Sewer, a trench or channel through which water or sewage flows.
The Court of Commissioners of Sewers is a temporary tribunal, erected by commission under the Great Seal, which used to be granted pro re nata at the pleasure of the Crown, and later at the discretion of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, and Chief Justices, pursuant to the Statute of Sewers (23 Hen. 8, c. 5). Their jurisdiction is to overlook the repairs of the banks and walls of the sea-coast and navigable rivers; or, with consent of a certain proportion of the owners and occupiers, to make new ones, and to cleanse such rivers, and the streams communicating therewith, and is confined to such county or particular district as the commission shall name. They are a Court of record, and may proceed b jury, or upon their own view, and may make orders for the removal of annoyances, or the conservation of the sewers within their commission according to the customs of Romney Marsh, or otherwise. They may also assess necessary rates upon the owners of land, and, on refusal of payment, may (see Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Sewers') levy by distress of goods and chattels.
By the (English) Land Drainage Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 133), the King may upon the recommenda-tion of the Inclosure Commissioners, direct com-missions of sewers into all parts of England, and give them jurisdiction over such areas as may be most expedient for the construction of new, and maintenance and improvement of old, works. The Act includes all commissions of sewers granted by the Crown for the time being in force, whether granted previously to the Act or not ,but does not extend to the metropolis. It provides for the constitution of elective drainage districts, and for the appointment of boards therein, with the same powers as commissioners of sewers.
The (English) Land Drainage Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo.5, c. 44), has repealed the Statute of Sewers (23 Hen. 8, c. 5), and a large number of other statutes, including the (English) Land Drainage Acts, 1861, 1914, 1918, 1926 and 1929, and has consolidated the enactments relating to the drainage of land. Provision is made for the creation of drainage districts and respective drainage boards. The districts are to include catchment areas constituted by or under that Act, including drainage districts or areas constituted under the Land Drainage Act, 1861, or any amendment thereof or under any other enactment, and the drainage boards or authorities of such districts or areas are to be treated for the purposes of the Act as the drainage boards of those districts or areas. The First Schedule sets out the catchment areas for which schemes for the transfer of powers and duties to catchment boards (to be constituted under the Act) and reorganization are to be prepared (s. 4). Until determined by the scheme every commission in force is to continue [s. 83 (2)] and commissioners of sewers are to exercise the powers given by the Act as well as all powers previously vested in them. The Act does not apply to the Administrative County of London except the Lee catchment area (s. 78), and by s 79 the Drainage Board of the Thames catchment area above (Teddington Lock) is to be the conservators of the River Thames. See DRAINAGE.
The (English) Public Health Act, 1936, Part II., imposes the duty on every local authority to provide all public sewers which may be necessary for effectually draining their district for the purposes of the Act and to make such provision by sewage works or otherwise as may be necessary. The Act makes general provisions (inter alia), replacing ss. 13 to 25, part of s. 26, and ss. 27-34 of the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), and, with certain exceptions, vests all existing and future sewers within the district of a local authority in such authority, and places the under its control, giving them also powers and duties for the making, purchasing, and maintaining such sewers, and for compelling the use of them by persons within the district. See Wood Green Urban Council v. Joseph, 1908 AC 419, under the Act of 1875.
Any local authority is authorized for the purpose of receiving, storing, disinfecting, distributing, or otherwise disposing of sewage, to construct, purchase, or take on lease works, either within or without their district; and to agree with an adjoining authority for the communication of the sewers of their respective districts.
Ss. 14 to 52 of the Public Health Act, 1936, also deals with sewers, drains, cesspools and water-closets, replacement of earth closets by water-closets, and kindred matters. See DRAIN; PUBLIC SEWER.
As to Metropolitan Sewers, see Public Health (London) Act, 1936 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8, c. 50), Part II., and other Acts; Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Metropolis.'