Section 3. Act to extend to all places within limits defined by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120. Division of "Builder" shall apply to and include the master builder or other person employed to execute or who actually executes any work upon any building: "District surveyor" shall mean every such surveyor who is ap- In all cases in which the name of an officer having local jurisdic- LIMITS OF ACT. 4. This Act shall extend to all places within the limits of the metropolis as defined by an Act passed in the present session of parliament, intituled "An Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis" (a), and to all other places to which such last-mentioned Act may be extended, unless such places are in making such extension expressly excepted from the operation of this Act; but nothing herein contained shall affect the exercise of any powers vested by any Act of parliament in the commissioners of sewers of the city of London for the time being (b). 5. This Act shall be divided into five parts: (1.) The first part relating to the regulation and supervision of buildings: (2.) The second part relating to dangerous structures : (3.) The third part relating to party structures : (4.) The fourth part relating to miscellaneous provisions: (5.) The fifth part relating to the repeal of former Acts, and to emporary provisions. PART I. Regulation and supervision of buildings. Buildings, &c., herein named PART I. REGULATION AND SUPERVISION OF BUILDINGS (c). 6. The following buildings and works shall be exempt from the operation of the first part of this Act: Bridges, piers, jetties, embankment walls, retaining walls, and wharf or quay walls: (a) See section 250 of 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, ante, as to definition of metropolis, and section 249 as to extension thereof by order in council, and section 42 of 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, ante, as to notice before proceedings under the last-mentioned provision. (b) See 11 & 12 Vict. c. 163 and 14 & 15 Vict. c. 12 as to the powers of commissioners of sewers for the city of London. (c) See as to what is a building, Stevens v. Gourley, note to section 8, post. Her Majesty's royal palaces, and any building in the possession of Common gaols, prisons, houses of correction, and places of confine- The offices and buildings of the governor and company of the Bank The building of the British Museum : The offices and buildings of the Honourable East India Company already erected, and any offices or buildings hereafter to be erected, for the use of the said company, on the site of or in addition to such existing offices and buildings: Greenwich Hospital and the buildings in the parish of Greenwich vested in the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital for the purposes of the said hospital: All county lunatic asylums, sessions houses, and other public The erections and buildings authorized by an Act passed in the The buildings belonging to any canal, dock, or railway (e) company, All buildings not exceeding in height thirty feet, as measured from the footings of the walls, and not exceeding in extent one hundred and twenty-five thousand cubic feet, and not being public buildings wholly in one occupation, and distant at least eight PART I. Section 6. exempt from operation of Part I. of this Act. (d) Buildings erected by commissioners of lieutenancy of the city of London for the custody of the arms and stores of militia, fall within the description, and are exempt; R. v. Jay, 27 L. J. M. C. 25. By the amending Act, 24 & 25 Vict. c. 87, post, it is declared that the first part of this Act shall not apply to buildings erected or to be erected by the commissioners of the exhibition of 1851 on their lands, except streets, &c., erected as private dwelling houses. By section 15 of 30 & 31 Vict. c. 40 (Houses of Parliament Act, 1867,) all buildings erected on the lands described in the Act as the prescribed lands, are exempted from the operation of the first part of this Act; and the 2nd section of the Metropolitan Buildings Act, 1871, exempts buildings to be erected by the Corporation of London on the site of Deptford Dockyard for a new foreign cattle market, are also exempted from Part I. of this Act. (e) A railway arch let and used as a stable was held to be exempt; North Kent Railway Company v. Badger, 27 L. J. M. C. 106. Arches occupied as cellars were held to be buildings under section 7 of Gas Works Clauses Act, 1847; Thompson v. Sunderland Gas Company, L. R. 2 Ex. D. (c.a.) 429; see London and Blackwall Railway Company v. Limehouse District Board, 3 K. & J. 123. PART I. Section 6. Application of Act, except exemptions before mentioned (a). Building, when deemed to be new. Alterations of and additions to old buildings. feet from the nearest street or alley, whether public or private, and at the least thirty feet from the nearest buildings and from the ground of any adjoining owner : All buildings not exceeding in extent two hundred and sixteen thousand cubic feet, and not being public buildings, and distant at least thirty feet from the nearest street or alley, whether public or private, and at least sixty feet from the nearest buildings and from the ground of an adjoining owner : All party fence walls and greenhouses so far as regards the necessary woodwork of the sashes, doors, and frames: Openings made into walls or flues for the purpose of inserting therein ventilating valves of a superficial extent not greater than forty square inches, if such valves are not nearer than twelve inches to any timber or other combustible material. 7. With the exemptions herein before mentioned, this Act shall apply to all new buildings; and whenever mention is herein made of any building, it shall, unless the contrary appears from the context, be deemed to imply a new building. 8. A building shall be deemed to be new wherever the enclosing walls (b) thereof have not been carried higher than the footings previously to the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six (c). Any other building shall be deemed to be an old building. 9. Any alteration, addition, or other work made or done for any purpose except that of necessary repair not affecting the construction of any external or party wall (d) in, to, or upon any old building, or in, to, or upon any new building after the roof has been covered in, shall, to the extent of such alteration, addition, or work, be subject to the regulations of this Act (e); and whenever mention is hereinafter made of any alteration, addition, or work in, to, or upon any building, it shall, unless the contrary appears from the context, be deemed to imply an alteration, addition, or work to which this Act applies. (a) Where a person contracted to build according to plans and in conformity with the rules of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and built in contravention of such rules, he was ordered to rebuild; Cubitt v. Smith, 11 L. T. (N.S.) 298. (b) As to what are not enclosing walls, see Tear v. Freebody, 4 C. B. (N.S.) 228. (c) As to what is a new building under Local Government Act, 1858, see Hobbs v. Dance, 43 L. J. M. C. 21. (d) Where an old door-frame was removed, and a new one substituted, the brickwork around it, which was decayed, being reinstated, but the opening for the doorway not being enlarged, this was held not to be a work which affected the construction of an external wall; Badger v. Denn, 22 J. P. 129. Though the extent of the exception in this section is a fruitful source of contention between builders and district surveyors, there is a great dearth of positive authority upon the subject. The question as to what operations fall within the definition of necessary repair, not affecting the construction of any external or party wall, came before the Westminster Police Court in several cases, the particulars of which are referred to in an article in the 40th vol. of the Justice of the Peace, p. 49, where it was closely and carefully considered. (e) This was held to apply only to buildings which were constructed before 1st June, 1856, Stevens v. Gourley, 29 L. J. C. P. 1. A shop PART I. 10. Whenever any old building has been taken down to an extent exceeding one half of such building, such half to be measured in cubic feet, the rebuilding thereof shall be deemed to be the erection Section 10. of a new building; and every portion of such old building that is Rebuilding not in conformity with the regulations of this Act shall be forthwith old build taken down. 11. Whenever any old buildings are separated by timber or other partitions not in conformity with this Act, then, if such partitions are removed to the extent of one-half thereof, such building shall as respects the separation thereof be deemed to be new buildings, and be forthwith divided from each other in the manner directed by this Act. ings. Division of old buildings separated by irregular partitions. WALLS (ƒ). Structure and 12. Walls shall be constructed of such substances and of such thickness and in such manner as are mentioned in the first schedule thickness of annexed hereto. walls. RECESSES AND OPENINGS. 13. The following rules shall be observed with respect to recesses and openings in walls : Recesses and openings may be made in external walls, provided, 2. That the area of such recesses and openings do not, taken Recesses may be made in party walls, provided that, 1. The backs of such recesses are not of less thickness than thirteen inches; and 2. That every recess so formed is arched over, and that the area of such recess do not, taken altogether, exceed one-half of the whole area of the wall of the storey in which they are made; and 3. That such recesses do not come within one foot of the inner face of the external walls; But no opening shall be made in any party wall except in accordance with the rules of this Act: The word area, as used in this section, shall mean the area of the vertical face, or elevation of the wall, pier, or recess to which it refers. Rules as to recesses and openings. MISCELLANEOUS. 14. Loophole frames may be fixed within one inch and a-half of As to timber the face of any external wall; but all other woodwork fixed in in external any of wood, without footing of brickwork for a foundation, built on wooden joists laid on the ground, without being let into or fastened to the soil, is a building within the meaning of this Act; Stevens v. Gourley, supra. (f) See definition of several descriptions of walls, section 3, ante; and see Metropolis Management and Building Acts Amendment Act, 1878, Part II., section 16, empowering the metropolitan board to make bye-laws with respect to the foundations and sites of houses, and other requirements. walls. PART I. Section 14. Rules as to bressummers. Height and thickness of parapets to external walls. Height of party walls above roof. As to chases in party walls. As to construction of roofs. external wall, except bressummers and story-posts under the same, and frames of doors and windows of shops on the ground story of any building, shall be set back four inches at the least from the external face of such wall. 15. The following rules shall be observed with respect to bressummers and timbers : 1. Every bressummer must have a bearing in the direction of its length of four inches at the least at each end, upon a sufficient pier of brick or stone, or upon a timber or iron story-post fixed on a solid foundation, in addition to its bearing upon any party wall; and the ends of such bressummer shall not be placed nearer to the centre line of the party wall than four and a-half inches: 2. No bond timber or wood plate shall be built into any party wall, and the ends of any beam or joist bearing on such walls shall be at the least four and a-half inches distant from the centre line of the party walls: 3. Every bressummer bearing upon any party wall must be borne by a templet or corbel of stone or iron tailed through at least half the thickness of such wall, and of the full breadth of the bressummer. 16. If any gutter, any part of which is formed of combustible materials, adjoins an external wall, then such wall must be carried up so as to form a parapet one foot at the least above the highest part of such gutter, and the thickness of the parapet so carried up must be at the least eight and a-half inches, reckoned from the level of the under side of the gutter plate. 17. Every party wall shall be carried up above the roof flat or gutter of the highest building adjoining thereto, to such height as will give a distance of fifteen inches measured at right angles to the slope of the roof, or fifteen inches above the highest part of any flat or gutter, as the case may be; and every party wall shall be carried up above any turret, dormer, lantern light, or other erection of combustible materials fixed upon the roof or flat of any building within four feet from such party wall, and shall extend at the least twelve inches higher and wider on each side than such erection; and every party wall shall be carried up above any part of any roof opposite thereto, and within four feet from such party wall. 18. In a party wall no chase shall be made wider than fourteen inches, nor more than four and a half inches deep from the face of the wall, nor so as to leave less than eight and a half inches of thickness at the back or opposite side thereof, and no chase may be made within a distance of seven feet from any other chase on the same side of the wall. 19. The roofs of buildings shall be constructed as follows; that is to say, 1. The flat, gutter, and roof of every building, and every turret, |