1857: 20 Victoria c.19: An Act to provide for the Relief of the Poor in Extra-parochial Places.

[21st March 1857.]

WHEREAS it is desirable that Provisions should be made for the Relief of the Poor in Extra-parochial Places: 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:

[All Extra-parochial Places, where no Poor Rate is levied, to be deemed Parishes for Relief of the Poor, &c. and Justices, having Jurisdiction, to appoint Overseers.]

I. After the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, every Place entered separately in the Report of the Registrar General on the last Census which now is or is reputed to be extra-parochial, and wherein no Rate is levied for the Relief of the Poor, shall for all the Purposes of the Assessment to the Poor Parishes for Rate, the Relief of the Poor, the County, Police, or Borough Rate, the Burial of the Dead, the Removal of Nuisances, the Registration and Justices, of Parliamentary and Municipal Voters, and the Registration of Births and Deaths, be deemed a Parish for such Purposes, and shall be designated by the Name which is assigned to it in such Report; and the Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction over such Place or over the greater Part thereof shall appoint Overseers of the Poor therein; and with respect to any other Place being or reputed to be extra-parochial, and wherein no Rate is levied for the Relief of the Poor, such Justices may appoint Overseers of the Poor therein, notwithstanding anything contained in the Hundred and first Chapter of the Statute passed in the Session of Parliament of the Seventh and Eighth Years of Her present Majesty.

[One Overseer only may be appointed by the Justices.]

II. If in any Extra-parochial Place it shall appear to the Justices that Two Overseers cannot conveniently be appointed from the Inhabitant Householders thereof, or are not required for such Place, such Justices may appoint One only; and if it shall appear to them that there is no such Householder liable or fit to be appointed they shall appoint some Inhabitant Householder of an adjoining Parish willing to serve to be such Overseer, either with or without an annual Salary, such Salary, if any, to be approved of by the Poor Law Board, add to be paid out of the Poor Rate of such Place; and such last-mentioned Appointment shall enure until the usual Time of the Appointment of Overseers, and may be renewed from Year to Year as long as the Justices shall find necessary.

[Provision for the Inns of Court.]

III. In each of the Places termed the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, and Gray’s Inn the Officer for the Time being acting as the Under Treasurer of such Inn of Court, and in the Place termed Charterhouse, London, the Registrar, shall be the Overseer of such Place; and in default of any such Officer, the Justices having Jurisdiction in such Inns or Place respectively shall appoint some; Inhabitant Householder therein to be the Overseer thereof for the then current Year, and thenceforth from Year to Year so long as the Office of Under Treasurer or Registrar shall be vacant; provided that such Places shall not be liable to be added to any Union or other District for the Purposes aforesaid.

[Justices at the Quarter Sessions may, upon Application, and with Consent, annex any Extra-parochial Place to an adjoining Parish.]

IV. If the Owners and Occupiers respectively of the Land comprised in any Extra-parochial Place owning and occupying Two Thirds in Value at least of such Land shall express their Desire in Writing, signed by such major Part, that such Place be comprised in or annexed to any Parish for the Purposes aforesaid, and such Parish shall consent thereto, such Consent, to be expressed by a Resolution of the Vestry, after due Notice, the Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions assembled, or the Recorder of the Borough if such Place be situated within a Borough subject to the Jurisdiction of a Recorder, may make an Order for the Annexation of such Place to such Parish, and thenceforth the same shall be deemed to be Part of the said Parish for all such Purposes.

[Overseers may act as Guardians until there shall be Ratepayers qualified to elect.]
V. If any such Place should be added to any Union the Overseer or Overseers thereof shall act as the Guardian or Guardians of such Place at the Board of Guardians of such Union until there shall be Ratepayers thereof qualified to elect a Guardian; provided that if the Poor Law Board should direct One Guardian only to be appointed for any such Place, and there shall be Two Overseers appointed for the same, the Overseer first appointed, or whose Name shall stand first in the Warrant of Appointment, shall act as such Guardian, and in the Case of his Decease or Incapacity during the Year of Office, the other Overseer shall thenceforth act as such Guardian; provided also, that no such paid Overseer as aforesaid shall be authorized to act as a Guardian.

[All Powers, &c. of Overseers extended to Overseers appointed under this act.]

VI. The Overseers or Overseer appointed under the Authority of this Act shall have all the Powers, Authorities, Privileges, Exemptions, and Protections which Overseers now or hereafter shall possess, and shall be subject to all the Obligations, Responsibilities, Penalties, and Consequences which Overseers are now or may hereafter be liable to.

[Certain Places excepted.]

VII. Provided, That nothing above contained shall apply to any Extra-parochial Place in respect whereof there shall be any Agreement with any Parish as to the Liability of such Place to contribute to the Poor Rate of such Parish contained in any Act of Parliament.

[Provision for Extra-parochial Places adjoining Districts under Local Acts.]

VIII. Where there is any Extra-parochial Place contained in or adjoining to any District comprising any Parish or Parishes, in which District the Relief of the Poor is administered under the Authority of a Local Act, the Poor Law Board may, with the Consent of the Occupiers and Owners of Two Thirds in Value of the Land comprised in such Place, and with the Consent of the Guardians acting in that District, by Order direct such Place to be added, for the Purposes of Administration of Relief to the Poor, to such District, upon such Conditions and subject to such Provisions and Regulations as shall appear to them to be necessary for such Purposes.

[Bishop may authorize Publication of Banns in Church or Chapel of the Church of England in Extra-parochial Place.]

IX. Where any Extra-parochial Place has belonging to or within it any Church or Chapel of the Church of England, the Bishop of the Diocese within which such Church or Chapel shall be locally situate may, if he think fit, authorize by Writing under his Hand and the Seal the Publication of Banns and the Solemnization of Marriages by Banns or Licence in such Church or Chapel of Persons residing within such Extra-parochial Place, and such written Authorization shall be registered in the Registry of the Diocese.

[Provisions as to the keeping of Marriage Registers to extend to any Church or Chapel where Banns may be published.]

X. Provided always, That all Provisions now in force or which may hereafter be established by Law relative to providing and keeping Marriage Registers in any Parish Churches shall extend and be construed to extend to any Church or Chapel in which the Publication of Banns and Solemnization of Marriages shall be so authorized as aforesaid in the same Manner as if the same were a Parish Church, and everything required by Law to be done relative thereto by the Churchwardens of any Parish Church shall be done by the Churchwarden or Chapelwarden or other Officer exercising analogous Duties in such Church or Chapel, or if there shall be no such Officer then by such Person as shall be appointed in that Behalf by the Bishop of the Diocese.

Terms used in this Act to be construed as in 4 & 5 W. 4. c. 76., &c.]

XI. The Words used in this Act shall be construed in the like Manner as in the Seventy-sixth Chapter of the Statute passed in the Fourth and Fifth Years of King William the Fourth; and the Provisions contained therein, and in the subsequent Acts explaining and extending the same, and not repealed, shall, so far as they shall be consistent herewith, be extended to this Act.

Source: A Collection of the Public General Statutes, 1857.

Further reading: Wikipedia.