Coal Act 1938

Ascertainment of person entitled

18 For the purposes of any provision of this Act under which a payment is to be made at any date to the person entitled to the compensation for a holding, that person shall be ascertained as follows :—

(a) if the holding could at the valuation date have been sold and conveyed to a purchaser in such manner as to bind or over-reach all acquired interests comprised in the holding (either in the actual circumstances or if any requisite consent, approval, request or notice had been received or given) either—

(i) by, or by the direction of, a single person in whom the whole beneficial interest comprised in the holding was vested,

(ii) under the powers conferred by the [15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 18.] Settled Land Act, 1925, or under any additional powers conferred by a settlement, or

(iii) by trustees for sale, or

(iv) by a personal representative in the exercise of his paramount powers, or

(v) under powers conferred by any other enactment,

the person who could have given a valid discharge for the purchase money arising on such a sale if paid on the date in question shah be the person entitled;

(b) in a case in which the preceding sub-paragraph would have applied but for the subsistence at the valuation date of a mortgage not capable of being over-reached as therein mentioned, then, if the mortgage has been discharged before the date in question, the person who would have been entitled if the preceding sub-paragraph had applied shall be the person entitled, and, if the mortgage is still subsisting at that date, then—

(i) except in a case in which at the valuation date the mortgagee or a receiver appointed by him was in possession, or in receipt of the income, of the mortgaged premises, the Commission may serve notice in writing on the mortgagee that they propose to act under this provision, and, if within one month after service of the notice, the mortgagee does not give notice in writing to the Commission that he objects to their so acting, the person who would have been entitled if the preceding sub-paragraph had applied shall be the person entitled;

(ii) in the excepted case aforesaid, and in a case in which the Commission do not think fit to serve notice as aforesaid or a mortgagee served with such a notice gives notice of objection as aforesaid, the mortgagee shall be the person entitled;

(c) in any other case, and also in any such case as aforesaid if the Commission consider it expedient in order to avoid expense or delay or for any special reason, the Commission may make payment to the proper officer of the Supreme Court or, in a case where the sum to be paid does not exceed five hundred pounds, of the county court, in accordance with rules of court, or to trustees appointed by the Commission, and that officer or the trustees, as the case may be, shall be the person entitled.