# Civil Defence Act 1948 (repealed), Section 9: Interpretation, etc.

Extent: E+W+S

(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires,—
“civil defence” does not include the provision or maintenance of a shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly by naval, military or air forces but, save as aforesaid, includes any measures not amounting to actual combat for affording defence against any form of hostile attack by a foreign power or for depriving any form of hostile attack by a foreign power of the whole or part of its effect, whether the measures are taken before, at or after the time of the attack;
“civil defence forces” and “civil defence services” mean respectively forces and services formed wholly or mainly to meet the needs of civil defence;
“a civil defence shelter” means any shelter other than a shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly by naval, military or air forces;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“local authority,” as respects England and Wales, means
(a) a billing authority or a precepting authority, as defined in section 69 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;
(a1) the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;
(aa) . . . a combined fire authority, as defined in section 144 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988;
(b) a levying body within the meaning of section 74 of that Act; and
(c) a body as regards which section 75 of that Act applies, and, as respects Scotland, means a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;
. . .
“a shelter” means any premises, structure or excavation used or intended to be used to provide shelter from any form of hostile attack by a foreign power;
“statutory provision” means a provision, whether of a general or a special nature, contained in, or in any document made or issued under, any Act, whether of a general or a special nature.
(2) In this Act, the expression “the designated Minister” means such Minister as may be designated by Order in Council, and different Ministers may be designated for different purposes or different provisions of this Act:
Provided that if and in so far as other provision is not made by Order in Council under this subsection, the said expression means the Secretary of State.
Any Order in Council under this subsection may be revoked or varied by a subsequent Order in Council.
(3) Any reference in this Act to the organisation, equipment or training for civil defence purposes of police forces includes a reference to the organisation, equipment and training of persons who are special constables for the police area in question.
(3A) For the purposes of this Act (other than section 3(3)) the Service Authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the Service Authority for the National Crime Squad shall be treated as police authorities and the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad as police forces.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/5/section/9 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/civil-defence-act-1948-repealed/section-9
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.