The Alkali Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict c 124) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. Under the Alkali Act 1863, an alkali inspector and four subinspectors were appointed to curb discharge into the air of muriatic acid gas (

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

eous hydrochloric acid) from Leblanc alkali works. It was later extended to cover other industrial pollutants. Section 19 provided that the Alkali Act 1863 was to continue in force until 1 July 1868, and no longer. This section was repealed by section 1 of 31 & 32 Vict c 36, which enacted that the Alkali Act 1863 was "continued without any such limitation".

Related legislation

Alkali Act 1868

The Act 31 & 32 Vict c 36, sometimes called the Alkali Act 1868, the Alkali Act Perpetuation Act 1868, or the Alkali Act (1863) Perpetuation Act 1868, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made perpetual the Alkali Act 1863. The Bill for this Act was originally called the Alkali Act Continuance Bill and was subsequently called the Alkali Act (1863) Perpetuation Bill. The Act 31 & 32 Vict c 36 was repealed by section 30 of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881, which further provided that this repeal was "without prejudice to anything done or suffered before the commencement of this Act, or to the recovery of any penalty incurred before or proceeding pending at the commencement of this Act; and any such penalty or proceeding may be recovered or continued as if this Act had not been passed."

Alkali Act 1874

In 1874, under the Alkali Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict c 43), sometimes called the Alkali Act (1863) Amendment Act, the Inspector became the Chief Inspector. The first Chief Inspector was Dr

Robert Angus Smith Robert Angus Smith FRS (15 February 1817 – 12 May 1884) was a Scottish chemist, who investigated numerous environmental issues. He is known for his research on air pollution in 1852, in the course of which he discovered what came to be kn ...

, he was statutorily responsible for the standards set and maintained by the Inspectorate, and reported directly to the Permanent Secretary of his department. For the first sixty years of its existence, the Inspectorate was solely concerned with the heavy

chemicals industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...

, but from the 1920s onwards, its responsibilities were expanded, culminating in the Alkali Order 1958. This placed all major heavy industries which emitted smoke, grit, dust and fumes under the supervision of the Inspectorate.

Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Acts 1881, 1892 and 1906

The 1863 Act was extended and expanded at least three times: first by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881, then by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1892, and subsequently by the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1906. There were subsequent amendments. The Alkali Act 1863 was formally repealed by section 30 of Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict c 37), though the substance was consolidated in the this and later acts.Paterson (ed). The Practical Statutes of the Session 1881. Law Times Office. London. 1881
Page 76
The Alkali Act were finally replaced by the

Environmental Protection Act 1990 The Environmental Protection Act 1990 ( initialism: EPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that defines, within England and Wales and Scotland, the fundamental structure and authority for waste management and control of emissions ...

Timeline

The Inspectorate has worked under the purview of many different departments: * From 1863 to 1872, the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

* From 1873 to 1918, the

Local Government Board The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919. The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...

* From 1919 to 1951, the Ministry of Health * From 1951 to 1970, the

Ministry of Housing and Local Government The Ministry of Housing and Local Government was a United Kingdom government department formed following the Second World War, covering the areas of housing and local government. It was formed, as the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, ...

* From 1970 to 1975, the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

The Chief Inspector's independence disappeared when the Inspectorate was transferred to the

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...

in 1975. The Inspectorate was known as Industrial Air Pollution Inspectorate from 1983 to 1987 and became Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) when it was transferred back to the

in 1987. HMIP became part of the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

and

Scottish Environment Protection Agency The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA; gd, Buidheann Dìon Àrainneachd na h-Alba) is Scotland's Environmental regulation, environmental regulator and national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management au ...

on 1 April 1996. Together with amendments, the Alkali Act became the main legislative control of industrial

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

in the UK. It was finally repealed and replaced by the

References

*A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Printed by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. London. 1863
635
to 639. *George Pitt Lewis, assisted by H A de Colyar, "Jurisdiction and Proceedings under the Alkali Act, 1863". A Complete Practice of the County Courts. Stevens and Sons. London. 1880. Part 2. Book 5. Division 1. Chapter 2. Page
909
to 914. *Baker, Thomas. "Alkali Works Act". The Laws Relating to Public Health, Sanitary-Medical-Protective. 1865
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See also page 591 to 595. *Pollock and Nicol. "The Alkali Act, 1863". Pollock's Practice of the County Courts. Sixth Edition. H Sweet. London. 1868
Page 4
See also pages 763 to 766. *"The Alkali Act, 1863". Report of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government 1959. Cmnd 1027. HMSO. Page 35. See also the rest of chapter 4, "The Alkali Inspectorate" at page 33 onwards
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* http://www.glossary.com/reference.php?q=Alkali%20Act%201863 Environmental law in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1863 1863 in British law 1863 in the environment {{UK-hist-stub