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Post Office Lands Act 1863
(26 & 27 Vict c.43, 13th July 1863)

An Act to enable Her Majesty's Postmaster General to sell and otherwise dispose of Land.
[13th July 1863]

'WHEREAS by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament held in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act for the Regulation of the Duties of Postage, in order to enable Her Majesty's Postmaster General for the Time being to hold and take Conveyances and Leases of Messuages, Tenements, Lands, and Hereditaments for the Service of the Post Office, and to transmit the same to his Successors, it was enacted that Her Majesty's Postmaster General and his Successors should be and were thereby made a Body Corporate, and should have a Seal, and that all Messuages, Tenements, Lands, and Hereditaments, of whatsoever Tenure, then vested in Her Majesty's then present Postmaster General, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, in trust for Her Majesty and Her Successors, should, immediately on the passing of the said Act, be and become vested in him in his corporate Capacity, and his Successors for ever, in trust as aforesaid: And whereas it is expedient that Her Majesty's Postmaster General and his Successors should be invested with such Powers of Sale, Exchange, Leasing, and other Disposition over Lands held by him and them, and that such further and other Powers should be conferred on Her Majesty's Postmaster General for the Time being, as are herein-after in that Behalf contained:' Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:

1. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty's Postmaster General for the Time being, from Time to Time, with the Consent and Approbation of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, or any Two of them, (such Consent and Approbation to be certified by One of the Secretaries or Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury by Writing under his Hand,) to sell or to exchange for other Lands or to lease or to surrender on any Terms, any Lands for the Time being vested in him in trust as aforesaid, and upon any such Exchange to give or receive any Money for Equality of Exchange; and any such Sale as aforesaid may be made either by Public Auction or Private Contract, and the Postmaster General may make any Stipulations as to Title or otherwise, in any Conditions of Sale or Contract for Sale or Exchange, and may buy in, rescind, or vary any Contract for Sale or Exchange, and may re-sell or re-exchange any such Lands as aforesaid; and it shall be lawful for the Postmaster General or his Successors, for the Purposes aforesaid, or any of them, to execute and do all such Assurances and Things as he or they shall think fit.

2. In all Sales, Exchanges, and Leases respectively to be made by Her Majesty's Postmaster General under the Authority of this Act, it shall be lawful for him to stipulate for, create, or reserve all such Rights of Way or Road as shall be deemed right.

3. No Purchaser, Lessee, or other Person claiming under any Deed or Instrument purporting to be executed by the Postmaster General under the Authority of this Act shall be bound to inquire whether the Postmaster General shall have been duly authorized by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to execute the same or not, or whether any Sale or Exchange or Lease or Surrender purporting to be made by the Postmaster General under the Authority of this Act shall have been in fact authorized by this Act or not, or whether it shall or shall not have been within the Provisions or within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act.

4. All Monies, except Rents reserved on Leases, which shall become payable to the Postmaster General under the Provisions of this Act shall be paid into the Bank of England, and shall be there placed to the Account of Her Majesty's Postmaster General, or to such other Account at the Bank of England as the Postmaster General for the Time being and the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury for the Time being, or any Two of them, shall direct; and the Receipt of the Receiver and Accountant General for the Time being of Her Majesty's Post Office for such Monies shall effectually discharge the Person or Persons by whom or on whose Account the same shall be paid into the Bank of England, and no such Person shall be bound to see to the Application, or be answerable for the Non-application or Misapplication thereof.

5. All Leases and Underleases, and Agreements for Leases and Underleases, heretofore made or entered into by Her Majesty's present Postmaster General or any of his Predecessors in Office are hereby confirmed.

6. Upon and by virtue of the Appointment of any Person to be Her Majesty's Postmaster General, the Benefit of all Contracts, Bonds, Securities, and Things in Action, which shall have been vested in his Predecessor at the Time when such Predecessor ceased to hold Office, shall be transferred to and vested in and enure for the Benefit of the Postmaster General so appointed, in the same Manner as if he had been contracted with instead of his Predecessor, and as if his Name had been inserted in all such Contracts, Bonds, and Securities, instead of the Name of his Predecessor.

7. This Act may be cited for all Purposes as 'The Post Office Lands Act, 1863.'