CHAPTER
152
COMMONAGE |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
|
|
Register of commoners to be formed. |
What deemed register of commoners. |
Right to be registered as a commoner. |
Application, how dealt with. |
|
Annual meeting of commoners. |
Summoning of meetings of commoners. |
Non-registered persons have no interest. |
Commoners may make rules for certain purposes. |
Rules to be published in the Gazette. |
|
No question of title to lands shall be deemed to
be raised by offending person. |
Who deemed wilful trespassers. |
Subsequent offences, how dealt with. |
CHAPTER 152 |
COMMONAGE |
An Act to
provide for the more beneficial use of lands held in common. | 14 of 1896
E.L.A.O., 1974
27 of 1976 |
[Commencement 30th
April, 1896] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Commonage Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"commoner"
means any person who is registered as a commoner in or over any lands under
this Act; |
"lands held
in common" includes any lands which have been granted to more than twenty
people and not partitioned; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Commonages. |
3. A register of commoners shall be formed and kept in
each town or settlement in which any land is held in common. Such register
shall be formed in the first instance by the commissioner in accordance with
such rules as may be made and issued to him on the subject by the Minister,
which rules the Minister is hereby empowered to make and issue. Every person
residing at the settlement adjacent to any lands held in common who is in
actual occupation of any portion of the land so held in common at the time when
this Act comes into operation shall be entitled to be registered as a commoner
in such land. | Register of commoners to be formed. |
4. The register formed under section 3 of this Act
shall be deemed the register of commoners of the land in such settlement for
the purposes of this Act. | What deemed register of commoners. |
5. At any time after the formation of such register
every person, whether male or female above the age of eighteen years, who may
claim to have the right to be registered as a commoner in such register, may,
subject to the provision of this Act, apply to the commissioner to be
registered in such register as a commoner. | Right to be registered as a commoner. |
6. (1) Where any person applies to the commissioner to
be registered as a commoner, the commissioner shall consider the application
and may take evidence thereon. Any commoner may oppose any such application. If
the commissioner is satisfied that the applicant has the right to be registered
as a commoner in such lands, he shall cause the name of the applicant to be
registered as such, and if not so satisfied he shall reject such application. | Application, how dealt with. |
(2) Any person
aggrieved by the decision of the commissioner shall have the right of appeal to
a stipendiary and circuit magistrate. |
(3) An application
to be registered as a commoner may be repeated after an interval of one year. |
7. The commoners may hold meetings, and all questions
arising for decision at such meetings shall be decided by a majority of the
commoners present at such meeting: | Meetings of commoners. |
Provided that no
resolution at any meeting shall be of any force unless there are ten commoners
present at such meeting. |
8. There shall be an annual meeting of commoners of any
lands held in common on the first Monday in the month of December. At the
annual meeting the commoners shall elect a chairman for the ensuing year, and
such office-bearers as may be necessary. In default of their doing so, the
commissioner may nominate the chairman and office-bearers. | Annual meeting of commoners. |
9. Meetings of commoners may be summoned at any time by
the commissioner, or by the chairman, or by five or more commoners. Public
notice of any such meeting shall be given twenty-four hours before such meeting
by a crier in the streets of the settlement nearest to such lands. | Summoning of meetings of commoners. |
10. No person who is not registered as a commoner
shall be deemed to have any interest in the lands which are held in common. | Non-registered persons have no interest. |
11. (1) The commoners in any tract of land held in
common may make rules for any or all of the following purposes, that is to say- | Commoners may make rules for certain purposes. |
(a) for the
proper laying out of such lands; |
(b) for
securing the fair use of such lands by the commoners amongst themselves; |
(c) for
securing and maintaining a fresh water supply, and the fair use and
distribution of any fresh water supply which can be obtained; |
(d) for
preventing the commoners injuring or taking the produce grown by other
commoners; |
(e) generally
for securing the full and beneficial use of such lands for the commoners, and
for protecting the industry of the commoners against trespassers and all
persons improperly damaging any such land or the produce grown thereon. |
(2)
All such rules before coming into operation shall be laid before the Minister
for approval, and the Minister may alter or amend the same. |
12. Every rule when so approved or settled by the
Minister as aforesaid shall be published in the Gazette, and shall have
the same effect as if expressed in this Act. | Rules to be published in the Gazette. |
13. Every person who does not comply with the
requirements of any rule shall be liable to a penalty of twenty dollars, and
every such penalty may be recovered summarily at the instance of any commoner
or any peace officer. | Penalty and recovery. |
14. In any proceedings against a person for offending
against the provisions of any rule under this Act, no question of title to
lands shall be deemed to be raised, and the commissioner shall have full power
to try and determine the issue in all such proceedings. | No question of title to lands shall be deemed to be
raised by offending person. |
15. Any person occupying any of the lands held in
common who is not registered as a commoner shall be deemed to be a wilful
trespasser, and may on the application of any commoner be ejected by order of
the commissioner, who is hereby authorised and empowered to issue his warrant
of ejectment, and cause such person to be forthwith ejected. | Who deemed wilful trespassers. |
16. Any person ejected by warrant of the commissioner
under the authority of section 15 of this Act who afterwards enters upon the
land from which he has been ejected, shall be deemed to have committed an
offence punishable summarily, and on conviction shall be liable to imprisonment
with hard labour for three months. | Subsequent offences, how dealt with. |