from infirmity of mind or body to discharge the duties of his office; provided also, that if any constable be disabled, from any wound or injury received in the actual execution of the duty of his office, it shall be lawful to grant him any allowance not more than the whole of his pay; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to entitle any constable absolutely to any superannuation allowance, or to prevent his being dismissed without superannuation allowance.

10. It shall be lawful for the watch committee of any borough, if they think fit, with the approbation of the council, and upon the recommendation of the chief or head constable, and upon his certifying that any constable belonging to the police force of the borough who has not served so long as fifteen years is incapable from infirmity of mind or body to discharge the duties of his office, to order that such constable shall receive out of the superannuation fund such sum in gross as a gratuity upon his retirement as to the said watch committee may seem proper.

11. Any fee payable to any constable appointed for any borough, for the performance of any act done in

the execution of his duty as such constable, shall be received in such manner as the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council, may direct, and shall be paid over to the superannuation fund.

12. If at any time the superannuation fund to be created under this Act for any borough be found insufficient to pay the allowances granted upon it, the amount in which the fund shall from time to time be found insufficient shall be made good from the borough fund, or where such fund be inadequate then from the borough rates.

13. The superannuation fund created under this Act in any borough shall vest in the treasurer of the borough, and such treasurer shall keep a separate account of all sums of money by him received and paid in respect of such superannuation fund or for superannuations, and of the several matters for which such sums have been received and paid, and all provisions concerning the keeping, auditing, and publishing, and otherwise in relation to the accounts kept by such treasurer, under the said Act, 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76, shall be applied to the accounts kept under this enactment.

14. That a moiety of any penalty imposed on summary conviction by the Act, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 118, intituled, 'An Act to repeal the Act of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty for further regulating the Sale of Beer and other Liquors on the Lord's Day, and to substitute other Provisions in lieu thereof,' may be directed by the Justice imposing the penalty to be paid for the benefit of the superannuation fund herein before mentioned of the county or borough, according as the offence so punished shall be committed within the limits of the county or borough, and shall be invested and otherwise dealt with accordingly.

15. Allowances heretofore granted to constables or which might have been granted to constables appointed previous to the passing of this Act, under the said Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 14, shall be paid from the superannuation fund to be applicable under this Act; and all constables now appointed in any borough in which the provisions of the said lastmentioned Act are now in force shall be entitled to receive from the superannuation fund all such allowances, payable at such times, and with and under the same rights and conditions, as they would have been entitled to if this Act had not passed.

16. The periods of service during which constables have been subjected to deductions from pay towards a superannuation fund under the said Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 14, shall, in determining what superannuation allowances may be granted to them, be reckoned and allowed to such constables, and in the case of constables permanently

appointed in any borough for which no superannuation fund has been provided, and from whose pay no such deduction has been paid, one-half only of the respective periods of service of such constables before the passing of this Act shall be reckoned or allowed to such constables in determining what superannuation allowances may be granted under this Act.

17. On the consolidation of the police of any borough with the police of any county, under the provisions of the Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, the superannuation allowance previously granted to any borough constable shall be charged on the borough fund or the borough rates of the borough, and the superannuation allowance to be thereafter granted to any borough constable transferred under such consolidation shall be charged upon the superannuation fund of the county; and in determining the amount of any such allowance the period of service of any such constable in the borough shall be reckoned as if the same had been in the county police; and this charge, and the disposal of the borough superannuation fund, shall form a part of the agreement to be entered into on the consolidation.

18. It shall be lawful for the Justices of the Peace of any county, in General or Quarter Sessions assembled, if they shall think fit, to direct that a sufficient number of police constables of the said county shall be employed to keep order in and within the precincts of the court of assize, and the chief constable of the county shall thereupon employ a sufficient number of such constables for such purpose, and in that case it shall not be necessary for the high sheriff to provide and maintain any javelin men, or other men servants with liveries, at the assizes, anything contained in the Act, 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 21, notwithstanding.

19. In order to provide the most meritorious and fit men to fill the superior ranks in the police, any constable or officer promoted from one force to another, either of a county or a borough, who shall have served in his last force for a period of seven years, shall, for the purposes of superannuation, reckon as service in the force to which he is promoted one-half of the period of his previous service, provided that the promotion be made, in the case of a county constable, on the recommendation of the chief constable, with the sanction of the Court of Quarter Sessions, and in the case of a borough constable on the recommendation of the head constable of the borough, with the sanction of the council, and that in both cases the service be formally certified at the time of promotion.

20. The Court of General or Quarter Sessions for any county, and the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council for any borough, may, upon the recommendation of the chief or head constable, grant a gratuity out of the superannu

ation fund of their county or borough to the widow of any constable who has died in the service, provided the sum so granted do not exceed the amount

one year's pay of such constable, and that he have contributed to the superannuation fund for a period of not less than three years.

21. None of the provisions of this Act relating to a police superannuation fund, or contributions thereto or payments thereout, shall apply to any county, city, or borough in which a police superannuation fund has at the time of the passing of this Act been established under the provisions of any local Act now in force.

22. Reciting that the county of Lincoln is under three separate commissions of the peace, namely, Lindsey, Kesteven, and Holland, but is for police superintendence under one chief constable, and it is found inconvenient and unjust that the superannuation fund should be separate: Enacts, That after the passing of this Act the said superannuation fund shall be one common account, so long as the police force for the said county of Lincoln shall be under the direction of one chief constable for the three divisions; but if the said force shall hereafter be separated under different chief constables, in that case it shall be lawful to divide the said superannuation fund in proportion to the number of men' for each division of the said county of Lincoln at that time serving in the said force, the said superannuation fund to be under the management of the joint committee for the three divisions, and invested by them from time to time.

23. Reciting that under and by virtue of an Act, 6 Geo. 4. c. clxxix., intituled 'An Act for the better regulating, paving, improving, and managing the Town of Brighthelmston in the County of Sussex, and the Poor thereof,' the Commissioners therein named appointed watchmen under the power of that Act to keep watch and ward within the limits thereof (such limits being the same as those of the borough); and such watchmen were sworn in as constables, and such watchmen contributed from their weekly wages sums to form a fund in the nature of a police superannuation fund: And that Her present Majesty, by the advice of Her Privy Council, by certain letters patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 1st of April in the seventeenth year of Her reign, granted that the inhabitants of the said town should be for ever thereafter one body politic and corporate, and should be called "The Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Brighton," and should have perpetual succession and a common seal, and the mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the said borough have been duly elected, and the council thereof duly established, pursuant to the charter: And that at the time when the said recited charter of incorporation came into operation within the borough the said fund amounted to a considerable sum, which was

deposited in the hands of trustees, and had been invested by them in Government securities, and the same now remains vested in such securities : And that the watch committee of the borough, on their first appointment of constables for the borough, appointed all the said watchmen who were then in office to be such constables: And that, under the powers and provisions of an Act, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 14, intituled 'An Act for authorizing a Borough Police Superannuation Fund,' the council have established a police superannuation fund in and for the borough: And that it is expedient that the fund so contributed as aforesaid, and the securities wherein the same is invested, should be added to the borough of Brighton police superannuation fund: Enacts, That the fund so contributed as aforesaid by the watchmen appointed by the said Commissioners, and the securities wherein the same is invested, and all arrears of dividends thereon, shall be and the same is hereby vested in the treasurer of the said borough for the time being, and shall be transferred and paid to such treasurer accordingly, who shall hold the same as part of the police superannuation fund of the said borough so as aforesaid established under the authority of the said Act for authorizing a borough police superannuation fund.

24. The Court of General or Quarter Sessions for any county, and the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council for any borough, may, upon the recommendation of the chief constable of any county police force, or of the superintendent of the police for the said borough, grant to any constable in the said county or borough, out of the police-rate or borough fund, a gratuity in money not exceeding 31., in respect of and as a reward for any meritorious act done by the said constable in the execution of his duty.

25. All the penalties and provisions of the Act, 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 4, "for more effectually preventing embezzlements by persons employed in the public service of His Majesty," shall extend and be applicable to constables and other persons

employed in the police of any county, city, borough, district, or place whatsoever, in like manner as to any person employed in the public service of Her Majesty within the meaning of that Act, and for all the purposes of the said Act the employment of constable or any other such employment in the police shall be deemed an employment in the public service of Her Majesty.

26. The chief constable of any county police force, and the watch committee of any city, borough, district, or place, is and are hereby empowered to suspend any constable, within their respective jurisdiction, whom he or they shall think remiss or negligent in the discharge of his duty, or otherwise unfit for the same; and the said chief constable or watch committee is and are hereby also empowered, at his or their discretion, to fine any such constable in a sum of money not exceeding one week's pay, and to reduce the said constable from a superior to an inferior rank, such fine and reduction in rank to be in addition to any other punishment to which the said constable may be liable; and all punishment, penalties, and fines, such as above enumerated, heretofore imposed or inflicted under rules framed under and by virtue of the 3rd section of the Act, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, shall be deemed to have been legally imposed or inflicted.

27. The office or employment of inspector under the Act, 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, shall not prevent the holder thereof from receiving any half-pay to which if he did not hold such office or employment he might be or become entitled.

28. That sections 16, 17. and 18. of the Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, be repealed as far as relates to local constables; provided that the power of Justices of the county in General or Quarter Session assembled, subject to the approval of one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, to settle tables of fees and allowances, shall be retained as far as relates to the county constabulary.

CAP. XXXIII.

An Act to confirm certain Provisional Orders made under an Act of the Fifteenth Year of Her present Majesty, to facilitate Arrangements for the Relief of Turnpike Trusts.

(13th August 1859.)

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