The General Valuation Act, 1852, and of The Acts Relating to The Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland, and The Governing Body of University College, Cork, Appellants; The Commissioner of Valuation in Ireland, Respondent

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 29 June 1911
• Date: 29 June 1911
• Court: King's Bench Division (Ireland)

In the Matter of the General Valuation Act, 1852, and of the Acts Relating to the Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland, and in the Matter of the Governing Body of University College, Cork

Appellants

and

The Commissioner of Valuation in Ireland

Respondent (1).

K. B. Div.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1911.

Rating exemption — Hereditaments and buildings used for public or exclusively charitable purposes — University College — Fees paid by students bound by charitable trust — Parliamentary control over funds — 15 & 16 Vict. c. 63, s. 16 — 17 & 18 Vict. c. 8, s. 2.

University College, Cork, one of the constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland, provided the highest class of education and instruction, and was open to all His Majesty's subjects; fees were charged to all students, these fees, however, were not payable to the professors, but were brought into the general funds of the College; the College was bound to present annual accounts of all receipts and expenditure to the Controller and Auditor-General, and these accounts, together with the report of the Controller and Auditor-General, had to be laid before Parliament.

Held, that on these facts the hereditaments and buildings of the College were exempt under the Irish Rating and Valuation Code, on the ground that such hereditaments and buildings were (perMadden and Wright, JJ.) altogether of a public nature and used for public purposes; (perKenny, J.) “exclusively charitable” in their objects, purposes, and user.

Case Stated for the opinion of the King's Bench Division by the Recorder of Cork, under the provisions of 23 & 24 Vict. c. 4. The case came before the Recorder on appeal by the Governing Body of University College, Cork, against the decision of the Commissioner of Valuation that the said hereditaments and buildings were not exempt as being exclusively used for public or charitable purposes.

The following is a copy of the case stated:—

1. This was an appeal to the Trinity General Quarter

Sessions of the Peace in and for the County Borough of Cork, commencing on the 24th day of June, 1910, pursuant to the 22nd section of the General Valuation Act, 1852, in respect of the lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises, the property of University College, Cork, set out and appearing in the Revised Valuation List for the Electoral Divisions of Cork No. 5 Urban and No. 7 Urban, made and signed by the Commissioner of Valuation in Ireland, bearing date the 4th day of May, 1910, and was brought by the appellants on the grounds:—

(a) That the said premises are exempt from being rated by the Queen's Colleges (Ireland) Act, 1845, the Irish Universities Act, 1908, section 14, and the joint scheme made thereunder by the Dublin and Belfast Commissioners, 1909.

(b) That the said premises are of a public nature.

(c) That same are used for public purposes.

(d) That same are used exclusively for charitable purposes.

(e) That same are used for the purposes of Science, Literature, and the Fine Arts.

Alternatively, that the said premises should be distinguished in the Valuation Lists as being:—

(a) Of a public nature.

(b) Used for charitable purposes.

(c) Used for the purposes of Science, Literature, and the Fine Arts, pursuant to the provisions of section 2 of 17 Vict. c. 8.

2. The appeal was heard at the said Trinity Quarter Sessions of the Peace, on Monday, the 4th day of July, 1910. Mr. George Lawrence appeared for the appellants. Mr. Robert Doyle, K.C., appeared for the respondent.

No witness was examined before me; the facts and documents hereinafter set out were admitted before me.

3. The Queen's College, Cork, was, with other Colleges, established pursuant to the statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 66.

4. By section 1 of said Act it was enacted that in case Her late Majesty should be pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland, to found one or more new Colleges for the advancement of learning in Ireland, the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury should be empowered, as therein provided, to charge the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, and to direct to be issued and paid thereout, such sum of money as should be needed by the trustees thereinafter mentioned, for purchasing or providing lands, tenements, and hereditaments for the use of such College or Colleges, and for the necessary buildings, with the appurtenances thereof, and for establishing and furnishing the same, not exceeding the sum of one hundred thousand pounds in the whole.

5. By section 2 of said Act it was enacted that the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, for the time being, should be trustees for the purpose of purchasing or providing, as thereinafter mentioned, any buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments that might be necessary for the said Colleges, and the sites thereof, and the premises to be occupied therewith respectively, and for erecting thereon suitable buildings, and for repairing, enlarging, and improving the same from time to time and for upholding and furnishing the same from time to time, for the use of the said Colleges, respectively.

6. By section 3 of said Act it was enacted that for the purposes of said Act the said Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, for the time being, and their successors, should be a Corporation by the name or style of “The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland,” and by that name, for the purposes of the said Act, should have perpetual succession, and a Common Seal, to be by them made, and from time to time altered as they should think fit, and should and might sue and be sued, plead or be impleaded, in all Courts and before all Justices, and others, and in that capacity should be deemed promoters of the undertaking authorized to be executed by said Act.

7. By section 4 of said Act it was enacted that in order to enable the said Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland to purchase and provide the buildings, lands, tenements, and hereditaments which might be required for the said Colleges, and the sites thereof, it should be lawful for the said Commissioners, with the approval of the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury, to contract and agree with any person or persons, or body or bodies corporate, for the purchase or renting of any buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments required for such Colleges, or the sites thereof, and also for the purchase of any subsisting leases, terms, estates, or interests therein, or charges thereon; and the buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments so contracted and agreed for should be conveyed, assigned, or demised for or in trust for Her said late Majesty, Her heirs and successors, in such manner and form as the said Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury should direct.

8. By section 6 of said Act it was enacted that it should be lawful for the said Commissioners of Public Works, if they should be so directed by the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury, to employ surveyors and architects to make surveys and estimates of any of the said proposed works, and to prepare such plans, sections, and specifications as might be necessary, and send the same to the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury for their approval; and that if the said Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury should think fit to authorize the work in any such plan, section, or specification, or any modification thereof which they might think proper, to be undertaken, they should by warrant under their hands direct the said Commissioners of Public Works to execute such work at and for an amount not exceeding a sum to be specified in such warrant; and the said Commissioners of Public Works should, upon receipt of such warrant, forthwith cause the construction of the work mentioned therein to be proceeded with.

9. By section 7 of said Act it was enacted that the said Commissioners of Public Works should cause detailed accounts, in writing, of their proceedings under the said Act, of the several sums received by them as such Commissioners for the purposes of the said Act, and of the sums expended by them for such purposes, and the mode of such expenditure, and the several works made or in progress under the said Act, to be made up to the 31st day of December in each year; and that such accounts should be laid before Parliament, as therein provided; and that the said Commissioners should, as often as required so to do by the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury, transmit to the said Commissioners of the Treasury like accounts made up to such period as the said Commissioners of the Treasury should direct; and that it should be lawful for the said Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury to give such directions as they should think proper, defining the duties of the said Commissioners of Public Works in the execution of the said Act; and the said Commissioners of Public Works should observe all such directions as aforesaid which should, from to time, be signified to them by the said Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury.

10. By section 9 of the said Act it was enacted that it should not be lawful for any College, within the provisions of the said Act, to alien, mortgage, charge or demise any lands, tenements, or hereditaments to which it might become entitled, unless with the approval of the Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury, except by way of lease for any term not exceeding thirty-one years, and subject to the provisions as to rent in said section contained.

11. By section 12 of the said Act it was enacted that the said Commissioners of Her said late Majesty's Treasury should be empowered by warrant as therein to charge the said Consolidated Fund, and to direct to be issued or paid thereout, by four equal quarterly payments, as therein...