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DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - LONG TITLE

An Act to make provision with respect to the possession and
acquisition of land occupied or used for the Defence of the Realm
in connection with the present War and for other purposes connected
therewith.{1}
[22nd December 1916]
Ss.1, 2 rep. by SLR 1927

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 3
Power to acquire land permanently.

3.Subs.(1)(6) rep. by SLR 1927

(7) Any person having power (whether subject to any consent or
conditions or not) to sell land authorised to be acquired by any
Government department may, subject to the like consent and
conditions, grant or demise the land in perpetuity or for any term
of years to the Government department at such fee farm or other
rent, secured by such condition of re-entry or otherwise as may be
agreed upon, and with or without a right of renewal, or grant to
the Government department an option to acquire the land:

Provided that, where the power to sell arises under the Settled
Lands Acts, 1882 to 1890, the powers conferred by this section
shall be exercised only with the consent of the trustees of the
settlement for the purposes of those Acts, or with the sanction of
the court.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 4
User of land acquired.

4. Any land which, or an interest in which, has been acquired
under this Act may be used by any Government department for the
purpose for which it was used during the war or for any other
purpose for which it could have been used had the land been
acquired under the Defence Acts, 1842 to 1873, or the Military
Lands Acts, 1892 to 1903, notwithstanding that such user could, but
for this Act, have been restrained as being in contravention of any
covenant or for any other reason, and no person interested in any
adjoining or neighbouring land or entitled to any riparian rights
shall be entitled to restrain such user; but if, apart from this
Act, any such person would have been entitled to restrain such
user, then, if application for the purpose is made within three
years after the date of the acquisition of the land under this Act
or after the commencement of the user causing the depreciation,
whichever may be the later, he shall,

(i)if the land is used for a purpose for which it could have been
used had the land been acquired under the Defence Acts, 1842 to
1873, or the Military Lands Acts, 1892 to 1903, be entitled to
such compensation in respect of any breach of a restrictive covenant
or damage caused by the pollution, abstraction, or diversion of
water, or by the emission of noxious fumes, as in default of
agreement may be determined in manner provided by this Act; and

(ii)if the land is used for any other purpose, be entitled to such
compensation in respect of any damage occasioned by such user as in
default of agreement may be determined in manner provided by this
Act:

Provided that

(a)where such compensation is claimed in respect of any land, the
department may, at any time before such claim is determined, and on
payment of all costs properly incurred by the claimant in respect
of his claim, require the claimant to sell the land or his
interest therein at such price as would have been proper if the
value of the land had not been so depreciated, such price in
default of agreement to be determined in like manner as if the
land had been acquired under section three of this Act; and

(b)nothing in this section shall be construed as depriving any
person of any right to recover damages in respect of any injury to
property caused by accident due to such user as aforesaid; and

(c)in the user of land or an interest in land acquired under this
Act the provisions of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act, 1906,
and the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts, 1876 and 1893, and of any
local Act dealing with the like matters, shall be complied with,
and those Acts shall apply accordingly, and nothing in this section
shall affect the powers conferred by any Act, whether public general
or local, on any local authority, board of conservancy, or other
public authority, with respect to the prevention of the pollution of
rivers, or the abatement of nuisances caused by the emission of
smoke or other noxious fumes.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 5
Power to sell land acquired under Act.

5.(1) Where any land or any interest therein has by virtue of this
Act been acquired by any Government department the department may at
any time thereafter sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the land
or interest.

(2) Where any such land is disposed of, then on the execution and
delivery to the purchaser by the Government department concerned of
the necessary or proper assurance of the land disposed of, the
purchaser shall notwithstanding any defect in the title of such
Government department thereto stand possessed thereof for such estate
or interest as may be expressed or intended to be assured to him,
freed and absolutely discharged (save as in the assurance may be
expressed) from all prior estates, interests, rights, and claims
therein or thereto:

Provided that if at any time after such disposition any such prior
estate, interest, right, or claim as aforesaid is established by the
person entitled thereto, there shall be paid to such person
compensation to be determined in manner provided by the Lands
Clauses Acts, as modified by this Act, with respect to interests in
lands which by mistake have been omitted to be purchased.

(3) Before any Government department sell any land so acquired or
interest therein they shall, unless such land is land upon which
buildings of a permanent nature have been erected wholly or partly
at the expense of the State or at the request of, or by
arrangement with, any Government department, or is land used in
connection with such buildings, first offer to sell the same to the
person then entitled to the lands (if any) from which the same
were originally severed....

(4) If any such persons be desirous of purchasing such lands, then
within six weeks after such offer they shall signify their desire
in that behalf to the Government department concerned, or if they
decline such offers or if for six weeks they neglect to signify
their desire to purchase such lands, the right of pre-emption of
every such person so declining or neglecting in respect of the
lands included in such offer shall cease.

(5) If any person entitled to such pre-emption be desirous of
purchasing any such lands and such person and the Government
department concerned do not agree as to the price thereof, or other
consideration therefor, then such price or other consideration shall
be determined in manner provided by this Act.

(6) The provisions of the last three foregoing subsections shall
apply in the case of a lease of land for a term exceeding
twenty-one years in like manner as they apply to a sale of land,
except where the land is leased for the purpose of the development
thereof in connection with any factory, building, camp, or other
premises erected or established on land retained by the Government.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 6
Provisions as to highways.

6.(1) Where, in the exercise or purported exercise of any
prerogative right of His Majesty or any powers conferred by or
under any enactment relating to the defence of the realm, or by
agreement, or otherwise, for purposes connected with the present war,
any railway or tramway or any cable line or pipes have been laid
along, across, over, or under any public highway, it shall be
lawful after the termination of the war for the railway or tramway
or the cable line or pipes to continue to be used and maintained
along, across, over, or under the highway, subject to such
conditions as the Board of Trade, in the case of railways and
tramways, and in other cases as the Commission after giving the
local authority and the authority or person responsible for the
maintenance of the highway or of any other railway or tramway laid
thereon an opportunity of being heard, may by order prescribe, and
any such authority or person may apply to the Board or Commission
to make such an order:

Provided that where any such railway or tramway crosses the roadway
on the level it shall not be lawful to use the crossing after the
expiration of two years from the termination of the present war
without the consent of the local authority.

(2) In the event of the use of any such railway or tramway being
discontinued, the Government department by whom it was laid down or
used shall take up and remove the rails and restore the highway on
which they are laid to the satisfaction of the authority or person
responsible for the maintenance of such highway.

(3) Where in exercise of any such right or powers as aforesaid any
public highway has been closed, it may be kept closed after the
termination of the present war, but not, by virtue of this section,
beyond the expiration of twelve months after such termination unless
the consent of the Commission is obtained, and the Commission before
giving such consent shall give to the local authority and the
authority or person responsible for the maintenance of the highway
an opportunity of being heard, and the Commission may require as a
condition of their consent the provision of another highway in the
place of the highway so closed, and any person interested in any
land adjoining any highway so closed who suffers loss or damage in
consequence of the closing thereof shall be entitled to such
compensation as, in default of agreement, may be determined in
manner provided by this Act to be the amount of such loss or
damage.

(4) For the purposes of this section the expression "local
authority" means, in the case of a borough or urban district, the
council of the borough or urban district, and elsewhere the county
council.

(5) Where any such railway, tramway, cable line, or pipes have been
laid along, across, over, or under any public highway, or a public
highway has been closed, in pursuance of an agreement with, or
subject to any undertaking given to, the authority or person
responsible for the maintenance of the highway, nothing in this
section shall authorise the continuance of the user of the railway,
tramway, cable line, or pipes, or the continuance of the closing of
the highway beyond the time specified in the agreement or
undertaking without the consent of the authority or person so
responsible.

S.7 rep. by SLR 1927. S.8 rep. by 1949 c.11 s.8 sch.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 9
Payment of compensation and purchase money.

9. Until Parliament otherwise determines, all compensation and
purchase money payable by a Government department under this Act,
and all other expenses incurred by any Government department
thereunder, shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 10
Evidence of certificate by Government department.

10. For the purposes of this Act a certificate by any Government
department

(a)that possession has been taken of any land for purposes connected
with the present war; or

(b)that the department is in possession of such land or is the
occupying department within the meaning of this Act; or

Paras.(c)(d) rep. by SL(R) 1973

(e)that a railway or tramway has been laid along, across, over, or
under a public highway, or that a public highway has been closed
in the exercise of any prerogative right of His Majesty, or any
powers conferred by or under any enactment relating to the defence
of the realm for purposes connected with the present war; or

Para.(f) rep. by SL(R) 1973

Application of building laws.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 11

11.(1) Any street, building, or work which has been formed, erected,
or constructed otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of
any general or local Acts relating to streets or buildings, and
with any byelaws or regulations made thereunder on any land to
which section one of this Act applies, or which has been acquired
under section three thereof, shall, unless the authority by whom
such provisions, byelaws, or regulations are enforced consent to the
continuance thereof, either be so altered as to comply with such
provisions, byelaws, or regulations, or be discontinued or removed
within such reasonable time, not being less than two years, after
such land or building has ceased to be occupied by a Government
department as such authority may order, and the owner (as defined
by such Acts, byelaws, or regulations) shall have power to enter
upon and carry out any works without the consent of any other
person, and if he fails to comply with such order such authority
as aforesaid may remove any such building or work and recover the
expense incurred in such removal from the owner in a summary manner
as a civil debt.

(2) If any person feels aggrieved by the neglect or refusal of
such authority to give its consent, or by the conditions on which
such consent is given, or as to the time within which such
discontinuance or removal is ordered, he may appeal to the Local
Government Board, whose decision shall be final and shall have
effect as if it were a decision of the authority: Provided that
the Board may before considering any such appeal require the
appellant to deposit such sum not exceeding ten pounds to cover the
costs of appeal as may be fixed by rules to be made by them.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 12
Interpretation.

12.(1) For the purposes of this Act, and of the provisions of the
Lands Clauses Acts incorporated with this Act, land includes any
building or part of a building, any pier, jetty, or other structure
on the shore or bed of the sea or any river, and any easement or
right over or in relation to land.

(2) Where consideration has been given or an advance made by the
State for the erection, construction, or making of any building,
work, or improvement on over or under any land for purposes
connected with the present war, or where any money which would
otherwise have been payable to the State has with the consent of a
Government department been applied towards the erection, construction,
or making of any such building, work, or improvement, the building,
work, or improvement shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed
to have been erected, constructed, or made wholly or partly, as the
case may be, at the expense of the State.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, except where the context
otherwise requires, the expression "building" includes machinery and
plant fixed or attached to the building,....

Subs.(4) rep. by SL(R) 1973

(5) For the purposes of this Act a competent naval or military
authority acting under the Acts relating to the Defence of the
Realm shall be deemed to be a Government department.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 13
Savings.

13.Subs.(1)(2) rep. by SLR 1927

(3) Where possession has been taken of any land under any agreement
authorising the retention of the land for any period specified in
the agreement, nothing in this Act shall authorise the retention of
possession after the expiration of such period without the consent
of the person with whom the agreement was made or the persons
deriving title under him.

Subs.(4)(6) rep. by SLR 1927

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 14
Saving of powers.

14. The powers conferred by this Act shall be in addition to and
not in derogation of any other right or power of His Majesty.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 16
Application to Ireland.

16. In the application of this Act to Ireland the expression "the
Lands Clauses Acts" shall not include the Railways Act (Ireland),
1851, the Railways Act (Ireland), 1860, the Railways Act (Ireland),
1864, or the Railways Traverse Act, or any Act amending those Acts;
and the expression "Local Government Board" means the "Local
Government Board for Ireland".

DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 - SECT 17
Short title.

17. This Act may be cited as the Defence of the Realm (Acquisition
of Land) Act, 1916.

Schedule rep. by SLR 1927