APPENDIX (1).

SCHOOL SITES ACTS, 1841 To 1851.

4 & 5 VICT. Cap. 38.

An Act to afford further Facilities for the Conveyance and Endowment of Sites for Schools. [21st June, 1841.]

1. Repeal of 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 70; but things done in pursuance thereof declared valid, and those commenced to be continued according to this Act.Whereas it is expedient that greater facilities should be given for the erection of schools and buildings for the purposes of education: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it 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, that from and after the passing of this Act an Act passed in the session held in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to facilitate the Conveyance of Sites for Schoolrooms," shall be and the same is hereby repealed; provided that all matters and things done in pursuance of the said Act shall be and remain valid as though the said Act was not repealed; and all matters, and things commenced in pursuance of the said Act shall be continued according to the provisions of this Act, if the same shall be applicable, otherwise shall be continued conformably to the said recited Act, which shall be deemed to be still in force with regard to such proceedings.

2. Landlords empowered to convey land to be used as sites for schools, &c., -And be it enacted, that any person being seised in fee simple, fee tail, or for life, of and in any manor or lands of freehold, copyhold or customary tenure, and having the beneficial interest therein, or in Scotland being the proprietor in fee simple or under entail, and in possession for the time being, may grant, convey, or enfranchise by way of gift, sale, or exchange, in fee simple or for a term of years, any quantity not exceeding one acre of such land, as a site for a school for the education of poor persons, or for the residence of the schoolmaster or the school

mistress, or otherwise for the purposes of the education of such poor persons in religious and useful knowledge; provided that no such grant made by any person seised only for life of and in any such manor or lands shall be valid, unless the person next entitled to the same in remainder in fee simple or fee tail (if legally competent) shall be a party to and join in such grant: provided also, that where any portion of waste or commonable land shall be gratuitously conveyed by any lord or lady of a manor for any such purposes as aforesaid the rights and interests of all persons in the said land shall be barred and divested by such conveyance: provided also, that upon the said land so granted as aforesaid, or any part thereof, ceasing to be used for the purposes in this Act mentioned, the same shall thereupon immediately revert to and become a portion of the said estate held in fee simple or otherwise, or of any manor or land as aforesaid, as fully to all intents and purposes as if this Act had not been passed, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

3. Chancellor and council of the Duchy of Lancaster empowered to grant lands to the trustees of any existing or intended school. If lands cease to be used for the purposes of the Act they shall revert.—And whereas it may be expedient and proper that the chancellor and council of Her Majesty's Duchy of Lancaster, on Her Majesty's behalf, should be authorized to grant, convey, or enfranchise, to or in favor of the trustee or trustees of any existing or intended school, lands and hereditaments belonging to Her Majesty in right of Her said duchy for the purposes of this Act: Be it therefore enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for the chancellor and council of Her Majesty's Duchy of Lancaster for the time being, by any deed or writing under the hand and seal of the chancellor of the said duchy for the time being, attested by the clerk of the council of the said duchy for the time being, for and in the name of Her Majesty, Her heirs and successors, to grant, convey, or enfranchise, to or in favour of such trustee or trustees, any lands and hereditaments to be used by them for the purposes of this Act, upon such terms and conditions as to the said chancellor and council shall seem meet; and where any sum or sums of money shall be paid as or for the purchase or consideration for such lands or hereditaments so to be granted, conveyed, or enfranchised as aforesaid, the same shall be paid by such trustee or trustees into the hands of the receiver-general for the time being of the said duchy, or his deputy and shall be by him paid, applied and disposed of according to the provisions and regulations contained in an Act passed in the Fortyeighth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act to improve the land Revenue of the Crown in England, and also of His Majesty's Duchy of Lancaster," or any other Act or Acts now in force for that purpose: provided always, that upon the said land so granted as aforesaid, or any part thereof, ceasing to be used for the purposes in this Act mentioned, the same shall thereupon immediately revert to and become again a portion of the possessions of the said duchy,

as fully to all intents and purposes as if this Act or any such grant as aforesaid had not been passed or made, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

4. Officers of the Duchy of Cornwall empowered, upon sufficient authority, to grant lands to the trustees of any existing or intended school. If lands ceased to be used for the purposes of the Act, they shall revert.-And be it enacted that for the purposes of this Act only, and for such time only as the same shall be used for the purposes of this Act, it shall be lawful for any two of the principal officers of the Duchy of Cornwall under the authority of a warrant issued for that purpose under the hands of any three or more of the special commissioners for the time being for managing the affairs of the Duchy of Cornwall, or under the hands of any three or more of the persons who may hereafter for the time being have the immediate management of the said duchy, if the said duchy shall be then vested in the Crown, or if the said duchy shall then be vested in a Duke of Cornwall then under the hand of the chancellor for the time being of the said duchy, or under the hands of any three or more of the persons for the time being having the immediate management of the said duchy, by deed under their hands, to grant and convey to the trustees or trustee for the time being of any existing school, or of any school intended to be established by virtue of this Act, any lands tenements, or hereditaments forming part of the possessions of the said, Duchy of Cornwall, not exceeding in the whole one acre in any one parish, upon such terms and conditions as to the said special commissioners or chancellor, or such other persons as aforesaid, shall seem meet provided always, that upon the said land so granted as aforesaid, or any part thereof, ceasing to be used for the purposes in this Act mentioned, the same shall thereupon immediately revert to and become again a portion of the possessions of the said duchy, as fully to all intents and purposes as if this Act or any such grant as aforesaid hath not been passed or made, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

5. Persons under disability empowered to convey lands for the purposes of this Act.—And be it enacted, that where any person shall be equitably entitled to any manor or land, but the legal estate therein shall be in some trustee or trustees it shall be sufficient for such person to convey the same for the purposes of this Act without the trustee or trustees being party to the conveyance thereof; and where any married woman shall be seised or possessed of or entitled to any estate or interest, manorial or otherwise, in land proposed to be conveyed for the purposes of this Act, she and her husband may convey the same for such purposes by deed, without any acknowledgment thereof; and where it is deemed expedient to purchase any land for the purposes aforesaid belonging to or vested in any infant or lunetic, such land may be conveyed by the guardian or committee of such infant, or the committee of such lunatic

respectively, who may receive the purchase money for the same, and give valid and sufficient discharges to the party paying such purchase money, who shall not be required to see to the application thereof,

6. Corporations, justices, trustees, &c., empowered to convey lands for the purposes of this Act.—And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any corporation, ecclesiastical or lay, whether sole or aggregate, and for any officers, justices of the peace, trustees, or commissioners holding land for public, ecclesiastical, parochial, charitable, or other purposes or objects, subject to the provisions next hereinafter mentioned, to grant, convey, or enfranchise, for the purposes of this Act, such quantity of land as aforesaid in any manner vested in such corporation, officers, justices, trustees, or commissioners: provided always, that no ecclesiastical corporation sole, being below the dignity of a bishop, shall be authorized to make such grant without the consent in writing of the bishop of the diocese to whose jurisdiction the said ecclesiastical corporation is subject provided also, that no parochial property shall be granted for such purposes without the consent of a majority of the ratepayers and owners of property in the parish to which the same belongs, assembled at a meeting to be convened according to the mode pointed out in the Act passed in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty, intituled "An Act to facilitate the Conveyance of Workhouses, and other Property of Parishes and of Incorporations or Unions of Parishes in England and Wales," and without the consent of the Poor Law Commissioners, to be testified by their seal being affixed to the deed of conveyance, and of the guardians of the poor of the union within which the said parish may be comprised, or of the guardians of the poor of the said parish where the administration of the relief of the poor therein shall be subject to a board of guardians, testified by such guardians being the parties to convey the same: provided also, that where any officers, trustees, or commissioners, other than parochial trustees, shall make any such grant, it shall be sufficient if a majority or quorum authorized to act of such officers, trustees or commissioners, assembled at a meeting duly convened, shall assent to such grant, and shall execute the deed of conveyance, although they shall not constitute a majority of the actual body of such officers, trustees, or commissioners: provided also, that the justices of the peace may give their consent to the making any grant of land or premises belonging to any county, riding, or division by vote at their general quarter sessions, and may direct the same to be made in the manner directed to be pursued on the sale of the sites of gaols by an Act passed in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty George the Fourth, intituled "An Act to authorized the Disposal of unnecessary Prisons in England"

7. Grants of land may be made to corporations or trustees to be held by them for school purposes.—And be it enacted, that all grants of land or buildings, or any interest therein, for the purposes of the education of

poor persons, whether taking effect under the authority of this Act or any other authority of law may be made to any corporation sole or aggregate, or to several corporations sole, or to any trustees whatsoever, to be held by such corporation or corporations or trustees for the purposes aforesaid : provided nevertheless, that any such grant may be made to the minister of any parish being a corporation, and the churchwardens or chapelwardens and overseers of the poor, or to the minister and kirk session of the said parish and their successors; and in such case the land or buildings so granted shall be vested for ever thereafter in the minister, churchwardens or chapelwardens, and overseers of the poor, for the time being, or the minister and kirk session of such parish, but the management, direction, and inspection of the school shall be and remain according to the provisions contained in the deed of conveyance thereof provided also, that where any ecclesiastical corporation sole below the dignity of a bishop shall grant any land to trustees, other than the minister, churchwardens or chapelwardens, and overseers, for the purposes aforesaid, such trustees shall be nominated in writing by the bishop of the diocese to whose jurisdiction such corporation shall be subject provided that where any school shall be intended for any ecclesiastical district, not being a parish as hereinafter defined, it shall be sufficient if the grant be made to the minister and church or chapelwarden or wardens of the church or chapel of such district, to hold to them and their successors in office; and such grant shall enure to vest the land, subject to the conditions contained in the deed of conveyance, in such minister and the church or chapelwarden or wardens for the time being.

8. Estates now vested in trustees for the purposes of education may be conveyed to the minister and churchwardens.-And whereas schools for the education of the poor in the principles of the Established Church, or in religious and useful knowledge, and residences for the masters or mistresses of such schools, have been heretofore erected, and are vested in trustees not having a corporate character: Be it therefore enacted, that it shall be lawful for the trustees for the time being of such lastmentioned schools and residences, not being subject to the provisions of the Act passed in the last session of parliament, intituled "An Act for improving the Conditions and extending the Benefits of Grammar Schools," to convey or assign the same, and all their estate and interest therein, to such ministers and churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish within which the same are respectively situate, and their successors as aforesaid, or, being situate within an ecclesiastical district not being a parish as hereinafter defined, then to the minister and church or chapelwardens of the church or chapel of such district, and their successors, in whom the same shall thereafter remain vested accordingly, but subject to and under the existing trusts and provisions respectively affecting the same.