ABSTRACT
The affairs of public utility companies (canal, railway, gas, electricity and water) were usually regulated by private Acts of Parliament. This was because special powers were required to compulsorily purchase land and, particularly in the case of the railways, to raise finance from the general public. The years up to 1845 saw a continuous and rapid increase in the number and complexity of the provisions contained in these private Acts of Parliament. The Surrey Iron Railway's Act, 1801, contained just 95 sections whereas the Act for the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, passed in 1844, ran to 381 sections.
