and that carriages belonging to the circus, and used for carrying the band and other performers round a town in a parade, are not carriages "solely used for the conveyance of any goods and burden in the course of trade, so as to be exempt from duty (i). It follows that, in order to claim exemption, a motor car or vehicle drawn by a motor car, must be bond fide used exclusively and solely for the conveyance of goods or burden in the course of trade or husbandry. The remaining portion of the sub-section deals with the definition of hackney carriages, and is as follows: 66 : Hackney carriage" means any carriage standing or plying for hire, and includes any carriage let for hire by a coachmaker or other person whose trade or business is to sell carriages, or to let carriages for hire, provided that such carriage is not let for a period amounting to three months or more. The above is substituted in the place of sect. 3 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1884 (k). By sect. 27 of 32 & 33 Vict. c. 14, a penalty was imposed on every person keeping a carriage without a licence; and further, by sect. 11 of 38 & 39 Vict. c. 23, it is provided that “ every person who shall let a carriage for hire for any period less than one year shall, for the purposes of the said Act, be deemed to be the person keeping such carriage." The following case has been decided upon these two sections:-A coachbuilder, by an agreement in writing, let out to another person two cabs on hire at the rate of 30s. per week. It was agreed that, upon regular weekly payment of this sum for a fixed period, and upon further payment of a fixed sum of money on the expiration of such period, the cabs should become the property of the hirer; otherwise, on default in any payment, the coachbuilder was to be allowed to repossess himself of the cabs. It was held that this was not letting the cabs for hire for any period less than one year so as to render the coachbuilder liable to be deemed to be the person keeping such cabs (1). It has also been decided under the above sub-section (3) that an omnibus plying for hire on a fixed route is to be deemed a hackney carriage within the meaning of the Act, and liable to duty as such (m). The following is an extract from the letter from the Secretary (i) Speak v. Powell, L. R. 9 Exch. 25. (k) 47 & 48 Vict. c. 25, s. 3, which refers to a hackney carriage as defined by the Metropolitan Public Carriages Act, 1869, and the Towns Police Clauses Act, 1847. (1) Barber v. Callow, 2 C. P. D. 558; 37 L. T. 130. (m) Hickman v. Birch, 24 Q. B. D. 172. It will be remembered that by the Towns Police Clauses Act, 1889, s. 4, "hackney carriage" includes "omnibus" for the purposes of that Act: see p. 90. to the Local Government Board to the clerks of local authorities relating to the excise duties to be levied upon light locomotives : "Under section 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 8), certain excise duties are payable for every carriage and every hackney carriage as thereby defined..." The letter then sets out the definition, already given, and proceeds: "The duties imposed by the section will be payable for light locomotives, which are carriages or hackney carriages as above defined; but besides these, where a light locomotive is liable to duty, either as a carriage or as a hackney carriage, under sect. 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888, an additional excise duty will, on and after the 1st of January next, be payable for it under sect. 8 of the new Act, at the following rate, namely " (n). The letter continues:- 66 Every such duty must be paid together with the duty on the licence for the locomotive as a carriage or a hackney carriage, and it will be dealt with in manner directed with respect to duties on local taxation licences within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 1888. The duty will accordingly be collected by the Inland Revenue Commissioners, and be paid with the proceeds of the duties on local taxation licences into the Local Taxation Account." 9. The requirements of sub-sect. (4) of sect. 28 of the Highways and Locomotives Act, 1878, may be from time to time varied by order of the Local Government Board. The regulations as to the wheels, and construction thereof, of motor cars have been dealt with in the note to sect. 6 (1). This section (9) does not apply to motor cars at all, as sect. 28 of the Highways and Locomotives Act, 1878, is included in Part II. of that Act, and Part II. of that Act is one of the enactments from which motor cars are exempted by sect. 1, and by the schedule. The provisions of the Act for the most part relate to light locomotives as thereby defined, but it contains one section which applies to other locomotives on roads. Sub-sect. 4 of sect. 28 of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, provides that the driving wheel of a locomotive other than a motor car should be cylindrical, and smooth-soled, or shod with diagonal cross-bars of not less than three inches in width nor more than three-quarters of an inch in thickness, extending the full breadth of the tire, and that the space intervening between each such cross-bar shall not exceed three inches. This subsection was varied by an Order dated the 26th day of November, 1897, which provided that a locomotive might be used, the (n) Set out in sect. 8, ante, p. 31. driving wheels of which, instead of being smooth-soled or shod with cross-bars were shod with wooden blocks subject to the conditions in the said Order contained. This provision was further varied in an Order dated the 4th day of November, 1898, by the following condition : 6. No such wheel shall be used any block of which is so worn that any metal rim surrounding the blocks protrudes beyond the surface of the block. Sect. 9 of the Act of 1896 provides that these requirements may be from time to time varied by order of the Board. As sect. 28 of the Act of 1878 is included in Part II. of that Act, and light locomotives are exempted from this Part, neither sub-sect. 4 of sect. 28 of the Act of 1878, nor sect. 9 of the Act of 1896, will apply to these locomotives. 10. [This section deals only with the application of the Act to Scotland, and the author does not propose to deal with it further than to point out that the only difference in its application is, as regards the authority to make regulations under the Act being vested in the Secretary for Scotland.] 11. [This section deals with the application of the Act to Ireland, and provides for the substitution of certain Irish authorities for the equivalent authorities in England or Wales, as regards the making of regulations under the Act.] 12. This Act may be cited as the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, and shall come into operation on the expiration of three months from the passing thereof (o). SCHEDULE. ENACTMENTS WHICH ARE NOT TO APPLY TO LIGHT LOCOMOTIVES. The Locomotives Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 70), except so much of section one as relates to tolls on locomotives, and sections seven and thirteen. Section forty-one of the Thames Embankment Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 93). (0) I.e., 14th November, 1896. The Locomotives Act, 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 83). The Locomotives Amendment (Scotland) Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 58). Part II. of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 77). Section six of the Public Health (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 57). All the above scheduled Acts are inoperative as regards motor cars, but are still in force as regards locomotives outside the scope of the Motor Car Acts of 1896 and 1903 (p). It will be observed that portions of sect. 1, and the whole of sects. 7 and 13, of the Locomotives Act, 1861, are left unrepealed. Sect. 1 of that Act requires trustees, &c., acting in execution of any existing general or local turnpike road, or public bridge Act to demand certain tolls in respect of every locomotive propelled by any power, and containing within itself the machinery for its own propulsion. The tolls to be according to weight, and to be equal to the tolls payable in respect of waggons, wains, or carts of a similar size or with similar wheels, in the proportions there laid down. Sect. 7 renders the owner of a locomotive, and therefore of a motor car, liable to repair, and make good the damage to, any bridge or part thereof which may be injured by a locomotive. It also provides for compensation being paid by such owner to reimburse and make good all losses and expenses incurred by the trustees, conservators, or other managers of such a bridge, as well as by any person obstructed, delayed, or interrupted by such injury; all such damages or compensation are to be recovered by action at law. Sect. 13 provides that nothing in the Act shall authorize any person to use upon a highway a locomotive engine which shall be so constructed or used as to cause a public or private nuisance; and that every such person so using such engine shall be liable to an indictment or action, as the case may be (notwithstanding the Act), for such use wherever, but for the Act, an indictment or action might be maintained. The section of the Thames Embankment Act, 1862, which is repealed as regards motor cars, forbade the use of locomotives in streets made under that Act. The other Acts repealed call for no particular notice, relating, as they do, wholly to locomotives as distinguished from motor cars. (p) See note to sect. 1 (1), ante, p. 2. CHAPTER I.-PART II. MOTOR CARS. THE MOTOR CAR ACT, 1903 1.-(1) If any person drives a motor car on a public highway recklessly or negligently, or at a speed or in a manner which is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the nature, condition, and use of the highway, and to the amount of traffic which actually is at the time, or which might reasonably be expected to be, on the highway, that person shall be guilty of an offence under this Act. This sub-section concisely recites the duty of drivers and owners of motor cars to observe the rules to be followed by all vehicles using a highway which have been laid down at common law or by statute. The penalties provided by this statute for offences under the Act are in addition to, and not in diminution of, penalties provided by other statutes; while the common law liability is unaffected so far as regards responsibility caused by reckless, negligent, or furious driving (a). The mere fact that sect. 9 of the Act fixes the maximum speed at twenty miles an hour, or within certain limits or places at ten miles an hour, does not in itself authorize those speeds, as the motor cars are still subject to the ordinary law as to user of a highway in a manner consistent with the safety of other people and cattle using it. A highway under this section includes any road to which the public have access: see sect. 20 (1). Drivers and owners of motor cars are also bound to obey the regulations which may from time to time be issued by the Local Government Board under sect. 6 of the Act of 1896, or under sects. 8 and 9 of this Act. It is to be noticed that drivers who by their reckless driving cause either death or actual bodily harm to any person on the highway are liable to be convicted on indictment for any such offence. (a) See post, Chaps. III. and IV. |