A.D. 1875. in urban dis- Penalty on unauthorised building over sewers and under streets in urban district. P.H., s. 47. house so newly erected or rebuilt, unless and until a covered drain or drains be constructed, of such size and materials, and at such level, and with such fall as on the report of the surveyor may appear to the urban authority to be necessary for the effectual drainage of such house; and the drain or drains so to be constructed shall empty into any sewer which the urban authority are entitled to use, and which is within one hundred feet of some part of the site of the house to be built or rebuilt; but if no such means of drainage are within that distance, then shall empty into such covered cesspool or other place, not being under any house, as the urban authority direct. Any person who causes any house to be erected or rebuilt or any drain to be constructed in contravention of - this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. Powers for dis 26. Any person who in any urban district, without the written consent of the urban authority, (1.) Causes any building to be newly erected over any sewer of the urban authority; or, (2.) Causes any vault arch or cellar to be newly built or constructed under the carriageway of any street, shall forfeit to the urban authority the sum of five pounds and a further sum of forty shillings for every day during which the offence is continued after written notice in this behalf from the urban authority; and the urban authority may cause any building vault arch or cellar erected or constructed in contravention of this section to be altered pulled down or otherwise dealt with as they may think fit, and may recover in a summary manner any expenses incurred by them in so doing from the offender. Definition of building.-A house built on the surface of the ground with foundations without any digging out of the soil, would be a building within the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 47, which was similar to the above section. On this point see the remarks of Lord Campbell, C.J., in Poplar District Board of Works v. Knight, 28 L. J. M. C. 37; 1 E. B. & E. 408. All houses, his lordship said, stand on a foundation within the meaning of the Metropolis Local Management Act. Disposal of Sewage. 27. For the purpose of receiving storing disinfecting posing of sew- distributing or otherwise disposing of sewage any local age. P.H., s. 46. L.G., s. 30. S.U. 1865, s. 14. S.U. 1867, ss. 3, 4. authority may (1.) Construct any works within their district, or (subject to the provisions of this Act as to sewage works without the district of the local authority) withcut their district; and (2.) Contract for the use of purchase or take on lease Provided that no nuisance be created in the exercise of The jurisdiction of a Local Board under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 46, as to the construction, maintenance, and cleansing of sewers, was held to be confined to sewers vested in them, and within their own district. Hayward v. Lowndes, 5 Jur. (N. s.) 185; 32 L. T. 366. If works of sewerage and drainage create a nuisance and an injury to the property of individuals, the Local Board may be restrained by injunction from proceeding with the works. Attorney-General v. Birmingham, 22 J. P. 561. See also ante, p. 20, on the same point. The 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 46, did not authorize a Local Board to enter upon the lands of a person in invitum for the construction of a reservoir or cesspool to be used for collecting and deodorizing sewage matter, but only applied to the right to purchase lands, such right being followed by what may be necessary for emptying and cleansing the sewers. section, Kindersley, V.C., said, applied only to keeping the sewers in a proper state, so as not to create a nuisance, and for cleansing and emptying them, and for that purpose to make reservoirs, sluices, etc., and it would be very unfair to construe the section so as to give the Board the power of making a reservoir for the purpose of retaining the sewage, and not to carry it off. Sutton v. Norwich (Mayor, &c.), 27 L. J. Ch. 739; 31 L. T. 389. Pollution of river by sewage.—The plaintiffs were owners of land on the banks of a river in which they had watering-places and a free fishery; a Local Board having carried their sewers through lands with an outlet into the river, it was held that the plaintiffs had an "interest" in the river within the Act, and were entitled to an injunction to restrain the Board from interfering with it, but that they would not be able to maintain an action for an interference with their rights unless they were injured thereby. Oldaker v. Hunt, 6 De G. Mac. & G. 376; 1 Jur. (N. s.) 785. So also the prescriptive right of owners of certain houses to drain their premises into a river is not vested in the Local Board of Health, that being a new body, who were therefore held not to be entitled to carry down any additional sewage into the river without first obtaining the consent of the owners, the Local Board of Health, as a modern body, having no prescriptive rights. Attorney-General v. Luton, 20 J. L. Ch. 163; 2 Jur. (N. s.) 180. See also Laing v. Whaley, 31 L. T. 368, in error. In Oldaker v. Hunt, supra, it was also held that works of a Local Board, producing an outfall of the sewerage of a town above such a watering-place as that referred to, was such an interference as to cause injury to the landowners, and that whether this was established or not, it ought (if not consented to by them) to be restrained by injunction, being the act of a public body exercising its powers. So where one owner sues another for injury to his riparian rights by polluting a stream, it is not a conclusive answer that the stream was originally artificial, for the circumstances under which it was made may show that the owners acquired riparian rights in it. Sutcliffe v. Booth, 9 Jur. (N. s.) 1037; 32 L. J. Q. B. 136. Again, the owner of land through which water flows in an artificial subterraneous course, and not in a distinct stream, cannot maintain A.D. 1875. A.D. 1875. Power to agree cation of sewers trict. an action for the diversion by another of such water from such course. Wardle v. Brocklehurst, 1 E. & E. 1058, affirmed in error, ib. 1065. Where, however, the owner of a paper-mill used a stream of water which flowed from a cavern in his lands, and the owner of a lead mine on a higher elevation, after washing his lead ore, discharged the refuse into a drain which found its way through rocky ground into the cavern, and thus polluted the stream of water used by the owner of the paper-mill, it was held that the latter had a right of action, for the owner on the higher ground was bound to see that his refuse water did no injury to his neighbour. Hodgkinson v. Ennor, 4 B. & S. 229. Where the Local Board of C. had constructed sewage works with an outfall into the river Derwent, and it appeared that they did discharge filthy matter into the river, but that no trace of bad effect on the water was discoverable at W., eight miles below C., the Master of the Rolls held that they were not entitled to affect the purity of the water at the point of discharge, and granted an injunction on an information at the relation of the Local Board of W. with costs,—that being a proceeding by the Attorney-General to enforce the terms of a public Act against a public body and not requiring evidence of injury to support it but dismissed their bill with costs, the case of nuisance having failed. Attorney-General v. Cockermouth Local Board, W. N. 1874, No. 18, p. 91; 30 L. T. (N. s.) 590. Pollution of wells.-If sewage percolates from a cesspool through the soil into a well on an adjoining property, the Court will restrain the use of the cesspool in such a manner as to pollute the water in the well. Womersley v. Church, 17 L. T. (N. s.) 190. Where noxious matter percolates through the soil from gasworks to a well, such percolation will render defendants liable under 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 90. A well, disused and covered over by the owner for several years, onaccount of such contamination, does not cease to be a well within the Act, even though the plaintiff has accepted the use of substituted wells of the defendants, nor can a licence to pollute be inferred therefrom. Quare, per Keating, J., whether a man could by deed give an irrevocable licence to pollute a well. A prescription to foul a well will be defeated by variation and excess in the degree of fouling during the prescribed period. Semble, per Brett, J.-Where an Act of Parliament, making an act illegal, comes into force while the prescription is running, the prescription when acquired by due lapse of time will be an answer to an individual, suing as an individual, notwithstanding the statutory illegality. Millington v. Grifiths, 30 L. T. (N. s.) 65. Discharge of filtered sewage into rivers.-In some districts, before sewage or sewage water can be discharged into a river, it must be filtered, so as to be free from noxious and offensive matter, as is the case at Leamington, where it is required that before the sewage is discharged into the rivers Avon or Leam, it shall be "certified to be free from such matter, by the General Board of Health under their hands and seal after examination and report thereon by one of their superintending inspectors." As to the protection of water from fouling, see ss. 68-70, post. 28. The local authority of any district may, by agreefor communi- ment with the local authority of any adjoining district, with sewers of and with the sanction of the Local Government Board, adjoining dis- cause their sewers to communicate with the sewers of such last-mentioned authority, in such manner, and on such terms and subject to such conditions as may be agreed on between the local authorities, or, in case of dispute, may be settled by the Local Government Board : Provided that so far as practicable storm waters shall be prevented from flowing from the sewers of the firstmentioned authority into the sewers of the last-mentioned P.H. 1872, s. 32. authority, and that the sewage of other districts or places A.D. 1875. shall not be permitted by the first-mentioned authority to pass into their sewers so as to be discharged into the sewers of the last-mentioned authority without the consent of such last-mentioned authority. appropriated to sewage pur 29. Any local authority may deal with any lands held Power to deal by them for the purpose of receiving storing disinfecting with land or distributing sewage in such manner as they deem most profitable, either by leasing the same for a period not poses. exceeding twenty-one years for agricultural purposes, or S.U. 1867, s. 5. by contracting with some person to take the whole or a part of the produce of such land, or by farming such land and disposing of the produce thereof; subject to this restriction, that in dealing with land for any of the above purposes, provision shall be made for effectually disposing of all the sewage brought to such land without creating a nuisance. See the Introduction, ante, pp. liii, Ixxiv. supply or dis 30. Where any local authority agree with any person Contribution to as to the supply of sewage and as to works to be made works under for the purpose of such supply, they may contribute to agreement for the expense of carrying into execution by such person tribution of all or any of the purposes of such agreement, and may sewage. become shareholders in any company with which any S.U. 1867, agreement in relation to the matters aforesaid has been or may hereafter be entered into by such local authority, or to or in which the benefits and obligations of such agreement may have been or may be transferred or vested. s. 15. 31. The making of works of distribution and service Application of for the supply of sewage to lands for agricultural purposes 27 & 28 Vict. shall be deemed an "improvement of land" authorised c. 114, to by "The Improvement of Land Act, 1864," and the supply of provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly. works for sewage. S.U. 1865, Drainage of land for agricultural purposes. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 133.-What s. 15. are improvements of land are defined by sect. 9 of the Act, the scope of which will be best explained by the 4th section. It enacts that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, upon the recommendation of the Inclosure Commissioners, to be obtained on such application and subject to such conditions as are hereinafter mentioned, to direct commissions of sewers into all parts of England, inland as well as maritime, and to assign as the limits for the jurisdiction of such commissions any areas that may be thought most expedient, having regard to the levels and other facilities for drainage within such areas, with power for Her Majesty to include within the limits of any commission of sewers any area to which a commission of sewers may not hitherto have been assigned, or any area either wholly or partially within the limits of an existing commission of sewers; subject to this proviso, that no alteration shall be made affecting the jurisdiction of any commissioners of sewers without the consent of a special meeting of such commissioners. A.D. 1875. Commission of Sewers.-The following is the form in which the Commission of Sewers was issued to the District near Dartford, in Kent, from Lombard's Wall to Gravesend Bridge. VICTORIA, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, to, &c.: Greeting. Know ye, That forasmuch as the walls, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gates, calcies, bridges, streams, and other defences by the coast of the sea, and marsh grounds lying and being within the limits extending from Lombard's Wall to Gravesend Bridge in Our county of Kent, or in the borders or confines of the same, by rage of the sea flowing and reflowing, and by means of the trenches of fresh water descending and having course by divers ways to the sea, be so dirupt, lacerate, and broken, and also the common passages for ships, ballangers, and boats, in the river, streams, and other floods within the said limits, or in the borders or confines of the same, by means of setting up, erecting and making of streams, mills, bridges, ponds, fishgarths, milldams, locks, hebbing wears, and floodgates, or other like letts, impediments, or annoyances be letted and interrupted, so that great inestimable damage for default of reparation of the said walls, ditches, banks, fences, sewers, gates, gutters, calcies, bridges, and streams: And also by means of setting up, erecting, making, and enlarging of the said fishgarths, mill-dams, locks, hebbing-wears, floodgates, and other like annoyances, in times past hath happened, and yet is to be feared that far greater hurt, loss, and damage is likely to ensue unless that speedy remedy be provided in that behalf. We therefore, for that by reason of Our dignity and prerogative Royal, We be bound to provide for the safety and preservation of Our realm of England, willing that speedy remedy be had in the premises, have assigned you Our Justices to carry into execution within the said limits the powers and provisions of "The Land Drainage Act, 1861," and of other Acts of Parliament in that behalf, and save and except as in the said Acts are excepted, the following powers, provisions, and purposes, so far as the same are consistent with the provisions of the said Act (that is to say): To survey the said walls, streams, ditches, banks, gutters, gates, calcies, 'bridges, trenches, mills, mill-dams, floodgates, ponds, locks, hebbingwears, and other impediments, letts, and annoyances aforesaid, and the same cause to be made, corrected, repaired, amended, put down, or reformed, as the case shall require, after your wisdoms and discretions. And therein as well to ordain and do, after the form, tenor, and effect of all and singular the statutes and ordinances made before the first day of March in the three-and-twentieth year of the late King Henry the Eighth touching the premises or any of them, as also to inquire by the oaths of the honest and lawful men of Our said county, place, or places where such defaults or annoyances be (as well within liberties as without) by whom the truth may the rather be known through whose default the said hurts and damages have happened and who hath or holdeth any lands or tenements, or common of pasture, or profit of fishing, or hath, or may have any hurt, loss, or disadvantage, by any manner of means in the said places, as well near to the said dangers, letts, and impediments, as inhabiting or dwelling thereabouts by the said walls, ditches, banks, gutters, gates, sewers, trenches, and other the said impediments and annoyances: And all those persons, and every of them to tax, assess, charge, distrain, and punish, as well within the metes, limits and bounds of old time, accustomed or otherwise, or elsewhere, within Our realm of England, after the quantity of their lands, tenements, and rents, by the number of acres and perches, after the rate of every person's portion, tenure, or profit, or after the quantity of their common of pasture or profit of fishing or other commodities there, by such ways and means, and in such manner and form as you shall seem most convenient to be ordained and done for redress and reformation to be had in the premises: And also to reform, repair, and amend the said walls, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gates, calcies, bridges, streams, and other the premises in all places needful, and the same as often and where need shall be, to make new, and to cleanse and purge the trenches, sewers, and ditches, in all places necessary: And |