Jersey Law 40/1961
“COMPULSORY PURCHASE OF LAND (PROCEDURE) (JERSEY) LAW,
1961”,
CONFIRME PAR
Ordre de Sa
Majesté en Conseil
en date du 25
septembre 1961.
____________
(Enregistré
le 21 octobre 1961).
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ARRANGEMENT OF
ARTICLES.
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Article
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1.
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Interpretation
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2.
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Application of the provisions of
this Law
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3.
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Plan to be prepared and money voted
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4.
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Preliminary notices
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5.
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Land belonging to infants
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6.
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Payment for land acquired
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7.
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Board of Arbitrators
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8.
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Application
for submission of questions to Board
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9.
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Rules for the assessment of
compensation
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10.
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Procedure before Board
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11.
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Decisions of Board
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12.
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Finality of
award and statement of special cases
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13.
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Registration of award of Board
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14.
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Fees and expenses
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15.
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Dower rights
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16.
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Protection of
the public against dispossession
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16A.
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Power to pay
allowances to persons displaced
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17.
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Power to sell land acquired
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18.
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Notices
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19.
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Repeal and transitional provision
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20.
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Short title
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COMPULSORY PURCHASE OF LAND (PROCEDURE) (JERSEY) LAW, 1961.
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A LAW to
re-enact, with amendments, the Law prescribing the procedure for the
acquisition of land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public of the
Island, sanctioned by Order of Her Majesty in Council of the
25th day of SEPTEMBER, 1961.
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(Registered on the 21st day of
October, 1961).
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STATES OF JERSEY.
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The 15th day of June,
1961.
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THE STATES, subject to the sanction of
Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the following Law : -
ARTICLE 1
INTERPRETATION
(1) In
this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“the acquiring authority” means the Committee of the
States charged with the administration of the relevant Special Law ;
“the Board” has the meaning assigned thereto by Article
7 ;
“land” includes houses, buildings and structures on
land, water, interests in land or water and servitudes or rights in, on or over
land or water ;
“owner” includes a usufructuary and the husband of a feme covert ;
“Special Law” has the meaning assigned thereto by
Article 2.
(2) Any
reference in this Law to any other enactment shall be construed as a reference
to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.
ARTICLE 2
APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS LAW
The provisions of this Law shall apply only where, by a Law
confirmed by Order of Her Majesty in Council (in this Law referred to as a
“Special Law”), power is conferred on the States to acquire land by
compulsory purchase on behalf of the public in accordance with the provisions
of this Law but not otherwise, and, in any such case, the provisions of this
Law shall apply in relation to the acquisition of the land, save so far as they
are expressly varied or excepted by such Special Law as aforesaid.
ARTICLE 3
PLAN TO BE PREPARED AND MONEY VOTED
No land may be acquired by compulsory purchase on behalf of the
public unless –
(a) a plan showing the land
to be acquired has been approved by the States ; and
(b) a credit of the monies
necessary to meet the expenses to be incurred in the acquisition of the land
has been voted by the States.
ARTICLE 4
PRELIMINARY NOTICES
(1) Subject
as provided by paragraph (1) of Article 5 of this Law, the Greffier of the
States shall serve a notice on every owner, lessee and occupier of the land to
be acquired, of which a sufficient description shall be contained in the
notice, requiring each of them to notify the Greffier of the States, in
writing, [within such period as the acquiring authority deems appropriate
having regard to the circumstances of the case (which period shall in no case
be less than twenty-eight days after the service of the notice)] of his interest in the land and of the amount of
the compensation which he is prepared to accept for such interest :
Provided that no such notice shall be served on any lessee or
occupier whose interest in the land it is not intended to acquire in accordance
with the provisions of this Law.
(2) The
notice aforesaid shall, if need be, state the time at which vacant possession
of the land will be required.
(3) If
any owner, lessee or occupier of the land refuses or neglects to comply with
the requirements contained in the notice served on him in pursuance of
paragraph (1) of this Article or if the acquiring authority considers that the
amount of the compensation which he is prepared to accept is excessive, then,
unless the acquiring authority is of the opinion that it is unnecessary that
the interest should be acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law,
the Greffier of the States shall serve a notice on him informing him of the
amount of the compensation which the acquiring authority offers to pay and
notifying him that, if the offer be not accepted within eight days after the
service of the notice, the interest will be acquired in consideration of a
compensation assessed in manner hereafter in this Law provided.
ARTICLE 5
LAND BELONGING TO INFANTS
(1) Where
the owner of any land to be acquired is an infant, or, if there is more than
one owner, where any such owner is an infant, the compensation for the interest
of the infant or of each such owner, as the case may be, shall be assessed in
manner hereafter in this Law provided and, accordingly, the notice to be served
in pursuance of paragraph (1) of Article 4 of this Law on the owner of the land
shall contain only a sufficient description of the land, a statement of the
time at which vacant possession thereof will be required and a statement that
the compensation will be assessed as aforesaid.
(2) Where
any land is acquired from an infant in accordance with the provisions of this
Law, neither he nor his heirs may disclaim the transaction or claim possession
of the land in any manner whatsoever.
ARTICLE 6
PAYMENT FOR LAND ACQUIRED
Where there are any charges on the land, the States shall undertake
to discharge the same up to the amount of the compensation, being, where such
amount is agreed between the acquiring authority and the owner, the amount so
agreed, or, where it is assessed in manner hereafter in this Law provided, the
amount so assessed, and, where that amount exceeds the amount of the charges
thereon, the States may discharge the balance by a cash payment or by the
creation of new rentes or by the assignment of ancient rentes :
Provided that where any owner of the land is an infant or a person
under interdiction or a feme covert,
the States shall be bound to discharge the compensation for the acquisition of
his or her interest in the land, or the balance thereof, by the creation of new
rentes or simple conventional hypothecs in favour of such owner which shall not
be reimbursable at the instance of the States –
(a) where the owner is an
infant, until the expiration of one year after he has attained his majority ;
(b) where the owner is a
person under interdiction, until the expiration of one year after his
reinstatement or, if he is not reinstated, one year after his death.
ARTICLE 7
BOARD OF ARBITRATORS
(1) For
the purpose of this Law, there shall be a Board to be known as “the Board
of Arbitrators” (hereafter in this Law referred to as “the
Board”) which shall consist of a Chairman and two other persons and which
shall be constituted, as the need arises, in accordance with the provisions of
Article 8 of this Law.
(2) The
Superior Number of the Royal Court shall appoint at least six persons (not
being either Advocates or Solicitors) to form a panel of persons who may be
called on to serve as members of the Board.
(3) The
constitution of the said panel may be reviewed from time to time and the
Superior Number of the Royal Court may make such additions thereto or deletions
therefrom as it considers necessary.
ARTICLE 8
APPLICATION FOR SUBMISSION OF QUESTIONS TO BOARD
Where it is necessary to determine any question as to compensation,
or, where any part of the land to be acquired is subject to a lease which
comprises land not to be acquired, any question as to the apportionment of the
rent payable under the lease, the Greffier of the States shall make application
to the Inferior Number of the Royal Court for an order that the question be
referred to and determined by the arbitration of the Board and the Court shall
appoint an Advocate or Solicitor as Chairman of the Board, and shall designate
two persons from the panel appointed under paragraph (2) of Article 7 of this
Law as the other members of the Board, for the purposes of the arbitration.
ARTICLE 9
RULES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF COMPENSATION
(1) In
assessing compensation, the Board shall act in accordance with the following
rules –
(a) no allowance shall be
made on account of the fact that the acquisition is compulsory ;
(b) the value of the land
shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be taken to be the amount which the
land, if sold in the open market by a willing seller, might be expected to
realise :
* * * * * * * ;
(c) the special suitability
or adaptability of the land for any purpose shall not be taken into account if
that purpose is a purpose to which it could be applied only in pursuance of
statutory powers, or for which there is no market apart from the special needs
of a particular purchaser or the requirements of any public or parochial
authority ;
(d) where the value of the
land is increased by reason of the use thereof or of any premises thereon in a
manner which could be restrained by any court, or is contrary to law, or is
detrimental to the health of the inmates of the premises or to the public
health, the amount of that increase shall not be taken into account ;
(e) where land is, and but
for the compulsory acquisition would continue to be, devoted to a purpose of
such a nature that there is no general demand or market for land for that
purpose, the compensation may, if the Board is satisfied that reinstatement in
some other place is bona fide
intended, be assessed on the basis of the reasonable cost of equivalent
reinstatement ;
(f) the Board shall
not take into account any interest in land, or any enhancement of the value of
any interest in land by reason of any building erected, work done or
improvement or alteration made, whether on the land purchased or on any other
land with which the person claiming the compensation is, or was at the time of
the erection, doing or making of the building, works, improvement or
alteration, directly or indirectly concerned, if the Board is satisfied that
the creation of the interest, the erection of the building, the doing of the
work, the making of the improvement or the alteration, as the case may be, was
not reasonably necessary, and was undertaken with a view to obtaining
compensation or increased compensation ;
(g) the provisions of
sub-paragraph (b) shall not affect
the assessment of compensation for disturbance or any other matter not directly
based on the value of land.
(2) For
the purposes of this Article, the Board shall be entitled to be furnished with
such returns and assessments relating to the land as it may require.
ARTICLE 10
PROCEDURE BEFORE BOARD
(1) In
any proceedings before the Board, not more than one expert witness on either
side shall be heard unless the Board otherwise directs :
Provided that, where the claim includes a claim for disturbance of
business, as well as in respect of land, one additional expert witness on
either side may be heard with regard to the damage by reason of the
disturbance.
(2) The
Board shall be entitled to enter on and inspect any land which is the subject
of proceedings before it, and may, if it thinks fit, cause the land to be
measured by a public surveyor.
(3) Proceedings
before the Board shall be held in public.
(4) Subject
as aforesaid, the States may make regulations prescribing the procedure before
the Board.
ARTICLE 11
DECISIONS OF THE BOARD
A decision of the Board shall be taken by the votes of the majority
of the members :
Provided that in the event of a failure on the part of any two
members of the Board to agree on the amount of compensation which should
properly be awarded, the Chairman of the Board shall determine the amount, but,
in any such case, the amount so determined shall be not lower than, nor in
excess of, the amounts which, in the opinion of the other members of the Board,
should be awarded.
ARTICLE 12
FINALITY OF AWARD AND STATEMENT OF SPECIAL CASES
(1) The
decision of the Board on any question of fact shall be final and binding on the
parties and the persons claiming under them respectively, but the Board may,
and if the Inferior Number of the Royal Court so directs shall, state at any
stage of the proceedings in the form of a special case for the opinion of the
Court, any question of law arising in the course of the proceedings, and may
state its award as to the whole or part thereof in the form of a special case
for the opinion of the Court.
(2) The
decision of the Inferior Number of the Royal Court on any case so stated shall
be final and conclusive, and shall not be subject to appeal to any other court.
ARTICLE 13
REGISTRATION OF AWARD OF BOARD
(1) The
award of the Board shall specify, in sterling currency, the amount awarded in
respect of each matter the subject of the award and, insofar as the award
relates to the acquisition of land on which there are charges which the States
are bound under Article 6 of this Law to discharge, shall specify the amount of
the charges and, where the amount awarded exceeds the amount of the charges,
the manner in which the balance is to be discharged.
(2) The
Inferior Number of the Royal Court shall, on application of the Greffier of the
States, order the registration of the award of the Board in the Rolls of the
Royal Court and shall order the registration in the Public Registry of
Contracts of a record of the title of the public in the interest or interests
the subject of the award.
(3) A
record registered as aforesaid shall have like effect to a contract passed
before the Royal Court and the title of the public shall bear the date of the
order of the Court.
(4) A
record registered as aforesaid shall not be renounced for want of insertion in
the register of a “décret” if it bears a date prior to that
of the insertion on which a “tenant” is confirmed in the tenure of
the real estate “en décret”.
ARTICLE 14
FEES AND EXPENSES
(1) There
shall be paid to the members of the Board fees in accordance with such scale as
the States may by regulations determine.
(2) The
fees of the Board and all expenses incurred in proceedings under this Law shall
be paid by the acquiring authority.
ARTICLE 15
DOWER RIGHTS
A person entitled either actually or contingently to dower on land
acquired by compulsory purchase may not claim such dower by actual possession
of the land, but shall be entitled to such dower on the basis of the
compensation assessed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Law.
ARTICLE 16
PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC AGAINST DISPOSSESSION
(1) The
public may not in any circumstances as the result of a
“décret” or a “dégrèvement” be
dispossessed of any land acquired in accordance with the provisions of this
Law, nor shall the public be required, in order to retain the property and
possession of such land, to be confirmed in the tenure thereof, nor to take any
of the proceedings prescribed by the enactments relating to
“décrets” and “dégrèvements”, but
the public shall nevertheless be bound to comply with the conditions mentioned
in Article 50 of the “Loi (1880) sur la Propriété
Foncière”.
(2) Where
the amount of the compensation for the compulsory acquisition of any land has
been assessed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Law, the
amount so assessed and set out in the award of the Board shall be deemed to be
the value of the land for the purposes of Article 50 of the “Loi (1880)
sur la Propriété Foncière”.3
(3) Where
any land has been acquired by agreement with the owner thereof and the value
thereof has been assessed at the time of the acquisition in conformity with the
provisions of Article 51 of the “Loi (1880) sur la
Propriété Foncière”, the value
thereof shall be deemed to be the value assessed as aforesaid, and, where the
value has not been so assessed, the consideration for the acquisition of the
land stated in the contract of acquisition shall be taken as the value of the
land.
[ARTICLE 16A
POWER TO PAY ALLOWANCES TO PERSONS DISPLACED
(1) Where
any land is acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the
acquiring authority may –
(a) pay to any person
displaced from a house or other building on that land such reasonable allowance
as it thinks fit towards his expenses in removing therefrom ; and
(b) pay to any person
carrying on a trade or business in any such house or building, such reasonable
allowance as it thinks fit towards the loss which, in its opinion, he will
sustain by reason of the disturbance of his trade or business consequent on his
having to quit the house or building.
(2) In
estimating the loss of any person for the purposes of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) of this Article, the
acquiring authority shall have regard to the period for which the premises
occupied by him might reasonably have been expected to have been available for
the purpose of his trade or business, and to the availability of other premises
suitable for that purpose.]
ARTICLE 17
POWER TO SELL LAND ACQUIRED
It shall be lawful for the States to sell any land acquired in
accordance with the provisions of this Law, or any part thereof, to such
persons and for such considerations as they may think fit.
ARTICLE 18
NOTICES
(1) Any
notice required or authorized to be served by the Greffier of the States for
the purposes of this Law may be served either –
(a) by delivering it to the
person on whom it is to be served ;
(b) by leaving it at the
usual or last-known place of abode of that person or, in the case of a company,
at its registered office or its principal place of business ;
(c) by forwarding it by
post addressed to that person at his usual or last-known place of abode or, in
the case of a company, at its registered office or its principal place of
business ; or
(d) by delivering it to
some person on the premises to which it relates or, if there is no person on
the premises, then by fixing it on some conspicuous part of the premises.
(2) Any
notice required or authorized to be served by the Greffier of the States on the
owner, lessee or occupier of any land for the purposes of this Law may be
addressed by the description of “owner”, “lessee” or
“occupier” of the land (naming it) without further name or
description.
ARTICLE 19
REPEAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISION
The Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law, 1953, is hereby repealed :
Provided that where before the commencement of this Law the States
have resolved to acquire any land by compulsory purchase in accordance with the
provisions of the said Law of 1953 and the proceedings for the acquisition of
the land have not been completed, the proceedings may be completed as if this Law
had not been passed.
ARTICLE 20
SHORT TITLE
This Law may be cited as the Compulsory Purchase of Land
(Procedure) (Jersey) Law, 1961.
F. DE L. BOIS,
Greffier of the States.