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CONSPIRACY AND PROTECTION OF PROPERTY ACT 1875
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CHAPTER LXXXVI.
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An Act for amending the Law relating to Conspiracy, and to the Protection of Property, and for other purposes. [13th August 1875.]
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Short title.
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1. This Act may be cited as “The Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act, 1875.”
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[S. 2 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 54. (S.L.R.)]
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Conspiracy, and Protection of Property.
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Amendment of law as to conspiracy in trade disputes.
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3. An agreement or combination by two or more persons to do or procure to be done any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute between employers and workmen shall not be indictable as a conspiracy if such act committed by one person would not be punishable as a crime.
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Nothing in this section shall exempt from punishment any persons guilty of a conspiracy for which a punishment is awarded by any Act of Parliament.
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Nothing in this section shall affect the law relating to riot, unlawful assembly, breach of the peace, or sedition, or any offence against the State or the Sovereign.
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A crime for the purposes of this section means an offence punishable on indictment, or an offence which is punishable on summary conviction, and for the commission of which the offender is liable under the statute making the offence punishable to be imprisoned either absolutely or at the discretion of the court as an alternative for some other punishment.
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Where a person is convicted of any such agreement or combination as aforesaid to do or procure to be done an act which is punishable only on summary conviction, and is sentenced to imprisonment, the imprisonment shall not exceed three months, or such longer time, if any, as may have been prescribed by the statute for the punishment of the said act when committed by one person.
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Breach of contract by persons employed in supply of gas or water.
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4. Where a person employed by a municipal authority or by any company or contractor upon whom is imposed by Act of Parliament the duty, or who have otherwise assumed the duty of supplying any city borough town or place, or any part thereof, with gas or water, wilfully and maliciously breaks a contract of service with that authority or company or contractor, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to deprive the inhabitants of that city, borough, town, place, or part, wholly or to a great extent of their supply of gas or water, he shall on conviction thereof by a court of summary jurisdiction, or on indictment as herein after mentioned, be liable either to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.
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Every such municipal authority, company, or contractor as is mentioned in this section shall cause to be posted up, at the gasworks or waterworks, as the case may be, belonging to such authority or company or contractor, a printed copy of this section in some conspicuous place where the same may be conveniently read by the persons employed, and as often as such copy becomes defaced obliterated or destroyed, shall cause it to be renewed with all reasonable despatch.
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If any municipal authority or company or contractor make default in complying with the provisions of this section in relation to such notice as aforesaid, they or he shall incur on summary conviction a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such default continues, and every person who unlawfully injures, defaces, or covers up any notice so posted up as aforesaid in pursuance of this Act, shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.
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Breach of contract involving injury to persons or property.
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5. Where any person wilfully and maliciously breaks a contract of service or of hiring, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to endanger human life, or cause serious bodily injury, or to expose valuable property whether real or personal to destruction or serious injury, he shall on conviction thereof by a court of summary jurisdiction, or on indictment as herein-after mentioned, be liable either to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.
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Miscellaneous.
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Penalty for neglect by master to provide food, clothing, &c, for servant or apprentice.
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6. Where a master, being legally liable to provide for his servant or apprentice necessary food, clothing, medical aid, or lodging, wilfully and without lawful excuse refuses or neglects to provide the same, whereby the health of the servant or apprentice is or is likely to be seriously or permanently injured, he shall on summary conviction be liable either to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour.
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Penalty for intimidation or annoyance by violence or otherwise.
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7. Every person who, with a view to compel any other person to abstain from doing or to do any act which such other person has a legal right to do or abstain from doing, wrongfully and without legal authority,—
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1. Uses violence to or intimidates such other person or his wife or children, or injures his property; or,
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2. Persistently follows such other person about from place to place; or
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3. Hides any tools, clothes, or other property owned or used by such other person, or deprives him of or hinders him in the use thereof; or
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4. Watches or besets the house or other place where such other person resides, or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place; or,
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5. Follows such other person with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner in or through any street or road,
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shall, on conviction thereof by a court of summary jurisdiction, or on indictment as herein-after mentioned, be liable either to pay apenalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.
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Attending at or near the house or place where a person resides, or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place, in order merely to obtain or communicate information, shall not be deemed a watching or besetting within the meaning of this section.
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Reduction of penalties.
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8. Where in any Act relating to employers or workmen a pecuniary penalty is imposed in respect of any offence under such Act, and no power is given to reduce such penalty, the justices or court having jurisdiction in respect of such offence may, if they think it just so to do, impose by way of penalty in respect of such offence any sum not less than one-fourth of the penalty imposed by such Act.
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Legal Proceedings.
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Power for offender under this Act to be tried on indictment and not by court of summary jurisdiction.
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9. Where a person is accused before a court of summary jurisdiction of any offence made punishable by this Act, and for which a penalty amounting to twenty pounds, or imprisonment, is imposed, the accused may, on appealing before the court of summary juridiction, declare that he objects to being tried for such offence by a court of summary jurisdiction, and thereupon the court of summary jurisdiction may deal with the case in all respects as if the accused were charged with an indictable offence and not an offence punishable on summary conviction, and the offence may be prosecuted on indictment accordingly,
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Proceedings before a court of summary jurisdiction.
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10. Every offence under this Act which is made punishable on conviction by a court of summary jurisdiction or on summary conviction, and every penalty under this Act recoverable on summary conviction, may be prosecuted and recovered in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.
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Regulations as to evidence.
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11. Provided, that upon the hearing and determining of any indictment or information under sections four, five, and six of this Act, the respective parties to the contract of service, their husbands or wives, shall be deemed and considered as competent witnesses.
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Appeal to quarter sessions.
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12. In England or Ireland, if any party feels aggrieved by any conviction made by a court of summary jurisdiction on determining any information under this Act, the party so aggrieved may appeal therefrom, subject to the conditions and regulations following:
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(1.) The appeal shall be made to some court of general or quarter sessions [1]
for the county or place in which the cause of appeal has arisen, holden not less than fifteen days and not more than four months after the decision of the court from which the appeal is made:
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(2.) The appellant shall, within seven days after the cause of appeal has arisen, give notice to the other party and to the court of summary jurisdiction of his intention to appeal, and of the ground thereof:
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(3.) The appellant shall immediately after such notice enter into a recognizance before a justice of the peace, with or without sureties, conditioned personally to try such appeal, and to abide the judgment of the court thereon, and to pay such costs as may be awarded by the court:
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(4.) Where the appellant is in custody the justice may, if he think fit, on the appellant entering into such recognizance as aforesaid, release him from custody:
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(5.) The court of appeal may adjourn the appeal, and upon the hearing thereof they may confirm, reverse, or modify the decision of the court of summary jurisdiction, or remit the matter to the court of summary jurisdiction with the opinion of the court of appeal thereon, or make such other order in the matter as the court thinks just, and if the matter be remitted to the court of summary jurisdiction the said last-mentioned court shall thereupon re-hear and decide the information in accordance with the opinion of the said court of appeal. The court of appeal may also make such order as to costs to be paid by either party as the court thinks just].
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Definitions.
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General definitions.
“Court of summary jurisdiction.”
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13. In this Act,—
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The expression “court of summary jurisdiction” means—
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(1.) As respects the city of London, the Lord Mayor or any alderman of the said city sitting at the Mansion House or Guildhall justice room; and
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(2.) As respects any police court division in the Metropolitan police district, any Metropolitan police magistrate sitting at the police court for that division; and
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(3.) As respects any city, town, liberty, borough, place, or district for which a stipendiary magistrate is for the time being acting, such stipendiary magistrate sitting at a police court or other place appointed in that behalf; and
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(4.) Elsewhere, any justice or justices of the peace to whom jurisdiction is given by the Summary Jurisdiction Act: Provided that, as respects any case within the cognisance of such justice or justices as last aforesaid, an information, under this Act shall be heard and determined by two or more justices of the peace in petty sessions sitting at some place appointed for holding petty sessions.
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Nothing in this section contained shall restrict the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor or any alderman of the city of London, or of any metropolitan police or stipendiary magistrate, in respect of any act or jurisdiction which may now be done or exercised by him out of court.
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Definitions of “municipal authority” and “public company.”
5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76.
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14. The expression “municipal authority” in this Act means any of the following authorities, that is to say, the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Common Council of the city of London, the Commissioners of Sewers of the city of London, the town council of any borough for the time being subject to the [1]
Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and any Act amending the same; any commissioners, trustees, or other persons invested by any local Act of Parliament with powers of improving, cleansing, lighting, or paving any town; and any local board.
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Any municipal authority or company or contractor who has obtained authority by or in pursuance of any general or local Act of Parliament to supply the streets of any city borough town or place, or of any part thereof, with gas, or which is required by or in pursuance of any general or local Act of Parliament to supply water on demand to the inhabitants of any city, borough, town, or place, or any part thereof, shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be a municipal authority or company or contractor upon whom is imposed by Act of Parliament the duty of supplying such city borough town or place, or part thereof, with gas or water.
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Definition of “maliciously.”
24 & 25 Vict. c. 97.
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15. The word “maliciously” used in reference to any offence under this Act shall be construed in the same manner as it is required by the fifty-eighth section of the Malicious Damage Act, 1861, to be construed in reference to any offence committed under such last-mentioned Act.
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Saving Clause.
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Saving as to sea service.
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16. Nothing in this Act shall apply to seamen or to apprentices to the sea service.
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Repeal.
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Enforcement of order for wages.
14 & 15 Vict. c. 92.
38 & 39 Vict. c. 90.
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17. . . . . Any order for wages or further sum of compensation in addition to wages made in pursuance of section sixteen of the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act, 1851, may be enforced in like manner as if it were an order made by a court of summary jurisdiction in pursuance of the Employers and Workmen Act, 1875, and not otherwise . . .
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Application of Act to Scotland.
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Application to Scotland.
Definitions.
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18. This Act shall extend to Scotland, with the modifications following; that is to say,
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25 & 26 Vict. c. 101.
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30 & 31 Vict. c. 101.
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(1) The expression “municipal authority” means the town council of any royal or parliamentary burgh, or the commissioners of police of any burgh, town, or populous place under the provisions of the General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act, 1862, or any local authority under the provisions of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867:
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. . . . . .
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(3.) The expression “the court of summary jurisdiction” means the sheriff of the county or any one of his substitutes.
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Recovery of penalties, &c. in Scotland.
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19. In Scotland the following provisions shall have effect in regard to the prosecution of offences, recovery of penalties, and making of orders under this Act:
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(1.) Every offence under this Act shall be prosecuted, every penalty recovered, and every order made at the instance of the Lord Advocate, or of the Procurator Fiscal of the sheriff court:
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(2.) The proceedings may be on indictment in the Court of Justiciary or in the sheriff court, or may be taken summarily in the sheriff court under the provisions of the Summary Procedure Act, 1864:
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27 & 28 Vict. c. 53.
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(3.) Every person found liable on conviction to pay any penalty under this Act shall be liable, in default of payment within a time to be fixed in the conviction, to be imprisoned for a term, to be also fixed therein, not exceeding two months, or until such penalty shall be sooner paid; and the conviction and warrant may be in the form of No. 3 of Schedule K. of the Summary Procedure Act, 1864:
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(4.) In Scotland all penalties imposed in pursuance of this Act shall be paid to the clerk of the court imposing them, and shall by him be accounted for and paid to the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, and be carried to the Consolidated Fund.
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Appeal in Scotland.
20 G. 2. c. 43.
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20. In Scotland it shall be competent to any person to appeal against any order or conviction under this Act to the High Court of Justiciary in the manner prescribed by and under the rules, limitations, conditions, and restrictions contained in the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act, 1746, in regard to appeals to circuit courts in matters criminal, as the same may be altered or amended by any Acts of Parliament for the time being in force.
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Application of Act to Ireland.
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Application to Ireland.
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21. This Act shall extend to Ireland, with the modifications following; that is to say,
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The court of summary jurisdiction, when hearing and determining complaints under this Act, shall in the police district of Dublin metropolis be constituted of one or more of the divisional justices of the said district, and elsewhere in Ireland of two or more justices of the peace in petty sessions sitting at a place appointed for holding petty sessions:
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3 & 4 Vict. c. 108.
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The expression “municipal authority” shall be construed to mean the town council of any borough for the time being subject to the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) 1840, and any commissioners invested by any general or local Act of Parliament, with power of improving, cleansing, lighting, or paying any town or township.
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[1 Words in brackets rep. as to E. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 43. s. 4.]
[1 Rep. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50. s. 5; see s. 242, which substitutes a reference to that Act.] |
