Post Office Act 1969

16 Vesting in the Post Office of property, rights and liabilities generally. U.K.

(1) On the appointed day, there shall vest by virtue of this section in the Post Office—

(a) all property which, immediately before that day, is vested in the Postmaster General and held in trust for Her Majesty;

(b) all works and apparatus belonging to the Postmaster General to which the enactments relating to telegraphs apply;

(c) the portions of the tube laid by the Pneumatic Despatch Company, Limited, that are vested in the Postmaster General under the M1 Post Office (Pneumatic Tubes Acquisition) Act 1922;

(d) all estates and interests in land in the Channel Islands which, immediately before that day, are vested in Her Majesty, being estates and interests in land then occupied or used, in whole or in part, by the Postmaster General or (for, or in connection with, the exercise and performance of any of the Postmaster General’s functions) by an officer or servant of the Crown;

(e) all property which, immediately before that day, is vested in the Crown and used, or appropriated for use, for, or in connection with, the exercise and performance of any of the Postmaster General’s functions (being neither land nor property falling within paragraph (b) or (c) above);

(f) all interests of the Minister of Public Building and Works in the land delineated (and coloured blue) on the plans deposited in connection with the Bill for this Act with that Minister and authenticated by the signature of the Postmaster General (being land in the City of Edinburgh which, though held by that Minister, is occupied by the Postmaster General);

(g) all rights and liabilities enjoyed by, or incumbent on, the Crown immediately before that day with reference to the functions of the Postmaster General (including, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing words, all rights so enjoyed, and liabilities so incumbent, that subsist by virtue of a contract entered into by the Minister of Public Building and Works on behalf of the Crown for the erection or execution of buildings or works on land in whose case an estate or interest therein vests in the Post Office by virtue of paragraph (a) above, not being land which, immediately before that day, is the subject of an agreement to which the parties are the Postmaster General, the Minister of Public Building and Works and the Post Office for the conveyance, assignment or transfer by the Post Office to that Minister of the estate or interest that so vests).

(2) The following shall be excepted from the operation of the foregoing subsection, namely,—

(a) chattels or corporeal moveables used, or appropriated for use, exclusively for, or in connection with, the exercise and performance by the Postmaster General of his functions under the M2 Government Annuities Act 1929, the Post Office Savings Bank Acts 1954 and 1966, the M3 National Debt Act 1958 or the M4 National Loans Act 1968, not being telegraphic apparatus;

(b) records within the meaning of the M5 Public Records Act 1958;

(c) copyright (other than copyright in registered designs);

(d) property for whose vesting in the Post Office or the Minister of Public Building and Works provision is made by the following provisions of this Act;

(e) rights and liabilities for whose vesting in the Post Office provision is so made;

(f) rights and liabilities enjoyed by, or incumbent on, the Crown referable solely to the exercise and performance by the Postmaster General of his functions under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts 1949 to 1967 (other than rights and liabilities that subsist by virtue of a contract for the supply of chattels or corporeal moveables or by virtue of such a contract to which the Minister of Public Building and Works is a party as falls within subsection (1)(g) above);

(g) rights and liabilities enjoyed by, or incumbent on, the Crown referable solely to the exercise and performance by the Postmaster General of his functions under the M6 Government Annuities Act 1929, the Post Office Savings Bank Acts 1954 and 1966, the M7 National Debt Act 1958 or the M8 National Loans Act 1968 (other than rights and liabilities that subsist by virtue of such a contract to which the Minister of Public Building and Works is a party as falls within subsection (1)(g) above);

(h) rights and liabilities that subsist by virtue of section 46 of the M9 Patents Act 1949 or paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the M10 Registered Designs Act 1949 (Crown use of patented inventions and registered designs);

(i) rights and liabilities that subsist by virtue of a contract entered into by the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office on behalf of the Crown; and

(j) rights and liabilities that subsist under such a contract entered into on behalf of the Crown as falls within subsection (1) of section 18 of this Act (it being assumed that subsection (2) thereof had been omitted).

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Functions of Minister of Public Buildings and Works now exercisable by Secretary of State: S.I. 1970/1681, arts. 2, 3

Marginal Citations

M1 1922 c. 43.

M2 1929 c. 29.

M3 1958 c. 6.

M4 1968 c. 13.

M5 1958 c. 51.

M6 1929 c. 29.

M7 1958 c. 6.

M8 1968 c. 13.

M9 1949 c. 87.

M10 1949 c. 88.