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Outline of the Legislation

Before 1903

As early as 1681 it was required that carts licensed to ply for hire in the City of London should be marked with the City coat of arms and a number on a brass plate. The London Hackney Carriage Act of 1831 referred to "stage coaches ... being duly license and having proper numbered plates" and before the end of the century London and probably other local authorities required Hackney carriages to carry numbered plates.

The Revenue Act of 1869, effective 1 January 1870, imposed a uniform system of taxation for horse-drawn carriages. The Locomotives Act of 1898 required county councils or county borough councils to register or license "heavy locomotives", (excluding those used for agricultural purposes), operating within their area. A "heavy locomotive" was one with an unladen weight of or exceeding 3 tons, (in practice almost exclusively steam powered vehicles).

The Motor Car Act, 1903

This was the first legislation to require the universal registration of motor vehicles, and the requirement to carry number plates. Section 2 includes the following sub-sections:

1) Every motor car shall be registered with the council of a county or county borough, and every such council shall assign a separate number to every car registered with them.

2) A mark indicating the registered number of the car and the council with which the car is registered shall be fixed on the car or on a vehicle drawn by the car, or on both, in such a manner as the council require in conformity with regulations of the Local Government Board made under this Act.

The Act came into force on 1st January 1904. "Heavy locomotives" were excluded from the registration provisions of the 1903 Act since they were already required to be registered or licensed under the Locomotives Act of 1898. The Heavy Motor Car Order of 1904 redefined the upper weight limit for a "motor car" from 3 tons to 5 tons and thus vehicles with unladen weights between these figures became regulated by the Motor Car Act of 1903 rather than the Locomotives Act of 1898. Tramcars were also excluded from the provisions of the Act.

The Regulations of 1903

The regulations referred to in Section 2 of the 1903 Act duly appeared as:
The Motor Car (Registration & Licensing Order, 1903. Statutory Rules and Orders 1903, No. 998.
The Motor Car Registration & Licensing (Scotland) Order 1903, SR&O 1903, No. 1001.
The Motor Car (Registration & Licensing) (Ireland) Order 1903, SR&O 1903, No. 1002.

The following is a summary of their main provisions:
Article I of Part I required that "The Council of every County and the Council of every County Borough shall establish and keep a Register (hereinafter referred to as "the Register of Motor Cars") for the registration of motor cars. The index mark distinguishing the Council of the County or County Borough with which a motor car is registered shall ... be the letter or letters shown opposite to the name of that Council in Part I of the First Schedule to this Order". This article required that the register was to be kept in the form specified in the Second Schedule and provided that the Council may, if they thought fit, keep the Register in two parts, one relating to motor cars and the other to motor cycles.

Article II specified the fees for registration and Article III required that the Council, on receipt of an application for registration "shall forthwith assign a separate number to the motor car..."

Article IV provided that on change of ownership "an application shall be made either to cancel the registration of the car or to continue the existing registration under the new ownership."

Article VI stated "If the Council are satisfied that a motor car which has been registered with them is destroyed, broken up, or permanently removed from the United Kingdom, or registered with another registering authority under the Act of 1903, or if the owner of a registered motor car ... requests them to cancel the registration ... they shall cause the entries in the Register of Motor Cars ... to be cancelled and may, if they think fit, assign the registered number of the motor car to any other motor car belonging to the same or any other owner".

Article VII: "The mark to be carried by a registered motor car, in pursuance of section 2 of the Act of 1903, shall consist of two plates which must conform as to lettering, numbering and otherwise, with the provisions set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Order. Designs, painted or otherwise, shown upon the motor car may, if it is desired, be used instead of plates..."

Article VIII dealt with the positioning of plates, (one front, one rear, in an upright position), and provided for the use of double sided plates on the front of motor cycles or tricycles not exceeding 3 cwt. unladen. Article IX provided for the display of a duplicate plate on a trailer. Article X permitted Councils, if they thought fit, to supply plates and make a charge for them. Article XI provided for the illumination of rear plates during hours of darkness. Article XII dealt with the assignment to manufacturers or dealers of a general identification mark and specified the form such marks should take.