Constables. Obstructions and Fires. Hackney Carriages. Bathing. Recovery of Damages and Penalties. 16. Penalty for neglect of duty. 17. Power to constables to take recognizances. 18. Form of recognizances. 19. Recognizances to be registered and returned to the Justice. 20. Penalties on persons assaulting constables. 21. Power to prevent obstructions in the streets during public processions, &c. 22. Power to regulate the route of persons driving stage carriages, &c., during divine service. 23. Proprietors of stage carriages deviating from route by order free from penalty. 24. Power to impound stray cattle. 25. Power to sell stray cattle for penalty and expences. 26. Persons guilty of pound-breach to be committed for three months. 27. Power to provide a pound. 28. Penalty on persons committing any of the offences herein named. 29. Penalty on drunken persons, &c., guilty of riotous or indecent behaviour. 30. Penalty for setting chimneys wilfully on fire. 31. Penalty for accidentally allowing chimneys to catch fire. 32. Fire engines and firemen may be provided by the Commissioners. 33. Fire police permitted to go beyond the limits of the Act in certain cases. 34. Penalty on victuallers harbouring constables while on duty. 35. Penalty on coffee-shop keepers harbouring disorderly persons. 36. Penalty on persons keeping places for bear-baiting, cock-fighting, &c. 37. Hackney carriages to be licensed. 38. What to be hackney carriages. 39. Fee to be paid for licence. 40. Persons applying for licence to sign a requisition for same. 41. What shall be specified in the licences. 42. Licences to be registered. 43. Licence to be in force for one year only. 44. Notice to be given by proprietors of hackney carriages of any change of abode. 45. Penalty for plying for hire without a licence. 46. Drivers not to act without first obtaining a licence. 47. Penalty on drivers acting without licence. 48. Proprietor to retain licence of drivers when in his employ, and to produce the same when summoned, —Justices may indorse convictions upon licences.-Penalty on proprietors for neglect. 49. Proprietor to return licence to drivers when quitting his service if they behave well, if otherwise, proprietors to summon them.-Compensation in case of licence being improperly withheld. 50. Licences to be suspended or revoked for misconduct. 51. Number of persons to be carried in a hackney carriage to be painted thereon. 52. Penalty for neglect or for refusal to carry the prescribed number. 53. Penalty on driver for refusing to drive. 54. Penalty for demanding more than the sum agreed for, though less than the legal fare. 55. Agreement to pay more than the legal fare not to be binding, and sum paid beyond the proper fare may be recovered back. 56. Driver to carry, under an agreement for a discretionary distance, the distance to which hirer is entitled for the fare. 57. Deposit to be made for carriages waiting.-Penalty on the driver refusing to wait, or to account for the deposit. 58. Overcharge by hackney couchmen, &c. to be included in conviction, and returned to aggrieved party. 59. Penalty for permitting persons to ride without consent of the hirer. 60. No person to act as driver of any carriage without the consent of the proprietor. 61. Penalty on drivers misbehaving. 62. Penalty for leaving carriages unattended at places of public resort. 63. Damage done by driver may be recovered from the proprietor. 64. Improperly standing with carriage; refusing to give way to, or obstructing any other driver; or depriving him of his fare. 65. Justices empowered to award compensation to drivers for loss of time in attending to answer complaints not substantiated. 66. Penalty for refusing to pay the fare. 67. Penalty for damaging carriage. 68. Commissioners may make bye-laws for regulating hackney carriages. 69. Bathing machines. 70. Regulations as to rates. 71. Bye-laws. 72. Tender of amends. 73. Recovery of damages and penalties. 74. In Ireland part of penalties to be paid to guardians of unions. 75. All things required to be done by two Justices may, in certain cases, be done by one. 76. Persons giving false evidence liable to penalties of perjury. Access to special Act. 78. Penalty on failing to keep or deposit such copies. By this ACT, After reciting that it is expedient to comprise in one Act sundry provisions usually contained in Acts of Parliament for regulating the police of towns and populous districts, and that as well for avoiding the necessity of repeating such provisions in each of the several Acts relating to such towns or districts, as for insuring greater uniformity in the provisions themselves :It is Enacted, 1. That this Act shall extend only to such towns or districts in England or Ireland as shall be comprised in any Act of Parliament hereafter to be passed which shall declare that this Act shall be incorporated therewith; and all the clauses of this Act, save so far as they shall be expressly varied or excepted by any such Act, shall apply to the town or district which shall be comprised in such Act, and to the Commissioners appointed for improving and regulating the same, so far as such clauses shall be applicable thereto respectively, and shall, with the clauses of every other Act which shall be incorporated therewith, form part of such Act, and be construed therewith as forming one Act. And with respect to the construction of this Act, whether incorporated in whole or in part with any other Act, and of any Act incorporated therewith, it is enacted as follows: II. The expression "the special Act" used in this Act shall be construed to mean any Act which shall be hereafter passed for the improvement or regulation of any town or district defined or comprised therein and with which this Act shall be incorporated; and the word "prescribed," used in this Act in reference to any matter herein stated, shall be construed to refer to such matter as the same shall be prescribed or provided for in the special Act, and the sentence in which such word shall occur shall be construed as if, instead of the word " prescribed," the expression " prescribed for that purpose in the special Act” had been used; and the expression "the Commissioners" shall mean the Commissioners, trustees, or other persons or body corporate intrusted by the special Act with powers for executing the purposes thereof. III. The following words and expressions, in both this and the special Act, and any Act incorporated therewith, shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction; (that is to say,) Words importing the singular number shall include the plural number, and words importing the plural number shall include the singular number: Words importing the masculine gender shall include females: The word "person" shall include a corporation, whether aggregate or sole: The word "lands" shall include messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments of any tenure: The word "street" shall extend to and include any road, square, court, alley, and thoroughfare or public passage within the limits of the special Act : The word "month" shall mean calendar month: The expression "superior courts" shall mean Her Majesty's superior courts of record at Westminster or Dublin, as the case may require, and shall include the Court of Common Pleas of the county palatine of Lancaster and the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Durham : The word "oath" shall include affirmation in the case of Quakers, and any declaration lawfully substituted for an oath in the case of any other person allowed by law to make a declaration instead of taking an oath : The word "county" shall include riding or other division of a county having a separate commission of the peace, and shall also include county of a city or county of a town: The word "Justice" shall mean Justice of the Peace acting for the county, city, borough, liberty, cinque port, or other place where the matter requiring the cognizance of any such Justice arises; and where any matter shall be authorized or required to be done by two Justices, the expression "two Justices" shall be understood to mean two or more Justices met and acting together: The expression "Quarter Sessions" shall mean Quarter Sessions as defined in the special Act, and if such expression be not there defined, shall mean the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace which shall be held in or at the place nearest to the district comprised within the special Act for the county in which such district or some part thereof is situated, or for some division of such county having a separate commission of the peace: The word "cattle" shall include horses, asses, mules, sheep, goats, and swine. And with respect to citing this Act, or any part thereof, it is enacted as follows: IV. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament, and in legal instruments, it shall be enough to use the expression" the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847." v. For the purpose of incorporating part only of this Act with any Act hereafter to be passed it shall be enough to describe the clauses of this Act with respect to any matter in the words introductory to the enactment with respect to such matter, and to enact that the clauses so described, or that this Act, with the exception of the clauses so described, shall be incorporated with such Act, and thereupon all the clauses of this Act so incorporated shall, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted by such Act, form part of such Act, and such Act shall be construcd as if such clauses were set forth therein with reference to the matter to which such Act relates. And with respect to the appointment and the powers, duties, and privileges of constables, it is enacted as follows: VI. If any constables shall have been appointed within the limits of the special Act under the provisions of an Act, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93, intituled 'An Act for the Establishment of County and District Constables by the Authority of the Justices of the Peace;' and of another Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, intituled An Act to amend the Act for the Establishment of County and District Constables; and if the Justices for the county in which such district is situated, in General or Quarter Session assembled report to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State that the constables so appointed ought to be discontinued, and the said constables be, in pursuance thereof or otherwise, discontinued, or where no constables shall have been appointed under the provisions of the last-mentioned Act, the Commissioners may from time to time appoint and employ a superintendent constable and also such number of constables as they judge necessary for the protection of the inhabitants and property within the said limits, and allow the superintendent constable and the other constables such salaries or wages as they think proper; and it shall be lawful for the Commissioners from time to time to remove any such superintendent constable, constables, and officers as they think fit. VII. Where constables shall have been appointed under the last two recited Acts, or either of them, the Commissioners, if they think it necessary so to do, may apply to the chief constable of the county in which the district within the said limits is situated, under the provisions of the last-recited Act, to appoint any additional number of constables within the said limits, and they may pay the charge of such appointments out of the rates to be levied under this and the special Act. VIII. Any Justice may swear in any person appointed and employed as a constable under this and the special Act, and the constable so sworn in shall have within the limits of the special Act, and in any place not more than five miles beyond such limits, the like powers, privileges, and duties, and' shall have the same indemnities and protection, and shall be subject to the like penalties and forfeitures, as any constable duly appointed has or is subject to within his constablewick by law. IX. The Commissioners may defray the expense of prosecuting any felons or offenders, and of defending any constable in the execution of his duty, and may make such allowances to any constable disabled in the execution of his duty, or worn out by length of service, as the Commissioners think reasonable. x. No constable appointed under this or the special Act shall resign his office, or withdraw himself from the duties thereof, unless expressly allowed so to do in writing by the Commissioners or by the superintendent constable, or until after he has given to such superintendent constable one month's notice; and every constable who so resigns or withdraws himself without such leave or notice shall be liable to forfeit all arrears of pay then due to him, or to a penalty of not more than 5l., or, in the discretion of the Justices before whom he shall be convicted, may be committed to prison, there to remain for a time not exceeding fourteen days. XI. Every constable appointed under this or the special Act who is dismissed from or ceases to hold and exercise his office shall forthwith deliver over to the superintendent constable, or to such person and at such time and place as the Commissioners direct, all the clothing, accoutrements, appointments, and other necessaries which have been supplied to him for the execution of his duty, under pain of imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any time not exceeding one month, and any Justice of the Peace may issue his warrant to search for and seize to the use of the Commissioners all the clothing, accoutrements, appointments, and other necessaries not so delivered over, wherever the same are found. XII. Every person who, not being at the time a constable appointed under this or the special Act, has in his possession any article being part of the clothing, accoutrements, or appointments supplied to any such constable, and who is not able satisfactorily to account for his possession thereof, or who puts on the dress or takes the name, designation, or character of any person appointed as such constable, for the purpose of thereby obtaining admission into any house or other place, or of doing or procuring to be done any act which such person would not be entitled to do or procure to be done of his own authority, or for any other unlawful purpose, shall, in addition to any other punishment to which he is liable for such offence, be liable to a penalty of not exceeding 101. XIII. The Commissioners may from time to time purchase or rent any buildings or land, and convert such buildings into or build on such land offices, watch-houses, lock-up houses, and other places necessary for the purposes of this and the special Act, with all proper conveniences thereto, and may repair the same from time to time, and furnish and fit up the same, and employ proper persons to take care thereof. XIV. The constables appointed by virtue of this and the special Act shall keep watch and ward within the limits of the special Act, and shall use their best endeavours to prevent any mischief by fire, and all felonies, misdemeanours, and breaches of the peace. XV. Any person found committing any offence punishable either upon indictment or as a misdemeanour upon summary conviction by virtue of this or the special Act may be taken into custody, without a warrant, by any of the said constables, or may be apprehended by the owner of the property on or with respect to which the offence is committed, or by his servant or any person authorized by him, and may be detained until he can be delivered into the custody of a constable; and the persons so arrested shall be taken, as soon as conveniently may be, before some Justice, to be examined and dealt with according to law: Provided always, that no person arrested under the powers of this or the special Act shall be detained in custody by any constable or other officer without the order of some Justice, longer than shall be necessary for bringing him before a Justice, or than forty hours at the utmost. XVI. Every constable acting within the limits of the special Act who is guilty of any neglect or violation of his duty as a constable, and convicted thereof before two Justices, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 10%., the amount of which penalty may be deducted from the salary or wages due to him or to become due to him, or, in the discretion of the Justices before whom he is convicted he may lawfully be imprisoned for any time not exceeding one month, with or without hard labour. XVII. Whenever any person charged with any offence under this or the special Act, or any Act incorporated therewith, not amounting to felony, and of which he is liable to be summarily convicted before a Justice, is in the custody of any constable acting as aforesaid, without the warrant of a Justice, the superintendent constable of the district, or appointed under this Act, or other the superior officer of police acting within the said limits, may, if he deem it prudent so to do, but in such cases only in which the offender cannot be conveniently taken before a Justice, take the recognizance of such person with or without sureties, conditioned as hereinafter mentioned. XVIII. Every recognizance so taken shall be taken without fee or reward, and shall be conditioned for the appearance of the person thereby bound before a Justice, at a certain day not later than seven days from the date of such recognizance, and the time and place of such appearance shall be specified in the recognizance. XIX. The officer taking any such recognizance shall enter in a book to be kept for that purpose the name, residence, and occupation of the party and his sureties, if any, entering into such recognizance, together with the conditions thereof, and the sum thereby acknowledged, and shall return every such recognizanee to the Justice at the time and place when and where the party is bound to appear, and every such recognizance shall have the like force and effect as if the same had been taken before a Justice. xx. Every person who assaults or resists, or who aids and incites any person to assault or resist, any constable in the execution of his duty under the provisions of this or the special Act, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 51, or, in the discretion of the Justice before whom he is convicted, may be imprisoned for any term not exceeding one month, with or without hard labour. And with respect to obstructions and nuisances in the streets, it is enacted as follows: XXI. The Commissioners may from time to time make orders for the route to be observed by all carts, carriages, horses, and persons, and for preventing obstruction of the streets within the limits of the special Act, in all times of public processions, rejoicings, or illuminations, and in any case when the streets are thronged or liable to be obstructed, and may also give directions to the constables for keeping order and preventing any obstruction of the streets in the neighbourhood of theatres and other places of public resort, and every wilful breach of any such order shall be deemed a separate offence against this Act, and every person committing any such offence shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. XXII. On application to the Commissioners by the minister or churchwardens or chapelwardens of any church, chapel, or other place of public worship within the limits of the special Act, the Commissioners may make orders for regulating the route by which persons shall drive any cart or carriage, or cattle, or the manner in which they shall drive, them in the neighbourhood of such places of worship, during the hours of divine service on Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, or any day appointed for a public fast or thanksgiving, and any orders so made shall be printed and put up on or near the church, chapel, or place of public worship to which the same refer, and in some conspicuous places near and leading thereto, and elsewhere as the Commissioners direct, and every wilful breach of any such order shall be deemed a separate offence against this Act, and every person committing any such offence shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. XXIII. No proprietor of any stage carriage duly licensed to carry passengers for hire shall be liable to any penalty for any deviation from the route or line of route specified in his lince which thedriver of such stage carriage makes in consequence of any regulation or direction made or given by the Commissioners. XXIV. If any cattle be at any time found at large in any street within the limits of the special Act, without any person having the charge thereof, any constable or officer of police, or any person residing within the limits of the special Act, may seize and impound such cattle in any common pound within the said limits, or in such other place as the Commissioners appoint for that purpose, and may detain the same therein until the owner thereof pay to the Commissioners a penalty not exceeding 40s., besides the reasonable expenses of impounding and keeping such cattle. xxv. If the said penalty and expences be not paid within three days after such impounding, the pound-keeper or other person appointed by the Commissioners for that purpose, may proceed to sell or cause to be sold any such cattle; but previous to such sale seven days' notice thereof shall be given to or left at the dwelling-house or place of abode of the owner of such cattle, if he be known, or if not, then notice of such intended sale shall be given by advertisement, to be inserted seven days before such sale in some newspaper published or circulated within the limits of the special Act; and the money arising from such sale, after deducting the said sums, and the expenses aforesaid, and all other expenses attending the impounding, advertising, keeping, and sale of any such cattle so impounded, shall be paid to the Commissioners, and shall be by them paid, on demand, to the owner of the cattle so sold. XXVI. Every person who releases or attempts to release any cattle from any pound or place where the same are impounded under the authority of this or the special Act, or who pulls down, damages, or destroys the same pound or place, or any part thereof, with intent to procure the unlawful release of such cattle, shall, upon conviction of such offence before any two Justices, be committed by them to some common gaol or house of correction for any time not exceeding three months. XXVII. The Commissioners may purchase a piece of land within the limits of the special Act for the purpose of a pound for stray animals, and may erect a pound thereon, and such pound when made shall be kept in repair by the Commissioners. XXVIII. Ever persony who in any street, to the obstruction, annoyance, or danger of the residents or passengers, commits any of the following offences, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. for each offence, or, in the discretion of the Justice before whom he is convicted, may be committed to prison, there to remain for a period not exceeding fourteen days, and any constable or other officer appointed by virtue of this or the special Act shall take into custody, without warrant, and forthwith convey before a Justice, any person who within his view commits any such offence; (that is to say,) Every person who exposes for show, hire, or sale (except in a market or market place or fair lawfully appointed for that purpose) any horse or other animal, or exhibits in a caravan or otherwise any show or public entertainment, or shoes, bleeds or farries any horse or animal (except in cases of accident), or cleans, dresses, exercises, trains or breaks, or turns loose any horse or animal, or makes or repairs any part of any cart or carriage (except in cases of accident where repair on the spot is necessary): Every person who suffers to be at large any unmuzzled ferocious dog, or sets on or urges any dog or other animal to attack, worry, or put in fear any person or animal: Every owner of any dog who suffers such dog to go at large, knowing or having reasonable ground for believing it to be in a rabid state, or to have been bitten by any dog or other animal in a rabid state: Every person, who after public notice given by any Justice directing dogs to be confined on account of suspicion of canine madness, suffers any dog to be at large during the time specified in such notice: Every person who slaughters or dresses any cattle, or any part thereof, except in the case of any cattle over-driven which may have met with any accident, and which for the public safety or other reasonable cause ought to be killed on the spot : Every person having the care of any waggon, cart, or carriage who rides on the shafts thereof, or who without having reins, and holding the same, rides upon such waggon, cart, or carriage, or on any animal drawing the same, or who is at such a distance from such waggon, cart or carriage as not to have due controul over every animal drawing the same, or who does not, in meeting any other carriage, keep his waggon, cart, or carriage to the left or near side, or who in passing any other carriage does not keep his waggon, cart, or carriage on the right or off side of the road (except in cases of actual necessity, or some sufficient reason for deviation), or who, by obstructing the street, wilfully prevents any person or carriage from passing him, or any waggon, cart, or carriage under his care: Every person who at one time drives more than two carts or waggons, and every person driving two carts or waggons who has not the halter of the horse in the last cart or waggon securely fastened to the back of the first cart or waggon, or has such halter of a greater length from such fastening to the horse's head than four feet: Every person who rides or drives furiously any horse or carriage, or drives furiously any cattle: Every person who causes any public carriage, sledge, truck, or barrow, with or without horses, or any beast of burden, to stand longer than is necessary for loading or unloading goods, or for taking up or setting down passengers (except hackney carriages, and horses and other beasts of draught or burden, standing for hire in any place appointed for that purpose by the Commissioners or other lawful authority), and every person who, by means of any cart, carriage, sledge, truck, or barrow, or any animal, or other means, wilfully interrupts any public crossing, or wilfully causes any obstruction in any public footpath or other public thoroughfare: Every person who causes any tree or timber or iron beam to be drawn in or upon any carriage, without having sufficient means of safely guiding the same: Every person who leads or rides any horse or other animal, or draws or drives any cart or carriage, sledge, truck, or barrow upon any footway of any street, or fastens any horse or other animal so that it stands across or upon any footway: Every person who places or leaves any furniture, goods, wares, or merchandise, or any cask, tub, basket, pail, or bucket, or places or uses any standing-place, stool, bench, stall, or showboard on any footway, or who places any blind, shade, covering, awning, or other projection over or along any such footway, unless such blind, shade, covering, awning, or other projection is eight feet in height at least in every part thereof from the ground: Every person who places, hangs up, or otherwise exposes to sale, any goods, wares, merchandise, matter, or thing whatsoever, so that the same project into or over any footway, or beyond the line of any house, shop, or building at which the same are so exposed, so as to obstruct or incommode the passage of any person over or along such footway : Every person who rolls or carries any cask, tub, hoop, or wheel, or any ladder, plank, pole, timber, or log of wood, upon Every person who publicly offers for sale or distribution, or exhibits to public view, any profane, indecent, or obscene book, paper, print, drawing, painting, or representation, or sings any profane or obscene song or ballad, or uses any profane or obscene language. Every person who wantonly discharges any firearm, or throws or discharges any stone or other missile, or makes any bonfire, or throws or sets fire to any firework : Every person who wilfully and wantonly disturbs any inhabitant, by pulling or ringing any door bell, or knocking at any door, or who wilfully and unlawfully extinguishes the light of any lamp: Every person who flies any kite, or who makes or uses any slide upon ice or snow: Every person who cleanses, hoops, fires, washes, or scalds any cask or tub, or hews, saws, bores, or cuts any timber or stone, or slacks, sifts, or screens any lime: Every person who throws or lays down any stones, coals, slate, shells, lime, bricks, timber, iron, or other materials (except building materials so inclosed as to prevent mischief to passengers): Every person who beats or shakes any carpet, rug, or mat (except door mats, beaten or shaken before the hour of eight in the morning): Every person who fixes or places any flower-pot, or box, or other heavy article, in any upper window, without sufficiently guarding the same against being blown down: Every person who throws from the roof or any part of any house or other building any slate, brick, wood, rubbish, or other thing, except snow thrown so as not to fall on any passenger: Every occupier of any house or other building or other person who orders or permits any person in his service to stand on the sill of any window, in order to clean, paint, or perform any other operation upon the outside of such window, or upon any house or other building within the said limits, unless such window be in the sunk or basement story: Every person who leaves open any vault or cellar, or the entrance from any street to any cellar or room underground, without a sufficient fence or handrail, or leaves defective the door, window, or other covering of any vault or cellar, or who does not sufficiently fence any area, pit or sewer left open, or who leaves such open area, pit, or sewer without a sufficient light after sunset to warn and prevent persons from falling thereinto: |