Corporation of Dublin v Dublin Port and Docks Board

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: HENCHY J.
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1978
• Neutral Citation: 1977 WJSC-SC 561
• Court: Supreme Court
• Docket Number: [1962 No. 838 P.],(124-1969)
• Date: 01 January 1978

1977 WJSC-SC 561

THE SUPREME COURT

HENCHY J.

GRIFFIN J.

PARKE J.

(124-1969)

No. 838P/1962

DUBLIN CORPORATION v. DUBLIN PORT AND DOCKS BOARD

AFFIRMING HIGH-14.5.69

DUBLIN CORPORATION

v.

DUBLIN PORT AND DOCKS BOARD

1 JUDGMENT OF HENCHY J. DELIVERED THE 16 February 1977 (nem. Diss.)

2 This is an appeal against the dismiss of a claim for rates. The plaintiffs ("the Corporation") sued the defendants ("the Board") for £22,221.00 (in round figures) for arrears of municipal rates alleged to be due in respect of transit sheds in the Port of Dublin. The claim was dismissed by O'Keefe P. Counsel for the Board support that dismiss on three grounds, which are:

3 1. that the Board, not having been in rateable occupation of the transit sheds in question, was not liable for poor rate in respect of then prior to the passing of the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930;

4 2. that the Board, not having been liable for the poor rate when the 1930 Act came into force, remained immune from liability under that Act for the municipal rate which under that Act replaced the poor rate; and

5 3 that even if liability for the municipal rate could/have passed to the Board under the 1930 Act, the City Manager had no jurisdiction to amend the rate book bo as to impose liability on the Board,

6 The latter ground does not arise unless both the other grounds are decided against the Board.

7 The validity of the first ground depends on whether the Board was in rateable occupation of these transit sheds.

8 S. 79 of the Dublin Port Act, 1867, under which the Board as the statutory corporation having control of the administration of the Port of Dublin erected these sheds, provided that

"such transit sheds shall be for the general use of persons requiring the same, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs or the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and also to such reasonable regulations as the Board shall from time to time require"

9 An elaboration of the use to which the transit sheds could be put was given by s. 20 of the Dublin Port and Docks Act, 1902:

10 "The master or owner of or the agent for any vessel lying in or at and using the port or the docks or quays or the owner of any of the cargo of such vessel lying at the quays upon which any transit shed may haw been erected and 1b open for the reception of goods may with the permission of the Beard or the superintendent of the transit sheds and subject to such regulations as the Commissioners of Custom deem necessary for the security of the revenue and upon giving due notice to the proper officer of customs cause such goods or any part thereof to be landed and deposited in such transit or other sheds without previously making any entry thereof and such goods so landed and deposited in such sheds shall for all purposes be considered as still on board the vessel from whence the same shall have been landed and shall be removable only from such sheds in the same manner and by the same process in all respects as the same might by law have been removed from such vessel in case the same were still actually on board thereof".

11 It will be seen, therefore, that the primary purpose of the transit sheds was to act as temporary repositories for goods landed from ships, until the goods have been cleared by the customs authorities. They are to be a convenience for shippers of goods into the Fort of Dublin.

12 The factual relation between the Board and the transit sheds was summed up by O'Keefe P. in the following passage, which has not been questioned in this appeal:

13 "The sheds are under the control of the Harbour Master. When a vessel arrives in the port he assigns a particular shed to it, and the key is given to the ship's agent. Each shed has two looks on it. One set of keys is kept by the ship's agent, who gives then each evening to the harbour police for the night. The other set is kept by the customs officials, with the result that goods cannot be removed from the sheds until duty (if any) is paid,

14 "No charge is made for the use of transit sheds as such. Charges are Bade under the Board's Bye-laws, for goods left on the quays after a fixed period, and the sane charges are Bade for goods left in transit sheds after the sane period.

15 "Accounts were produced by the defendants showing that the charges received for goods left in transit sheds were, at best, only sufficient to defray the expenses incidental to the management and superintendence of the transit sheds, and that their "occupation" of the transit sheds did not result in a profit to them".

16 It is against that background that one must approach the question whether the Board was in rateable occupation of the transit sheds. With great respect to the industry of counsel on both sides, who have referred us to all the relevant cases, I think the point may best be resolved by reference to the relevant statutory provisions themselves.

17 S.71 of the Poor Relief (Ir.) Act,...