And the person keeping any such lodging house. shall give access to the same when required by any persons who shall produce the written authority (c) of the said local board in this behalf, for the purpose of inspecting the same, or for introducing or using therein any disinfecting process, and the expenses incurred by the said local board in so introducing or using any disinfecting process shall be recoverable by them in a summary manner (d) from the person keeping the lodging house in which the same shall have been used or introduced;

neglect.

And whosoever shall receive lodgers in any com- Penalty on mon lodging house without having registered the same as required by this Act, or shall refuse to admit therein, at any time between the hour of eleven in the forenoon and the hour of four in the afternoon (e), any person authorized by the said local board as last aforesaid, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty (f) not exceeding forty shillings (g).

LXVII. And be it enacted (h), that it shall not be Cellars, &c.

(c) Sect. 149, post, and 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 61, provide for the form and authentication of this writing.

(d) See sect. 129, post.

(e) This limitation as to the time of entry is omitted from 14 & 15 Vict. c. 28, by sect. 16.

(f) See sect. 129, post, as to the recovery of these penalties. (g) It is right to refer to 14 & 15 Vict. c. 34, which enables local boards of health, if they think proper, to establish lodging houses for the labouring classes within their district. The Act being of considerable length, and its adoption being very improbable, it has not been deemed advisable to print it in this collection.

(h) An important question arises, whether the whole or any part of this clause applies generally, or is limited to places where the local board of health is established. Mr. Lawes, in his edition of this Act, considered that the proviso applies generally, and cites Richards v. Easto, 1 Ex. 319. But the language of the 1st section is that the Act may be applied in manner therein pro

newly built.

not to he let lawful to let or occupy or suffer to be occupied sepa

as dwelling

rooms.

No cellars,

rately as a dwelling any vault, cellar, or under&c. to be let ground room built or rebuilt after the passing of this Act, or which shall not have been so let or occupied ditions. before the passing of this Act;

except under

certain con

And it shall not be lawful to let or continue to let, or to occupy or suffer to be occupied, separately as a dwelling, any vault, cellar, or underground room whatsoever, unless the same be in every part thereof at least seven feet in height, measured from the floor to the ceiling thereof,-nor unless the same be at least three feet of its height above the surface of the street or ground adjoining or nearest to the same, nor unless there be outside of and adjoining the same vault, cellar, or room, and extending along the entire frontage thereof, and upwards from six inches below the level of the floor thereof up to the surface of the said street or ground, an open area of at least two feet and six inches wide in every part, nor unless the same be well and effectually drained by means of a drain the uppermost part of which is one foot at least below the level of the floor of such vault, cellar, or room,-nor unless there be appurtenant to such vault, cellar, or room the use of a watercloset or privy and an ashpit, furnished with proper doors and coverings, kept and provided according to the provisions of this Act (h),—nor

vided, to any part of England and Wales, with certain exceptions. It seems to follow that the Act is not in force except where it has been so applied. Sect. 50 indeed is in force in other places, but that is so by the terms of the clause itself. It seems also that the part of the text which relates to cellars built or occupied before the passing of the Act could not apply except within a district, otherwise the passage is inconsistent, containing two limitations of time for the commencement of its operations.

(h) See sect. 54, ante, p. 103.

unless the same have a fireplace with a proper chimney or flue,-nor unless the same have an external window of at least nine superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame, and made to open in such manner as shall be approved by the surveyor (i), except in the case of an inner or back vault, cellar, or room let or occupied along with a front vault, cellar, or room as part of the same letting or occupation, in which case the external window may be of any dimensions, not being less than four superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame;

And whosoever lets, occupies, or continues to let, or knowingly suffers to be occupied for hire or rent, any vault, cellar, or underground room, contrary to this Act, shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty (k) not exceeding twenty shillings (k) for every day during which the same continues to be so let or occupied after notice in writing (1) from the local board of health in this behalf:

room,

Provided always, that in any area adjoining a vault, cellar, or underground room there may be steps necessary for access to such vault, cellar, or if the same be so placed as not to be over, across, or opposite to the said external window, and so as to allow between every part of such steps and the external wall of such vault, cellar, or room a clear space of six inches at the least, and that over or across any such area there may be steps necessary for access to any building above the vault, cellar, or room to which such area adjoins, if the same be so

(i) See sect. 2, ante, and sect. 151, post, as to the exemption from duty.

(k) See sect. 129, as to the recovery thereof.

(See sect. 150, post, and 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 61, as to the service and authentication of notices.

Act not to come into

operation un

til the expi

ration of a

in case of

cellars, &c.

placed as not to be over, across, or opposite to any such external window:

Provided also, that every vault, cellar, or underground room in which any person passes the night shall be deemed to be occupied as a dwelling within the meaning of this Act:

Provided also, that the provisions of this Act with respect to the letting and occupation of vaults, cellars, and underground rooms shall not, so far as certain time. the same relate to vaults, cellars, and underground rooms which shall have been let or occupied as dwellings before the passing of this Act, come into force or operation until the expiration of one year from the passing of this Act, nor within any district until the expiration of six months from the time when this Act shall have been applied thereto (c);

already occupied as dwellings.

Church

wardens, &c. to give no

ment.

And all churchwardens and overseers of the poor shall from time to time after the passing of this tice of enact-Act cause public notice (d) of the provisions of this Act with respect to the letting and occupation of vaults, cellars, and underground rooms to be given in such manner as may appear to them to be best calculated to make the same generally known.

Management

of streets vested in

local board.

LXVIII. And be it enacted, that all present and future streets (e), being or which at any time become

(c) See now 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 20, as to the date of the constitution of the district.

(d) As the legislature have imposed this duty upon these officers, it seems that they may charge the cost of these notices upon the poor rate, as that is the only fund which they possess in common. But since no precise time is appointed for the giving of these notices, the clause has not been much observed. Of course the difficulty above adverted to, as to the extent of the operation of the clause, has tended to diminish its operation. (e) See the definition of street in sect. 2, ante. Sect. 117, post, made the local board surveyors of the highways, and vested in such board all the powers of the surveyor of the highways.

highways (f) within any district, and the pavements, stones, and other materials thereof, and all buildings, implements, and other things provided for the purposes thereof by any surveyor of highways, or by any person serving the office of surveyor of highways, shall vest in and be under the management and control of the said local board of health;

And the said local board shall from time to time cause all such streets to be levelled, paved, flagged, channelled, altered, and repaired (g), as and when occasion may require, and they may from time to time cause the soil of any such street to be raised, lowered, or altered as they may think fit, and place and keep in repair fences and posts for the safety of foot passengers;

And whosoever wilfully displaces, takes up, or injures the pavement, stones, materials, fences, or posts of any such street, without the consent of the

(f) The 15 & 16 Vict. c. 42, enacted in sect. 13, "That the term highway,' in the sections of the Public Health Act, 1848, numbered respectively 68 and 69 in the copies of the Act printed by the Queen's printers, shall mean any highway repairable by the inhabitants at large." In Sunderland, Mayor of, v. Herring, 17 J. P. 741, the Court of Queen's Bench held that this enactment interpreted the clause in the text retrospectively.

(g) It will be observed, that there is no reference here to the rights of private individuals, nor does the Act contain any clause applicable to streets such as that which is contained in sect. 145, applicable to sewers. The principle established by Boulton v. Crowther, 2 B. & C. 703, is, that where public commissioners have conferred upon them, by statute, powers to effect works for the public good, they are not personally responsible for the damage which they cause to private individuals in the due and careful exercise of those powers: hence, where a local Act empowered a town council to alter the level of any street, the Court of Queen's Bench held that they had not exceeded their powers by erecting a bridge, in the line of street, over a canal, (Beaver v. Corporation of Manchester, 22 Jur. 23,) and were not liable in damages to a person whose house was thereby injured. And it has been