County Police Act 1839
Introduced by | Lord John Russell |
---|---|
Territorial extent | England and Wales |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 27 August 1839 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Police Act 1964 |
Status: Repealed |
The County Police Act 1839 (
Royal commission
The legislation was based on the recommendations of a
Provisions of the Act
The Act allowed Justices of the Peace of any
The constables were to be appointed on a ratio of not more than one officer per one thousand of population. Boroughs operating under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 had the power to form their own police force and were to be excluded from the jurisdiction of the county police.
In each county where the Act was adopted a chief constable was to be appointed. Where a county was divided into two parliamentary divisions by the Reform Act 1832, a chief constable could be appointed to each division. It was also permitted for one chief constable to be appointed to two or more neighbouring counties.
For the purposes of the Act all county
A "county" for the purposes of the Act was defined as being "any County, Riding or Division having a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace or in which separate County Rates are made". The Act was not to extend to the Metropolitan Police District.
Establishing a force
In order to establish a force in a county, it was necessary for three or more magistrates to make a requisition to the chairman of the
The first county to form a constabulary under the 1839 Act was
Amendment: the County Police Act 1840
Act of Parliament | |
Territorial extent | England and Wales |
---|---|
Dates | |
Royal assent | 7 August 1840 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Police Act 1964 |
Status: Repealed |
Within a few months of the first county constabularies being formed, a number of problems with the legislation became apparent. Accordingly, the Hon.
"...difficulties had arisen from the mode of payment provided for carrying into effect the regulations of the act, by levying it out of the county rates; a difficulty as to that provision had arisen in various counties, in which certain districts only had adopted the act. In counties, also, in which there were isolated portions of other counties, it was difficult to say how those isolated portions were to be dealt with, because they were incorporated in the police districts of another county than that in which they were rated for the payment..."[10]
The bill was enacted as the County Police Act 1840 (
The main provisions of the Act were:
- Justices of the peace were permitted to transfer areas from one county to another for police purposes.
- A special police rate was to be levied to finance the county constabulary, instead of the cost being part of the general county rate.
- Where parts of one county were policed by the constabulary of another county, the rate payers were to pay the police rate to the county providing the constables.
- Boroughs were permitted to consolidate their police force with that of the county in which they were situate, and a single chief constable could be appointed for a consolidated force.
- The chief constable of a consolidated force could dismiss borough constables, but new constables for the area were to be appointed by the Watch Committeeof the borough corporation.
- Justices were empowered to divide the county into districts, each with a population of not less than 25,000. Separate police rates could be levied on ratepayers of each division. However, constables were liable to serve throughout the county, regardless of which district they were assigned to.
- The act repeated the definition of a county as in the 1839 Act, and noted that the Isle of Ely should be considered a county for constabulary purposes.
- Permission was given to the justices to acquire land and buildings, and borrow money for the construction of police stations and to build strong rooms for the temporary confinement of prisoners.
- If, in the opinion of the justices in quarter sessions, the constables provided under the 1839 Act were no longer needed, they could disband them, having given six months notice to the Home Secretary. No county forces were dis-established, and a resolution in 1843 to dissolve the Worcestershire Constabulary as "the benefit derived from the employment of the rural police in the County of Worcester has not been equal to the expense it has occasioned to the ratepayers" was soundly defeated.[12]
List of forces established under the County Police Acts
By 1851 constabularies had been formed to cover all or part of the following counties:[13]
County | Notes |
---|---|
Bedfordshire | Adopted in 1840[13][14] |
Cambridgeshire | Isle of Ely: adopted in 1841[15] |
Cambridgeshire: adopted in 1851[13][15] | |
Cardiganshire[13] | |
Carmarthenshire | Adopted in 1843[13][16] |
Cumberland | Only formed in the Derwent Division of the county.[13] |
Denbighshire | Formed in the Denbigh and Wrexham Districts |
Dorset | Constables appointed in the consolidated divisions of Sturminster Newton and Shaftesbury and in the Borough of Shaftesbury. |
Durham | Adopted act in 1839[9] |
Essex[13] | Act adopted 25 November 1839, chief constable appointed 11 February 1840[17] |
Gloucestershire | Adopted in 1839[9] |
Hampshire[13] | Act adopted December 1839.[18] Chief constable elected by magistrates on 31 December 1839.[19] |
Hertfordshire[13] | |
Lancashire[13] | |
Leicestershire[13] | Adopted in 1839 |
Montgomeryshire[13] | |
Norfolk[13] | |
Northamptonshire | Northamptonshire[13] |
Not in Liberty of Peterborough[13][15] | |
Nottinghamshire[13] | |
Pembrokeshire[13] | |
Rutland[13] | |
Shropshire[13] | |
Staffordshire[13] | |
Suffolk | Eastern Division[13] |
Western Division[13] | |
Surrey | Constabulary formed in 1851 in the part of the county not included in the Metropolitan Police District[13] |
Sussex | Western Division only.[13] |
Warwickshire | Only in one of four hundreds of county.[13]
|
Westmorland | In East Ward and West Ward only: In 1851 it had been decided to extend the acts to Kendal Ward to form a consolidated force with the Kendal Borough Police[13] |
Wiltshire | Adopted in 1839.[9] |
Worcestershire | Adopted in 1839[9] |
Yorkshire, East Riding
|
In one division only.[13] |
References
- short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
- ^ The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and Schedule 2
- ^ Waters, Les. "A Short History of the Police". The Police Gazette Part 1: Issues for 1866-1878, 1882-1897 and 1899-1900 from the Cambridgeshire Police Archive. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Adam Matthews Publications. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ISSN 0144-0365.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7190-4729-9.
- ^ Waters, Les. "Appendix A: Notes on the First Report of the Constabulary Commissioners". The Police Gazette Part 1: Issues for 1866-1878, 1882-1897 and 1899-1900 from the Cambridgeshire Police Archive. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Adam Matthews Publications. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- HMSO. 1839.
- ^ "Establishment of a County Police". The Leicester Chronicle: or, Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser. Leicester. 26 October 1839.
- ^ Wiltshire Constabulary. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 11 March 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "County Constabulary Act - Amendment (HC Deb 18 February 1840 vol 52 cc385-92)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 18 February 1840. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
- HMSO. pp. 359–371.
- ^ "Worcester Quarter Sessions. Proposed Dismissal Of The Rural Police". The Times. 29 June 1843. p. 8.
- ^ HMSO. 1852. pp. 283–285.
- ^ "Records of Bedfordshire Police". Bedford Borough Council. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- ^ a b c "History of Policing". Cambridgeshire Criminal Justice Board. Archived from the original on 19 January 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- Dyfed-Powys Police. Retrieved 10 March 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Scollan, Maureen. "The Making of a Chief Constable". Essex Police Museum. Archived from the original on 12 July 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
- ^ "Rural Police for Hampshire". Winchester Chronicle. 28 December 1839.
- ^ "Hants General Quarter Sessions". Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian. Southampton. 4 January 1840.