Post Office Act 1953

87 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively:—

• " British postal agency " means any place, situated in a foreign country, where a post is established by the Postmaster-General;

• " British postal area " means the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man ;

• " chattel " in relation to Scotland means a corporeal moveable ;

• " commander ", in relation to an aircraft, includes the pilot or other person in charge of the aircraft;

• " foreign ", in relation to any postal packet, means either posted in the British postal area and sent to a place outside that area, or posted in a place outside that area and sent to a place within that area, or in transit through the British postal area to a place outside that area;

• " inland ", in relation to any postal packet or any description thereof, means posted within the British postal area and addressed to some place in that area, and " inland postage " means the postage chargeable on an inland postal packet;

• " mail " includes every conveyance by which postal packets are carried, whether it be a ship, aircraft, vehicle, horse or any other conveyance, and also a person employed in conveying or delivering postal packets ;

• " mail bag " includes a parcel, an envelope and any form of container or covering in which postal packets in course of transmission by post are conveyed, whether or not it contains any such packets ;

• " mandated territory " means a territory in respect of which a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations has been accepted by His Majesty and is being exercised by the government of any part of Her Majesty's dominions ;

• " master ", in relation to a ship, includes every person (except a pilot) having command or charge of the ship, whether the ship is a ship of war or other ship;

• " officer of the Post Office " includes the Postmaster-General, and any person employed in any business of the Post Office, whether employed by the Postmaster-General or by any person under him or on behalf of the Post Office;

• " parcel " means any postal packet defined as a parcel by Post Office regulations;

• " postage " means the duty chargeable for the transmission of postal packets;

• " postal packet " means a letter, postcard, reply postcard, newspaper, printed packet, sample packet, or parcel, and every packet or article transmissible by post, and includes a telegram;

• " post office " includes any house, building, room, vehicle or place used for the purposes of the Post Office, and any post office letter box ;

• " post office letter box " includes any pillar box, wall box, or other bor or receptacle provided by the permission or under the authority of the Postmaster-General for the purpose of receiving postal packets, or any class of postal packets, for transmission by or under the authority of the Postmaster-General;

• " public service vehicle " in relation to Great Britain, means a public service vehicle within the meaning of the Road Traffic Acts, 1930. to 1934 ;

• " railway undertakers " means any authority, body or person authorised by any enactment to construct, work or carry on a railway;

• " regular mail train " has the meaning assigned by section thirty-three of this Act, and " regular mail train services " means services performed under that section or section thirty-four of this Act including services performed under those sections by virtue of section forty-two or subsection (3) of section forty-four of this Act;

• " ship " includes any boat or vessel whatsoever ;

• " sorting carriage " has the meaning assigned by section thirty-four of this Act;

• " telegraph post " means a post, pole, standard, stay, strut or other above-ground contrivance for carrying, suspending or supporting a telegraph as defined by the Telegraph Act, 1869;

• " the purposes of the Post Office " includes any purpose relating to or in connection with the execution of any duties for the time being undertaken by the Postmaster-General or any of his officers;

• " trust territory " means a territory placed under international trusteeship, and administered by the government of any part of Her Majesty's dominions;

• " valuable security " has the same meaning as in the Larceny Act, 1916, and includes anything which is a valuable security within the meaning of that Act and any part of such a thing, and so far as is necessary for the purposes of this definition that Act shall be deemed to have effect in Scotland, as if, however, any references therein to real estate and to chattels personal included respectively references to heritable property and to corporeal moveables;

• " vehicle " includes a railway vehicle.

(2) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) a postal packet shall be deemed to be in course of transmission by post from the time of its being delivered to any post office to the time of its being delivered to the addressee;

(b) the delivery of a postal packet of any description to a letter carrier or other person authorised to receive postal packets of that description for the post or to an officer of the Post Office to be dealt with in the course of his duty shall be a delivery to a post office;

(c) the delivery of a postal packet at the premises to which it is addressed or redirected, or to the addressee's servant or agent or to some other person considered to be authorised to receive the packet, shall be a delivery to the addressee.

(3) Except in so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any other enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other enactment, including this Act.

(4) A reference in any enactment other than this Act to a post letter shall be construed as a reference to a postal packet within the meaning of this Act.