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RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - LONG TITLE

An Act for the better Regulation of the Traffic on Railways and
Canals.{1}
[10th July 1854]
Preamble rep. by SLR 1892

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - SECT 1
Interpretation.

1. In the construction of this Act. ....The word "traffic" shall
include not only passengers, and their luggage, and goods, animals,
and other things conveyed by any railway company or canal company,
or railway and canal company, but also carriages, waggons, trucks,
boats, and vehicles of every description adapted for running or
passing on the railway or canal of any such company:The word
"railway" shall include every station of or belonging to such
railway used for the purposes of public traffic: andThe word "canal"
shall include any navigation whereon tolls are levied by authority
of Parliament, and also the wharves and landing places of and
belonging to such canal or navigation, and used for the purposes of
public traffic:The expression "railway company," "canal company," or
"railway and canal company," shall include any person being the
owner or lessee of or any contractor working any railway or canal
or navigation constructed or carried on under the powers of any Act
of Parliament:

Definition spent

S.2 rep. by 1958 c.15 (NI) s.5 sch.2 Pt.I

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - SECT 3
Applications to Court in case of violations of this Act.

3. It shall be lawful for any company or person complaining against
any such companies or company of anything done or of any omission
made in violation or contravention of this Act to apply in a
summary way, by motion or summons,... in Ireland to any of Her
Majesty's Superior Courts in Dublin, ... or to any judge of any
such court; and, upon the certificate to Her Majesty's Attorney
General in...Ireland or... of the Board of Trade alleging any such
violation or contravention of this Act by any such companies or
company, it shall also be lawful for the said Attorney General...
to apply in like manner to any such court or judge; and in either
of such cases it shall be lawful for such court or judge to hear
and determine the matter of such complaint; ... and if it be made
to appear to such court or judge on such hearing, or on the
report of any such person, that anything has been done or omission
made in violation or contravention of this Act by such company or
companies, it shall be lawful for such court or judge to issue a
writ of injunction ..., restraining such company or companies from
further continuing such violation or contravention of this Act, and
enjoining obedience to the same; and in case of disobedience of any
such writ of injunction... it shall be lawful for such court or
judge to order that a writ or writs of attachment, or any other
process of such court incident or applicable to writs of
injunction..., shall issue against any one or more of the directors
of any company, or against any owner, lessee, contractor, or other
person failing to obey such writ of injunction ...; and such court
or judge may also, if they or he shall think fit, make an order
directing the payment by any one or more of such companies of such
sum of money as such court or judge shall determine, not exceeding
for each company the sum of two hundred pounds, for every day
after a day to be named in the order that such company or
companies shall fail to obey such injunction ...; and such monies
shall be payable as the court or judge may direct, either to the
party complaining, or into court to abide the ultimate decision of
the court, or to Her Majesty, and payment thereof may, without
prejudice to any other mode of recovering the same, be enforced by
attachment or order in the nature of a writ of execution, in like
manner as if the same had been recovered by decree or judgment in
any Superior Court at... Dublin, in... Ireland, ....

Ss.4, 5 rep. by 1888 c.25 s.59 sch.

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - SECT 6
Proceedings upon such applications.

6. No proceeding shall be taken for any violation or contravention
of the above enactments, except in the manner herein provided; but
nothing herein contained shall take away or diminish any rights,
remedies, or privileges of any person or company against any railway
or canal or railway and canal company under the existing law.

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - SECT 7
Proceedings to be taken only as herein provided; saving as to other
remedies.

7. Every such company as aforesaid shall be liable for the loss of
or for any injury done to any horses, cattle, or other animals, or
to any articles, goods, or things, in the receiving, forwarding, or
delivering thereof, occasioned by the neglect or default of such
company or its servants, notwithstanding any notice, condition, or
declaration made and given by such company contrary thereto, or in
anywise limiting such liability, every such notice, condition, or
declaration being hereby declared to be null and void: Provided
always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent
the said companies from making such conditions with respect to the
receiving, forwarding, and delivering of any of the said animals,
articles, goods, or things as shall be adjudged by the court or
judge before whom any question relating thereto shall be tried to
be just and reasonable: Provided always, that no greater damages
shall be recovered for the loss of or for any injury done to any
of such animals, beyond the sums herein-after mentioned; (that is to
say), for any horse fifty pounds; for any neat cattle, per head,
fifteen pounds; for any sheep or pigs, per head, two pounds; unless
the person sending or delivering the same to such company shall, at
the time of such delivery, have declared them to be respectively of
higher value than as above mentioned; in which case it shall be
lawful for such company to demand and receive by way of
compensation for the increased risk and care thereby occasioned a
reasonable per-centage upon the excess of the value so declared
above the respective sums so limited as aforesaid, and which shall
be paid in addition to the ordinary rate of charge; and such
per-centage or increased rate of charge shall be notified in the
manner prescribed in the Carriers Act, 1830, and shall be binding
upon such company in the manner therein mentioned: Provided also,
that the proof of the value of such animals, articles, goods, and
things, and the amount of the injury done thereto, shall in all
cases lie upon the person claiming compensation for such loss or
injury: Provided also, that no special contract between such company
and any other parties respecting the receiving, forwarding, or
delivering of any animals, articles, goods, or things as aforesaid
shall be binding upon or affect any such party unless the same be
signed by him, or by the person delivering such animals, articles,
goods, or things respectively for carriage: Provided also, that
nothing herein contained shall alter or affect the rights,
privileges, or liabilities of any such company under the Carriers
Act, 1830, with respect to articles of the description mentioned in
the said Act.

RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT 1854 - SECT 8
1830 c.68

8. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Railway and
Canal Traffic Act, 1854."

Short title.