Punishment for assaults on officers, &c. for their endeavours to save shipwrecked property. Assaults with intent to commit felony; assaults on peace officers; or to prevent the arrest of offenders; or in pursuance of a conspiracy to raise wages; pu nishable with hard labour. Assault on any seaman, &c. to prevent him from working; assaults with intent to obstruct the buying or selling of grain, or its free XXIV. And be it enacted, that if any person shall assault and strike or wound any magistrate, officer, or other person whatsoever lawfully authorized, on account of the exercise of his duty in or concerning the preservation of any vessel in distress, or of any vessel, goods, or effects wrecked, stranded, or cast on shore, or lying under water, every such offender, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for such term as the Court shall award. XXV. And be it enacted, that where any person shall be charged with and convicted of any of the following offences as misdemeanors; that is to say, of any assault with intent to commit felony; of any assault upon any peace officer or revenue officer in the due execution of his duty, or upon any person acting in aid of such officer; of any assault upon any person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of the party so assaulting, or of any other person, for any offence for which he or they may be liable by law to be apprehended or detained; or of any assault committed in pursuance of any conspiracy to raise the rate of wages; in any such case the Court may sentence the offender to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding two years, and may also (if it shall so think fit) fine the offender, and require him to find sureties for keeping the peace. XXVI. And be it enacted, that if any person shall unlawfully and with force hinder any seaman, keelman, or caster from working at or exercising his lawful trade, business, or occupation, or shall beat, wound, or use any other violence to him, with intent to deter or hinder him from working at or exercising the same; or if any person shall beat, wound, or use any other violence to any person, with intent to deter or hinder him from selling or buying any wheat or other grain, flour, meal, or malt, in any market or other place, or shall beat, wound, or use any other violence to any person having the care or charge of any wheat or other grain, flour, meal, or malt, whilst on its way to or from any city, market town, or other place, with intent to stop the conveyance of the same, every such offender may be convicted thereof before two justices of the peace, and imprisoned and kept to hard labour in the common gaol or gistrates, with house of correction, for any term not exceeding three calendar months: proimprisonment vided always, that no person, who shall be punished for any such offence by not exceeding virtue of this provision, shall be punished for the same offence by virtue of three months. any other law whatsoever. passage; punishable be fore two ma Persons committing any common assault or bat tery may be compelled by two magistrates to pay fine and costs not exceeding 51. Application of the fine. Commitment on nonpayment. If the magistrates dismiss the complaint, they shall make out a certificate to that effect. XXVII. And whereas it is expedient that a summary power of punishing persons for common assaults and batteries should be provided under the limitations hereinafter mentioned; be it therefore enacted, that where any person shall unlawfully assault or beat any other person, it shall be lawful for two justices of the peace, upon complaint of the party aggrieved, to hear and determine such offence, and the offender, upon conviction thereof before them, shall forfeit and pay such fine as shall appear to them to be meet, not exceeding, together with costs (if ordered,) the sum of five pounds, which fine shall be paid to some one of the overseers of the poor, or to some other officer of the parish, township, or place in which the offence shall have been committed, to be by such overseer or officer paid over to the use of the general rate of the county, riding, or division in which such parish, township, or place shall be situate, whether the same shall or shall not contribute to such general rate; and the evidence of any inhabitant of the county, riding, or division shall be admitted in proof of the offence, notwithstanding such application of the fine incurred thereby; and if such fine as shall be awarded by the said justices, together with the costs (if ordered,) shall not be paid, either immediately after the conviction, or within such period as the said justices shall at the time of the conviction appoint, it shall be lawful for them to commit the offender to the common gaol or house of correction, there to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two calendar months, unless such fine and costs be sooner paid; but if the justices, upon the hearing of any such case of assault or battery, shall deem the offence not to be proved, or shall find the assault or battery to have been justified, or so trifling as not to merit any punishment, and shall accordingly dismiss the complaint, they shall forthwith make out a certificate under their hands, stating the fact of such dismissal, and shall deliver such certificate to the party against whom the complaint was preferred. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That if any person against whom any suh viction shall complaint shall have been preferred for any common assault or battery, shall Such certifihave obtained such certificate as aforesaid, or having been convicted shall cate or conhave paid the whole amount adjudged to be paid under such conviction, or shall have suffered the imprisonment awarded for non-payment thereof, in every such case he shall be released from all further or other proceedings, civil or criminal, for the same cause. XXIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in case the justices shall find the assault or battery complained of to have been accompanied by any attempt to commit felony, or shall be of opinion that the same is, from any other circumstance, a fit subject for a prosecution by indictment, they shall abstain from any adjudication thereupon, and shall deal with the case in all respects in the same manner as they would have done before the passing of this act: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall authorize any justices of the peace to hear and determine any case of assault or battery in which any question shall arise as to the title to any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest therein or accruing therefrom, or as to any bankruptcy or insolvency, or any execution under the process of any court of justice. XXX. And be it enacted, That if any master of a merchant vessel shall, during his being abroad, force any man on shore, or wilfully leave him behind in any of his Majesty's colonies or elsewhere, or shall refuse to bring home with him again all such of the men whom he carried out with him, as are in a condition to return when he shall be ready to proceed on his homeward-bound voyage, every such master shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being lawfully convicted thereof, shall be imprisoned for such term as the Court shall award; and all such offences may be prosecuted by indictment or by information, at the suit of his Majesty's Attorney-General, in the Court of King's Bench, and may be alleged in the indictment or information to have been committed at Westminster in the county of Middlesex; and the said Court is hereby authorized to issue one or more commissions, if necessary, for the examination of witnesses abroad; and the depositions taken under the same shall be received in evidence on the trial of every such indictment or information. be a bar to These provi sions not to apply to ag gravated cases, &c. Punishment home. Mode of trial, &c. XXXI. And be it enacted, That every accessory before the fact to any fe- Provision for lony punishable under this act, for whom no punishment has been herein- accessories to before provided, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be trans- offences aported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years nor less gainst this than seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the act. common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding three years; and every accessory after the fact to any felony punishable under this act (except murder) shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding two years; and every person who shall counsel, aid, or abet the commission of any misdemeanor punishable under this act, shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as a principal offender. XXXII. And be it enacted, That all indictable offences mentioned in this As to offences act, which shall be committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of against this England, shall be deemed to be offences of the same nature, and liable to the act committed same punishments, as if they had been committed upon the land in England, at sea. and may be dealt with, enquired of, tried, and determined in the same man- Not to affeet ner as any other offences committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty the laws relatof England: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall alter or affect any of the laws relating to the government of his Majesty's land or naval forces. ing to the forces. Provision for offences against this XXXIII. And for the more effectual prosecution of offences punishable upon summary conviction by virtue of this act, be it enacted, That where any person shall be charged on the oath of a credible witness before any justice of the peace with any such offence, the justice may summon the person act punishcharged to appear before any two justices of the peace at a time and place to able on sumbe named in such summons, and if he shall not appear accordingly, then mary convic(upon proof of the due service of the summons upon such person by deliver- tion. ing the same to him) the justices may either proceed to hear and determine the case ex parte, or may issue their warrant for apprehending such person and bringing him before them; or the justice before whom the charge shall be Time for sum mary proceedings. Form of conviction. No certiorari, &c. Not to repeal any act relating to high treason, the revenue, or combinations. Not to extend to Scotland or Ireland. made may (if he shall so think fit) issue such warrant in the first instance, without any previous summons. XXXIV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the prosecution for every offence punishable on summary conviction by virtue of this act shall be commenced within three calendar months after the commission of the offence, and not otherwise. XXXV. And be it enacted, That the justices before whom any person shall be summarily convicted of any offence against this act may cause the conviction to be drawn up in the following form of words, or in any other form of words to the same effect, as the case shall require; (that is to say,) 'BE it remembered, That on the year of our Lord 'of day of at in the in the county [or riding, division, liberty, city, etc. as the case may be], A. O. is convicted before us [naming the justices], two of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, [or riding, etc.], for that he the said A. O. did [specify the offence, and the time and place when and where the same was committed, as the case may be]; and we the said 'justices adjudge the said A. O. for his said offence to be imprisoned in the and there kept to hard labour for the space • of [or, we adjudge the said A. O. for his said offence to forfeit and pay the sum of] [here state the amount of the fine imposed], and also to pay the sum of for costs; and in default of immediate payment of the said sums, to be imprisoned in the paid; [or, and we order that the said sums shall be paid by the said A. O. that the said sum of 'paid to of day of the said offence was committed, to be by him applied according to the di- XXXVI. And be it enacted, That no such conviction shall be quashed for want of form, or be removed by certiorari or otherwise into any of his Majesty's superior courts of record; and no warrant of commitment shall be held void by reason of any defect therein, provided it be therein alleged that the party has been convicted, and there be a good and valid conviction to sustain the same. XXXVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall affect or alter any act, so far as it relates to the crime of high treason, or to any branch of the public revenue, or shall affect or alter any act for the prevention of smuggling, or any part of the act passed in the sixth year of the present reign, intituled "An act to repeal the laws relating to the combination of workmen, and to make other provisions in lieu thereof. XXXVIII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall extend to Scotland or Ireland. ADDENDA, &c. ΤΟ VOLUME THE SECOND. 7 & 8 GEO. IV. c. 27. An Act for repealing various Statutes in England relative to the Be WHEREAS it is expedient to repeal various statutes now in force in that part of the United Kingdom called England, relative to the benefit of clergy; and it is also expedient to repeal various statutes relative to larceny, and other offences of stealing, and to burglary, robbery, and threats for the purpose of robbery or of extortion, and to embezzlement, false pretences, and the receipt of stolen property, in order that the provisions contained in those statutes may be amended and consolidated into one act; and it is also expedient with the same view to repeal various statutes relative to malicious injuries to property; and also with the same view to repeal various statutes relative to remedies against the hundred: Be it therefore enacted by the King'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 so much of a charter or statute made in the ninth year of the reign of king Henry the Third, commonly called Charta de 9 H. 3. st. 2. Foresta, as relates to the punishment for taking the King's venison; and so much of a statute made at Westminster in the third year of the reign of king 3 Ed. 1. c. 2 Edward the First, as relates to clerks taken for guilty of felony, and to tres- & 20. passers in parks and ponds; and so much of a statute made at Westminster in the thirteenth year of the same reign, as ordains that the towns near adjoin- 13 Ed. 1. st. 1. ing shall be distrained to levy at their own cost a hedge or dyke overthrown, c. 46. and to yield damages; and the whole of a statute made in the same year, in- 13 Ed. 1. st. 2. tituled Statutum Winton," except so much thereof as forbids fairs and markets being kept in churchyards; and a statute made in the twenty-first year of 21 Ed. 1. st. 2. the same reign, intituled " Statutum de Malefactoribus in Parcis;" and so much of a statute made in the first year of the reign of king Edward the 1 Ed. 3. st. 1. c. 10. 25 Ed. 3. st. 6. 28 Ed. 3. c. 11. 34 Ed. 3. c. 22. 37 Ed. 3. c. 19. 8 H. 6. c. 12. s. 3. 33 H. 6. c. 1. 1 H. 7. c. 7. 4 H. 7. c. 13. 21 H. 8. c. 7. 21 H. 8. c. 11. 23 H. 8. c. 1. 23 H. 8. c. 11. 31 H. 8. c. 2. 33 H. 8. c. 1. 34 & 35 H. 8. c. 14. 35 H. 8. c. 17. Third, as relates to trespasses in the King's forests of vert and venison; and so much of a statute made in the twenty-fifth year of the same reign, intituled "Ordinatio pro Clero,” as relates to clerks convicted of treasons or felonies, and to the arraignment of clerks; and so much of a statute made in the twenty-eighth year of the same reign, as relates to making cry and fresh suit, and to hundreds and franchises being answerable as therein mentioned; and so much of a statute made in the thirty-fourth year, and of another statute made in the thirty-seventh year of the same reign, as relates to hawks; and so much of a statute made in the eighth year of the reign of king Henry the Sixth, as relates to the offences of stealing, taking away, withdrawing, or avoiding of any record or other like thing therein mentioned; and so much of a statute made in the thirty-third year of the same reign, as relates to servants taking and spoiling the goods of their masters after their death; and an act passed in the first year of the reign of king Henry the Seventh, intituled "An act against unlawful hunting in forests and parks;" and an act passed in the fourth year of the same reign, intituled " An act to take away the benefit of clergy from certain persons" and an act passed in the twenty-first year of the reign of king Henry the Eighth, intituled "An act for the punishment of such servants as shall withdraw themselves, and go away with their masters' or mistresses' caskets and other jewels or goods committed to them in trust to be kept;" and an act passed in the same year, intituled "An act for restitution to be made of the goods of such as shall be robbed by felons;" and an act passed in the twenty-third year of the same reign, intituled "An act that no person committing petty treason, murder, or felony, shall be admitted to his clergy under subdeacon ;" and an act passed in the same year, intituled “ An act for breaking of prison by clerks convict;" and an act passed in the thirtyfirst year of the same reign, intituled "An act against fishing in ponds;" and an act passed in the thirty-third year of the same reign, intituled “ An act concerning counterfeit letters, or privy tokens, to receive money or goods in other men's names;" and an act passed in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth years of the same reign, intituled "An act for a certificate of convicts to be made into the King's Bench;" and an act passed in the thirty-fifth year of the same reign, intituled "An act for the preservation of woods;" and an act 37 H. 8. c. 6. passed in the thirty-seventh year of the same reign, intituled "An act against burning of frames;" and so much of an act passed in the same year, intituled An act that an indictment lacking these words, Vi et armis, shall be sufficient in law," as relates to persons stealing any horse, gelding, mare, foal, or filley; and so much of an act passed in the first year of the reign of king Edward the Sixth, intituled "An act for the repeal of certain statutes concerning treasons, felonies, &c.," as relates to house-breaking, robbing, horsestealing, and sacrilege, and to the allowance of the benefit of clergy in any case therein mentioned; and an act passed in the second and third years of the same reign, intituled "An act that no man stealing horse or horses shall 5 & 6 Ed. 6. c. enjoy the benefit of his clergy;" and an act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the same reign, intituled "An act that no man robbing any house, booth, or tent, shall not be admitted to the benefit of his clergy;" and so much of 4 & 5 P. & M. an act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of king Philip and queen Mary, intituled "An act that accessories in murder and divers felonies shall not have the benefit of clergy," as relates to accessories to any robbery or burning therein mentioned;" and an act passed in the fifth year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, intituled "An act reviving a statute made anno 21 H. 8. touching servants embezzling their masters' goods;" and another act passed in the same fifth year, intituled "An act for the punishment of unlawful taking of fish, deer, or hawks;" and an act passed in the eighth year of the same reign, intituled "An act to take away the benefit of clergy from certain felonious offenders;" and so much of an act passed in the thirteenth year of the same reign, intituled " An act for the reviving and continuance of certain statutes," as alters and perpetuates the act of the thirty-fifth year of the reign of king Henry the Eighth hereinbefore recited; and so much of an act passed in the eighteenth year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, intituled "An act to take away clergy from the offenders in rape and burglary, and an order for the delivery of clerks convict without purgation," as relates to burglary, and to persons admitted to the benefit of clergy; and an act passed in the twenty-seventh year of the same reign, intituled "An act for the following of hue and cry;" and an act passed in the thirty-first year of the same 37 H. 8. c. 8. s. 2. 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. s. 10, 14. 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 33. 9. c. 4. 5 Eliz. c. 10. 5 Eliz. c. 21. 8 Eliz. c. 4. 13 Eliz. c. 25. s. 3, 18, 19. 18 Eliz. c.7. 27 Eliz. c. 13. 31 Eliz. c. 4. |