s. 7. Stamp Duties on Gold and Silver Plate. reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, intituled 55 G. 3, c. 185, An Act for repealing the Stamp Office Duties on Advertisements, Newspapers, Gold and Silver Plate, Stage Coaches, and Licences for keeping Stage Coaches, now payable in Great Britain, and for granting new Duties in lieu thereof, it was among other things enacted, that if any person should transpose or remove, or cause to be transposed or removed, from one piece of gold or silver plate to another, or to any vessel or ware of base metal, any impression made with any mark, stamp, or die, which should have been proved, made, or used, in pursuance of that or any former Act, for the purpose of marking or stamping of any such gold or silver plate as aforesaid, or if any person should sell, exchange, or expose to sale, or export out of Great Britain, any such gold or silver plate, or any vessel or ware of base metal, having thereupon any impression of any mark, stamp, or die which should have been transposed or removed from any other piece of plate as aforesaid, knowing the same respectively to be transposed or removed as aforesaid, or if any person should privately and secretly use any mark, stamp, or die so provided, made, or used as aforesaid, with intent to defraud His Majesty, His heirs or successors, then every person so offending, and every person knowingly and wilfully aiding, abetting, and assisting any person or persons in committing any such offence as aforesaid, and being thereof lawfully convicted, should be adjudged guilty of felony, and should suffer death as a felon, without benefit of clergy: And whereas by an Act passed in the sixth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, 6 G. 4, c. 85, intituled An Act for further regulating the Payment of the Salaries s. 18. Returning from Transportation. and Pensions to the Judges of His Majesty's Courts in India, and the Bishop of Calcutta; for authorizing the Transportation of Offenders from the Island of Saint Helena; and for more effectually providing for the Administration of Justice in Singapore and Malacca, and certain Colonies on the Coast of Coromandel, it is among other things enacted, that if any offender sentenced or ordered by the governor and council of the island of Saint Helena to be transported from the said island to any such place as is therein mentioned or referred to should return to the said island of Saint Helena, or come into any of the territories or acquisitions of His Majesty, or of the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies in the East Indies, or shall come into any part of Great Britain or Ireland, before the end of the term for which he or she should be so sentenced or ordered to be transported as aforesaid, he or she so returning or coming as aforesaid should be liable to be punished as a person attainted of felony without benefit of clergy, and that execution should and might be awarded against such offender accordingly: And whereas it is expedient that the said several offences should no longer be punishable with death: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from Embezzlement and after the commencement of this Act, if any person shall be Certain convicted of any of the offences herein-before specified, such per- Offences of son shall not be subject to any sentence, judgment, or punishment Forgery and of death, but shall, instead of the sentence or judgment in and by not to be the said several Acts herein-before recited ordered to be given or punishable awarded against persons convicted of the said offences, or any of with Death. them respectively be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be Punishment. transported beyond the seas for the term of the natural life of such person, or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding three years. Houses, &c. 2. And whereas by an Act passed in the eighth year of the reign 7 & 8 G. 4, of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for c. 30, s. 8. consolidating and amending the Laws in England relative to ma- Riotous licious Injuries to Property, it was amongst other things enacted, Demolition of Churches, that if any persons riotously and tumultuously assembled together to the disturbance of the public peace should unlawfully and with the not to be force demolish, pull down, or destroy, or begin to demolish, pull punishable down or destroy, any church or chapel, or any chapel for the reli- with Death. gious worship of persons dissenting from the united church of England and Ireland, duly registered or recorded, or any house, stable, Coach-house, outhouse, warehouse, office, shop, mill, malthouse, hop-oast, barn, or granary, or any building or erection used in carrying on any trade or manufacture, or any branch thereof, or any machinery, where fixed or moveable, prepared for or employed in any manufacture or in any branch thereof, or any steam engine or other engine for sinking, draining, or working any mine, or any staith, building, or erection used in conducting the business of any mine, or any bridge, waggon-way, or trunk for conveying minerals from any. mine, every such offender should be deemed guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof should suffer death as a felon; and that in case of every felony punishable under that Act every principal in the second degree, and every accessory before the fact, should be punishable with death or otherwise, in the same manner as the principal in the first degree was by that Act punishable: And whereas it is expedient that the said last mentioned offences should be no longer punishable with death; be it therefore enacted, That from and after the commencement of this Act, if any person shall be convicted of any of the said offences herein-before last specified, whether as principal, or as principal in the second degree, or as accessory before the fact, such person shall not be subject to any sentence, judgment, or punishment of death, but shall instead of the sentence or judgment in and by the said Act herein-before last recited ordered to be given or awarded against persons convicted of the said last-mentioned offences, or any of them respectively, be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported Punishment. beyond the seas for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years. 3. And whereas also by an Act passed in the ninth year of the 9 G. 4. c. 31, reign of His said late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled ss. 16 & 17. I Rape, &c. not An Act for consolidating and amending the Statutes in England reto be punish-lative to Offences against the Person, it was amongst other things able with Death. Punishment. Imprisonment may be with or without hard Labour. Act not to alter 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 38, enacted, that every person convicted of the crime of rape should suffer death as a felon, and that if anv person should unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any girl under the age of ten years, every such offender should be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof should suffer death as a felon : And whereas it is expedient that the said several offences herein-before last specified should no longer be punishable with death; be it therefore enacted, that from and after the commencement of this Act, if any person shall be convicted of any of the said offences herein-before last specified, such person shall not be subject to any sentence, judgment, or punishment of death, but shall, instead of the sentence or judgment in and by the said Act herein-before last-recited ordered to be given or awarded against persons convicted of the said lastmentioned offences, or any of them respectively, be liable to be transported beyond the seas for the term of his natural life. 4. And be it enacted, That in awarding the punishment of imprisonment for any offence punishable under this Act, it shall be lawful for the court to direct such punishment to be with or without hard labour in the common gaol or house of correction, and also to direct that the offender shall be kept in solitary confinement for any portion or portions of such imprisonment, whether the same be with or without hard labour, not exceeding one month at any one time, and not exceeding three months in any one year, as to the court in its discretion shall seem meet. 5. And be it enacted, That nothing in that Act contained shall be construed to extend to the alteration or repeal of any of the powers, provisions, or regulations contained in an Act passed in or 4 G. 4, c. 64. the fifth and sixth years of the reign of His late Majesty King Offences not to be tried at Sessions. Commence ment of Act. William the Fourth, intituled An act for effecting greater Uniformity of Practice in the Government of the several Prisons of England and Wales, and for appointing Inspectors of prisons in Great Britain, or in an Act passed in the fourth year of His Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending the Laws relating to the building, repairing and regulating of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales. 6. And be it enacted, That none of the offences herein-before specified shall be tried or triable before any Justices of the Peace at any general or quarter sessions of the peace. 7. And be it enacted, That this Act shall commence and take effect on the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-one. CAP. LVII. An Act for the Prevention of Bribery at Elections. [22nd June, 1841.] WHEREAS the laws in being are not sufficient to hinder corrupt Evidence of and illegal practices in the election of members to serve in parlia- Bribery to be ment; be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by whole matter given on the and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- without first poral, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and proving by the authority of the same, That whenever any charge of bribery Agency. shall be brought before any select committee of the house of commons appointed to try and determine the merits of any return or election of a member or members to serve in parliament, the committee shall receive evidence upon the whole matter whereon it is alleged that bribery has been committed; neither shall it be necessary to prove agency, in the first instance, before giving evidence of those facts whereby the charge of bribery is to be sustained; and the committee in their report to the house of commons shall separately and distinctly report upon the fact or facts of bribery which shall have been proved before them, and also whether or not it shall have been proved that such bribery was committed with the knowledge and consent of any sitting member or candidate at the election. CAP. LVIII. An Act to amend the Law for the trial of controverted CAP. LIX. An Act to authorize for One Year, and until the End of the WHEREAS an Act was passed in the fifth and sixth years of Justices at Special Sessions for High ways, on Proof of the Deficiency of the Funds, &c. of any Turnpike Trust, may order Payment to of the High- Parish Sur and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that it shall be lawful for the justices at any special sessions for the highways holden after the passing of this Act, upon information exhibited before them by the clerk or treasurer of any turnpike trust that the funds of the said trust are insufficient for the repairs of the turnpike roads within any parish, notice in writing of such intended information having been previously given on the part of such clerk or treasurer to the parish surveyor twenty-one days at least before such special sessions, to examine the state of the revenues and debts of such turnpike trusts, and to inquire into the state and condition of the repairs of the roads, within the same, and also to ascertain the length of the roads, including turnpike roads, within such parish, and how much of such road is turnpike road, and if after such examination it shall appear to the said Justices necessary or expedient, for the purposes of any turnpike road, so to do, then to adjudge and order what portion, if any, of the rate or assessment levied or to be levied by virtue of the recited Act shall be paid by the said parish surveyor, and at what time or times, to the said commissioners or trustees, or to their treasurer or other officers appointed by them on that behalf, such money to be wholly laid out in the actual repairs of such part of such turnpike road as lies within the parish from which it was received. 2. And be it enacted, That if any such parish surveyor shall veyor neglect- refuse or neglect to pay over such portion of the said rate or ing to pay assessment at the time or times and in the manner mentioned in such Portion the order of the said Justices, the same shall and may be levied of Rate it may be levied by upon the goods and chattels of such surveyor in such manner as penalties and forfeitures are by the said recited Act authorized to be levied. Distress. Power of Justices at 3. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if any person shall think himself aggrieved by any order, judgment, or determination made or by any matter or thing done by any Justices of the Peace at such special sessions, in pursuance of this Act, such person shall any be at liberty to make his complaint thereof by appeal to the Justices of the Peace at the next general or quarter sessions of the Peace to be held for the county, riding, division, or place wherein the cause of such complaint shall arise, such appellant first giving to such Justices ten days notice in writing of the grounds of such appeal, within six days after such order, judgment, or determination shall be so made or given as aforesaid, who are hereby required, within forty-eight hours after the receipt of such notice, to return all proceedings whatever had before them respectively touching the matter of such appeal to the said Justices at the general or quarter sessions aforesaid; and that in case of such appeal the said Justices at the said quarter sessions, upon due proof of such notice and statement having been given as aforesaid, shall hear and determine such appeal; and the said Justices at the said quarter sessions shall have power to award such costs to the parties appealing or appealed |