It concerned the duties of boards of commissioners with responsibility for the maintenance of sea banks and other defences, which protected low-lying areas from inundation by the sea, and the removal of obstructions in streams and rivers caused by mills, weirs and gates.

The word sewer had a much broader meaning than in modern usage, and referred generally to streams and watercourses.

[4] The main legislation dealing with land drainage in Britain was the Statute of Sewers (23 Hen.

8. c. 5), which had been passed by King Henry VIII in 1531, and sought to make the powers of various commissions of sewers permanent, whereas previously, each parliament had to renew their powers.

Amendments had been made during the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, and this Act passed during the reign of Queen Anne was similar, in that it left the main powers of Henry's Act in place.