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9
Mr. Dobbs, as the owner of the house in which he resides,
originally appealed to Mr. Cooke, the Marylebone Police
Magistrate, against the claim of the Company to rate him
for water rate upon the gross annual value of the house,
contending that by their Act 7th Geo. IV., Cap. 140, Sec.
27, when the rent cannot be ascertained, the water rate
should be charged upon the annual value upon which the
Assessment to the Poor rate is computed. By the Act 15
and 16 Vict., Cap. 152, Sec. 46, it was provided that the
Company should be entitled to levy a rate upon the
"annual value" of the houses they supplied. Mr. Cooke
dismissed the summons, but granted a special case for the
opinion of the Queen's Bench Division upon the question
of law as to whether he was right in deciding that Sect. 46
of 15 and 16 Viet., Cap. 157 was applicable, and that the
gross value, as interpreted by the Valuation (Metropolis)
Act, 1869, was the proper basis of assessment, or whether
he should have decided that such basis should be the rateable
value of the premises. The special case came on for
argument in the Queen's Bench Division in March 1882.
when the Court reversed the decision of the Magistrate,
holding that the 27th Sect. of 7 Geo. IV., Cap 140, was
not repealed, and that the rent of the premises could not
be ascertained, and that upon the proper construction of
the section in question the rate should be based upon the
rateable value of the premises. The Court of Appeal
reversed the judgment of the Queen's Bench Division,
holding that the 27th Sect. of the 7th Geo. IV. Cap. 140,
was not repealed, but that upon the proper construction of
such section, the rate should be based upon the gross
value. Mr. Dobbs then appealed to the House of Lords,
and at this stage he requested contributions from the
various local authorities of the metropolis, seeing that
should the decision of the House of Lords be in his favor
it would practically have the effect of lowering the charges
for water to the large majority of the ratepayers of the
metropolis. This Vestry felt the force of Mr. Dobb