Random Article Summary #134

The Petroleum (Transfer of Licences) Act 1936 was passed by the UK Parliament to allow licences for keeping petroleum spirit to be transferred. It gave local authorities that had originally granted these licences the power to approve transferring a licence to another person or group. A separate law, the Petroleum (Transfer of Licences) Act (Northern Ireland) 1937, was passed by the Northern Ireland Parliament. This Northern Ireland Act made similar provisions specifically for transferring petroleum spirit licences in that region. The 1928 Petroleum (Consolidation) Act required a licence to keep petroleum spirit and allowed local authorities to grant licences with conditions. If premises changed hands, it was assumed the licence could move to the new occupier, but Home Office legal advice found that the 1928 Act did not clearly allow licence transfers between people. The 1936 Act fixed this by providing for the proper transfer of petroleum licence holders. The act received royal assent on 14 July 1936. It allowed local authorities and the Secretary of State to transfer petroleum spirit licences to other licensees, and it applied retroactively to cover transfers made since the 1928 act. It also treated the 1936 act as part of the 1928 legislation and allowed them to be cited together as the Petroleum (Regulation) Acts 1928 and 1936. The Petroleum (Transfer of Licences) Act (Northern Ireland) 1937 allowed local authorities in Northern Ireland to transfer petroleum-spirit licences to another person. When a licence is transferred, it authorises only the new holder to keep petroleum spirit and the change takes effect as if it had been part of the original 1929 Act, with a fee payable for transfers made after the Act began. The Act was passed in 1937, is still in force, and works together with the 1929 legislation under the combined title “Petroleum (Regulation) Acts (Northern Ireland), 1929 and 1937.” The 1928 and 1936 Petroleum Acts were both repealed. This happened under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/1637), which took effect on 1 October 2014.