THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF COMPENSATION For Taking or Enjuriously Affecting Lands UNDER THE LANDS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACTS, RAILWAYS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACT, 1845; ARTIZANS DWELLINGS ACTS, 1868 TO 1882; ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT, 1870; (English, krish, and Scotch): PREFACE. IN designing this work the authors took into consideration the two alternative plans of writing a law-book, viz., (1) a treatise on the subject; (2) a collated and annotated edition of the statutes relating thereto. Of these plans the latter appeared to them to be the most practical and feasible form in which to bring together the complicated mass of authorities that has accumulated during the long period (now over fifty years) since the introduction of railways into the United Kingdom gave impetus to the adoption of compulsory powers for the taking of land. The careful collection of these authorities (carried down to the date of going to press) and the minute examination of the principles underlying them, followed by grouping them systematically under the proper sections, and under prominent headings, have been throughout the aim of the authors, who have, moreover, striven to add to the usefulness of their work to the profession by adding an Index carefully prepared by themselves, and a Table of Cases containing full references to reports contemporary with those cited in the notes. The Introduction contains a general summary of the law and practice of compensation under the Lands Clauses Consolidation and other cognate Acts. In the selection of the statutes comprised in the work, those have been chosen which are of most frequent use in practice, and the arrangement of them has likewise been based upon the frequency of their use, whilst numerous cross references have been given. The Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts form naturally the basis of the work, and are followed by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845. Then come the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Improvement Acts, 1875 to 1882, and the Artizans Dwellings Acts, 1868 to 1882, which Acts, owing to the prominence recently given to the subjects wherewith they deal, will naturally be more and more frequently referred to by lawyers. After these Acts follow the sections conferring compulsory powers, contained respectively in the Public Health Act, 1875, in the Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847, in the Elementary Education Act, 1870, in the Metropolitan Management Acts, in the General Metropolitan Paving Act, and in the Post Office (Land) Acts. The various Railway Acts for Ireland, and the Lands Clauses and Railway Clauses Consolidation Acts, and the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Improvement Act for Scotland, are added, so as to render the work useful to Irish and Scotch lawyers, and to facilitate the more thorough comprehension of the many decisions which are reported on appeal to the House of Lords from the tribunals of those countries, and which are noted under the corresponding sections of the English Acts. A copious collection of Forms, including precedents of Bills of Costs, completes the work. References to the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, and the Supreme Court Funds Rules, 1884, are given in their proper places in the text, and the Rules themselves have been brought together in an Appendix, in which the most recent practice cases will be found collected. With this explanation of the scope and object of the book, the authors, with some confidence, submit to the approval of the profession a work which has undergone at their hands the most careful preparation extending over several years. S. W. April, 1884. J. W. M. |