Short title. Power of entry. Power to Privy Council to issue orders that pro visions herein contained for prevention of diseases may put in force. be Power to General 18 & 19 VICT. c. 116. An Act for the better Prevention of Diseases. (1) WHEREAS the provisions of "The Nuisances Removal and Diseases I. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Diseases Prevention Act, 1855." IV. The local authority and their officers shall have power of entry for the purposes of this Act, and for executing or superintend ing the execution of the regulations and directions of the General Board issued under this Act. V. Whenever any part of England appears to be threatened with or is affected by any formidable epidemic, endemic, or contagious disease, the Lords and others of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, or any three or more of them (the Lord President of the Council or one of Her Majesty's principal Secre taries of State being one), may, by order or orders to be by them from time to time made, direct that the provisions herein contained, for the prevention of diseases, be put in force in England, or in such parts thereof as in such order or orders respectively may be expressed, and may from time to time, as to all or any of the parts to which any such order or orders extend, and in like manner, revoke or renew any such order; and, subject to revocation and renewal as aforesaid, every such order shall be in force for six calendar months, or for such shorter period as in such order shall be expressed; and every such Order of Her Majesty's Privy Council, or of any members thereof, as aforesaid, shall be certified under the hand of the clerk in ordinary of Her Majesty's Privy Conncil, and shall be published in the London Gazette; and such publication shall be conclusive evidence of such order, to all intents and purposes. VI. From time to time after the issuing of any such order as Board of Health aforesaid, and whilst the same continues in force, the General Board of Health may issue directions and regulations as the said Board think fit to issue regula tions to carry out such provi sions. For the speedy interment of the dead; For the dispensing of medicines, guarding against the spread of disease, and affording to persons afflicted by or threatened with such epidemic, endemic, or contagious diseases, such medical aid and such accommodation as may be required; Local extent and And from time to time, in like manner, may revoke, renew, and duration of regu alter any such directions and regulations as to the said Board appears expedient, to extend to all parts in which the provisions lations of General Board. (1) Sce 34 & 35 Vict. c. 70. of this Act for the prevention of disease shall for the time being be put in force under such orders as aforesaid, unless such directions and regulations be expressly confined to some of such parts, and then to such parts as therein are specified; and (subject to the power of revocation and alteration herein contained) such directions and regulations shall continue in force so long as the said provisions of this Act shall, under such order, be applicable to the same parts. VII. Every such direction and regulation as aforesaid, when Publication of issued, shall be published in the London Gazette, and the Gazette such regulations. in which such direction or regulation was published shall be conclusive evidence of the direction or regulation so published, to all intents and purposes. the execution of VIII. The local authority shall superintend and see to the exc- The local aucution of such directions and regulations, and shall appoint and thority to see to pay such medical or other officers or persons, and do and provide such regulations, all such acts, matters, and things, as may be necessary for mitiga- etc. ting such disease, and for superintending or aiding in the execution of such directions and regulations, or for executing the same, as the case may require. IX. The local authority may from time to time direct any pro- And may direct secutions or legal proceedings for or in respect of the wilful viola- prosecutions for violating the tion or neglect of any such direction and regulation. same. tions, and regu X. Every order of Her Majesty's Privy Council, and every Orders of direction and regulation of the General Board of Health, under Council, directhis Act, shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament, forthwith, lations to be laid upon the issuing thereof, if Parliament be then sitting, and if not, before Parliathen within fourteen days next after the commencement of the then ment. next sessions of Parliament. parts and arms XI. Orders in Council issued in pursuance of this Act for putting Order in Council in force the provisions for the prevention of disease in the said may extend to Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts contained, in of the sea. Great Britain, may extend to parts and arms of the sea lying within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty; and the Board of Health for England may issue under this Act directions and regulations for cleansing, purifying, ventilating, and disinfecting, and providing medical aid and accommodation, and preventing disease in ships and vessels, as well upon arms and parts of the sea aforesaid as upon inland waters. others entitled to XII. Whenever, in compliance with any regulation of the General Medical officer Board of Health, which they may be empowered to make under of unions and this Act, any medical officer appointed under and by virtue of the costs of attending laws for the time being for the relief of the poor, shall perform any sick on board medical service on board of any vessel, such medical officer shall vessels, when be entitled to charge extra for any such service, at the general rate orders of General required by of his allowance for his services for the union or place for which he Board of Health. is appointed, and such charges shall be payable by the captain of the vessel, on behalf of the owners, together with any reasonable expenses for the treatment of the sick; and if such services shall be rendered by any medical practitioner who is not a union or parish officer, he shall be entitled to charges for any service rendered on board, with extra remuneration on account of distance, at the same rate as those which he is in the habit of receiving from private patients of the class of those attended and treated on shipboard, to be paid as aforesaid; and in case of dispute in respect of such charges, such dispute may, where the charges do not exceed twenty pounds, be determined summarily, at the place where the dispute arises, as in the case of seamen's wages not exceeding fifty Authentication Health. Penalty for obstructing execu tion of Act. Certain provisions of Nui pounds, according to the provisions of the law in that behalf for the time being in force; and any justice before whom complaint is made shall determine summarily as to the amount which is reasonable, according to the accustomed rate of charge within the place, for attendance on patients of the like class or condition as those in respect of whom the charge is made. XIII. The directions and regulations of the General Board of Health under this enactment shall be under the seal of the said Board, and the hand of the president or two or more members thereof; and any copy of such regulations purporting to bear such seal and signature, whether the said signature and the seal be respectively impressed and written, or printed only, shall be evidence in all proceedings in which such regulations may come in question. XIV. Whoever wilfully obstructs any person acting under the authority or employed in the execution of this Act, and whosoever wilfully violates any direction or regulation issued by the General Board of Health as aforesaid, shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, to be appropriated in or towards the defraying the expenses of executing this Act. XV. The provisions of any general Act in force for the removal of nuisances, with regard to the service of notices, the proof of sances Removal orders or resolutions of the local authority, and the recovery of penalties, shall extend and apply to this Act. Act to apply to this Act. Recited Acts repealed as far as relates to England, except as to proceedings commenced. Interpretation of certain terms used in this Act. 18 & 19 VICT. C. 121. An Act to consolidate and amend the Nuisances Removal and [14th August, 1855.] WHEREAS the provisions of "The Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act, 1848," amended by "The Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Amendment Act, 1849," are defective, and it is expedient to repeal the said Acts so far as relates to England, and to substitute other provisions more effectual in that behalf: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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: I. From and after the passing of this Act, the said Acts are by this section repealed, as far as relates to England: Provided always, that all proceedings commenced or taken under the said Acts, and not yet completed, may be proceeded with under the said Acts; and all contracts or works undertaken by virtue of the said Acts, shall continue and be as effectual as if the said Acts had not been repealed. II. In this Act the following words and expressions have the meaning by this section hereinafter assigned to them, unless such meanings be repugnant to or inconsistent with the context; (that is to say,) the word "place" includes any city, borough, district under the Public Health Act, parish, township, or hamlet, or part of any such city, borough, district, town, parish, township, or hamlet; the word "guardians" includes the directors, wardens, overseers, governors, or other like officers having the management of the poor for any parish or place where the matter or any part tof the matter requiring the cognizance of any such officer arises; the word "borough," and the expressions "mayor, aldermen, and burgesses," "council," and "borough fund," have respectively the same meaning as in the Acts for the regulation of municipal corporations, and shall also respectively mean, include, and apply to any royal borough, royal town, or other town having a warden, high bailiff, borough reeve, or other chief officer, and burgesses or inhabitants, however designated, associated with him in the government or management thereof, or any town or place having a governing body therein in the nature of a corporation or otherwise, and to the chief officers and governing bodies of such boroughs, towns, and places, and to the funds and property under the management of, or at the disposal of such chief officers and governing bodies; the expression "Improvement Act" means an Act for regulating and managing the police of, and for draining, cleansing, paving, lighting, watching, and improving a place, and an Act for any of those purposes; the word "owner" includes any person receiving the rents of the property in respect of which that word is used from the occupier of such property on his own account, or as trustee or agent for any other person, or as receiver or sequestrator appointed by the Court of Chancery or under any order thereof, or who would receive the same if such property were let to a tenant; the word "premises extends to all messuages, lands, or tenements, whether open or enclosed, whether built on or not, and whether public or private ; the word "parish " includes every township or place separately maintaining its poor, or separately maintaining its own highways; the expression "quarter sessions" means the Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the peace for a county, riding, or division of a county, city, or borough; the word "person," and words applying to any person or individual, apply to and include corporations, whether aggregate or sole; and the expression "two justices" shall, in addition to its ordinary signification, mean one stipendiary or police magistrate acting in any Police Court for the district. PART I. Constitution of Local Authority, Expenses, Description of And with respect to the constitution of the local authority, for the execution of this Act, the expenses of its execution, the description of nuisances that may be dealt with under it, and the powers of entry for the purposes of the Act, be it enacted thus: III. The following bodies shall respectively be the local autho- The local rity to execute this Act in the districts hereunder stated in authority to execute this Act England: (1) in places as In any place within which there is no such Local Board of herein stated. Health, nor Council, body of trustees, or commissioners, and where there is or shall be a Board for the repair of the highways of such place, that Board : (1) The whole of this section is repealed by the 23 & 24 Vict. c. 77, s. 1; but section 3 of that Act rendered it necessary to retain in the former edition what follows of the c. 90, S. 17. As to filling of vacancies. Power to local authority to appoint committees. What are deemed nuisances under this Act. Notice of nuisances to be given to local authority, etc., to ground proceedings. In any place where there is no such Local Board of Health, Council, body of trustees, or commissioners, nor Highway Board, a committee for carrying this Act into execution, by the name of "The Nuisances Removal Committee," of which the surveyor or surveyors of highways for the time being of such place shall be ex officio a member or members, may be annually chosen by the vestry on the same day as the overseers or surveyors of highways, and the first of such committees may be chosen at a vestry to be specially held for that purpose; and such committee may consist of such number of members as the vestry shall determine, not being more than twelve, exclusive of such surveyor or surveyors, and of such committee three shall be a quorum. IV. On any vacancy in such Nuisances Removal Committee arising from death, change of residence, or otherwise, notice shall be given by the committee to the churchwardens, who shall forthwith summon a meeting of the vestry, and fill up such vacancy by election; and until such vacancy is filled up the remaining members of the committee may act in all respects as if their number was complete. V. The local authority may appoint any committee of their own body to receive notices, take proceedings, and, in all or certain specified respects, execute this Act, whereof two shall be a quorum; and such local authority or their committee may, in each particular case, by order in writing under the hand of the chairman of such body or committee, empower any officer or person to make complaints and take proceedings on their behalf. * VIII. The word "nuisances " under this Act shall includeAny premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health: Any pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain, or ashpit so foul as to be a nuisance or injurious to health: Any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health: Any accumulation or deposit which is a nuisance or injurious to health (1): Provided always, that no such accumulation or deposit as shall be necessary for the effectually carrying on of any business or manufacture shall be punishable as a nuisance under this section, when it is proved to the satisfaction of the justices that the accumulation or deposit has not been kept longer than is necessary for the purposes of such business or manufacture, and that the best available means have been taken for protecting the public from injury to health thereby. X. Notice of nuisance may be given to the local authority by any person aggrieved thereby, or by any of the following persons: the sanitary inspector or any paid officer under the said local authority; two or more inhabitant householders of the parish or place to which the notice relates; the relieving officer of the union or parish; any constable or any officer of the constabulary or police force of the district or place; and in case the premises be a com mon lodging-house, any person appointed for the inspection of common lodging-houses; and the local authority may take cogni (1) See 29 & 30 Vict. c. 90, s. 19. |