SHOPS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1946 - SECT 9 Special provisions for persons observing the Jewish Sabbath.

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SHOPS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1946 - SECT 9

Special provisions for persons observing the Jewish Sabbath.

9.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the occupier of any shop who
is a person of the Jewish religion shall be entitled, upon making to the
[district council] an application in accordance with the provisions of this
section, to have the shop registered under this section by the [district
council], and so long as the shop is so registered then

(a)the shop shall be closed for all purposes connected with trade or business
on Saturday; and

(b)the provisions of this Part of this Act requiring the shop to be closed for
the serving of customers on Sunday shall not apply until two o'clock in the
afternoon; and

(c)there shall be kept conspicuously placed in the shop a notice stating that
it will be closed on Saturday and, if the shop will be open for the serving of
customers on Sunday after two o'clock in the afternoon for the purposes of any
transaction for which it is permitted under this Act to be so open, specifying
the hours during which, and the purposes for which, it will be so open.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorise any person to carry
on the business of a retail dealer in any kind of butchers' meat on Sunday or
to open a shop for that purpose unless

(a)the sole business which may be carried on in that shop on Sunday is the
sale of Kosher meat (that is, butcher's meat killed and prepared by the Jewish
ritual method);

(b)he is duly licensed for the sale of Kosher meat by the Chief Rabbi of the
United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire for the time being, or by
some person or body of persons appointed by such Chief Rabbi in that behalf;

(c)all other provisions of this section relating to the opening of a shop on
Sunday by a person who is of the Jewish religion are duly complied with in
every respect.

(3) Any application for the registration of a shop under this section shall be
in the prescribed form and shall be accompanied

(a)by a statutory declaration made by the occupier of the shop in such form as
may be prescribed declaring that he conscientiously objects on religious
grounds to carrying on trade or business on the Jewish Sabbath; and

(b)by such further statutory or other declarations and certificates, if any,
made by such persons, and in such form, as may be prescribed.

(4) For the purposes of this section, a shop occupied by a partnership or
company shall be deemed to be occupied by a person of the Jewish religion if
the majority of partners or of the directors, as the case may be, are persons
of that religion, but not otherwise, and such a shop shall not be registered
under this section unless the statutory declaration required by paragraph (a)
of the last foregoing sub-section is made by the majority of partners or
directors and specifies the names and addresses of all the other partners or
directors.

(5) If for the purpose of procuring the registration of any shop under this
section any person knowingly or recklessly makes an untrue statement or untrue
representation, he shall be liable on summary conviction, to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or
to both such imprisonment and fine.

(6) So long as a shop is registered under this section

(a)no other shop occupied by the same occupier shall be kept open for any
purpose connected with trade or business on Saturday;

(b)no person by whom the statutory declaration aforesaid has been made in
connection with the application for the registration of the shop shall be
employed or engaged on the Jewish Sabbath about the business of any shop or
shall so employ, or be directly concerned in the control or management of any
partnership or company which so employs, any person.

(7) Where any person is convicted of any contravention of any of the
provisions of this section, the court may, in addition to any other penalty,
order the registration of any shops occupied by him or by any partnership or
company in the control or management of which he is directly concerned to be
revoked:

Provided that the court shall not order the registration of any shop not
occupied, or not occupied solely, by the person convicted to be revoked except
after affording an opportunity to the occupier or to the other occupiers, as
the case may be, to appear and be heard.

(8) If upon representations made to them it appears to the [district council]
that there is reason to believe

(a)that the occupier of any shop registered under this section is not a person
of the Jewish religion; or

(b)that a conscientious objection on religious grounds to carrying on business
on the Jewish Sabbath is not genuinely held by the occupier of the shop, or in
the case of a shop occupied by a partnership or company by the majority of the
partners or of the directors, as the case may be;

(9) In the event of any change in the occupation of a shop registered under
this section, it shall be the duty of the person who becomes the occupier to
serve on the [district council] notice of the change, and in the event of any
change in any partnership or among the directors of any company by which such
a shop is occupied, it shall be the duty of the partnership, or of the
company, as the case may be, to serve on the [district council] a notice
giving particulars of the change, and, whether or not such a notice is served,
the registration of the shop shall, upon the expiration of a period of
fourteen days from the date on which the change occurred, be deemed to be
cancelled, unless within that period, or within such further time as may be
allowed by the [district council], a fresh application under this section is
made in respect of the shop;

Provided that, where such a fresh application is made by reason of a change in
any partnership or among the directors of any company by which the shop is
occupied, the [district council] may dispense with the statutory or other
declaration or certificates required by sub-section (3) or (4) of this section
in the case of any person who has made such a declaration in connection with a
former application in respect of that shop or any other shop in the [district
of the district council].

(10) The registration of any shop under this section shall be cancelled upon
application in that behalf being made to the [district council] by the
occupier of the shop, but shall not be so cancelled during the period of
twelve months from the date on which an application for registration of the
shop was last made.

(11) Where an application is made to a [district council] in accordance with
the provisions of this section for the registration of a shop under this
section

(a)the [district council] shall refuse to register the shop if the
registration of that shop has been revoked or has been cancelled under the
last foregoing sub-section while the shop was in the occupation of the
applicant; and

(b)the [district council] may refuse to register the shop if the registration
of that shop or of any other shop occupied or formerly occupied by the
applicant, or by any partnership or company of which he was a partner or
director, has been revoked or cancelled.

(12) Where the [district council] refuse to register a shop in accordance with
the provisions of paragraph (b) of the foregoing sub-section, they shall serve
notice of their refusal upon the applicant, and, if the applicant is aggrieved
by such refusal, he may, within twenty-one days of the date when the notice
was so served upon him, appeal against such refusal to a court of summary
jurisdiction for the petty sessions district in which the shop is situated,
....

(13) This section shall apply to persons who are members of any religious body
regularly observing the Jewish Sabbath as it applies to persons of the Jewish
religion, and references therein to persons of the Jewish religion shall be
construed accordingly as including any person who is a member of such a body,
and in the application of this section to such persons this section shall have
effect as if for the reference therein to the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew
Congregations of the British Empire or his local representative in Northern
Ireland there were substituted a reference to such persons as appear to the
Ministry to represent such body.

(14) As respects any shop which is for the time being registered under this
section Part II of this Act shall have effect as if for references therein to
week-days there were substituted references to week-days other than Saturdays.

Subs.(15) rep. by 1953 c.3 (NI) s.6(2) sch.1

Provisions as to mixed trading.
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Northern Irish Legislation

SHOPS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1946 - SECT 9
