§ 3.5 p.m.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now resolve itself into Committee (on recommitment) on this Bill.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee (on recommitment).—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee (on recommitment) accordingly.
§ [The EARL OF LISTOWEL in the Chair.]
§ The Deputy Chairman of Committees (The Earl of Listowel)Amendment No. 1, Clause 142. The Lord Chancellor.
§ The Lord ChancellorThere are two amendments in my name—
§ Lord Elwyn-JonesWill the noble and learned Lord give way for a moment? We must deal with the earlier clauses before we can deal with this amendment.
§ The Lord ChancellorI thought that the amendment had been called. I am sorry.
§ The Deputy Chairman of CommitteesMy apologies.
§ Clauses 1 to 141 agreed to.
§ Clause 142 [General interpretation of Act]:
§
The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 1:
Page 127, leave out lines 30 to 33 and insert (" "road" means any length of highway or of any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes;").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: I am very grateful to my noble and learned predecessor for keeping us on the straight and narrow path. As I was beginning to say at an inappropriate moment, this amendment is really a drafting amendment. The last limb of the present definition of the word "road" gives effect to Recommendation No. 17 in the report of the Scottish Law Commission on this Bill. When the Bill was considered by the Joint Committee on 4th April, it was suggested that the last limb, so expressed, could perhaps be more clearly expressed. The chairman asked the draftsman to see whether an improvement could be made. This amendment is the result. The existing form of words might be said to be too verbose, given that the idea behind those words is a very simple one; namely, that the word "road" is meant to mean any length of road and not just the whole of a road. I hope that your Lordships will agree that the proposed amendment is more straightforward. I should like to thank the Joint Committee for having helped in bringing about this improvement to the Bill. I beg to move.
§ Lord Elwyn-JonesMay I congratulate the noble and learned Lord on now finding the road clear?
§ On Question, amendment agreed to.
§ The Deputy Chairman of CommitteesAmendment No. 2—the Lord Chancellor.
§ The Lord ChancellorI am told that this is a simple amendment to correct—
§ Lord Elwyn-JonesMore clauses!
§ Clause 142, as amended, agreed to.
§ Clauses 143 and 144 agreed to.
§ Clause 145 [Commencement and temporary provisions]:
§
The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 2:
Page 129, line 6, leave out ("exercisable") and insert ("made").
§ The Lord ChancellorI am afraid that we have been hurrying too fast. This amendment is simply made to correct a clerical error. The word "made" should have been used in subsection (2) instead of the word "exercisable". I beg to move.
§ On Question, amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 145, as amended, agreed to.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.
§ Schedules agreed to.
§ House resumed: Bill reported with the amendments.