Scottish Court of Session Decisions

The Parish Council of Colinton, first parties, and the County Council of Midlothian, second parties, brought a Special Case for the determination of the question of exemption of police stations from parish rates.

The Case stated—“1. The first parties are by statute charged with the duty of collecting the poor rate, school rate, and other parochial assessments within the parish of Colinton in the county of Midlothian. 2. The second parties are by statute charged with the duty of police administration within the said county.

3. By the Police (Scotland) Act 1857 (20 and 21 Vict. cap. 72), sec. 55, it is enacted as follows—‘It shall be lawful for the commissioners of supply of any county, if they think fit, to order that station-houses and strong rooms or lock-ups, or any or either of them, for the temporary confinement of persons taken into custody by the constables, be provided upon such plan as shall be approved by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and for that purpose to purchase and hold or to rent or hire lands and heritages, or to appropriate to that purpose any lands or heritages belonging to the county which are not needed for the purpose to which they were applied or intended to be applied before such appropriation; and the expense of building, purchasing, hiring, or otherwise providing, repairing, and furnishing such station—houses and strong-rooms or lockups, and all other expenses attending the same, shall be defrayed out of the police assessments to be made and levied in terms of this Act.’ Under and in virtue of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 and 53 Vict. cap. 50), sec. 11, the whole powers and duties of the commissioners of supply for the county of Midlothian in the matter of police administration, including the powers conferred by the section above quoted of the Police (Scotland) Act 1857 have now devolved upon the second parties.

4. In fulfilment of their statutory duties and in the exercise of the powers conferred upon them as aforesaid, the second parties have provided the premises hereinafter described in (1) Colinton, (2) Slateford, and (3) Juniper Green, all within said parish and county.

5. The second parties are owners and occupiers of the premises at Colinton and Slateford, and are occupiers of those at Juniper Green.

6. The premises at Colinton, of which the second parties are both proprietors and occupiers, as above set forth, consist of a building of one storey with attics and an annexe, and comprise a charge room, two police cells, and a dwelling-house. The cells are situated in the annexe, and are entered from the charge-room by a communicating door. The dwelling-house is occupied by one married police-constable, with whom one unmarried police-constable resides. The married police-constable is charged 1s. 6d. per week as rent by the second parties by way of deduction from his pay. No deduction for rent is made from the pay of the unmarried police—constable, who occupies his room rent-free. The said premises are entered in the valuation roll for the county of Midlothian for the year 1914–15 as of the yearly rent or value of £25.

7. The premises at Slateford, of which the second parties are both proprietors and occupiers, as above set forth, consist of a modern building of one storey with attics, which was specially built for a police station, and comprise a charge-room, two police-cells, and a dwelling-house occupied by two police-constables—one married and the other unmarried. The married police-constable is charged rent at the rate of 1s. 6d. per week by way of deduction from his pay. No deduction for rent is made from the pay of the unmarried police-constable, who occupies his room rent-free. The said premises are entered in the valuation roll as of the yearly rent or value of £25.

8. The premises at Juniper Green, which are the property of John Murray, insurance manager, 9 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, and of which the second parties are tenants, consist of the ground flat of a two-storey building, and are wholly occupied by a resident police-constable. There is no charge-room, and there are no cells in the premises. The police-constable is charged rent at the rate of 1s. 6d. per week by deduction from his pay. The premises are entered in the valuation roll as of the annual rent or value of £13.

9. The duties of the members of the police force stationed in each of the three premises above described are those of the members of the county police force generally. Prisoners who are apprehended by the police are lodged in the cells in the police stations at Colinton and Slateford prior to being brought before the nearest Sheriff or Justice of the Peace Court, which is situated at Edinburgh.

10. On 31st October 1914 the first parties sent … [ The case gave particulars of three notices of assessment to the second parties assessing them for poor rate, school rate, registration rate, valuation rate, and special parish rate, as owners and occupiers of the premises at Colinton and Slateford, and as occupiers of the premises at Juniper Green.].…

11. Upon the 4th of November 1914 the Midlothian County Clerk wrote on behalf of the second parties to the first parties, intimating an appeal by the second parties against the assessments comprised in the said three notices on the ground that police

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stations are exempt from all rates. The practice with regard to rating upon police stations has for some time past in Scotland been very variable. The practice with regard to the assessment and payment of parochial rates as regards the three premises now in question has been as follows:—For some years prior to 1907 no parochial rates were paid. From the year 1907–8 to the year 1911–12, both inclusive, all the rates mentioned except the poor rates were paid. None of the rates mentioned have been paid for the years 1912–13, 1913–14, and 1914–15.”

The first parties contended “that in respect there is no exemption of police offices or stations, or of dwelling-houses occupied by constables, from taxation by Act of Parliament, and that the premises now in question are not in the occupation of the Crown, the second parties are liable both as owners and occupiers in respect of the Colinton and Slateford premises, and as occupiers in respect of the Juniper Green premises.”

The second parties contended “that they are exempt from the said assessments in respect that the police stations in question are buildings used for the purposes of the preservation of public order and the administration of justice.”

The question of law for the opinion and judgment of the Court was—“Are the second parties liable in respect of (1) The Colinton premises, and (2) The Slateford premises, either ( a) as owners, or ( b) as occupiers, and in respect of (3) The Juniper Green premises as occupiers, for all or any of the rates specified in the assessment notices mentioned in the case?”

Argued for the second parties—The premises in question were exempt from all the rates sought to be recovered by the first parties. They were held by the second parties for the Crown, and were used for the preservation of public order and the administration of justice. The premises at Juniper Green, though they contained none of the apartments characteristically for police purposes which were found in the other two cases, were nevertheless a police station, i.e. the official residence of the local officer— Parish Council of Edinburgh v. Magistrates of Edinburgh, 1907 S.C. 1079, per Lord M'Laren at p. 1087, 44 S.L.R. 811; Coomber v. The Justices of Berkshire, 1883, L.R., 9 A.C. 61, per Lord Blackburn at p. 69. Clerk v. Dumfries Commissioners of Supply, 1880, 7 R. 1157, 17 S.L.R. 774, was overruled by Coomber. Showers v. Chelmsford Union [1891], 1 Q.B. 339, was distinguished, for the facts were different from those in the present case. Martin v. Assessment Committee of West Derby, 1883, 11 Q.B.D. 145, was distinguished, for the premises there were simply the private as opposed to the official residence of the police officer. Glasgow Courthouse Commissioners v. Glasgow Parish Council, 1913 S.C. 194, 50 S.L.R. 97, was also referred to.

Argued for the first parties—The Crown if not mentioned in the rating statutes was exempt both from local and imperial taxes, but to bring premises within this exemption it must be shown that they were in the beneficial occupation of the Crown— Martin's case ( cit.), per Bowen, L.J., at p. 153, Brett, L.J., p. 151, and Coleridge, C.J., p. 149; Gambier v. Overseers of Lydford, 1854, 3 E. & B. 346, per Campbell, C.J., at p. 359; Showers' case ( cit.), per Day, J., at p. 344. If the user of the premises was predominantly as private residences they were rateable, their character as premises for police uses being lost in the quality given them by the predominant user. The Edinburgh Parish Council v. The Magistrates of Edinburgh ( cit.) was not in point, for the question in it was the construction of a private Act. The principle of predominant user was given effect to in The Surveyor of Taxes v. Smith, 1901, 4 F. 31, 39 S.L.R. 20. Consequently none of the buildings in question were exempt from owners' or occupiers' rates, for their main use was as residences; their public use was the minor element in the user.