3. Except in Enactments,&c. 4. Provisions respecting printed or stamped Proceedings to apply to written and unstamped Proceedings. Supreme Court to make Rules, &c. [See Ord. No.4. of 1857.] Title. Preamble. [See Ord. No. 12. of 1856.] Definitions. "Wall." "Floor." "Story." 'Works." Chancery Procedure. Buildings and Nuisances. (3.) Every Enactment or Order for regulating the Performance of the Powers or Duties of a Master in Ordinary or of a Master in Lunacy passed or promulgated subsequently to the passing of the Act of Parliament of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of the present Queen, Chapter Eighty, and the Promulgation of the General Orders for giving Effect to the same, shall be so construed as to enable a Judge in Court or in Chambers to exercise and perform the said Powers and Duties within this Colony as nearly as Circumstances will permit in the Stead of any such Masters respectively. (4.) All Provisions contained in any Enactment or Order respecting the Printing of Bills and Claims, or Portions of Bills and Claims, or respecting the Stamping or Affixing of Stamps on Vellum, Parchment, or Paper to be used in Proceedings in Chancery, are abrogated, and all Provisions contained in any Enactment or Order respecting the Filing, Copying, Service, or Effect of any printed or partially printed Bill or Claim, or any Proceedings, Written, Printed, or Engrossed on Stamped Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, shall be respectively interpreted to apply to Bills or Claims in Writing or to Proceedings Written on Unstamped Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, as the Case may be. V. The Supreme Court is authorized to make and issue such Rules or Orders for giving Effect to this Ordinance as may be found meet. No. 8. of 1856. An Ordinance for Buildings and Nuisances. [16th April, 1856.] W WHEREAS further Provision hath been found necessary for the better Regulation of Buildings and prevention of Nuisances Be it therefore enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, with the Advice of the Legislative Council thereof, in Manner following; that is to say : I. The following Words and Expressions in this Ordinance. contained shall be construed in Manner herein-after appearing; that is to say : The word "Wall" shall extend to and include every external The word "Floor" shall extend to and include every Hori- The word" Works" shall extend to and include the construct- Buildings and Nuisances. adding to, and altering any Building, Wall, Chimney, Stack, Flue, Drain, Sewer, Cesspool, or any Work whatsoever. The word "Building" shall extend to and include every House, "Building.” Outhouse, or Shed. The word "House" shall extend to and include every Dwelling "House." House, Warehouse, Shop, Manufactory, Work-room, Distillery, and Place of secure Storage or Custody. The expression "guilty of a Nuisance" shall apply to and Guilty of a denote any Person guilty of committing or continuing any Nuisance. Nuisance whatsoever, and any Person guilty of permitting or suffering any Nuisance whatsoever, and any Person guilty of omitting to take all proper and reasonable Means for procuring the Abatement of a Nuisance committed and continuing within his Tenement, or upon or over some Way or public Place in the immediate Neighbourhood of his Tenement, for the Space of Twelve Hours after the said Nuisance shall have been committed. Works. II. All works henceforward shall be under the Survey and Rules to be obInspection of the Surveyor General, and shall be commenced, served as to resumed, prosecuted, and completed with due Observance of this Ordinance, and particularly of the Rules next following; that is to say : (1.) The Walls of all Houses shall be solidly built of Bricks or 1. Walls of Stones throughout, and shall be of the Thickness of not Houses. less than Nine Inches at the upper Story, Thirteen and a Half Inches at the Story immediately below the upper Story, and Eighteen Inches at the Story (if any) immediately below the said Two Stories. (2.) The Foundations of every Wall of a House shall be of the 2. FoundaDepth of not less than twice the Thickness of the Wall tions of Walls at the lowest Story of the said Building; and the of flouses. lowest course of every such Foundation shall be of not less than twice the Thickness of the Wall at the said lowest Story; and the Height and Thickness of the upper Courses of such Foundation shall diminish gradually towards the upper Surface thereof. (3.) The Floors of any one House shall not approach nearer 3. Floors in than Nine Inches length towards the Floors of any other general. House separated by a party Wall from the House first mentioned; and the Space intervening between the said two Floors shall be properly and substantially built up with Bricks or Stones, as the Case may be. (4.) In the Case of two or more Houses separated from each 4. Floors of other, or others, by one or more party Walls, the external outside Houses. Ends of the Floors of the first and last of the said Houses shall be carried to and terminate at the Space of not less (5.) The Floors and Roofs of Houses or Verandahs shall in all III. It 5. Supports of Floors and Roofs. Four Days Notice to be given before com mencing or (in the Case of Works suspended for above three Months) resuming Works. Penalty for every Default. Except in Case of inevitable Necessity. In which Case Notice to be given within Two Days after commencing or resuming the Works. Works to be liable in certain Cases to be abated as a Nuisance. Contracts to be made or exe cuted to the Ordinance null, Buildings and Nuisances. III. It shall not be lawful for any Person to commence or (in the Case of any Works, the Progress whereof shall have been for a Period exceeding three Months suspended) to resume any Works, until four Days written Notice of the Intention to commence or resume the same shall have been given unto the Surveyor General at his Office by the Person by or for whom such Works are intended to be commenced, or resumed, and every such Notice shall specify the material Particulars of the said intended Works, and any Person commencing or resuming any Works without having first given such Notice as aforesaid to the Surveyor General, or before the Expiration of four Days from the giving thereof, shall for every such Default forfeit and pay to Her Majesty a Sum not exceeding Fifty Dollars nor less than Ten Dollars; except where any inevitable Accident or Emergency shall have occurred to make it necessary to commence or resume any Works immediately, in which Case only it shall be lawful to commence or resume the same, yet so as that written Notice thereof and of the material Particulars of such Works shall within Two Days after commencing or resuming the same be given by the Person by or for whom the same were so commenced or resumed unto the said Surveyor General at his Office aforesaid. IV. In Cases where any Penalty shall have been incurred under the Provisions of the Section next immediately preceding, or where the Surveyor General shall be refused Admittance to any Tenement for the Purpose of surveying or inspecting any Works thereon or therein commenced, resumed, or in Progress, the said Works shall be liable to be abated as a Nuisance. V. All Contracts hereafter to be made for Works contrary to the Provisions of this Ordinance shall be null and void, and it shall not be lawful to execute in Contravention of the said Pro contrary of this visions any Contracts heretofore made for Works and in Force at the passing of this Ordinance, unless the same have heretofore received the Sanction of the Surveyor General. Double Police Rates to be paid for Buildings illegally constructed, &c. until Abatement. Saving of Crown remedies. Every House to have a Cookig Place and Trivy. VI. Over and above all other Penalties and Liabilities by this Ordinance imposed, the Owner of every Building constructed, reconstructed, or altered in Contravention of this Ordinance shall pay in respect of the same a periodical Police Rate of double the Amount to which, but for such Contravention, he would have been liable in respect of the said Building, yet so as that if the same shall be abated, diminished, or removed under the Provisions of this Ordinance, the said Owner shall cease to be liable to pay any such Police Rate in respect thereof. VII. No remedies for Breaches of Contract committed by Crown Lessees or others now vested in the Crown or its officers shall be prejudiced by this Ordinance. VIII. It shall not be lawful to construct or reconstruct any House without a sufficient and safe Place for Lighting of Fires and cooking of Food; and also a sufficient Watercloset or Privy, and a sufficient Ashpit furnished with proper Doors and Coverings; all which shall be provided to the Satisfaction of the Surveyor General, and from Time to Time emptied and cleansed, at such Periods as the Surveyor General may direct; and every Person Buildings and Nuisances. Person offending against any of the Enactments in this Section Penalty. IX. The Surveyor General shall in Case any House, whether now existing or hereafter to be constructed or reconstructed, shall not be provided or shall be imperfectly provided with any of the Works in the last immediately preceding Section specified, or with one or more proper Drain or Drains to the said House of at least Six Inches in diameter, give written Notice of every such Deficiency to the Owner or Occupier of the said House, thereby requiring him to provide for and make good the said Deficiency forthwith or within some specified and reasonable Term to the Satisfaction of the Surveyor General; and in Case the said Owner or Occupier shall not obey or comply with the said Requirement, the said Surveyor General shall cause the said Works to be executed, and may recover the Charges and Expenses thereof together with his Costs of Procedure by Summary Application to a Stipendiary Magistrate, or any two Justices, who shall, in Case of Default in Payment thereof, levy the Amount so recovered by Warrant of Distress and Sale upon the Goods and Chattels of such Owner or Occupier, without Prejudice to the Right of either Party to recover over, retain, or deduct against the other the Amount so paid or recovered. X. The Surveyor General may provide and maintain in proper and suitable Situations common Waterclosets, Privies, Urinals, and other like Conveniences for public Accommodation; and also proper Buildings, Pits, Places, Boxes or other Conveniences for the temporary Reception and Collection of Sewage, Dung, Soil, Filth, Dust, Ashes, and Rubbish, yet so as not to occasion Annoyance or Nuisance: And all such Matters so received or collected therein shall be vested in and may be disposed of at the Discretion of and by the Surveyor General; and all the Proceeds (if any) of such as shall in anywise be so disposed of shall be paid into the Colonial Treasury on account of the Crown. XI. Every Work whatsoever hereafter to be commenced, resumed, prosecuted, or finished in Contravention of this Ordinance shall be deemed a Nuisance. The Surveyor General shall require the Owof any House ner or Occupier to make good all Deficiencies in Works of that Kind and be made good. cause them to Public and common Privies, Sewage Places, &c. may be provided. Works contradinance to be vening this Or deemed a to be deemed Nuisances. XII. Every Building, or Part of a Building, being in a ruinous Ruinous Build'gs or dangerous Condition, shall be deemed a Nuisance. XIII. Every Building erected or to be hereafter erected of any inflammable Material, in such wise as to endanger any neighbouring Building, shall be deemed a Nuisance. XIV. Every Deposit, or Accumulation of decaying, noisome, noxious, or offensive Matter, in, on, or under any Tenement, Crown Land, or Way, or Water, or Drain, or Sewer, whereby the Health of the Queen's Subjects may be endangered, shall be deemed a Nuisance. Buildings erected of inflammable deemed Deposits or Accu- mulations of de Nuisances. from Buildings XV. Every Projection from or over any Building which shall Projections cause Annoyance or Obstruction to any Way or to the Passengers to be deemed thereon, Nuisances. Nuisances by the Law of England shall be deemed Nui sances here. Summary Proceeding in Cases of Nuisance. House Property to be liable for Deficiency of Distress. Tanks, Reservoirs, and Building Materials. Saving of ex isting Remedies. Buildings and Nuisances. thereon, and every Encroachment on, over, or under any Way or any Crown Land shall be deemed a Nuisance. XVI. Every Work which would be deemed a Nuisance in England if begun, conducted, or completed there, shall within this Colony be deemed a Nuisance. XVII. The Surveyor General shall summon every Person guilty of any of the Nuisances herein-before enumerated before a Stipendiary Magistrate, or any two Justices of the Peace, who shall thereupon proceed in a summary Way to inquire into and adjudicate upon the Premises after the Manner of other summary Proceedings before Justices of the Peace; and where he or they shall adjudicate any one Person to have been guilty of any of the said Nuisances, he or they or any other Justice of the Peace shall, upon the Application of the Surveyor General, order him or any other proper Officer to abate, demolish, or remove the said Nuisance, and to sell and dispose of the Materials thereof (if any), and out of the Monies arising by such Sale or Disposition (if any) to retain or pay the Charges and Expenses of or incident to such Abatement, Demolition, or Removal; and the said Magistrate, Justices, or Justice shall order and compel all Persons who shall have been found guilty of any such Nuisance, after such Adjudication as aforesaid, to satisfy all Charges and Expenses of or incident to the Abatement, Demolition, or Removal thereof, and for which no other or no sufficient Satisfaction is hereby provided, and shall thereupon, by Warrant under his or their Hand and Seal, or Hands and Seals, cause the same to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the said Persons respectively in case of Default in Payment. XVIII. In the Event of the Insufficiency of any Distress to be made under this Ordinance, the House of the Defaulter shall be subject and liable to defray the Deficiency; and a Stipendiary Magistrate or Justice of the Peace upon the Application of the Surveyor General shall by Warrant authorize and direct a proper Officer to seize and take Possession of the said House, and to hold the same until such Deficiency shall be defrayed, and all the accruing Rents and Profits of the said House shall be applied by the said Magistrate or Justice in Payment of the said Deficiency. XIX. The Surveyor General and his Officers are authorized to seize any Utensil, which he or they shall detect any Person in the act of dipping into any public Tank, or Reservoir; and also all Building Materials found by him or them deposited or lying upon any public Road, or in the side Channels thereof; and all Utensils or Materials so seized may be law fully confiscated by the Surveyor General, and disposed of as he shall direct. XX. All existing Remedies for the Prevention or Abatement of Nuisances and the Punishment of those guilty thereof shall continue to be in Force notwithstanding this Ordinance. |