STATUTE LAW (REPEALS) BILL - Law Commission

(l) the extraction of water from private lands by entering, surveying,
cutting watercourses and constructing reservoirs, pumps and the like,
for the purpose of supplying fresh water to the gaol “constantly and
uninterruptedly”; 82
(m) the fitting-out of the new gaol, and of the rebuilt prothonotary’s office,
shire hall, exchequer court and record rooms, and other buildings, so
that they would be available for operational use; 83
(n) the provision of temporary accommodation within the city or the
county for the gaol, and for other courts and offices, whilst demolition
and rebuilding was in progress; 84
(o) the designation of the new gaol as the common gaol for the county
(and the replacement shire hall and exchequer court as facilities for
the “county palatine of Chester”); 85
(p) the raising of moneys by the commissioners for the building project
both by precepting on the county rate (in accordance with 12 Geo.2
c.29 (1738) relating to county rates) levied on towns, parishes and the
82 The 1788 Act, s.25. The authority extended to the commissioners’ workmen entering lands
subsequently, in order to clean and repair the installations (which, by then, would have vested in, and be
held in trust by, the county’s custos rotulorum). Any unauthorised interference by others with the water
installations was made an offence. The Act contained a specific proviso in section 25 that none of its
provisions was to detract from any contractual liability on the part of the city of Chester waterworks
company to supply water to the gaol (whether at the castle or at its new location) and to other publiclymaintained
buildings, although the cost of all new piping would be borne by the inhabitants of the
county.
83 The 1788 Act, s.27. The commissioners were authorised to employ workmen and contractors for both
this task and in order “to pull down the houses or buildings so to be purchased, taken down, or removed
as aforesaid, and to sell or dispose of the materials thereof”: ibid. The commissioners were also
authorised to include, in any contract, provision for forfeiture of penalties and payment of damages in
the event of contractor-default: ibid., s.28.
84 The 1788 Act, s.32. The temporary gaol facility would be deemed to be the common gaol for the
county, pending relocation. The commissioners were empowered to fit-out for temporary use, at the
expense of the county’s inhabitants, the various buildings occupied for county purposes.
85 The 1788 Act, s.33. All existing national laws which related to gaols were to apply to the new gaol as
if they had been applied specifically to it: ibid., s.51. Once the gaol was complete, prisoners were to be
transferred there from their temporary accommodation “with all convenient speed”: ibid. The gaol,
together with the other municipal buildings (prothonotary’s office, shire hall, exchequer court and record
rooms, and ancillary offices) were all to be kept in repair, and insured, “at the publick expense of the
inhabitants of the said county”, but the various buildings were to be exempt from house and window tax,
and the local rates on the lands were to be capped to the level applying as at their date of acquisition by
the commissioners: ibid., s.35. As an alternative to the year-on-year payment of rates, land tax and lamp
duty, the commissioners were authorised to pay a single lump sum to the relevant churchwardens,
overseers of the poor, constables and tax collectors, equivalent to a maximum of 35 years purchase,
subject to the arrangement being sanctioned by general quarter sessions (which lump sum would then
be utilised “for the greatest and most equal benefit of the inhabitants” and the land owners and
occupiers within the relevant parish or township): ibid., s.36.
75