Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961
Revised Edition
18.135
Showing the law as at 1 January 2006
This is a revised edition of the law
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961
Arrangement
Article
1 Interpretation
2 Application of the provisions of this Law
3 Plan to be prepared and money voted
4 Preliminary notices
5 Power to vest land in public
6 Land belonging to infants
7 Payment for land acquired
8 Board of Arbitrators
9 Application for submission of questions to Board
10 Rules for the assessment of compensation
11 Payment of compensation
12 Procedure before Board
13 Decisions of the Board
14 Finality of award and statement of special cases
15 Registration of award of Board
16 Fees and expenses
17 Costs
18 Dower rights
19 Protection of the public against dispossession
20 Power to pay allowances to persons displaced
21 Power to sell land acquired
22 Notices
23 Citation
Supporting Documents
Endnotes
Table of Legislation History
Table of Renumbered Provisions
Table of Endnote References
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961[1]
A LAW to prescribe the procedure for the acquisition of land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public of Jersey
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“acquiring authority” means the Minister charged with the administration of the relevant Special Law;
“Board” has the meaning assigned thereto by Article 8;
“land” includes houses, buildings and structures on land, water, interests in land or water and servitudes or rights in, on or over land or water;
“owner” includes a usufructuary and the husband of a feme covert;
“Special Law” has the meaning assigned by Article 2.
2 Application of the provisions of this Law
(1) The provisions of this Law shall apply only where, by a Law confirmed by Order of Her Majesty in Council (in this Law referred to as a “Special Law”), power is conferred on the States to acquire land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public in accordance with the provisions of this Law but not otherwise, and, in any such case, the provisions of this Law shall apply in relation to the acquisition of the land, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted by such Special Law.
(2) Where under the provisions of a Special Law the power to acquire land by compulsory purchase includes the power to –
(a) acquire a servitude or other right over land by the creation of a new servitude or right; or
(b) extinguish or modify a servitude or other right over land,
references in this Law to the acquisition of land or of an interest in land shall be construed as including references to the exercise of any of the powers referred to in sub-paragraph (a) or (b).[2]
3 Plan to be prepared and money voted
No land may be acquired by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public unless –
(a) a plan showing the land to be acquired has been approved by the States; and
(b) a credit of the monies necessary to meet the expenses to be incurred in the acquisition of the land has been voted by the States.
4 Preliminary notices
(1) Subject as provided by Article 6(1), the Greffier of the States shall serve a notice on every owner, lessee and occupier of the land to be acquired, of which a sufficient description shall be contained in the notice, requiring each of them to notify the Greffier of the States, in writing, within such period as the acquiring authority deems appropriate having regard to the circumstances of the case (which period shall in no case be less than 28 days after the service of the notice) of the owner’s, lessee’s or occupier’s interest in the land and of the amount of the compensation which the owner, lessee or occupier is prepared to accept for such interest:
Provided that no such notice shall be served on any lessee or occupier whose interest in the land it is not intended to acquire in accordance with the provisions of this Law.[3]
(2) The notice aforesaid shall, if need be, state the time at which vacant possession of the land will be required.
(3) If any owner, lessee or occupier of the land refuses or neglects to comply with the requirements contained in the notice served on the owner, lessee or occupier in pursuance of paragraph (1) or if the acquiring authority considers that the amount of the compensation which the owner, lessee or occupier is prepared to accept is excessive, then, unless the acquiring authority is of the opinion that it is unnecessary that the interest should be acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the Greffier of the States shall serve a notice informing the owner, lessee or occupier of the amount of the compensation which the acquiring authority offers to pay and notifying the owner, lessee or occupier that, if the offer be not accepted within 8 days after the service of the notice, the interest will be acquired and compensation assessed in manner hereafter in this Law provided.[4]
5 Power to vest land in public[5]
(1) Where, after the expiration of the period referred to in Article 4(3), the owner, lessee or occupier of the land has not accepted the offer of the acquiring authority, the Greffier of the States shall, on giving at least 8 days notice of the Greffier’s intention so to do to the said owner, lessee or occupier, apply to the Inferior Number of the Royal Court for an order that the land be vested in the public.
(2) The Inferior Number of the Royal Court, on an application made in pursuance of paragraph (1), shall, if satisfied that the provisions of this Law have been complied with, order that the land be vested in the public and that a record of the title of the public be registered in the Public Registry of Contracts.
(3) A record registered under paragraph (2) shall have like effect to a contract passed before the Royal Court and shall constitute a valid title to the land and to the rights appertaining thereto, and such title shall bear the date of the order of the Court.
(4) A record registered as aforesaid shall not be renounced for want of insertion in the register of a décret if it bears a date prior to that of the insertion on which a tenant is confirmed in the tenure of the real estate en décret.
6 Land belonging to infants
(1) Where the owner of any land to be acquired is an infant, or, if there is more than one owner, where any such owner is an infant, the compensation for the interest of the infant or of each such owner, as the case may be, shall be assessed in manner hereafter in this Law provided and, accordingly, the notice to be served in pursuance of Article 4(1) on the owner of the land shall contain only a sufficient description of the land, a statement of the time at which vacant possession will be required and a statement that the compensation will be assessed as aforesaid.
(2) Where any land is acquired from an infant in accordance with the provisions of this Law, neither the infant nor the infant’s heirs may disclaim the transaction or claim possession of the land in any manner whatsoever.
7 Payment for land acquired
Where there are any charges on the land, the States shall undertake to discharge the same up to the amount of the compensation, being, where such amount is agreed between the acquiring authority and the owner, the amount so agreed, or, where it is assessed in manner hereafter in this Law provided, the amount so assessed, and, where that amount exceeds the amount of the charges thereon, the States may discharge the balance by a cash payment or by the creation of new rentes or by the assignment of anciennes rentes:
Provided that where any owner of the land is an infant or a person under interdiction or a feme covert, the States shall be bound to discharge the compensation for the acquisition of his or her interest in the land, or the balance thereof, by the creation of new rentes or simple conventional hypothecs in favour of such owner which shall not be reimbursable at the instance of the States –
(a) where the owner is an infant, until the expiration of one year after the infant has attained majority;
(b) where the owner is a person under interdiction, until the expiration of one year after the person’s reinstatement or, if the person is not reinstated, one year after the person’s death.
8 Board of Arbitrators
(1) For the purpose of this Law, there shall be a Board to be known as the “Board of Arbitrators” which shall consist of a Chairman and 2 other persons and which shall be constituted, as the need arises, in accordance with the provisions of Article 9.
(2) The Superior Number of the Royal Court shall appoint at least 6 persons to form a panel of persons who may be called on to serve as members of the Board.[6]
(3) The constitution of the said panel may be reviewed from time to time and the Superior Number of the Royal Court may make such additions thereto or deletions therefrom as it considers necessary.
9 Application for submission of questions to Board
Where it is necessary to determine any question as to compensation, or, where any part of the land to be acquired is subject to a lease which comprises land not to be acquired, any question as to the apportionment of the rent payable under the lease, the Greffier of the States shall make application to the Inferior Number of the Royal Court for an order that the question be referred to and determined by the arbitration of the Board and the Court shall appoint a Chairman of the Board, and shall designate 2 persons from the panel appointed under Article 8(2) as the other members of the Board, for the purposes of the arbitration.[7]
10 Rules for the assessment of compensation
(1) In assessing compensation, the Board shall act in accordance with the following rules –
(a) no allowance shall be made on account of the fact that the acquisition is compulsory;
(b) the value of the land shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be taken to be the amount which the land might have been expected to realize if sold on the open market by a willing seller on the date on which the Inferior Number of the Royal Court made the order vesting the land in the public;
(c) where the land is severed from other land in the same ownership and the value of the retained land is reduced by reason of the severance, the amount of the reduction shall be taken into account;
(d) where a servitude or other right over land is acquired by the creation of a new servitude or right and the value of that land is reduced by reason of the acquisition of the servitude or right, the amount of the reduction shall be taken into account;
(e) where the value of land entitled to the benefit of a servitude or other right over other land is reduced by reason of the extinguishment or modification of that servitude or right, the amount of the reduction shall be taken into account;
(f) the special suitability or adaptability of the land for any purpose shall not be taken into account if that purpose is a purpose to which it could be applied only in pursuance of statutory powers, or for which there is no market apart from the special needs of a particular purchaser or the requirements of any public or parochial authority;
(g) where the value of the land is increased by reason of the use thereof or of any premises thereon in a manner which could be restrained by any court, or is contrary to law, or is detrimental to the health of the inmates of the premises or to the public health, the amount of that increase shall not be taken into account;
(h) where land is, and but for the compulsory acquisition would continue to be, devoted to a purpose of such a nature that there is no general demand or market for land for that purpose, the compensation may, if the Board is satisfied that reinstatement in some other place is bona fide intended, be assessed on the basis of the reasonable cost of equivalent reinstatement;
(i) the Board shall not take into account any interest in land, or any enhancement of the value of any interest in land by reason of any building erected, work done or improvement or alteration made, whether on the land purchased or on any other land with which the person claiming the compensation is, or was at the time of the erection, doing or making of the building, works, improvement or alteration, directly or indirectly concerned, if the Board is satisfied that the creation of the interest, the erection of the building, the doing of the work, the making of the improvement or the alteration, as the case may be, was not reasonably necessary, and was undertaken with a view to obtaining compensation or increased compensation;
(j) the provisions of sub-paragraph (b) shall not affect the assessment of compensation for disturbance or any other matter not directly based on the value of land.[8]
(2) For the purposes of this Article, the Board shall be entitled to be furnished with such returns and assessments relating to the land as it may require.
11 Payment of compensation[9]
(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (3), where land has been vested in the public in accordance with Article 5 the acquiring authority shall forthwith pay to the vendor –
(a) 75% of the amount of compensation offered under Article 4(3); or
(b) where there are charges on the land, 75% of any balance remaining after deduction of those charges from the amount of compensation offered under Article 4(3).
(2) Where the amount of compensation assessed by the Board in pursuance of Article 10 is in excess of the amount paid under paragraph (1), the States shall pay to the vendor the difference between those amounts, together with interest thereon at the rate specified in paragraph (4).
(3) The provisions of this Article shall not apply in the case of land in respect of which, by virtue of Article 7, the compensation, or the balance thereof, is to be discharged by the creation of simple conventional hypothecs, the creation of new rentes, or the assignment of anciennes rentes, and accordingly, there shall be added to the amount of compensation assessed by the Board in pursuance of Article 10 in respect of such land interest at the rate specified in paragraph (4).
(4) For the purposes or paragraphs (2) and (3) interest shall be payable at such rate as shall from day to day correspond with Bank of England’s Minimum Lending Rate, compounded at yearly rests, from the date on which the Inferior Number of the Royal Court made the order vesting the land in the public to the date of registration of the award of the Board.
12 Procedure before Board
(1) In any proceedings before the Board, not more than one expert witness on either side shall be heard unless the Board otherwise directs:
Provided that, where the claim includes a claim for disturbance of business, as well as in respect of land, one additional expert witness on either side may be heard with regard to the damage by reason of the disturbance.
(2) The Board shall be entitled to enter on and inspect any land which is the subject of proceedings before it, and may, if it thinks fit, cause the land to be measured by a public surveyor.
(3) Proceedings before the Board shall be held in public.
(4) Subject as aforesaid, the States may make Regulations prescribing the procedure before the Board.
13 Decisions of the Board
A decision of the Board shall be taken by the votes of the majority of the members:
Provided that in the event of a failure on the part of any 2 members of the Board to agree on the amount of compensation which should properly be awarded, the Chairman of the Board shall determine the amount, but, in any such case, the amount so determined shall be not lower than, nor in excess of, the amounts which, in the opinion of the other members of the Board, should be awarded.
14 Finality of award and statement of special cases
(1) The decision of the Board on any question of fact shall be final and binding on the parties and the persons claiming under them respectively, but the Board may, and if the Inferior Number of the Royal Court so directs shall, state at any stage of the proceedings in the form of a special case for the opinion of the Court, any question of law arising in the course of the proceedings, and may state its award as to the whole or part thereof in the form of a special case for the opinion of the Court.
(2) The decision of the Inferior Number of the Royal Court on any case so stated shall be final and conclusive, and shall not be subject to appeal to any other court.
15 Registration of award of Board[10]
(1) The award of the Board shall specify the amount awarded in respect of each matter the subject of the award and, insofar as the award relates to the acquisition of land on which there are charges which the States are bound under Article 7 to discharge, the amount specified shall be the balance after deduction of the charges.
(2) The Inferior Number of the Royal Court shall, on the application of the Greffier of the States, order the registration of the award of the Board in the Rolls of the Royal Court.
16 Fees and expenses
(1) There shall be paid to the members of the Board fees in accordance with such scale as the States may by Regulations determine.
(2) The fees of the Board and all expenses incurred in proceedings under this Law shall be paid by the acquiring authority subject to reimbursement by any other party in accordance with an order of the Board under Article 17.[11]
17 Costs[12]
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Article, the Board may order that the costs or any part of the costs of any proceedings before it incurred by any party shall be paid by any other party and may tax or settle the amount of any costs to be paid under any such order or direct in what manner they are to be taxed.
(2) In considering the exercise of its power under paragraph (1) the Board shall have particular regard to any offer of a sum in compensation or any notice of preparedness to accept a sum in compensation made by a party to the proceedings before it.
(3) Where the Board orders the claimant to pay the costs, or any part of the costs, of the acquiring authority, the authority may deduct the amount so payable by the claimant from the amount of the compensation payable to the claimant.
(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Article, the Board shall not order a claimant in proceedings which are before the Board by virtue of Article 6 to pay the costs of the acquiring authority.
(5) In this Article “costs” includes any fees, charges and expenses of the arbitration or award.
18 Dower rights
A person entitled either actually or contingently to dower on land acquired by compulsory purchase may not claim such dower by actual possession of the land, but shall be entitled to such dower on the basis of the compensation assessed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Law.
19 Protection of the public against dispossession
(1) The public may not in any circumstances as the result of a décret, a dégrèvement or an order made under Article 17 of the Bankruptcy (Désastre) (Jersey) Law 1990[13] be dispossessed of any land acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law, nor shall the public be required, in order to retain the property and possession of such land, to be confirmed in the tenure thereof, nor to take any of the proceedings prescribed by the enactments relating to décrets and dégrèvements, but the public shall nevertheless be bound to comply with the conditions mentioned in Article 50 of the Loi (1880) sur la Propriété Foncière.[14]
(2) Where the amount of the compensation for the compulsory acquisition of any land has been assessed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Law, the amount so assessed and set out in the award of the Board shall be deemed to be the value of the land for the purposes of Article 50 of the Loi (1880) sur la Propriété Foncière.
(3) Where any land has been acquired by agreement with the owner thereof and the value thereof has been assessed at the time of the acquisition in conformity with the provisions of Article 51 of the Loi (1880) sur la Propriété Foncière, the value thereof shall be deemed to be the value assessed as aforesaid, and, where the value has not been so assessed, the consideration for the acquisition of the land stated in the contract of acquisition shall be taken as the value of the land.
(4) References in paragraph (1) to the public shall be construed as references to the public and to any successor in title to the public.[15]
20 Power to pay allowances to persons displaced[16]
(1) Where any land is acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the acquiring authority may –
(a) pay to any person displaced from a house or other building on that land such reasonable allowance as it thinks fit towards the person’s expenses in removing therefrom; and
(b) pay to any person carrying on a trade or business in any such house or building, such reasonable allowance as it thinks fit towards the loss which, in its opinion, the person will sustain by reason of the disturbance of the person’s trade or business consequent on the person’s having to quit the house or building.
(2) In estimating the loss of any person for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the acquiring authority shall have regard to the period for which the premises occupied by the person might reasonably have been expected to have been available for the purpose of the person’s trade or business, and to the availability of other premises suitable for that purpose.
21 Power to sell land acquired
It shall be lawful for the States to sell any land acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Law, or any part thereof, to such persons and for such considerations as they may think fit.
22 Notices
(1) Any notice required or authorized to be served by the Greffier of the States for the purposes of this Law may be served either –
(a) by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served;
(b) by leaving it at the usual or last-known place of abode of that person or, in the case of a company, at its registered office or its principal place of business;
(c) by forwarding it by post addressed to that person at the person’s usual or last-known place of abode or, in the case of a company, at its registered office or its principal place of business; or
(d) by delivering it to some person on the premises to which it relates or, if there is no person on the premises, then by fixing it on some conspicuous part of the premises.
(2) Any notice required or authorized to be served by the Greffier of the States on the owner, lessee or occupier of any land for the purposes of this Law may be addressed by the description of “owner”, “lessee” or “occupier” of the land (naming it) without further name or description.
23 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961.
Endnotes
Table of Legislation History
Legislation
Year and No
Commencement
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961
L.40/1961
21 October 1961
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 1964
L.3/1964
24 April 1964
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Law 1970
L.2/1971
22 January 1971
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 1981
L.4/1981
21 April 1981
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law 1991
L.25/1991
1 January 1992 (R&O.8299)
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 1994
L.8/1994
8 June 1994 (R&O.8682)
Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 1995
L.22/1995
4 August 1995
States of Jersey (Amendments and Construction Provisions No. 3) (Jersey) Regulations 2005
R&O.132/2005
9 December 2005
Table of Renumbered Provisions
Original
Current
1(1)
1
1(2)
spent, omitted from this revised edition
4A
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9(1)(bb)
10(1)(c)
(bc)
(d)
(bd)
(e)
(c)
(f)
(d)
(g)
(e)
(h)
(f)
(i)
(g)
(j)
9A
11
10
12
11
13
12
14
13
15
14
16
14A
17
15
18
16
19
16A
20
17
21
18
22
19
spent, omitted from this revised edition
20
23
Table of Endnote References
[1]
This Law has been amended by the States of Jersey (Amendments and Construction Provisions No. 3) (Jersey) Regulations 2005. The amendments replace all references to a Committee of the States of Jersey with a reference to a Minister of the States of Jersey, and remove and add defined terms appropriately, consequentially upon the move from a committee system of government to a ministerial system of government
[2] Article 2(2)
inserted by L.25/1991
[3] Article 4(1)
amended by L.3/1964
[4] Article 4(3)
amended by L.4/1981
[5] Article 5
inserted by L.4/1981
[6] Article 8(2)
amended by L.8/1994
[7] Article 9
amended by L.8/1994
[8] Article 10(1)
amended by L.3/1964, L.2/1971, L.4/1981, L.25/1991
[9] Article 11
inserted by L.4/1981
[10] Article 15
substituted by L.4/1981
[11] Article 16(2)
substituted by L.8/1994
[12] Article 17
inserted by L.8/1994
[13]
chapter 04.160
[14]
chapter 18.495Article 19(1) amended by L.22/1995
[15] Article 19(4)
inserted by L.22/1995
[16] Article 20
inserted by L.3/1964
