only point intended to be discussed on the rule, the Court consented to hear and give their opinion on that point. 1858. The QUEEN V. SUDBURY The facts raising this question appeared on the affi- Burial Board. davits to be as follows. The town of Sudbury consists of three ancient ecclesiastical parishes, Saint Peter, Saint Gregory and All Saints, each having a separate church, churchyard and churchwardens. By 1 stat. 1 Ann. c. 34. (a) a corporation was created for the management of the poor of the town of Sudbury, consisting of the three parishes; and, since that Act, one poor rate on the three parishes is made for defraying the expences of the management of the poor of all three indiscriminately. The hamlet of Ballingdon cum Brandon has separate churchwardens and a separate vestry, and maintains its own poor separately; but the inhabitants attend the church of the parish of All Saints; and their dead were interred in the churchyard of that parish. In 1854 the churchyards in the three parishes were closed; and a joint Burial Board for the three parishes and the hamlet was constituted. For the purposes of the discussion, it was assumed that every thing was regular if there was, at that time, power to constitute a board for districts situated as the three parishes and the hamlet were. Montague Smith now shewed cause. Stat. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 134. s. 7. extends the provisions of stat. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 85. to parishes not in the Metropolis. It is under the provisions of that Act, if at all, that this Burial Board (a) Private. For erecting hospitals and workhouses within the town of Sudbury in the county of Suffolk, for the better employing and maintaining the poor thereof." 1858. V. SUDBURY is constituted. Stat. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 85. s. 10. authorizes The QUEEN the forming of a Burial Board on the requisition of the rate payers "of any parish." That is the first step Burial Board. which is requisite. Now sect. 52 enacts that "parish' shall mean every place having separate overseers of the poor, and separately maintaining its own poor." The three parishes within the town of Sudbury do not separately maintain their own poor, and have not separate overseers. They are therefore not parishes within that Act. Stat. 18 & 19 Vict. c. 128. s. 11. enables such places as these to form Burial Boards, but is not retrospective. Hugh Hill, contrà. If the language used in sect. 52 had been such as to shew that the Legislature intended to exclude all parishes that, for any reason, had not separate overseers, the objection might be good. But the language used is in effect the same as if the Legislature had said the word parish shall mean what it does, and also shall include every place having separate overseers and separately maintaining its own poor. The section begins as is usual by saying that the words shall bear the meaning assigned "unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction." The limited meaning proposed by the other side would exclude many parishes which the Legislature intended to include. Lord CAMPBELL C. J. I think that the construction proposed to be given to the word parish, so as to make it exclude such parishes as these, would be directly repugnant to the whole object of the Act, and would in many cases defeat the object of the Legislature. I think clearly that the interpretation clause extends the meaning of the word so as to include such places though not parishes, but does not exclude parishes. WIGHTMAN J. I am of the same opinion. The construction proposed is repugnant to the whole context. 1858. The QUEEN V. SUDBURY Burial Board. (No other Judge was present.) Rule absolute. RICHARD NICHOLSON against CHARLES ARTHUR Saturday, ACTION for money had and received. By consent of parties, and order of Coleridge J., the following case was stated, without pleadings, under sect. 46 of The Common Law Procedure Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 76.). May 8th. Stat. 7 & 8 Vict. abolishing the c. 71., after sessions for the City and Liberty of Westminster, and directing that the county sessions for Middlesex shall The plaintiff is clerk of the peace for the City and Liberty of Westminster. The defendant is clerk of the peace for the county of Middlesex, within which county the City and Liberty of Westminster is locally situate. Separate commissions of the peace have always been sect. 12, that issued for the county and for the City. On 6th August, 1844, stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 71., "For be holden by adjournment within the City and Liberty, enacts, by the persons holding the several offices of high bailiff of Westminster, clerk of the peace, and all the better administration of criminal justice in Middlesex," was passed; under which an Assistant Judge was other officers appointed for the Middlesex Sessions. of the court of sessions of the peace for the said City and Liberty, shall, so long as they shall be entitled to hold their several offices, execute the duties and be entitled to the emoluments, within the said City and Liberty, of the several offices of sheriff, clerk of the peace and other corresponding officers of the county of Middlesex. Held, that this extends only to the persons holding the offices in the City and Liberty at the time of the Act passing. By the Court of Exchequer Chamber, the Court of Q. B. having been equally divided. 1858. NICHOLSON V. ELLIS. And by the 11th and 12th sections it was enacted as follows. "11. And whereas by an Act passed in the ninth year of the reign of King George the Fourth (a), intituled An Act to enable the justices of the peace for Westminster to hold their sessions of the peace during Term and the sitting of the Court of King's Bench,' the sessions of the peace for the said City and Liberty are limited to the weeks preceding the holding of each of the quarter or general sessions of the peace for the said county of Middlesex: and whereas by ancient usage and of right the justices of the peace for Middlesex have constantly holden and may hold their sessions of the peace for the said county within the said City and Liberty, and the holding of sessions for the City and Liberty has become unnecessary; Be it enacted, that after the sessions of the peace which shall be holden in and for the said City and Liberty next after the passing of this Act sessions of the peace in and for the said City and Liberty shall cease to be holden, and the sessions to be holden in and for the said county of Middlesex shall be holden by adjournment within the said City and Liberty, and shall have full jurisdiction over all things cognisable by the sessions for the said City and Liberty; and that the inhabitants of the said City and Liberty shall not be exempted from serving on juries at the sessions of the peace for the county of Middlesex holden within the said City and Liberty." "12. And be it enacted, that the persons holding the several offices of high bailiff of Westminster, clerk of the peace, and all other officers of the court of sessions of (a) Stat. 9 G. 4. c. 9. the peace for the said City and Liberty, shall, so long as they shall be entitled to hold their several offices, `execute the duties and be entitled to the emoluments within the said City and Liberty of the several offices of sheriff, clerk of the peace, and other corresponding officers of the county of Middlesex: provided always, that the records of every session of the peace for the said county holden within the said City and Liberty shall be sent, within fourteen days after such session, by the clerk of the peace of the said City and Liberty, to the clerk of the peace of the said county, and shall be kept by him with the other records of his office." Up to the time of the passing of the said Act, and for many years previously, four general quarter sessions and eight general sessions of the peace for the county had been usually held in each year at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell, with an adjournment once every year, or oftener, into Westminster: and four quarter sessions of the peace for the City and Liberty of Westminster had been held in each year at the Guildhall, Westminster. The jurisdiction of the quarter sessions for the City and Liberty was confined to matters arising within the City and Liberty; but the jurisdiction of Middlesex sessions extended, and still extends, over the whole county, including the City and Liberty of Westminster, and to matters arising within the said City and Liberty, though, in practice, such matters were (before the passing of the said Act) usually dealt with and disposed of at the sessions for the said City and Liberty. Since the passing of the said Act, the sessions of the peace in and for the said City and Liberty have (with exception of one session) ceased to be holden. 1858. NICHOLSON V. ELLIS. |