THE ACQUISITION OF LAND (ASSESS- [9 & 10 GEO. 5, c. 57.] An Act to amend the law as to the Assessment of Com- § 1. compensa Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:1.-(1.) Where by or under any statute (whether passed before or after the passing of this Act) land is Tribunal for authorised to be acquired compulsorily by any Govern- assessing ment Department or any local or public authority, any tion in requestion of disputed compensation, and, where any part spect of land compulsorily of the land to be acquired is subject to a lease which acquired for comprises land not acquired, any question as to the public purapportionment of the rent payable under the lease, shall be referred to and determined by the arbitration of such one of a panel of official arbitrators to be appointed under this section as may be selected in accordance with rules made by the Reference Committee under this section.1 (2.) Such number of persons, being persons with special knowledge in the valuation of land, as may be appointed for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland by the Reference Committee, shall form a panel of persons to act as official arbitrators for the purposes of this Act in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively: poses. 1. Provided that of the members of the said panel for England and Wales one at least shall be a person having special knowledge of the valuation of land in Wales and acquainted with the Welsh language. (3.) A person appointed to be a member of the panel of official arbitrators shall hold office for such term certain as may be determined by the Treasury before his appointment, and whilst holding office shall not himself engage, or be a partner of any other person who engages, in private practice or business. (4.) There shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament to official arbitrators such salaries or remuneration as the Treasury may determine. (5.) The Reference Committee— (a) for England and Wales shall consist of the Lord Rolls and the President of the Surveyors' (b) for Scotland shall consist of the Lord President (c) for Ireland shall consist of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, the Master of the Rolls in Ireland and the President of the Surveyors' Institution, or (if the President of the Surveyors' Institution thinks fit) a person, being a member of the council of that institution and having special knowledge of valuation of land in Ireland appointed by him to act in his place. (1) This Act is very far-reaching in its scope, including as it does the question of compensation for any land acquired compulsorily by any Government Department or any local or public authority. It extends to all land acquired by public authorities for small holdings or allotments or for public health or educational purposes and to land acquired for military, naval and other purposes of the Government except where the acquisition is not under statute but by the exercise of the prerogative of the Crown. In all cases to which it applies it supersedes the §§ 1, 2. 2. In assessing compensation, an official arbitrator Rules for shall act in accordance with the following rules: the assessment of tion. (1.) No allowance shall be made on account of the compensaacquisition being compulsory:1 (2.) The value of land shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be taken to be the amount which the land if sold in the open market by a willing seller might be expected to realise: Provided always that the arbitrator shall be entitled to consider all returns and assessments of capital value for taxation made or acquiesced in by the claimant: 2 § 2. (3.) The special suitability or adaptability of the land for any purpose shall not be taken into account if that purpose is a purpose to which it could be applied only in pursuance of statutory powers, or for which there is no market apart from the special needs of a particular purchaser or the requirements of any Government Department or any local or public authority: Provided that any bonâ fide offer for the purchase of the land made before the passing of this Act which may be brought to the notice of the arbitrator shall be taken into consideration: 3 (4.) Where the value of the land is increased by reason of the use thereof or of any premises thereon in a manner which could be restrained by any court, or is contrary to law, or is detrimental to the health of the inmates of the premises or to the public health, the amount of that increase shall not be taken into account:4 (5.) Where land is, and but for the compulsory acquisition would continue to be, devoted to a purpose of such a nature that there is no general demand or market for land for that purpose, the compensation may, if the official arbitrator is satisfied that reinstatement in some other place is bonâ fide intended, be assessed on the basis of the reasonable cost of equivalent reinstatement:5 (6.) The provisions of Rule (2) shall not effect the assessment of compensation for disturbance or any other matter not directly based on the value of land.6 For the purposes of this section, an official arbitrator shall be entitled to be furnished with such returns and assessments as he may require. (1) In ordinary cases of compulsory purchase under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, it is the practice to allow, in addition to the estimated value of the land, a certain percentage by way of compensation to the owner for being deprived of his land involuntarily even at a fair price. Such an allowance is forbidden by this rule, repeating in this respect the provisions of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1908, s. 39 (5), and the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 70), s. 21. The Housing Act, 1925 (15 Geo. 5, c. 14), contains rules for assessment of compensation and provides by Part I., rule 4, that, in the case of land included in an improvement or reconstruction scheme, subject to certain provisions contained in the previous rules compensation shall be assessed in accordance with this Act. 66 (2) In the open market" must mean by offers not confined to or made by a particular class of persons but not necessarily by auction. The word willing" appears unnecessary as, ex hypothesi, if the property is sold in the open market the seller must be willing. What a property "might be expected to realise" must depend to some extent upon the number of similar properties of a similar class for the time being in the market. In a neighbourhood where land is seldom offered for sale property may be expected to realise more than where such sales are common, and land is easily obtainable by those willing to buy. In the difficult task of arriving at the value of land the arbitrator may call to his assistance returns and assessments of capital value made under the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, or for the purposes of death duties. (3) The special suitability or adaptability of land for a sewage farm, an aerodrome, allotments, a lunatic asylum, a railway siding or other purpose for which there may be no market apart from the special needs or requirements of the purchaser is not to be taken into consideration so as to enhance the value of the land, even although it may be the purpose for which the Government Department or local or public authority is in fact purchasing. Under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, the special fitness or adaptability of land for the purpose of the undertaking is a proper subject of consideration in estimating the compensation to be paid. In order to exclude such an element of value from being taken into consideration it must be shown on the facts that there is no reasonable possibility of any market for the land apart from the particular scheme under which it is taken: In re Gough and Aspatria, Silloth and District Joint Water Board (73 L. J. K. B. 228; [1904] 1 K. B. 417). As to the meaning of special adaptability," see per Fletcher Moulton, L. J., in Re Lucas and Chesterfield Gas and Water Board (77 |