THAMES PRESERVATION ACT, 1885.
48 & 49 Vict. cap. 76.
An Act for the preservation of the River Thames above Teddington Lock for purposes of public recreation, and for regulating the pleasure traffic thereon. [August 14, 1885.]
Whereas the River Thames is a navigable highway; and whereas, by reason of the increase of population in London and other places near the said river, it has come to be largely used as a place of public recreation and resort, and it is expedient that provision should be made for regulating the different kinds of traffic in the said river between the town of Cricklade and Teddington Lock, and upon the banks thereof within the limits aforesaid, and for the keeping of public order and the prevention of nuisances, to the intent that the said river should be preserved as a place of regulated public recreation;
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part I.—Navigation.
1. Public right of navigation.—It shall be lawful for all persons, whether for pleasure or profit, to go and be, pass and repass, in boats or vessels over or upon any and every part of the River Thames, through which Thames water flows, between the town of Cricklade and Teddington Lock, including all such backwaters, creeks, side-channels, bays and inlets connected therewith as form parts of the said river within the limits aforesaid.
2. Private artificial cuts not to be deemed parts of the river.—All private artificial cuts for purposes of drainage or irrigation, and all artificial inlets for moats, boathouses, ponds, or other like private purposes, already made or hereafter to be made, and all channels which by virtue of any conveyance from or agreement with the Conservators, or the Commissioners acting under any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, or by any lawful title have been enjoyed as private channels for the period of twenty years before the passing of this Act, shall be deemed not to be parts of the said river for the purposes of the last preceding section, or any provisions consequent thereon.
3. Conservators may exclude the public.—Notwithstanding anything in the first section contained, it shall be lawful for the Conservators from time to time to exclude the public for a limited period from specified portions of the said river, for purposes connected with the navigation, or with any public work or uses, or for the preservation of public order.
4. Right of navigation to include anchoring and mooring.—The right of navigation hereinbefore described shall be deemed to include a right to anchor, moor, or remain stationary for a reasonable time in the ordinary course of pleasure navigation, subject to such restrictions as the Conservators shall from time to time by by-laws determine; and it shall be the duty of the Conservators to make special regulations for the prevention of annoyance to any occupier of a riparian residence, by reason of the loitering or delay of any house-boat or steam-launch, and for the prevention of the pollution of the river by the sewage of any house-boat or steam-launch. Provided that nothing in this Act, or in any by-law made thereunder, shall be construed to deprive any riparian owner of any legal rights in the soil or bed of the river which he may now possess, or of any legal remedies which he may now possess for prevention of anchoring, mooring, loitering, or delay of any boat or other vessel, or to give any riparian owner any right as against the public, which he did not possess before the passing of this Act, to exclude any person from entering upon or navigating any backwater, creek, channel, bay, inlet, or other water, whether deemed to be part of the River Thames as in this Act defined or not.
Provided also, that the powers given by this clause shall be in addition to, and not to be deemed to be in substitution for, any powers already possessed by the Conservators.
5. Riparian owner to remove obstructions unless maintained for twenty years.—Any person obstructing the navigation hereinbefore described, by means of any weir, bridge, piles, dam, chain, barrier, or other impediment, shall be liable to be called upon by the Conservators to remove the same, and his refusal to do so shall be deemed to be a continuing offence within the meaning of this Act, and the obstruction itself shall be deemed to be a nuisance to the navigation unless the same, or substantially the same, has been maintained for the period of twenty years before the commencement of this Act.
6. Provision against shooting or use of firearms on the river.—From and after the passing of this Act it shall be unlawful to discharge any firearm, air-gun, gun, or similar instrument over or upon the said river within the limits aforesaid, or the banks or towpaths thereof, or any land acquired by the Conservators under the provisions of this Act, and every person discharging any firearm, air-gun, gun, or similar instrument over or upon the said river limits as aforesaid, or the banks or towpath thereof, or any such land as aforesaid, shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this Act.
Part II.—Regulation of Pleasure-boats.
7. Registration of boats.—In addition to the rights and duties of the Conservators relating to registration and tolls already created by the Thames Navigation Act, 1870, the Thames Conservancy Act, 1878, and the Thames Act, 1883, or by any other of the Acts in the First Schedule to this Act mentioned, it shall be lawful for the Conservators to direct by by-law that all boats or vessels, with the exception of any such class of boats or vessels as may, together with the reasons of such exception, be specified in any such by-law for pleasure navigation, shall be registered, together with the true names and addresses of the owners thereof respectively, in a General Register to be kept at their chief office in a form by them to be prescribed, and as to all vessels propelled by steam power, and all house-boats, and all rowing or sailing boats plying for hire, and any such other particular class of boats or vessels as by them from time to time by by-law, may be prescribed to issue licences to ply upon any part of the upper navigation, or upon a limited part thereof only, according to regulations in each case by them to be made by by-law in manner hereinafter provided.
8. Navigating without registration to be an offence.—From and after the dates by any such by-law to be fixed respectively, it shall be an offence under this Act to use any boat or vessel of the class mentioned in the same by-law, on any part of the river to which such by-law applies, unless such boat or vessel shall have been previously registered or licensed in manner therein provided.
9. Lists to be kept of private boats and boats for hire.—In the General Register in the seventh section of this Act mentioned, separate lists shall be kept of boats and vessels used for pleasure navigation by private owners, and of boats and vessels let for hire. The former class of boats or vessels shall be distinguished, according to regulations to be made from time to time by the Conservators, by a registered number, crest, badge, or mark, and the latter class by a registered number; and the provisions of section eleven and section thirteen of the Thames Act, 1883, as to displaying or concealing the same or number of any steam-launch shall be deemed in all cases to apply to the said registered numbers, crests, badge, and marks respectively, with such modifications as the Conservators may by such regulations from time to time direct.
10. Renewal of yearly registration.—It shall be lawful for the Conservators by by-law to enact as to any or all of the classes of boats or vessels by them from time to time required to be licensed or registered as aforesaid, that such licence or registration shall be renewed at any interval not being less than one year.
11. Fee for registration.—It shall be lawful for the Conservators to charge, in respect of boats or vessels registered under this Act, sums not exceeding the sums following; that is to say, for each registration of a pleasure-boat not being a house-boat, a sum not exceeding two shillings and sixpence, and for each registration of a house-boat a sum not exceeding five pounds; and if such house-boat shall be more than thirty feet in length, a further sum not exceeding twenty shillings in respect of every complete five feet and the fraction of an incomplete five feet by which such house boat shall exceed thirty feet in length.
Provided always that nothing in this Act shall require a boat or vessel not being a house-boat to be registered oftener than once in three years.
12. Present registration or licence not to be affected.—Nothing in this Act shall require any vessel which may under any Act be required to be registered or licensed by the master, wardens, and commonalty of watermen and lightermen of the River Thames to be registered or licensed under this Act.
13. First registration.—For the purposes of the last preceding section a fresh registration or licence of any boat or vessel in a class other than that in which the same was first registered or licensed shall be deemed a first registration or licence.
14. Application of ss. 7, 8, 9, and 14 of The Thames Act, 1883, to all registered boats and vessels.—The provisions of sections seven, eight, nine, and fourteen of The Thames Act, 1883, as to registered owners of steam-launches, shall apply to the registered owners of all boats or vessels for the time being registered pursuant to the provisions of this Act, and of the by-laws in that behalf from time to time in force, and the same section nine and section fourteen shall be read as if the words ‘boat or vessel’ therein were substituted for the word ‘steam-launch,’ and as if the words ‘this Act’ therein referred to the present Act.
15. Every boat or vessel to be deemed to be in charge of one person.—Every boat or vessel used for pleasure navigation upon any part of the River Thames within the limits aforesaid shall be deemed to be in charge of one person, who shall be in every case a registered owner, or the person duly appointed or permitted by him to be in charge, or the person hiring such boat or vessel, and, in the absence of any such person, then any person having control or being in command of such boat or vessel.
16. Person in charge to be responsible for order.—Every person who for the time being is in charge of any boat or vessel shall be responsible for the preservation of order and decency, and for the observance of the provisions of this Act; and upon proof that an offence under this Act has been committed by any person on board such boat or vessel, and that the person in charge has refused to give the name and address of the offender, then the person in charge shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this Act.
Part III.—General Powers.
17. Conservators may accept and hold land for certain purposes.—In addition to their existing powers to take and hold land, it shall be lawful for the Conservators to accept and hold any land which any person may offer to them for dedication to public uses in connection with the purposes of this Act, upon such terms and conditions as they may see fit, and it shall be lawful for the Corporation of the City of London, or the Metropolitan Board of Works, and for the University of Oxford, or, subject to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, so far as they are applicable, for the Corporation of the City of Oxford, or any corporation or other person, to give, grant, dedicate, convey, or devise any land or right over land to the extent of their estates and interests respectively, unto the Conservators, for the purpose of enabling the public to use such and or any part thereof as a public highway, or as a place of public resort, or for the purpose of creating bathing-places or camping-grounds or landing-places, or for any other purposes connected with this Act, any of the provisions of the Act passed in the ninth year of the reign of King George the Second, chapter thirty-six, or any other statute or any rule of law to the contrary notwithstanding.
18. Acquisition by agreement of right of abstracting water from the river.—Where any company or person is entitled under any Act of Parliament, grant, custom, or otherwise, to any right of abstracting or appropriating water which might otherwise flow or find its way into the river, it shall be lawful for any such person on the one hand and the Conservators or any other person on the other hand, to enter into and carry into effect an agreement or agreements for the conveyance of such right to the Conservators; and every such right may be conveyed to the Conservators by deed, and shall as from the date of such conveyance be absolutely extinguished to the intent that such water shall thereafter be allowed to flow into the river.
And it shall be lawful for any of the companies supplying water within the Metropolis to make contributions out of their capital or revenue in aid of the acquisition and extinguishment of any such right, and for the Conservators to accept such contributions and contributions from any other person or persons and employ them for that purpose.
19. Alteration and suspension of by-laws.—It shall be lawful for the Conservators, in addition to all powers of making by-laws already possessed by them under the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, to make, and from time to time to suspend or alter in the same manner and with the same consent as in the same Acts is provided, all by-laws which they may deem necessary for the purposes mentioned in this Act, or in the Second Schedule hereto.
20. Continuing offences.—Any act or default in contravention of any of the said by-laws or of the provisions of this Act, which after due notice is repeated or continued, shall be a continuing offence under this Act.
Part IV.—Procedure.
21. Penalty for offence against the Act.—Any person convicted of an offence under this Act shall, where no other penalty is provided by this Act or any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, or by any by-law made thereunder respectively, be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.
22. Penalty for continuing offence.—Any person convicted of an offence which is a continuing offence under this Act shall, where no greater penalty has been provided for such offence by any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.
23. Jurisdiction of certain justices.—For the purposes of this Act, and of every by-law to be made by the Conservators thereunder, the jurisdiction of all justices of the peace for the counties of Surrey, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, and Middlesex, and of the magistrates for the city of Oxford, and of every other borough, the police jurisdiction of which extends to any place upon the River Thames within the limits aforesaid, and the jurisdiction, powers, and authority of the Proctors of the University of Oxford and the marshals and officers acting under them, and the power and authority of the Metropolitan Police, and of all police officers and constables acting for any of the said counties or boroughs, shall extend over the whole of the River Thames, and the towpaths, banks, and precincts thereof, within the limits aforesaid.
24. As to place where offence committed.—For the purposes of any proceedings in respect of any offence under this Act, or under any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, every such offence shall be deemed to have been committed, and every cause of complaint in respect thereof shall be deemed to have arisen either in the place in which the same actually was committed or arose, or in any place in which the offender or person complained against may be.
25. Bailiffs and servants of Conservators may be sworn in as police constables.—It shall be in the power and at the discretion of the Conservators to procure all or any of their water-bailiffs, river-keepers, lock-keepers, or other servants, to be sworn in as police constables for any of the counties or boroughs aforesaid, but they shall not be liable, without the consent of the Conservators, to be called upon to perform the duties of such police constables, except for the purposes of this Act or of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto.
26. Proceedings for summary conviction.—Proceedings in relation to any offence or continuing offence under this Act or any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, or under any by-law already made or hereafter to be made by the Conservators, or for the recovery of any penalty under this Act or any of the said Acts mentioned in the First Schedule hereto, or any by-law made thereunder respectively, may be taken before a court of summary jurisdiction, according to the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, and all such penalties, whether recovered summarily or otherwise, shall be paid to the Conservators, and shall form part of their funds.
27. Moneys paid to the Conservators to be carried to the Conservancy Fund.—All moneys recovered or received by the Conservators or their secretary, or other officer under any of the provisions of this Act, shall be carried to the Conservancy Fund, and all moneys arising in respect of the Upper River, as defined by the Acts mentioned in the schedule hereto, shall be credited to the Upper Navigation Fund.
28. Saving clause.—Saving always to the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, her heirs and successors, and to all and every other person or persons and body or bodies politic, corporate or collegiate, and his, her, or their heirs, successors, executors, and administrators, all such right, title, estate, and interest, as they or any of them could or ought to have had or enjoyed of, in to or in respect of the river and the banks and towpaths thereof within the limits aforesaid in case this Act had not been passed, excepting so far as relates to the said right of navigation and other rights expressly declared and provided for by this Act.
29. Definitions.—In this Act the following terms have the several meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction (that is to say):
The terms ‘the River Thames’ and ‘the said river’ shall for the purposes of this Act mean and include all and every part of the River Thames specified in section one, excepting the cuts, inlets, and channels specified in section two;
The term ‘the Conservators’ means the Conservators of the River Thames;
The term ‘due notice’ means a notice in writing given by the Conservators or any person duly authorised in writing by them to act in their behalf;
The words ‘consent of the Conservators’ shall mean permission in writing signed by the secretary of the Conservators;
The term ‘by-law’ includes rules, orders, and regulations;
The term ‘person’ includes corporation;
The term ‘land’ includes land of any tenure, and tenements and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal, and houses and other buildings, and also an undivided share in land, and any rights over land whatsoever, whether appendant, appurtenant, or in gross;
The term ‘precincts’ includes any place within a hundred yards of the said river on either side thereof;
The term ‘vessel’ shall include any ship, lighter, barge, launch, house-boat, boat, randan, wherry, skiff, dingey, shallop, punt, canoe, raft, or other craft.
30. Short title.—This Act may be cited as ‘The Thames Preservation Act, 1885.’
Schedule I.
24 Geo. II. c. 8, 30 Geo. II. c. 21, 11 Geo. III. c. 45, 14 Geo. III. c. 91, 15 Geo. III. c. 11, 17 Geo. III. c. 18, 28 Geo. III. c. 51, 35 Geo. III. c. 106, 50 Geo. III. c. cciv., 52 Geo. III. c. xlvi., 52 Geo. III. c. xlvii., 54 Geo. III. c. ccxxiii., 20 & 21 Vict. c. cxlvii. (the Thames Conservancy Act, 1857), 27 & 28 Vict. c. 113 (the Thames Conservancy Act, 1864), 29 & 30 Vict. c. 89 (the Thames Navigation Act, 1866), 30 & 31 Vict. c. ci. (the Thames Conservancy Act, 1867), 33 & 34 Vict. c. cxlix. (the Thames Navigation Act, 1870), 41 & 42 Vict. c. ccxvi. (the Thames Conservancy Act, 1878), 45 & 47 Vict. c. lxxix. (the Thames Act, 1883).
Schedule II.
Purposes for which By-laws may be made under the Powers and Provisions of this Act.
1. For preventing offences against decency by persons using the River Thames, and the banks and towpaths thereof, or any land acquired by the Conservators under the provisions of this Act.
2. For preventing disorderly conduct, or the use of obscene, scandalous, or abusive language to the annoyance of persons using the said River Thames or the banks or towpaths thereof, or any land acquired by the Conservators under the provisions of this Act.
3. For preventing any nuisance to riparian residents or others by persons using the river.
4. For preventing trespasses upon any riparian dwelling-houses or the curtilages or gardens belonging thereto.
5. For regulating the navigation with a view to the safety and amenity of the said river in relation to the purposes of this Act.
6. For preventing injury to flowering and other plants, shrubs, vegetation, trees, woods and underwoods on or near the said river.
7. For preventing bird-catching, bird-nesting, bird-trapping, and the searching for, taking, or destruction of swans’ and other birds’ nests, eggs, or the young of any birds or other animals on or about the said river, saving all existing rights of fowling, shooting, hunting, and sporting.
8. For preserving the various notice-boards and other works and things set up by the Conservators or with their consent.
9. For preventing disturbance of the navigation provided for by this Act.
10. For registering and licensing boats or vessels, and for regulating the conditions of such licences, and the letting or hiring of boats, vessels, conveyances, horses or other animals, in connection with the purposes of this Act.
11. For imposing penalties for breaches of by-laws, subject to the provisions of this Act and of the Acts in the First Schedule mentioned.