The Title to and parties, for whose use and in respect whereof such purchase

Conveyance of the

Lands.

money or compensation shall have been deposited, shall vest absolutely in the company, and as against such parties they shall be entitled to immediate possession of such lands." (Id., s. 77, post, App., 134).

And when monies have been deposited in the Bank by the company in respect of the purchase-money or compensation for lands which belong to parties who have limited interests only in such lands, the statute points out the mode in which the title of the company to such lands is to be perfected (r).

It is provided, that, upon deposit in the Bank in manner thereinbefore provided (s) of the purchase-money or compensation agreed or awarded to be paid in respect of any lands purchased or taken by the company, the owner of such lands, including in such term all parties by that act enabled to sell or convey lands, shall, when required so to do by the company, duly convey such lands to the company, or as they shall direct; and in default thereof, or if he fail to adduce a good title to such lands to their satisfaction, it shall be lawful for the company, if they think fit (t), to execute a deed-poll in the manner prescribed, containing a description of the lands in respect of which such default shall be made, and reciting the purchase or taking thereof by the company, and the names of the parties from whom the same were purchased or taken, and the deposit made in respect thereof, and declaring the fact of such default having been made; and such deed-poll shall be stamped with the stamp duty which would have been payable upon a conveyance to the company of the lands described therein; and thereupon all the estate and interest in such lands of, or

(r) 8 Vict. c. 75, post, App., 133.
(s) Vide ante, 328.

(1) The observation contained in

note (q), ante, 335, is applicable here.

Conveyance of the
Lands.

capable of being sold and conveyed by, the party between The Title to and whom and the company such agreement shall have been come to, or as between whom and the company such purchasemoney or compensation shall have been determined by a jury or by arbitrators or by a surveyor, and shall have been deposited as aforesaid, shall vest absolutely in the company; and as against such parties, and all parties on behalf of whom they are hereinbefore enabled to sell and convey, the company shall be entitled to immediate possession of such lands. (Id., s. 75, post, App., 133).

With respect to the form of the conveyance, the statute provides that conveyances of lands to be purchased may be according to the forms in the schedules (A. and B.) (x) to the act annexed, or as near thereto as the circumstances of the case will admit, or by deed in any other form which the company may think fit; and all conveyances so made are effectual to vest the lands thereby conveyed in the company, and operate to merge all terms of years attendant by express declaration, or by construction of law, on the estate or interest so thereby conveyed, and to bar and to destroy all such estates tail, and all other estates, rights, titles, remainders, reversions, limitations, trusts, and interests whatsoever, of and in the lands comprised in such conveyances which shall have been purchased or compensated for by the consideration therein mentioned; but, although terms of years be thereby merged, they shall in equity afford the same protection as if they had been kept on foot and assigned to a trustee for the company to attend the reversion and inheritance (y). (8 Vict. c. 18, s. 81, post, App., 135).

(r) See these forms, post, App., 155 and 156. Some useful observations on the use of these statutory forms may be seen in Messrs. Frend

& Ware's Collection of Precedents of
Conveyances relating to Transfers of
lands to Railway Companies, 133.

(y) And see 8 & 9 Vict. c. 112.

The Title to and Conveyance of the Lands.

The costs of all such conveyances are to be borne by the company, and such costs include all charges and expenses incurred, on the part as well of the seller as of the purchaser, of all conveyances and assurances of any such lands, and of any outstanding terms or interests therein, and of deducing, evidencing, and verifying the title to such lands, terms, or interests, and of making out and furnishing such abstracts and attested copies as the company may require, and all other reasonable expenses incident to the investigation, deduction, and verification of such title. (Id., s. 82, post, App., 136).

If the company and the party entitled to any of the above costs do not agree as to the amount, the costs may be taxed (x) by one of the taxing Masters of the Court of Chancery, or by a Master in Chancery in Ireland, upon an order of the same Court; and the company are required to pay what the Master shall certify to be due, or, in default, the same may be recovered in the same way as any other costs payable under an order of the Court, or the same may be recovered by distress in the manner provided in the act; and the expense of taxing such costs are to be borne by the company, unless, upon the taxation, one-sixth part of the amount be disallowed, in which case the costs of taxation are to be borne by the party whose costs are taxed. (Id., s. 83, post, App., 136).

In a case decided before the passing of the Consolidation Act, where a landowner contracted with a railway company to sell them a certain portion of his land, and the landowner died, and the legal estate in the lands descended to infants, it was ruled, that, as the vendor had suffered the legal estate

(x) If the lands are purchased under a special agreement made between the parties, quære whether the

costs may be taxed. Ex parte The Great Western Railway Co., 3 Railway Cases, 516.

in the lands to descend to infants, and had thereby occasioned the necessity of a suit in order to procure a conveyance of the legal estate, the costs of the suit ought to be defrayed out of the purchase-money (y).

The Title to and
Conveyance of the
Lands.

§ 6. ON THE POWERS AND OBLIGATIONS OF RAILWAY

COMPANIES TO CONSTRUCT AND REPAIR THE WORKS
CONNECTED WITH A RAILWAY.

I. We have seen that the parliamentary plans and books of reference, which are referred to in every special act, point out the course of the railway (a), and, with the exceptions presently to be noticed, no deviations from the line thus laid

(y) The Midland Counties Railway Co. v. Wescomb, 2 Railway Cases, 211; The Midland Counties Railway Co. v. Caldecott, Id. 394; see also Ex parte Ommaney, 10 Sim. 298; Farrar v. Lord Winterton, 4 Y. & Coll. 472; The Eastern Counties Railway Company v. Tuf

nell, 3 Railway Cases, 133.

(a) Ante, 104, 145. If any person wilfully obstruct any person setting out the line of the railway, or pull up stakes or marks shewing the line, he is liable to a penalty of £5. (8 Vict. c. 20, s. 24, post, App., 164).

The line of the railway, and herein of deviations,

The Line of the down are permitted (b). But a power to rectify mistakes

Railway, and herein of Deviations.

is reserved to the railway company by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act. Thus, if any omission, mis-statement, or erroneous description has been given of lands or owners, &c., in the parliamentary plans, schedules, or books of reference, the company, after giving notice, may apply to two justices, who have power to certify that the omission arose from mistake, and thereupon to correct the same (c). The certificate must be deposited with the clerks of the peace, parish clerks, and postmasters, with whom the plans are deposited; and after such certificate has been given, the company may make the works in accordance with such certificate. (8 Vict. c. 20, s. 7, post, App., 159). And the company are required to deposit with the clerks of the peace, parish clerks, and postmasters, a plan and section of all alterations from the original plans and sections which have been approved by Parliament. (Id., s. 8, post, App., 160).

(b) For this reason, it frequently becomes necessary to obtain a supplementary act of Parliament to authorise deviations in the line of the railway. In a case where a company were empowered to take lands for the formation of a railway, and to deviate to the extent of one hundred yards from the line laid down in their map, provided such deviation was made within two years from the passing of their act, and which two years would expire on the 4th of July, 1838, it appeared that in January, 1837, a deviation in the line, within the prescribed limit, was made. A subsequent act, passed in May, 1837, enacted, that the time by the first act limited for the compulsory purchase of lands should be enlarged for the term of one year, but provided that no deviation from the line laid down should be made after

the expiration of the period by the first act limited. The railway company having, subsequently to the 4th of July, 1838, given notice to certain owners of lands on the line to which they had deviated in January 1837, of their intention to take the lands under the powers given by the acts— on a motion for an injunction to restrain the railway company from so proceeding to obtain possession, it was decided by Lord Cottenham, C., that the second act must be construed to give the company an enlarged period of one year, in which to exercise the power of taking the land in the line to which they had so deviated. The Dun Navigation Co. v. The North Midland Railway Co., 1 Railway Cases, 135.

(c) Taylor v. Clemson, 2 Q. B. 978; 3 Railway Cases, 65.