Civil Defence
(Jersey) Law 1952[1]
A LAW to make provision for civil
defence
Commencement
[see endnotes]
1 Interpretation[2]
In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“civil defence” does not include the provision or
maintenance of a shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly
by naval, military or air forces but, save as aforesaid, includes any measures
not amounting to actual combat for affording defence against any form of
hostile attack by a foreign power or for depriving any form of hostile attack
by a foreign power of the whole or part of its effect, whether the measures are
taken before, at or after the time of the attack;
“civil defence forces” and “civil defence services”
mean respectively forces and services formed wholly or mainly to meet the needs
of civil defence;
“civil defence shelter” means any shelter other than a
shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly by naval,
military or air forces;
“fire services” means the States of Jersey Fire and
Rescue Service and the Airport Rescue and Firefighting Service;
“Minister” means the Minister
for Justice and Home Affairs;
“police force” means the States of Jersey Police Force;
“Regulations” means Regulations under Article 8;
“shelter” means any premises, structure or excavation
used or intended to be used to provide shelter from any form of hostile attack
by a foreign power;
“statutory provision” means a provision, whether of a
general or a special nature, contained in, or in any document made or issued
under, any enactment, whether of a general or a special nature.
2 Civil
defence functions of the Minister
(1) It
shall be part of the functions of the Minister to take the steps that appear to
the Minister from time to time to be necessary or expedient for civil defence
purposes and, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing, the steps that appear to the Minister from time to time to be
necessary or expedient in connection with any of the following matters, that is
to say –
(a) the
organization, formation, maintenance, equipment and training of civil defence
forces and services;
(b) the
organization, equipment and training for civil defence purposes of the police
force, fire services and employees of public and parochial authorities employed
primarily for purposes other than civil defence purposes;
(c) the
instruction of members of the public in civil defence and their equipment for
the purposes of civil defence;
(d) the
provision, storage and maintenance of commodities and things which may be
required for civil defence; and
(e) the
provision, construction, maintenance or alteration of premises, structures or
excavations, and the doing of any other work, which may be required for civil
defence.
(2) The Minister may make
arrangements whereby any of his or her functions under this Article are, to
such extent as may be provided by the arrangements, exercised on his or her
behalf by another Minister.
3 Civil
defence functions of Connétables of parishes
(1) The Connétable of
every parish shall, for civil defence purposes, and, in particular, but without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, in connection with the matters
specified in Article 2(1)(a) to (e), have and perform such functions as
may be prescribed by Regulations.
(2) Regulations made for
the purposes of this Article –
(a) may
empower a Connétable on whom functions are conferred under this Article
to appoint committees (including joint committees) constituted in accordance
with the Regulations, and to authorize those or other committees to exercise
all or any of those functions on the Connétable’s behalf as the
Connétable’s agents;
(b) may
empower the Minister, where he or she is satisfied that a Connétable has
failed or refused properly to discharge any functions conferred on him or her
under this Article, either personally to discharge those functions in the name
and at the expense of the parish or to authorize or require some other
authority or person to exercise those functions in the name of the Connétable
and at the expense of the parish;
(c) may,
on such conditions, if any, as may be prescribed by the Regulations, authorize
or require things to be done in contravention of, or without compliance with,
any statutory provision regulating or restricting the carrying out of building,
engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the
making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land; and
(d) may
authorize the employment of personnel, and the provision, construction or
maintenance of premises and equipment, in excess of any limits imposed by any
statutory provision.
4 Grant
towards expenses of parochial authorities
Regulations may authorize the payment by the Minister of such grants
towards expenses incurred by Connétables in or in connection with the
discharge of functions conferred on them under Article 3, as may be
prescribed by the Regulations.
5 Powers
as to land
(1) Where it appears to the
States that any land should be acquired for civil defence purposes, it shall be
lawful for the States to acquire such land by compulsory purchase on behalf of
the public in accordance with the provisions of the Compulsory Purchase of Land
(Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961.
(2) Where, in the discharge
of any functions exercisable under this Law, the Minister does any work for the
purpose of providing or maintaining a civil defence shelter, the Minister may,
if it appears expedient so to do, do that work and provide or maintain the
shelter wholly or partly in, under or over any highway:
Provided that –
(a) the
powers conferred by this Article shall be exercisable subject to such
restrictions as may be prescribed by Regulations; and
(b) in no
event shall the said powers be exercised unless the Minister is satisfied that
the shelter will not so obstruct the highway as substantially to diminish the
utility of the highway to the public.
(3) Any person duly
authorized in that behalf by the Minister or a Connétable by whom
functions are exercisable under the preceding provisions of this Law shall have
a right to enter any land at all reasonable hours for the purpose of inspecting
that or any other land with a view to ascertaining whether or not anything
ought to be constructed or done thereon or any use made thereof for civil
defence purposes:
Provided that a person proposing to exercise a power of entry
conferred under this Article –
(a) shall,
if so required, produce evidence of the person’s authority;
(b) shall
not demand admission as of right to any land which is occupied unless 24
hours’ notice of the intended entry has been given to the occupier or
reasonable steps have been taken to give such notice.
(4) If –
(a) any person
who, in compliance with the provisions of this Article, is admitted into a
factory or workplace, discloses, otherwise than in the performance of his or
her duty, to any person any information obtained by him or her in the factory
or workplace with regard to any manufacturing process or trade secret; or
(b) any person
to whom by reason of his or her official position, any information obtained as
aforesaid is disclosed, discloses, otherwise than in the performance of his or
her duty, that information to any person,
the person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of
3 months and to a fine.[3]
(5) The powers conferred by
this Article shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any powers which
would apart from this Article be available in relation to any of the functions
exercisable under the preceding provisions of this Law.
6 Civil
defence obligations of police officers, firemen, etc. and of members of civil
defence forces and services
It is declared that members of the police force and fire services
and, if and so far as provision in that behalf is made by Regulations,
employees of public and parochial authorities employed primarily for purposes
other than civil defence purposes, are, as such, under a duty to comply with
requirements as to training for and taking part in any form of civil defence
for the time being recognized by the Minister as appropriate to be undertaken
by that force and those services and their members respectively or, as the case
may be, as appropriate to be undertaken by employees of the class in question
having regard to the nature of the work for which those employees are primarily
employed.
7 [4]
8 Regulations
(1) The States may make Regulations
for any purpose for which Regulations may be made under this Law and generally
for the purpose of carrying this Law into effect and any such Regulations may,
in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing –
(a) make
different provision for different cases or classes of case;
(b) contain
such consequential and incidental provisions as may appear to the States to be
necessary or expedient; and
(c) make
different provision in relation to different authorities.
(2) Regulations made under
this Article may be amended by subsequent Regulations and shall remain in force
until repealed.
9 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Civil Defence (Jersey) Law 1952.