APPENDIX. THE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT, 1880. 43 & 44 VICT. c. 42. An Act to extend and regulate the liability of employers to make compensation for personal injuries suffered by workmen in the service. App I.—Where after the commencement of this Act, personal injury is caused to Amendment of a workman: (1) By reason of any defect in the condition of the ways, works, machinery, (3) By reason of the negligence of any person in the service of the employer (4) By reason of the act or omission of any person in the service of the employer done or made in obedience to the rules or bye-laws of the employer, or in obedience to particular instructions given by any person delegated with the authority of the employer in that behalf; or (5) By reason of the negligence of any person in the service of the employer who has the charge or control of any signal, points, locomotive engine, or train upon a railway, the workman, or in case the injury results in death, the legal personal representatives of the workman, and any persons entitled in case of death, shall have the same right of compensation and remedies against the employer as if the workman had not been a workman of nor in the service of the employer, nor engaged in his work. law. 11. A workman shall not be entitled under this Act to any right of com- Exceptions to pensation or remedy against the employer in any of the following cases; that amendment of is to say, (1) Under sub-section (1) of section 1, unless the defect therein mentioned arose from or had not been discovered or remedied owing to the law. App. Limit of sum recoverable as compensation. Limit of time for recovery of compensation. Money payable under penalty to be deducted from compensation under Act. Trial of actions. (2) Under sub-section (4) of section 1, unless the injury resulted from some impropriety or defect in the rules, bye-laws, or instructions therein mentioned; provided that where a rule or bye-law has been approved or has been accepted as a proper rule or bye-law by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or by the Board of Trade or any other department of the Government, under or by virtue of any Act of Parliament, it shall not be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be an improper or defective rule or bye-law. (3) In any case where the workman knew of the defect or negligence which caused his injury, and failed within a reasonable time to give, or cause to be given, information thereof to the employer or some person superior to himself in the service of the employer, unless he was aware that the employer or such superior already knew of the said defect or negligence. 3. The amount of compensation recoverable shall not exceed such sum as may be found to be equivalent to the estimated earnings, during the three years preceding the injury, of a person in the same grade employed during those years in the like employment and in the district in which the workman is employed at the time of the injury. 4.—An action for the recovery under this Act of compensation for an injury shall not be maintainable unless notice that injury has been sustained is given within six weeks, and the action is commenced within six months from the occurrence of the accident, causing the injury, or, in case of death, within twelve months from the time of death: Provided always, that in case of death the want of such notice shall be no bar to the maintenance of such action if the judge shall be of opinion that there was reasonable excuse for such want of notice. 5.-There shall be deducted from any compensation awarded to any workman or representatives of a workman, or persons claiming by, under, or through a workman in respect of any cause of action arising under this Act any penalty or part of a penaity which may have been paid in pursuance of any other Act of Parliament to such workman, representatives, or persons in respect of the same cause of action; and where an action has been brought under this Act by any workman, or the representatives of any workman, or any persons claiming by, under, or through such workman, for compensation in respect of any cause of action arising under this Act, and payment has not previously been made of any penalty or part of a penalty under any other Act of Parliament in respect of the same cause of action, such workman, representatives, or person shall not be entitled thereafter to receive any penalty or part of a penalty under any other Act of Parliament in respect of the same cause of action. 6.—(1) Every action for recovery of compensation under this Act shall be brought in a County Court, but may, upon the application of either plaintiff or defendant, be removed into a superior court in like manner and upon the same conditions as an action commenced in a County Court may by law be removed. (2) Upon the trial of any such action in a County Court before the judge without a jury, one or more assessors may be appointed for the urpose of ascertaining the amount of compensation. (3) For the purpose of regulating the conditions and mode of appointment and remuneration of such assessors and all matters of procedure relating to their duties, and also for the purpose of consolidating any actions under this Act in a County Court, and otherwise preventing multiplicity of such actions, rules and regulations may be made, varied, and repealed from time to time in the same manner as rules and regulations for regulating the practice and procedure in other actions in County Courts. "County Court" shall, with respect to Scotland, mean the "Sheriff's Court," and shall, with respect to Ireland, mean the "Civil Bill Court.” App. In Scotland any action under this Act may be removed to the Court of Session at the instance of either party in the manner provided by, and subject to the conditions, prescribed by section 9 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 40 & 41 Viet. 1877. In Scotland the Sheriff may conjoin actions arising out of the same occurrence or cause of action, though at the instance of different parties, and in respect of different injuries. c. 50. 7. Notice in respect of an injury under this Act shall give the name and Mode of servaddress of the person injured, and shall state in ordinary language the cause ing notice of of the injury and the date at which it was sustained, and shall be served on injury. the employer, or, if there is more than one employer, upon one of such employers. The notice may be served by delivering the same to or at the residence or place of business of the person on whom it is to be served. The notice may also be served by post by a registered letter addressed to the person on whom it is to be served at his last known place of residence or place of business; and, if served by post, it shall be deemed to have been served at the time when a letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary course of post; and, in proving the serving of such notice, it shall be sufficient to prove that the notice was properly addressed and registered. Where the employer is a body of persons corporate or unincorporate, the notice shall be served by delivering the same at or by sending it by post in a registered letter addressed to the office, or, if there be more than one office, any one of the offices of such body. A notice under this section shall not be deemed invalid by reason of any defect or inaccuracy therein, unless the judge who tries the action arising from the injury mentioned in the notice shall be of opinion that the defendant in the action is prejudiced in his defence by such defect or inaccuracy, and that the defect or inaccuracy was for the purpose of misleading. 8. For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— The expression "employer" includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate: Definitions. The expression "workman " means a railway servant and any person 38 & 39 Vict. to whom the Employers and Workmen Act, 1875, applies. c. 90. App. Commencement of Act. Short title. 9. This Act shall not come into operation until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, which date is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act. 10. This Act may be cited as the Employers' Liability Act, 1880, and shall continue in force till the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and to the end of the then next Session of Parliament, and no longer, unless Parliament shall otherwise determine, and all actions commenced under this Act before that pericd shall be continued as if the said Act had not expired, |