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DIGEST

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS,

kri.ating to thf.

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS,
COMMONLY CALLED QUAKERS,
IN ENGLAND;
WITH OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS AND NOTES.

JOSEPH DAVIS, Conveyancer.

§tcarCU GEtfitton.

LONDON:
EDWARD MARSH, 84, HOUNDSDITCH.
1849.

LONDON :
RICHARD BARRETT, MUSTEK,
MARK LANE.

PREFACE.

Since the publication of the first Edition of the
*' Digest," a period of twenty-eight years has elapsed,
during which so many important changes have been
made by the legislature in some of the laws more
especially affecting the Society of Friends, particu
larly those relative to the Commutation of Tithes
into Rent-charges, the mode of recovering demands
of an Ecclesiastical nature, the extension of the
operation of the Affirmation Act, the repeal of the
Test and Corporation Acts, and the consequent
admission of Friends to Offices, as well as those
relating to Marriage, and the Registration of Births,
Marriages, and Deaths, as to render a new Edition
needful, and which has been undertaken by the
Editor at the request of the " Meeting for Sufferings,"
a meeting which acts as a standing Committee of
the Yearly Meeting for the general concerns of the
Society of Friends, and is in fact the executive body
of the Society, and the manuscript has been inspected
by a committee of that meeting appointed for the
purpose, to whom the Editor acknowledges himself
indebted for some improvements derived from their
suggestions.

IV PREFACE.
The sufferings of the people called Quakers, on
account of their peculiar religious testimonies, were
in the early times of the Society, frequent and severe,
not only in the loss of property, but in long pro
tracted imprisonment terminating, in many instances,
only with life. Several laws, enacted in the reign of
Charles II. against nonconformists, one of which at
least (13 and 14 Charles II. c. 1,) was peculiarly
directed against this people, were made the means of
their being long harassed and persecuted, and they
even suffered by acts that were passed against
"Popish Recusants." At the Revolution of 1688,
these oppressive proceedings were suspended, prin
cipally by means of the Act of Toleration, 1 W. and
M. c. 18, and by the act 52 Geo. III. c. 155, several
of the statutes alluded to were entirely abrogated ;
but even then the members of this Society remained
liable to prosecution in the Exchequer and Eccle
siastical Courts, when upon a demand being made on
them for tithes or other Ecclesiastical payments, and
refused, either a disposition inconsistent with the
spirit of Toleration, or the want of proper informa
tion, led the claimant into the erroneous choice of
adopting the more vexatious and expensive, instead
of the milder and less chargeable mode of recovery ;
for the legislature had made ample provision, in
general, for proceedings in these cases, both less

PREFACE. V
oppressive to the person on whom the claim was
made, and more easy to the claimant himself; as by
the act 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, which provides,
(beyond what its title imports,) for the recovery of
" Tithes and Church Rates " from those called
Quakers, and by the act 1 Geo. I., Stat. 2, c. 6, by
which the provisions in it are made applicable to
" all customary payments due to clergymen," both of
which acts are to be considered as one law, provision
is made for the recovery of all Ecclesiastical demands
in a summary way before Justices of the Peace,
where the amount shall not exceed £10. (extended
by the act of 53 Geo. III. c. 127, to £50.) and the
costs are restricted to ten shillings, whereas processes
in the Exchequer were, from the great length to
which they might have been protracted, exceedingly
expensive ; and if the prosecutor were ultimately
successful, a great part of the sum originally de
manded, and sometimes the whole of it, was absorbed
in extra costs, which were not allowed to be charged
on the defendant. In the case of Markham v.
Wormall and others, previously to the imprisonment
of the Friends, the plaintiff's costs exceeded his
taxed costs £56". 14s. lid. This sum would have
been much increased by the expenses occasioned in
procuring the commitment of the Friends, and their
conveyance to prison, had not the plaintiff, (under b

VI PREFACE.
the title of •' subsequent taxed costs,") caused them,
to the amount of £61. 19s. 3d. although not taxed,
to be levied. It is supposed that if taxed, a large
proportion would have been disallowed, which, in
addition to incidental expenses, would very probably
have increased the extra costs of the plaintiff, though
ultimately successful, to £100, no small part of his
demand : which as well as several years delay, might
have been avoided, by proceeding before the Justices,
under 7 and 8W.&M, c. 34 ; and in the case of
Wray v. King and others, the plaintiff's costs, to
the decree, and the subsequent costs, including costs
of sequestration and sale, amounted to £182. 19s. 6d,
which were taxed at £150. lis. 9d, leaving extra
costs to be paid by the plaintiff £32. 7s. 9d, so that
of £41. 13s. 9d. decreed due to the plaintiff, he had
to receive on this account only £9. 6s, exclusive
of £3. costs of allowing exceptions ; and from in
formation which might be depended upon, it was
expected that this sum of £9. 6s. would scarcely
prove sufficient to pay other costs incurred by the
plaintiff in this cause, not included in the above,
but which he was liable to pay to his solicitor.
Thus the plaintiff, in a cause where no unusual pro
ceedings were had, after a delay of upwards of five
years and a half, though successful, lost nearly, if
not the whole, of his debt in extra costs.

PREFACE. Vll
la the Ecclesiastical Courts, the proceedings were
still more ruinous, especially as prosecutions there
must have ultimately terminated either in the viola
tion of the conscience of the sufferer, or in his im«
prisonment for life, as well as to the great loss of the
prosecutor, since neither the sum claimed, nor the
costs, could be obtained by the final judgment of
these courts.
Now, however, Friends are almost entirely relieved
from these oppressive proceedings by the Acts 5 and
6 Will. IV. c. 74, and 4 and 5 Vict. c. 36, which
provide that no suit or other proceeding shall be
instituted in any court in England or Ireland for any
Ecclesiastical demands under the value of £50,
except where the actual title shall be in question,
but that all complaints touching the same shall be
heard and determined only under the provisions of
the acts 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, and 53 Geo. III.
c. 127 ; and by the same acts, imprisonment of
Friends on account of Ecclesiastical demands, is
wholly abolished. Friends are further relieved by
the Act 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 17, which extends to
church rates and tithes, the limitation in the Act
57 Geo. III. c. 93, of the costs of distraint where
the amount of demand is under £20, and on a case
submitted to Sir Thomas (now Lord) Denman, and
Sir James Scarlett, (afterwards Lord Abinger,) they
b 2

Vill PREFACE.

gave it as their opinion that under the 7 and 8
Will. III. c. 34, and 53 Geo. III. c. 127, several
defaulters may be included in one warrant of dis
tress, the demands being of a similar nature, and
the aggregate amount not exceeding £50 ; and still
further relief is afforded to Friends in common with
others, by the commutation of tithes into an actual
charge on the land, the recovery of which is simple
and inexpensive, being precisely the same as every
landlord has for the recovery of rent from his tenant.
In reference to the affirmation, it may be observed
that the form of it as new modelled by 3 and 4
Will. IV. c. 49, now stands thus, *' I, A. B. being one
of the people called Quakers, [or, one of the persua
sion ofthe people called Quakers, as the case may be, J
do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm;"
and by the same act, the form of the affirmation to
be taken by Friends instead of the oath of abjura
tion is given. By 22 Geo. II. c. 46, there was a
general enactment that in all cases where by law an
oath then was or should be required, the affirmation
of any of the people called Quakers, should although
no express provision be made for the purpose, be
allowed and taken instead of such oath, but with the
continuance of the exception which occurs in former
acts, as to criminal cases, serving on juries, or bear
ing any office or place of profit in the Government.

PREFACE. IX
After which some further extent was, from time to
time, given to the affirmation, by introducing into
various Acts relating to frauds, an allowance of it in
several penal cases, and by 15 Geo. III. c. 39, it was
extended to all cases where any penalty was directed
to be levied or distress to be made by any Act then
in force, or thereafter to be made, for the purpose of
levying such penalties, or making such distresses.
By the Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 32, the affirmation is
made available for the giving of evidence in any
case, criminal or civil, and by the Act 3 and 4
Will. IV. c. 49, every person of the persuasion of
the people called Quakers, is permitted to make the
affirmation instead of taking an oath, in all places
and for all purposes where an oath is or shall be
required, and that without any exception whatever.
With respect to demands of a military nature, the
well known scruples of this Society on the subject of
war, (their repugnance to which they believe to be
dictated solely by the mild and peaceable principles
of the gospel,) with their uniform readiness to submit
to the penalties of the law, rather than violate their
testimony against bearing arms, have been duly
appreciated by the legislature. Dispensing in all
cases with the personal service of Quakers, so called,
in this way, it has devised the means of their in
curring a forfeiture of property, equal to the supposed

X PREFACE.
disadvantage to the state ; and this in a manner in
which they are only passively concerned. Besides
the acts relating to military service contained in the
" Digest," an Act was made, 1 Geo. IV. c. 24, for
the more effectual preservation of the peace by en
forcing the duties of watching and warding, by which
provision was made in case a person, one of the
persuasion of the people called Quakers, who should
be appointed to watch or to ward, should neglect or
refuse to appear, at the time and place appointed,
such person should not be liable to any fine, but the
justices should hire a substitute and levy the expense
on the goods of such person.
It is an interesting subject to trace the history of
the progress of intelligence, and of more enlightened
views in the relief which has gradually been granted
by the Legislature of this country, through a period
of a century and a-half, to the Society of Friends,
for the removal or alleviation of their peculiar trials
and difficulties arising from their conscientious
scruples. The present position ofthe Society, as re
gards the Laws peculiarly affecting its members, ought
to induce feelings of gratitude to the Legislature, and
a ready compliance with its laws and institutions, in
all cases where conscience is not violated; and the
Compiler thinks he cannot better conclude this Pre
face than by adopting the words of a short address

PREFACE. XI
of the " Meetings for Sufferings," which accom
panied copies of certain clauses affecting the Society,
in a military Act passed in 1803 :
" The Meeting for Sufferings, in sending forward
these extracts and this information, thinks it right
to advert to the lenity which on this occasion, as
well as on former ones, has been shown to the
Society by the Legislature. It is a powerful call on
us to continue vigilant in conducting ourselves as
dutiful and peaceable subjects, and it is necessary to
give great heed that our scruples may be and appear
to be, the consequence of a sense of religious duty.
In this view, it highly behoves us to take care that
our whole conduct be such as becometh the gospel.
This will tend to support the mind in difficulty,
and awaken thankfulness to the Almighty for the
benefits we receive, and also gratitude to those by
whose means they are conferred."
Bristol, Twelfth Month, 1848.

CONTENTS.

MEETINGS and Meeting Houses . A I
Oaths and Affirmation .... 24
Offices  . . 49
Tithes and other Ecclesiastical Demands . 56
Tithe Rent Charges  72
The Militia and Military Service ... 82
y
 Regular Militia .... —
 Militia of tlie Tower Hamlets . 97
 Militia of the City of London . . 98
•  Miners in Cornwall and Devon . 103
 Annual Training .... 104
 Local Militia . . . .107
 Conveyance of Soldiers' and Sailors'
Baggage, &c. . . . 124
Marriage  127
Registers  137
Non-parochial-Registers  153
Charities ... ... 158
Churchwardens  166
Miscellaneous  167
 Discipline or Church Government . 167
 Fast-days, &c  1 70
Local Provisions  1 72

A TABLE

PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS,

CITED OR REFERRED TO IN THE DIGEST.

Reign and Year.
16 Richard II  c. 5.
27 Henry VIII. . . c. 20.
32 Henry VIII. . . c. 7.
2 & 3 Edward VI. c. 13.
1 Elizabeth, . . . . c. 1 .
1 Elizabeth,  c. 2.
5 Elizabeth, . . . . c. 1.
23 Elizabeth,  c. 1.
29 Elizabeth,  c. 6.
35 Elizabeth,  c. 1.
3 James I  c. 4.

3 James I. . . . - c. 5.
7 James I  c. 6.
13 & 14 Charles II. c. 1.
1 7 Charles II  c. 2,
22 Charles II  c. 1.

Subject and Head under which the same
is noticed.
Praemunire, Oaths and Affir-\
motion J
Tithes, Tithes, $c 
Tithes, Tithes, &c 
Tithes, Tithes, fyc. ...
Oaths, Oaths and Affirmation
Common Prayer, Meetings . .
Queen's Power, Meetings
Obedience of the People, "1
Meetings]
Obedience of the People, "1
Meetings J
Obedience of the People, \
Meetings j
Popish Recusants, Meetings . .
 Oaths and~)
Affirmation J
Popish Recusants, Meetings . .
Oaths, Oaths and Affirmation
Quakers, Meetings 
 Offices 
Nonconformists, Meetings
Seditious Conventicles, Meetings

Page. 3062
63
6325 2
8 1
142
2, 25 2
24, 25
9,14 49 14
4, 14

XVI A table.
«~;™ ™i va»~ Subject and Head under which the same
Keignand xear. is noticed.
25 Charles II. . . . . c. 2. Popish Recusants, Meetings -.

 Oaths and\ go m
Offices J
30 Charles II. ... . st. 2. Papists and Parliament, ) 9 „ 7
Meetings j ^ °' *

-Oaths']

and Affirmation J
I William & Mary, c. 1. Oaths, Meetings
1 William & Mary, c. 8.  Oaths & Affirmation.
1 William & Mary, c. 18. Toleration, Meetings, fyc.
 Oaths, &c. .
—  — Tithes, &c. . .
7 & 8 William III. c. 6. Tithes, Tithes, &c.
7 & 8 William III. c. 24. Practisers of Law, Oaths, &c.
7 & 8 William III. c. 27. Oaths, Oaths, &c. . . ..
7 & 8 William III. c. 34. Affirmation, Oaths, &c. . .
 Tithes, &c. .

28 3
. 25, 30
. 1,13
. 29, 31
56 6629 30
32
. 56,61
1 3 William III  c. 4. Affirmation, Oaths, &c. . - 34
6 Ann,  c. 14. Oaths, Oaths, $c  34
6 Ann,  c. 23. Elections, &c. Oaths, $c. . . 35
10 Ann,  c. 2. Toleration, M eetings ... 12
1 George I  c. 6. Affirmation and Tithes, 1 qft
Oaths, &c.J
 Tithes, &c..y .. 58, 61
6 George I. (Ireland) . . Dissenters, Meetings, &c. . . 20
8 George I  c. 6. Affirmation, Oaths, &c. . .. 37
9 George II  c. 36. Mortmain, Meetings, Charities 23,160
16 George II  c. 30. Oaths, Offices  49
22 George II  c. 46. Affirmation, Oaths, &c. . . 42
26 George II  c. 33. Marriages, M arriage .. .. 127
27 George II  c. 20. Distresses by Warrant, "\
Tithes, &c.j 60
6 George III. . . c. 53. Oaths, Oaths, <&c  4,4,

A TABLE. XVH
Subject and Head under which the same
Reign and Year. is noticed. Page.
15 George III  c. 39. Oaths, &c. Oaths, &e. . . . 42
19 George III  c. 44. Dissenters, Meetings, &c. . . 20
26 George III  c. 107. Militia in England, Militia\ q7
ofthe Tower Hamlets j
37 George III  c. 25 f Militia, Militia of the Tower\ QtJ
&75. { Hamlets] y/

16

39 George III  c. 79. Sedition and Treason, Meet- )
ings, 4fc. j
42 George III. . . . c. 72. Miners, Miners in Cornwall-} , q„
and Devon]
42 George III  c. 90. Militia in England, Regular\82, 86,
Militia] 93
Militia of the Tower Hamlets 97
42 George III  c. 91. Militia in Scotland, Regular! Militia] 82
43 George III  c. 50. Militia in England, Regular-] gg gg
Militia] '
46 George III  c. 90. Training, Annual Training . . 104
46 George III  c. 91. Militia in England, Regular ) g^
Militia j
47 George III  c. 71.  85
52 George III  c. 38. Local Militia in England, ) 107
Local Militia j
52 George III  c. 68. Local Militia in Scotland,) -jq7
Local Militia )
52 George III  c. 102. Charitable Donations, Oha-\ j5g
rities f
52 George III  c. 155. Religious Worship, Meetings, \ 14
&c. )
53 George III. . . c. 28. Local Militia in England, ) 123
Local Militia )
53 George III  c. 127. Ecclesiastical Courts, Tithes, #c. 61, 65
53 George III  c. 160. Dissenters, Meetings, $c. . ¦ 20
57 George III  c. 19. Seditious Meetings, Meet- 7 15
ings, Sj-c. $
57 George III. . . . c. 70. Dissenters, Meetings, &c. 20

XV111

A TABLE.

Reign and Year.
57 George III  c. 93.
58 George III  c. 91.
59 George III  c. 81.
1 George IV  c. 100.
3 George IV  c. 75.
3 George IV  c. 126.
4 George IV  c. 17.
4 George IV  c. 76.
5 George IV  c. 58.
5 George IV  c. 68.
7 & 8 George IV. c. 17.
9 George IV  c. 17.
9 George IV  c. 32.
9 George IV  c. 85.
9 George IV  c. 85.
10 George IV  c. 24.
10 George IV  c. 57.
1 & 2 William IV. c. 34.
3 & 4 William IV. c. 30.
3 & 4 William IV. c. 49.
4 & 5 William IV. c. 76.
5 & 6 William IV. c. 28.
5 & 6 WiUiam IV. c. 71.
5 & 6 WiUiam IV. c. 74.
5 & 6 William IV. c. 76.
6&7WilliamIV. c. 71.
6 & 7 William IV. c. 85.
6 & 7 William IV. c. 86.
6 & 7 WiUiam IV. c. 104.

Subject and Head under which the same
is noticed.

Distresses, Tithes  67, 69
158
Uiiaritiesj
Charities for

159 98
127 17
127
127,135 159
127 67
52, 53
42

Charities for Education, "1
Charities]
Education, "1
Charities ]
MUitia of London, Militia off]
the City of London]
Marriages, Marriage . .
Turnpike Roads, Meetings
Marriages, Marriage . .
Marriages, Marriage. .
Charities, Charities
Marriages, Marriage . .
Distresses, Tithes
Test Act, Offices . . 49,
Evidence, Affirmation . .
Mortmain, Meetings . . . . 23
Mortmain, Charities . . . . 163
Annuities, Registers . . . . 152
Charities, Charities . . . . 159
Charities, Charities . . . . 159
Poor Rates, Meetings . . . . 19
Affirmation, Oaths, fyc  43, 34
Poor Laws, Tithes, fyc  67
Offices, Offices  49
Charities, Charities . . . . 159
Tithes, Tithes, &c  69, 71
Corporations, Offices . . 50, 51, 52
Tithe Commutation, Tithes . . 72, 77
Marriages, Marriage . . 128 135
Registration, Registers . . 137
Corporation, Offices .. .. 5]

A TABLE.

XIX

Reign and Year.
7 William IV.
7 WiUiam IV.
7 WiUiam IV.
Victoria
7 WuUam IV.
Victoria
1 & 2 Victoria .
1 & 2 Victoria .
1 & 2 Victoria .
1 & 2 Victoria .

Subject and Head under which the same
is noticed.

..c. l
..c. 1
& 1
. c. 22.
& 1
c. 69.
. c. 5
. e. 15
. c. 64,
.c. 77

Marriage, Marriage
Registers

j- Registration, Registers
{

2 & 3 Victoria . . c. 62.
3 & 4 Victoria . . c. 72.
3 & 4 Victoria . . c. 92.
4 & 5 Victoria . . c. 36.
7 & 8 Victoria . . c. 45.
7 & 8 Victoria . . c. 101.
7 & 8 Victoria . . c. 102.
9 & 10 Victoria . . c. 59.
10 & 11 Victoria., c. 58.

Page. 128
137
151 76
52 5377
47

Tithe Commutation, Tithes, )
-3-c-I
Corporations, Offices
Corporations, Offices
Tithes, Tithes, &c 
Separatists, Oaths and \
Affirmation )
Tithe Commutation, Tithes,] 4-c.j*
Marriages, Marriage
Nonparochial Registers, .Re-O
gisters]
Ecclesiastical Courts, )
Tithes, &c. )
Meeting Houses, Meetings, &c.
Poor Laws, Tithes
Roman Catholics, Meetings, &c.
1,9, 24, 25
Meetings, Meetings, &c. 1, 17, 24, 25
Marriages, Marriage . . . . 136

77
135 153

71
20 67

LOCAL ACTS.

Page.
Acts containing Provisions for exempting Friends from
being Collectors of Church Rates . . .173
Acts containing Provisions for exempting Friends from
being Churchwardens, &c. . . . .177
Acts relating to the Compounding for Parochial Rates . 180

A DIGEST

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS, &G.

MEETINGS AND MEETING HOUSES.
By an act passed in the 1st year of William and x w. and M.
H. 1, c. 18,
Mary, stat. 1, c. 18, intituled, " An act for exempt- several laws
suspended.
ing their Majesties' Protestant subjects, dissenting
from the Church of England, from the penalties of
certain laws ; " (commonly called the Toleration Act)
it is by sect. 2 enacted, that neither the statute made
in the three and twentieth year of the reign of the 23 Eliz. c. 1,
repealed.
late Queen Elizabeth, intituled, " An act to retain
the Queen's Majesty's subjects in their due obedi
ence ; "* nor the statute made in the twenty-ninth 2g Eliz. c. 6,
repealed.
year of the said Queen, intituled, " An act for the

* By 7 and 8 Viet. c. 102, this act is repealed, and also so much and
such parts of 29 Eliz. u. 6 ; 1 Eliz. c. 2 ; 3 Jas. I. cc. 4 and 5 ; and 25
Chas. II. u. 2, as contain penal Enactments against Roman Catholics ;
and by 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, the acts of 29 Eliz. c. 6 ; 1 Eliz. c. 2 ; and 3
Jas. I. c. 4, are wholly repealed.

more speedy and due execution of certain branches
of the statute made in the three and twentieth year
of the Queen's Majesty's reign," (vis. the aforesaid
act ;) nor that branch or clause of a statute made
i Eliz. c. 2, in the first year of the reign of the said Queen,
repealed,vide ante. intituled, " An act for the uniformity of Common
Prayer and service in the Church, and adminis
tration of the Sacraments-" whereby all persons,
having no lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent,
are required to resort to their Parish Church or
Chapel, or some usual place where the Common
Prayer shall be used, upon pain of punishment by
the censures of the Church, and also upon pain that
every person so offending, shall forfeit for every
such offence, twelve pence ; nor the statute made in
3 Jas. I. u. 4, the third year of the, reign of the late King James I.
repealed, vide ante. intituled, "An act for the better discovering and
repressing Popish Recusants ; " nor that other sta-
3 Jas. i. c. 5, tute made in the same year, intituled, " An act to
partiallyvideaante. prevent and avoid dangers which may grow by
Popish Recusants;" nor any other law or statute
Exception. 0f this realm, made against Papists or Popish
Recusants, except the statute made in the five and,
25 Chas. n. twentieth year of King Charles II, intituled, " An
c. 2, partially
vidl ante act f°r Preventing dangers which may happen from
30 Chas. n. st. Popish Recusants ;" and except also the statute
2, partially
repealed. made in the thirtieth year of the said King Charles

II, intituled, " An act for the more effectual pre
serving the King's person and government, by
disabling Papists from sitting in either House of
Parliament,"* shall be construed to extend to any
person or persons dissenting from the Church of
England, that shall take the oaths mentioned in
a statute made this present Parliament, intituled,
" An act for removing and preventing all questions 1 w. and M.
c. 1.
and disputes concerning the assembling and sitting
of this present Parliament ; " and shall make and
subscribe the declaration mentioned in a statute
made in the thirtieth year of the reign of King
Charles II, intituled, " An act to prevent Papists 30 chas. 11.
st 2, partially
from sitting in either House of Parliament ;" which repealed.
oaths and declarations the justices of peace, at the
general sessions of the peace, to be held for the
county or place where such person shall live, are
hereby required to tender and administer to such Taking the
declaration to
persons as shall offer themselves to take, make, and he registered.
subscribe the same ; and thereof to keep a register :
and likewise none of the persons aforesaid, shall
give or pay, as any fee or reward, to any officer or
officers belonging to the court aforesaid, above the
sum of sixpence, nor that more than once, for his Fee.

* By 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, so much of this act as relates to the penal
ties on Popish Recusants for coming into the King's or Queen's presence
is repealed.
B. 2

or their entry of his taking the said oaths, and
making and subscribing the said declaration ; nor
above the further sum of sixpence for any certificate
of the same, to be made out and signed by the
officer or officers of the said court.
Sect. 4. All and every person and persons, that
shall as aforesaid, take the said oaths, and make
and subscribe the declaration aforesaid, shall not be
liable to any pains, penalties, or forfeitures, men-
35 Eliz. c. 1, tioned in an act made in the five and thirtieth year
repealed. of the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, intituled,
" An act to retain the Queen's Majesty's subjects in
their due obedience ;"* nor in an act made in the
22 Chas. ii. two and twentieth year of the reign of the late
c. 1. King Charles II. intituled, " An act to prevent and
repealed md. suppress seditious conventicles ;" nor shall any ofthe
Ecclesiastical said persons be prosecuted in any Ecclesiastical
Court, for or by reason of their non-conforming to
the Church of England.
Private Meet- gect> 5. if anv asSembly of persons dissenting ;
ings excluded. J J *" u
from the Church of England, shall be had in any
place for religious worship, with the doors locked,
barred, or bolted, during any time of such meeting
together, all and every person or persons that shall
* By 7 and 8 Vict. c. 102, this act is repealed.

come to or be at such meeting, shall not receive any
benefit from this law, but be liable to all the pains
and penalties of all the aforesaid laws recited in this
act, for such their meeting, notwithstanding his
taking the oaths, and his making and subscribing
the declaration aforesaid.*
* Under this clause it may not be improper to notice a case, Finch v.
Batger and others, tried at Guildhall, London, before Macdonald, C. B.
which establishes the right of Friends to hold their meetings of disci
pline select, to the exclusion of all who are not members ofthe Society ,-
;.l distinction being made between meetings for religious worship and
those for discipline ; inasmuch as those for discipline having for their
object the church government of the Society, are not considered as
meetings for religious worship, notwithstanding there may be occa
sionally praying and preaching in the same.
Finch had been disowned by a Monthly Meeting in the year 1797, and
submitted to the judgment, without appeal. In the Twelfth Month 1803,
he attended the meeting for worship at Devonshire House previous to
the Quarterly Meeting, and remained in the house after the meeting
for worship was concluded : he was repeatedly requested to withdraw,
¦which he positively refused, and the Quarterly Meeting to avoid having
recourse to violence, opened the meeting, and adjourned to the 16th of
the ensuing month. Finch repeatedly applied for admission into the
adjourned meeting, and being refused, attempted to force his way, in
which he was resisted, and in one or two instances taken hold of by the
coat ; and on the 27th of Third Month 1804, he again applied for admit
tance into the Quarterly Meeting, but was refused ; whereupon, in Easter
Term, 1804, he brought an action in the Exchequer of Pleas, against
Batger and others, for an assault and false imprisonment, and for pre
venting him from entering into a building then open for religious wor
ship being had therein.
The defendants, by their plea in Trinity Term, denied the trespass,
and alleged that in the said building, meetings were held sometimes
for worship, and at other times for discipline ; and that at the time
aforesaid, the defendants with other persons being members of the
Society, assembled for holding a meeting for discipline, and seeing the
plaintiff endeavouring to enter, he not being a member, did request
him to desist, but he persisting, they laid their hands upon him, and
prevented him. To which the plaintiff in Hilary Term, 1805, by his
replication replied, that at the time mentioned the building was open

justice of Sect. 12. Every justice of the peace may at any
tender the time hereafter require any person that goes to any
oaths. 11,
meeting for exercise of religion, to make and sub
scribe the declaration aforesaid, and also to take the
said oaths or declaration of fidelity hereinafter men
tioned, in case such person scruples the taking an
oath ; and upon refusal thereof, such justice of the
Penalty for peace is hereby required to commit such person to
refusal. . .„ ,
prison, without bail or mainpnze, and to certify the
name of such person to the next general or quarter
sessions of the peace, to be held for that county, city,
town, part, or division, where such person then re-

for religious worship ; upon which issue was joined, and the matter
in dispute was reduced to the question, whether the meetings at the
times mentioned were open for religious worship.
On the 23rd of Second Month 1805, the cause came on for trial, and
the Chief Baron in the first instance proposed a reference, but which was
not agreed to on the part of the defendants : after the plaintiff's case
had been stated, the Chief Baron observed, " the question is, what was
the primary object on that day, not what the buildings were for ; I
take this meeting to be entirely for the purpose of church government,
and if so, it is a place of business at that time, though it may be inter
spersed with acts of worship." After three of the plaintiff's witnesses
had been examined, the C. B. observed to Sergeant "Williams, (the
plaintiff 's leading counsel,) " Brother Williams, I think your case is
desperate, — your own witnesses have proved you out of court." The
Sergeant replied, " My Lord, I could call more witnesses, but were I
to call all the Quakers in London, I cannot alter facts ; " certainly
not," replied the Baron, "you have done everything on your part."
And then directed the plaintiff to be called : being clearly of opinion
that the object of the meeting was proved by the plaintiff's own wit
nesses to be temporal business, and that the building at the time in
question, was not open for religious worship.
The plaintiff was accordingly nonsuited.
MS. Report in possession of the Meeting for Sufferings.

sides ; and if such person so committed, shall upon
a second tender, at a general or quarter sessions, re
fuse to make and subscribe the declaration afore
said, such person refusing shall be then and there
recorded, and he shall be taken thenceforth to all
intents and purposes, for a Popish Recusant convict,
and suffer accordingly, and incur all the penalties
and forfeitures of all the aforesaid laws.
Sect. 13. Persons, Dissenters from the Church Friends how
exempt.
of England, who scruple the taking any oath, shall
make and subscribe the aforesaid declaration* and
also the declaration of fidelity following : —

* The declaration referred to is contained in the before-mentioned
act 30 Charles II. and is as follows :
" I, A. B. do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God, profess,
testify, and declare, that I do believe, that in the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of
bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at or after the con
secration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or
adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of
the mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are supersti
tious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly in the presence of God, pro
fess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every
part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me,
as they are commonly understood by English Protestants, without any
evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without
any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the Pope, or
any other authority or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any
such dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or without
thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved
of this declaration, or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any other
person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul
the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning."

8
The form of this declaration has been since altered,
and ii now stands as fixed by the 8 Geo. I. c. 6, see
Oaths. And shall subscribe a profession of their christian
belief in these words :
I, A. B. profess faith in God the Father, and
in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son, the true God,
and in the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for ever
more; and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament to be given by divine
inspiration. Which declarations and subscriptions shall be made
and entered of record, at the general quarter sessions
of the peace for the county, city, or place where
every such person shall then reside. And every
such person that shall make and subscribe the two
declarations and profession aforesaid, being there
unto required, shall be exempted from all the pains
and penalties of all and every the aforementioned
statutes made against Popish Recusants, or Pro
testant Nonconformists ; and also from the penalties
of an act made in the fifth year of the reign of the
5 Eliz. c. i, late Queen Elizabeth, intituled "An act for the
repealed. assurance of the Queen's royal power over all estates

9
and subjects within her dominions,"* for or by
reason of such persons not taking or refusing to take
the oath mentioned in the said act ; and also from
the penalties of an act made in the thirteenth and i3&KChas.
II. c. 1,
fourteenth years of the reign of King Charles IL,
intituled, •' An act for preventing mischiefs that may repeated vid.
post.
arise by certain persons called Quakers refusing to
take lawful oaths ;" and enjoy all other the benefits,
privileges, and advantages, under the like limita
tions, provisoes, and conditions, which any other
dissenters shall or ought to enjoy by virtue of this
act.-j* Sect. 14. In case any person shall refuse to take How purged
after refusing
the said oaths when tendered to them, which every to take the
oaths.
justice of the peace is hereby empowered to do, such
person shall not be admitted to make and subscribe
the two declarations aforesaid, though required there-

* By 7 and 8 Vict. u. 102, so much of this act as rendered any person
violating its provisions liable to treason, or the statute of praemunire is
repealed ; and by 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, this act is wholly repealed.
f By the Indemnity Acts, which are now passed annually almost
as a matter of course, all persons who ought to have taken certain
oaths and subscribed certain declarations required by various acts, and
amongst which is mentioned the 8 Geo. I. c. 6, and which refers to
I "W. & M. c. 18, but who have neglected or omitted so to do, are
indemnified against all penalties, forfeitures, incapacities, and dis
abilities incurred by such neglect or omission, by taking the said oaths
and subscribing the said declarations on or before a particular day
therein mentioned, and before which day the next Indemnity Act is
generally passed.

10
unto, either before any justice of the peace, or at the
general or quarter sessions, before or after any con
viction of Popish Recusancy as aforesaid, unless such
person can within thirty-one days after such tender
of the declarations to him, produce two sufficient
Protestant witnesses, to testify upon oath, that they
believe him to be a Protestant Dissenter, or a cer
tificate under the hands of four Protestants, who are
conformable to the Church of England, or have
taken the oaths and subscribed the declaration
above-mentioned; and shall also produce a certi
ficate under the hands and seals of six or more
sufficient men, of the congregation to which he
belongs, owning him for one of them.
Sect. 15. Until such certificate, under the hands
of six of his congregation, as aforesaid, be produced,
and two Protestant witnesses come to attest his
being a Protestant Dissenter ; or a certificate under
the hands of four Protestants, as aforesaid, be pro
duced, the justice of the peace shall, and hereby is
required to take a recognizance with two sureties in
the penal sum of fifty pounds, to be levied of his
goods and chattels, lands and tenements, to the use
ofthe King and Queen's Majesties, their heirs and
successors, for his producing the same ; and if he
cannot give such security, to commit him to prison,

11
there to remain, until he has produced such certi
ficates, or two witnesses as aforesaid.
Sect. 16. All the laws made and provided for Laws for Di
vine Service
the frequenting Divine Service on the Lord's Day, in force-
commonly called Sunday, shall be still in force, and
executed against all persons that offend against the
said laws, except such persons come to some con
gregation or assembly of religious worship, allowed
or permitted by this act.
Sect. 18. If any person or persons, at any time Disturbers
how
or times, after the 10th day of June, do and shall punished.
willingly, and of purpose, maliciously or contemp
tuously, come into any cathedral or parish church,
chapel or other congregation, permitted by this act,
and disquiet or disturb the same, or misuse any
preacher or teacher; such person or persons, upon
proof thereof, before any justice of the peace, by two
or more sufficient witnesses, shall find two sureties
to be bound by recognizance, in the penal sum of
fifty pounds ; and in default of such sureties, shall
be committed to prison, there to remain till the next
general or quarter sessions; and upon conviction
of the said offence, at the said general or quarter
sessions, shall suffer the pain and penalty of
twenty pounds, to the use of the King and Queen's
Majesties, their heirs and successors.

12
Places for Sect. 19. No congregation, or assembly for reli-
worship to be
certified. ^ons worsjjip^ snall be permitted or allowed by this
act, until the place of such meeting shall be certified
to the Bishop of the Diocese, or to the Archdeacon
of that Archdeaconry, or to the justices of the peace,
at the general or quarter sessions of the peace, for
the county, city, or place, in which such meeting
shall be held, and registered in the said Bishop's
or Archdeacon's Court, respectively, or recorded at
the said general or quarter sessions ; the register or
clerk of the peace whereof respectively,- is hereby
required to register the same, and to give a cer
tificate thereof to such person as shall demand the
Fee. same, for which there shall be none greater fee nor
reward taken than the sum of sixpence.
10 Ann, c. 2. By 10 Ann, c. 2, intituled, " An act for pre-
Toieration serving the Protestant religion by better securing
confirmed. the Church of England, as by law established ; and
for confirming the toleration granted to Protestant
Dissenters by an act intituled, " An act for exempt
ing their Majesties' Protestant subjects, dissenting
from the Church of England, from the penalty of
certain laws," and for supplying the defects thereof;
and for the further securing the Protestant succes
sion, by requiring the practisers of the law in North
Britain to take the oaths, and subscribe the declara
tion therein mentioned," It is by Sect. 7 enacted,

13
that the toleration granted to Protestant Dissenters
by 1 William and Mary, shall be, and is thereby Ante P. 1.
ratified and confirmed, and that the same act shall at
all times be inviolably observed, for the exempting
of such Protestant Dissenters as are thereby intended
from the pains and penalties therein mentioned.
Sect. 8. And for rendering the said act more Benefit of
1W.- M.
effectual, according to the true intent and meaning extended.
thereof, it is further enacted and declared that if
any person dissenting from the Church of England
(not in holy orders, or pretended holy orders, or pre
tending to holy orders, or any preacher or teacher
of any congregation) who should have been intitled
to the benefit of the said act, if such person had
duly taken, made, and subscribed the oaths and
declaration, or otherwise qualified him or herself,
as required by the said act, and then was or shall
be prosecuted upon or by virtue of any of the penal
statutes, from which Protestant dissenters are ex
empted by the said act, shall at any time during
such prosecution, take, make, and subscribe the said
oaths and declaration, or being of the people called
Quakers, shall make and subscribe the aforesaid
declaration, and also the declaration of fidelity, and
subscribe the profession of their Christian belief
according to the said act, or before any two of her

14
Majesty's justices of the peace, (who are thereby
required to take and return the same to the next
quarter sessions of the peace, to be there recorded,)
such person shall be, and is hereby intitled to the
benefit of the said act, as fully and effectually, as
if such person had duly qualified himself within
the time prescribed by the said act, and shall be
thenceforth exempted and discharged from all the
penalties and forfeitures incurred by force of any
the aforesaid penal statutes.
52 Geo. in. By 52 Geo. III. c. 155, intituled, "An act to
c. 155.
Certain acts repeal certain acts, and amend other acts relating
repealed. to religious worship and assemblies and persons
teaching or preaching therein," It is enacted that,
an act of Parliament made in the session of Parlia-
13 & 14 chas. ment held in the 13th and 14th years of his late
II. c. 1. Majesty King Charles II. intituled, " An act for
preventing the mischiefs and dangers that may arise
by certain persons called Quakers, and others, re
fusing to take lawful oaths ;" and another act of
17 Chas. ii. Parliament, made in the 17th year of the reign of
his late Majesty King Charles II. intituled, " An
act for restraining nonconformists from inhabiting
in Corporations;" and another act of Parliament,
22 Chas. ii. made in the 22nd year of the reign of the late King
c. 1. Charles II. intituled, 'f An act to prevent and sup-

15
press seditious Conventicles," shall be, and the same
are thereby repealed.
And by Sect. 14, it is provided and enacted, that Exemption.
nothing in this act contained, shall extend or be
construed to extend to the people usually called
Quakers, nor to any meetings or assemblies for reli
gious worship held or convened by such persons;
or in any manner to alter or repeal, or affect any
act, other than and except the acts passed in the
reign of King Charles II. hereinbefore repealed,
relating to the people called Quakers, or relating
to any assemblies or meetings for religious worship
held by them*

In 57 Geo. III. c. 19, intituled, " An act for the 57 Geo. in.
c. 19.
more effectually preventing seditious meetings and Seditious
meetings.
* It is to be remarked that as the law now stands, according to the
opinion of eminent counsel, Friends are not liable to any fine or other
penalty for convening or holding meetings for worship in places not
registered ; and that no danger needs be apprehended by any persons,
not members of the Society of Friends, who may attend such meetings.
It is also the united opinion of the counsel whose advice has been
taken, that no penalty attaches to the owner or occupier of the house
or other building in which any such meeting may be held.
In case of any outrage committed on the persons assembled at any
such meeting, or any wilful injury to the building, there is no doubt
but the law affords a remedy.
Notwithstanding the above, it is considered proper that care should
continue to be taken to register the usual and accustomed places for
public worship belonging to the Society of Friends, as required by the
Toleration Act, 1 W. and M. st. 1, u. 18, sect. 19. See page 12.

16
assemblies," it is by Sect. 26 provided, that nothing
therein contained should extend or be construed to
extend to any meeting or society of the people com-
Exemption. monly called Quakers, or to any meeting or society
formed or assembled for purposes of a religious or
charitable nature only, and in which no other
matter or business whatsoever shall be treated of
or discussed.
And, by Sect. 27, after reciting that in an act
39 Geo. ill. of the thirty-ninth year of the then present reign,
intituled, " An act for the more effectual suppression
of societies established for seditious and treasonable
purposes ; and for better preventing treasonable
and seditious practices," it is amongst other things
enacted, "that every society which shall be com
posed of different divisions or branches, or of dif
ferent parts acting in any manner separately or
distinct from each other, or of which any part shall
have any separate or distinct president, secretary,
treasurer, delegate, or other officer elected or ap
pointed by or for such part, or to act as an officer
for such part, shall be deemed and taken to be
Exemption, unlawful combinations and confederacies ;" It is
enacted that the said enactment shall not extend,
or be construed to extend, to any meeting or society
of the people commonly called Quakers, or to any

17
meeting or society formed or assembled for purposes
of a religious or charitable nature only, and in
which no other matter or business whatsoever shall
be treated of or discussed.
By 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, intituled, "An act to9&iovict. c. 59.
relieve her Majesty's subjects from certain penalties Disturbingreligious
and disabilities in regard to religious opinions," it assemblies.
is by Sect. 4 enacted, That from and after the com
mencement of this act, all laws now in force against
the wilfully and maliciously, or contemptuously dis
quieting or disturbing any meeting, assembly, or con
gregation of persons assembled for religious worship,
permitted or authorized by any former act or acts
of Parliament, or the disturbing, molesting, or mis
using any preacher, teacher, or person officiating in
such meeting, assembly or congregation, or any
person or persons there assembled, shall apply re
spectively to all meetings, assemblies, or congre
gations whatsoever, . of persons lawfully assembled
for religious worship, and the preachers, teachers,
or persons officiating at such last mentioned meet
ings, assemblies, or congregations, and the persons
there assembled.

Bv3 Geo. IV, c. 126, intituled" An act to amend 3 Geo iv.
J ' ' u. 126.
the general laws now in being, for regulating turn-

18
pike roads in that part of Great Britain, called
Exemptions England," it is by Sect, 32, enacted, That, {among
from tolls. many other exemptions,) no toll shall be demanded,
or taken by virtue of this or any other act or acts of
parliament, on any turnpike road, of or from any
person or persons going to or returning from his, her,
or their proper parochial church or chapel, or of or
from any other person or persons going to or return
ing from his, her, or their usual place of religious
worship, tolerated by law on Sundays, or on any day
on which divine service is by authority ordered to
be celebrated ; or of or from any inhabitant of any
parish, township, or place, going to or returning
from attending the funeral of any person who shall
die and be buried in the parish, township or hamlet
in which any turnpike road shall lie.
Extent of ex- Sect. 33 enacts, That so much of this act as
emption from
toils. directs that no toll shall be demanded or taken from
any person or persons going to or returning from his,
her, or their proper parochial church or chapel, or
of or from any other person or persons going to or
returning from his, her, or their usual place of reli
gious worship tolerated by law, on Sundays, or on
any day on which divine service is ordered by
authority to be celebrated, shall not extend, or
be construed to extend, so as to exempt any such

19
person or persons from the payment of toll at any
turnpike gate or gates, situate within the distance
of five miles of the Royal Exchange in the City
of London, or within the distance of five miles
of Westminster Hall in the City and Liberties of
Westminster. By 3 and 4 Will. IV, c. 30, intituled, " An act to 3&4Wiii.iv.
J ' c.30.
exempt from poor and church rates, all churches,
chapels, and other places of religious worship," it is No persons
liable to be
enacted, That from and after the first day of October, ™ted for .
' •> places exclu-
1833, no person or persons shall be rated, or PriatedToPr°ii-
n i i ii gious worship.
shall be liable to be rated, or to pay to any church
or poor rates or cesses, for or in respect of
any churches, district churches, chapels, meeting
houses, or premises, or such part thereof as shall
be exclusively appropriated to public religious wor
ship, and which, (other than churches, district
churches, and episcopal chapels of the established
church,) shall be duly certified for the performance
of such religious worship, according to the provision
of any act or acts now in force: Provided always, Proviso.
that no person or persons shall be hereby exempted
from any such rates or cesses, for or in respect of
any parts of such churches, district churches,
chapels, meeting houses, or other premises which
are not so exclusively appropriated, and from which
c2

20
parts not so exclusively appropriated, such person or
persons shall receive any rent or rents, or shall derive
profit or advantage.
Persons not Sect. 2 enacts, That no person or persons shall
liable because
part of pre- be liable to any such rates or cesses, because the
mises used for
schools. sai<j churcheSj district churches, chapels, meeting
houses, or other premises, or any vestry rooms
belonging thereto, or any part thereof, may be used
for Sunday or Infant Schools, or for the charitable
education of the poor.
7&8Vict. ^y 7 and 8 Vict. c. 45, intituled "An act for the
c. 45
Regulating regulation of suits relating to meeting houses and
suits relating ,
to meeting other property held for religious purposes, by persons
houses, &c. dissenting from the united Church of England and
iw.&m. Ireland," After reciting 1 Wm. and M., Sess. 1,
Sess. 1, c. 18. °
19^0.111. c lg . jg GeQ jjj^ c 44; gg Ge() m c 16Q;
c. 160. 6 Geo. I. (Ireland,) and 57 Geo. III. c. 70, And
6 Geo. I. (I.)
577ne°' m" recrtmg that prior to the passing of the said recited
acts respectively, as well as subsequently thereto,
certain meeting houses for the worship of God, and
Sunday or day schools, (not being grammar-schools,)
and other charitable foundations, were founded or
used in England and Wales and Ireland respec
tively, for purposes beneficial to persons dissent
ing from the Church of England and the Church

21
of Ireland, and the united Church of England and
Ireland respectively, which were unlawful prior to
the passing of those acts respectively, but which by
those acts respectively were made no longer unlaw- Recited acts
as well as
ful, it is enacted. That with respect to the meeting deeds> f^0- tJ°
r ° be construed
houses, schools, and other charitable foundations so had beenin8
founded or used as aforesaid, and the persons holding time of the
foundation of
or enjoying the benefit thereof respectively, such ™oh meeting
acts, and all deeds or documents relating to such
charitable foundations, shall be construed as if the
said acts had been in force respectively at the re
spective times of founding or using such meeting
houses, schools, and other charitable foundations as
aforesaid.

Sect. 2 enacts. That so far as no particular reli- The religious
"¦ doctrines or
gious doctrines or opinions, or mode of regulating ^preaching
worship, shall on the face of the will, deed, or °f which the
meeting
other instrument, declaring the trusts of any meet- house maybe
b J held, to be
ing house for the worship of God, by persons %»££££
,. ,. ,. ., ... . , where not ex-
dissentmg as aforesaid, either in express terms, or pressiy stated
in the Deed of
by reference to some book, or other document, as Trust.
containing such doctrines or opinions, or mode of
regulating worship, be required to be taught or
observed, or be forbidden to be taught or observed
therein, the usage for twenty-five years immediately
preceding any suit relating to such meeting house

22
of the congregation frequenting the same, shall be
taken as conclusive evidence that such religious
doctrines, or opinions, or mode, as have for such
period been taught or observed in such meeting
house, may properly be taught or observed in such
meeting house, and the right or title of the con
gregation to hold such meeting house, together
with any burial ground, Sunday, or day school, or
minister's house attached thereto, and any fund
for the benefit of such congregation, or of the
minister or other officer of such congregation, or
of the widow of any such minister, shall not be
called in question on account of the doctrines, or
opinions, or mode of worship so taught or observed
Proviso. in such meeting house : Provided nevertheless, that
where any such minister's house, school or fund
as aforesaid, shall be given or created by any will,
deed or other instrument, which shall declare in
express terms, or by such reference as aforesaid,
the particular religious doctrines or opinions for the
promotion of which such minister's house, school
or fund is intended, then, aiid in every such case,
such minister's house, school or fund, shall be
applied to the promoting of the doctrines or opinions
so specified, any usage of the congregation to the
contrary notwithstanding.

23
Sect. 3 provides, That the act shall not affect any
judgment, &c. already pronounced by a court of law
or equity, but that in suits pending, the court may
give the defendants the benefit of the act.

Under the Head " Charities/' post, will be found the act
9 Geo. II. c. 36, (commonly, though inaccurately, called
the Mortmain Act,) and the remedial act 9 Geo. IV. c. 85,
passed for perfecting titles in cases where the provisions of the
Mortmain Act had not been complied with. And it is to be
especially observed, that the remedial act has only a retro
spective operation, and that the provisions and formalities
required by the 9 Geo. II. c. 36, must in future be strictly
complied with.
The purchase or acquisition of meeting houses and burial
grounds, or of land for either of those purposes, as well as
of premises held for objects more strictly charitable, comes
within the purview of the Mortmain Act.

OATHS AND AFFIRMATION.
7 jas. I. c. 6. By 7 James I. c. 6, Sect. 2,* It is enacted, that
Every person every person above the age of eighteen years, shall
takToath of take the oath of allegiance set forth in 3 James L
allegiance. c. 4. (repealed vide ante p. 1 note.)

Justices may Sect. 26. It shall be lawful for any two justices
require per
sons to take 0f the peace (whereof one of the quorum) to require
tilt," Oiltil. any person of the age of eighteen years, under the
On refusal, degree of a Baron or Baroness, to take the oath;
persons may
be committed an(j jf any person of the age of eighteen years shall
till HSXt 3.SS1-
^s;eaf"dAe"0 refuse to take the oath duly tendered, the persons
penalties of authorized may commit the offender to the common
praemunire. gaol until the next assizes or quarter sessions, where
the oath shall be again required ; and if the person
shall refuse to take the oath, every person so re
fusing, shall incur the penalty of praemunire,-]* ex
cept women covert, who shall be committed only
to prison, till they take the oath.
* So much of this act as relates to Recusants, or to the penalties of
Recusancy, is repealed by 7 and 8 Vict. c. 102 ; and by 9 and 10 Vict.
c. 59, 7 Jas. I. c. 6, is wholly repealed.
+ Praemunire ; so called from the words of the writ preparatory to
the prosecution thereof ; the penalties whereof are, that the persons
incurring the same, shall be put out ofthe King's protection, and their
lands and goods forfeited to the King, and they shall be attached by
their bodies, and brought before the King and his Council to answer,
or process shall be made against them by praemunire facias.

25
Sect. 27. Every person refusing to take the Persons refus
ing, incapable
oath, shall be disabled to execute any public place ofanyoffice-
of judicature, or to bear any other office (being no
office of inheritance or ministerial function) within
England, or to the practice of the law, or physic or
surgery, or the art of an apothecary, or any liberal
science for gain, until he shall receive the oath.
By 1 W. and M. st. 1, c. 8, intituled, " An act i w. and m.
•" st. 1, c. 8.
for abrogating the oaths of supremacy and alle- Repeal of cer-
tain oaths.
giance, and appointing other oaths,"* Sect. 2, The
oath of supremacy required by 1 Eliz. c. 1, and the
oath of allegiance required by 3 James I. c. 4, and
7 James I. c. 6, are repealed.
Sect. 3. The oaths and declaration appointed by other oaths
required to be
this act shall be taken and subscribed by such per- taken.
sons as were required to take the said abrogated
oaths of supremacy and allegiance.

Sect. 4. And all and every person and persons Before whom
oaths, &c. to
shall take the said oaths, and make, repeat, and be taken-
subscribe the said declaration, before such person
* So much of this act as renders liable any person or persons who
shall refuse to take the oaths therein mentioned, or either of them, to
imprisonment, fine, and disability to hold any office, civil or military,
is repealed by 7 and 8 Vict. c. 102 ; and by 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59, other
parts of 1 Eliz. c. 1, are repealed, and 3 Jas. I. c. 4. is wholly repealed.

26
or persons respectively, as were authorized and
empowered to tender the said oaths of allegiance
then abrogated and made void ; which said person
or persons are thereby required to minister and
tender the same accordingly.
Persons in Sect. 5. All persons that shall hereafter be ad-
office to take
the oaths. mitted into any office or employment, ecclesiastical
or civil, or come into any capacity, in respect, or
by reason whereof, they should have been obliged
by any statute to take the said abrogated oaths, or
either of them, shall take the oaths hereby ap
pointed, in such manner, at such times, before such
persons, and in such places, as they should or ought
to have taken the said former oaths, or either of
them, in case the same had not been abrogated.
Penalty for And that every person who shall neglect or refuse
neglect. to take the same, shall incur and be liable to the
same penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, and incapaci
ties, as by any such statute was appointed.

Persons refus- Sect. 9. If any person or persons shall refuse to
ing to take
the oaths take the said oaths, or either of them, when ten-
upon tender, ' '
mitted0"1' dered t0 him or them by any persons lawfully
authorized to administer or tender the same ; the
person or persons so tendering the said oaths, or
either of them, shall commit the said person and

27
persons so refusing, to the common gaol or house
of correction, there to remain, without bail or main-
prize, for the space of three months, unless such
offender shall pay down to the said person or per
sons so tendering the said oaths, or either of them,
such sum of money, not exceeding forty shillings,
as the said person or persons so tendering the said
oaths, or either of them, shall require such offender
to pay ; which monies shall be paid to the church
wardens or overseers of the poor, for the relief of
the poor of the parish or place where such offender
did last inhabit ; and if at the end of three months Second re
fusal.
after such refusal, the person or persons so refusing,
shall again refuse to take the said oaths, or either
of them, when lawfully tendered to him or them,
the person or persons so tendering the said oaths,
or either of them, shall commit the said person
and persons so refusing, to the common gaol or
house of correction, there to remain for the space
of six months, unless every such offender shall pay
down to the person or persons so tendering the
said oaths, or either of them, such sum of money,
not exceeding ten pounds, nor under five pounds,
as the said person or persons so tendering the said
oaths, or either of them, shall require such offender
to pay ; the said money to be disposed of in manner
aforesaid: And unless every such offender shall

28
become bound with two sufficient sureties, with
condition to be of good behaviour, and also to
appear at the next assizes or general gaol delivery
to be holden for the county, liberty, or place where
such offender shall then inhabit or reside ; at which
assizes or gaol delivery the said oaths shall be again
tendered to every such offender by the justices of
assizes or gaol delivery, in their open assizes or
Third refusal, gaol delivery : And if the said offender shall refuse
to take the said oaths, or either of them, when
tendered by the justices of assizes or gaol delivery,
then every person and persons so refusing, shall be
and are hereby adjudged incapable of any office, civil
or military, within this kingdom, and shall likewise
be and remain bound to good behaviour until he
or they do take the said oaths. And in case any
Penalty for such person or persons shall refuse also to make
refusing declaration. an(j subscribe the declaration* mentioned in the
statute made in the 30 Chas. II. such person and
persons shall suffer all pains, penalties, forfeitures,
and disabilities, as a Popish Recusant convict, and
be taken and deemed a Popish Recusant convict, to
all intents and purposes whatsoever.
Other oaths are appointed by subsequent acts
instead of those appointed by this act.
* See page 7, note.

29

By 1 W. and M., c. 18, intituled, "An act fonw.&M. c. 18, Parish
exempting; their Majesties' Protestant subiects dis- officers scru-
r ° d J pling oaths,
senting from the Church of England, from the gTeputy. aCt
penalties of certain laws," Sect. 7, It is enacted,
that if any person dissenting from the Church of
England, shall hereafter be chosen or otherwise
appointed, to bear the office of high constable or
petit constable, churchwarden, overseer of the poor,
or any other parochial or ward office, and such ,
person shall scruple to take upon him any of the
said offices in regard of the oaths, or any other
matter or thing required by the law to be taken or
done in respect of such office, every such person
shall and may execute such office or employment by
a sufficient deputy, by him to be provided, that
shall comply with the laws on this behalf. Pro
vided always, the said deputy be allowed and
approved by such person or persons, in such manner
as such officer or officers respectively should by law
have been allowed and approved.

Bv 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 24, intituled, '* An act 7 & 8 wm.
J III. c. 24.
requiring the practisers of law to take the oaths, and ^e.rson,s Prac*
subscribe the declaration therein mentioned," It is &Auabie to'
penalties.
enacted, that if any person shall act as serjeant at
law, counsellor, barrister, advocate, attorney, soli
citor, proctor, clerk, or notary, by practising in any

30
manner as such in any court, not having before the
time of such acting taken in Chancery, or King's
Bench, or quarter sessions of the county wherein he
Ante p. 25. lives, the oaths mentioned in 1 W. and M. c. 8, and
made and subscribed the declaration* appointed in
25 Chas. II. intituled, An act for preventing dangers
which may happen from Popish Recusants," such per
sons shall incur all the pains, penalties, and forfeitures
mentioned in the statute of Praemunire, 16 Rich. II.

7 & 8 Will. By 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 27, intituled, " An act
III. c. 27. for the better security of his Majesty's Royal Person
rersonsre- and Government;" Sect. 1, It is enacted that every
fusing to take
oatiis, liable to person and persons who shall refuse to take the
penalties on
PantsSh RtCU" oatns when tendered by persons lawfully authorised,
or shall refuse or neglect to appear when lawfully
summoned in order to have the oaths tendered to
him or them, shall until he or they have duly taken
the said oaths be liable to incur, forfeit, pay, and
suffer, all and every the penalties, forfeitures, sums
of money, disabilities, and incapacities, which by the
laws of the realm are or were inflicted upon Popish
Recusants, duly convicted of Recusancy. And the
* The following is the form of this declaration : —
" I, A. B. do declare, that I do believe, that there is not any transub
stantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of
bread and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person
whatsoever."

31

persons so tendering the oaths shall upon every such Names of per
sons refusing
refusal or default of appearance, record the christian to be entered
"• ' ot record.
and surnames, and the place of abode of the person
or persons so refusing or not appearing, with the
time of such tender and refusal, or default of appear
ance, and shall deliver and certify the said record or
entry to the justices of assize, justices of Oyer and
Terminer or gaol delivery, at their next session, who
shall forthwith certify the same into his Majesty's
Court of Exchequer.
Sect. 12. Provided always that such of the Dis- Friends may
subscribe De-
senters from the Church of England, called Quakers, ^f1™4.'011 of
0 Fidelity.
who scruple the taking any oath, as shall make and
subscribe the declaration of fidelity mentioned in
1 W. and M. and shall produce such witnesses and Ante p. 7.
certificates as are by the said act required, proving
themselves to be of the said people called Quakers,
and shall also own King William to be rightful and
lawful King of these realms, shall and are hereby
exempted from the penalties and forfeitures provided
bv this act for such as shall refuse to take the oaths.

Sect. 19. And it is further enacted that no Persons re
fusing to take
person who shall refuse to take the oaths, or being oaths> &c- to
r have no vote
Quakers shall refuse to subscribe the declaration of "emWsof1'
fidelity (which oaths and subscription respectively

32
the sheriff or chief officer taking the poll at any
election of members to serve in parliament, at the
request of any one of the candidates, are hereby em
powered and required to administer) shall be admitted
to give any vote for the election of any knight, citizen,
burgess, or baron, to serve in Parliament.
7&8wm. By 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, intituled, " An act
III.c 34. J
that the solemn affirmation and declaration of the
people called Quakers, shall be accepted instead of
an oath in the usual form;" Sect. I, After reciting
that divers Dissenters, commonly called Quakers,
refusing to take an oath in courts of justice, and
other places, are frequently imprisoned, and their
estates sequestered, by process of contempt issuing
out of such courts, to the ruin of themselves and
families : For remedy thereof it was enacted that
Friends, in- every Quaker within the Kingdom of England,
stead of oath,
tomakeaffir- Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
mation. Tweed, who shall be required upon any lawful
occasion to take an oath in any case, where by law an
oath is required, shall, instead of the usual form, be
permitted to make his or her solemn affirmation or
declaration, in the words therein following.
The form is altered by 8 Geo. I.e. 6, post, and
subsequently by 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 49, post.

33
Sect. 2. Which said solemn affirmation or decla- Whichistobe
of the same
ration shall be adjudged and taken, and is thereby force in law as
enacted and declared to be of the same force and
effect, to all intents and purposes, in all courts of
justice, and other places, where by law an oath is
required within the Kingdom of England, Dominion
of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, as if
such Quaker had taken an oath in the usual form.

Sect. 3. And it is further enacted, that if any Penalty on
false affirma-
Quaker, making such solemn affirmation or declara- tion-
tion, shall be lawfully convicted, wilfully, falsely,
and corruptly to have affirmed or declared any matter
or thing, which, if the same had been in the usual
form, would have amounted to wilful and corrupt
perjury ; every such Quaker so offending, shall incur
the same penalties and forfeitures, as by the laws
and statutes of this realm are enacted against persons
convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury.

Sect. 6. Provided, and it is enacted, that no Friends not to
be evidence in
Quaker or reputed Quaker, shall by virtue of this criminal
A causes.
act be qualified or permitted to give evidence in any ^equelit7
criminal causes, or serve on any juries, or bear any
office or place of profit in the Government; any
thing herein contained to the contrary in any wise
notwithstanding.

34
This act was to continue in force for seven years,
it was extended by 13 Will. III. c. 4, and made
perpetual by 1 Geo. I. c. 6, and so far as regards
the affirmation, extended to Scotland; but is altered
by 8 Geo. I. c. 6, by 9 Geo. IV. c. 32, and 3 & 4
Will. IV. c. 49.
6 Ann.c. 14. By 6 Ann, c. 14, intituled, " An act for the better
security of her Majesty's person and government,"
justices may Sect. 7, It is enacted, that it shall and may be lawful
summondisaffected™ ^or any *wo justices °f the peace, whereof one of
tender^hem them to be of the quorum, within any of the
the oath. . , . .
counties, ridings, divisions, stewartries, cities, or
boroughs within the Kingdom of Great Britain, or
any other person or persons who shall be for that
purpose specially appointed, at any time or times to
summon and convene before them all such persons
within the limits of their respective jurisdictions,
powers and authorities, as they shall or may suspect
to be dangerous or disaffected to the Government,
and shall and may tender to every such person
and persons the oath therein above-mentioned and
appointed, (viz., the oath of Abjuration, which is
altered by subsequent statutes, vide post,) and shall at
the next quarter sessions of the peace, to be held for
the county or place in which the said oath shall be
tendered, certify the christian names and surnames,

35
and places of abode, of all persons refusing to take
the said oath, to be there recorded, and shall be
from thence certified by the clerk of the peace of
such county, riding, liberty, borough, town corporate,
or place, within England, into the Court of Chancery
or Queen's Bench at Westminster, and by the clerk
of the peace of every shire, stewartry, borough, or
place, in Scotland, into the Court of Session, there to
be recorded in the register or rolls of the said re
spective courts ; and if the person so refusing and
certified shall not, within the next term or session
after such refusal, appear in the Court of Chancery,
Queen's Bench, or Session, where such certificate
shall be returned, and in open court audibly and
solemnly take and subscribe the oath aforesaid, and
endorse or enter his so doing upon the certificate so
returned, shall be from such the time of his neglect
or refusal, taken, esteemed and adjudged a Popish
recusant convict, and as such shall forfeit and
undergo such penalties as a Popish recusant convict
ought to do by the laws in England.
By 6 Ann, c. 23, it is enacted, Sect. 13, that 6 Ann, c. 23.
Friends re-
everv person who shall refuse to take the oath last fusing tomake
J r affirmation.
thereinbefore recited, (viz. the oath of Abjuration)
or being a Quaker, shall refuse to declare the effect
thereof upon his solemn affirmation, as directed by
d 2

36
Ante p. 32. 7 Will, (which oath or declaration the sheriff, pre
sident of the meeting, or chief officer taking the
poll, at any election of members to serve in the
House of Commons for any place in Great Britain,
or commissioners for choosing burgesses for any
place in Scotland, at the request of any candidate
or other person present at such election, are thereby
incapable of empowered and required to administer) shall not be
voting for
Parliament caParjle of giving any vote for the election of any
such member to serve in the House of Commons
for any place in Great Britain, or commissioner to
choose a burgess for any place in Scotland.

Friends not
liable to
penalties.

Ante p. 32.

Sect. 14. If any person being a Quaker, shall
refuse to take the said oath, being tendered to him
in pursuance of the 6 Ann, c. 14, but shall instead
thereof, declare the effect of the said oath, upon his
solemn affirmation, as directed by 7 Will. III.
which affirmation shall be administered to such
Quaker instead of the said oath, such Quaker shall
not be liable to any of the penalties or forfeitures
for refusing the said oath, when tendered to him,
contained or mentioned in 6 Ann. c. 14.

1 Geo. I. c. 6.
Affirmation

By 1 Geo. I. c. 6, intituled, "An act for making
iuSnlt perpetual an act 7 and 8 Will. III., intituled, 'An
act that the solemn affirmation and declaration of

37
the people called Quakers, shall be accepted instead
of an oath in the usual form,' and for explaining and
enforcing the said act in relation to the payment of
tithes and church rates and for appointing the form
of an affirmation to be taken by the said people
called Quakers, instead of the oath of abjuration."
It is enacted, Sect. 3, that in all cases wherever the
effect of the said abjuration oath may be legally
tendered, or required of the said people called
Quakers, or any of them, he or they shall take the
effect thereof in the words there following : The
form is subsequently altered, vide post.
By 8 Geo. I. c. 6, intituled, " An act for granting 8 Geo. I c.6.
the people called Quakers, such forms of affirmation
or declaration, as may remove the difficulties which
many of them lie under:" .Reciting, that for giving
some ease to scrupulous consciences, an act was
made, 1 W. & M. c. 18, whereby, among other Ante p. l.
things, a declaration of fidelity, in the form therein
expressed, is appointed to be made by certain per
sons, Dissenters from the Church of England, who
scruple the taking of any oath: And reciting, that
an act was made 7 and 8 Will. III. intituled, " An Ante p. 32.
act that the solemn affirmation and declaration of the
people called Quakers,, shall be accepted instead of
an oath in the usual form," under the provisions

38
therein mentioned ; which act being at first tempo
rary, was afterwards further continued by 13 and 14
Will. III. and the same act is made perpetual by an
act made in the first year of his then Majesty's reign ;
by which last mentioned act, a form, importing the
effect of the abjuration oath, is prescribed to be taken
by the said people called Quakers : And reciting,
that the inconveniences to the said people called
Quakers, and their families, and to others requiring
their testimony, in many cases, were not sufficiently
avoided, by reason of difficulties among the said
Quakers, relating to the forms of the declaration,
affirmation and abjuration, before-mentioned, as the
same were then prescribed : And reciting that it
was evident, that the said people called Quakers
had not abused the liberty and indulgence allowed
to them by law, and that they had given testimony
of their fidelity and affection to his Majesty, and the
settlement of the Crown in the Protestant line ; and
that it was reasonable to give them farther ease and
New forms, relief: It is then enacted, that in all cases, where by
law any Quaker is, or shall be required or permitted
to make and subscribe the declaration of fidelity, in
the form prescribed by the said first mentioned act,
or to make the solemn affirmation or declaration in
the form prescribed by 7 & 8 Will. III., or to take
the effect of the abjuration oath, in the form pre-

39
scribed by the act of the first year of his then
Majesty's reign, every such Quaker, shall, instead of
such first mentioned declaration of fidelity, make and
subscribe a declaration of fidelity in the following
words, viz.
I, A. B. do solemnly and sincerely promise and Declaration of
fidelity.
declare, that I will be true and faithful to King
George, and do solemnly, sincerely, and truly pro
fess, testify, and declare, that I do from my heart
abhor, detest, and renounce, as impious and here
tical, that wicked doctrine and position, that Princes
excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any
authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or
murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever.
And I do declare, that no foreign Prince, Person,
Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath or ought to have
any power, jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence or
authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm.
And instead of the solemn affirmation or declara- Affirmation.
tion in the form prescribed by 7 and 8 Will. III.
every such Quaker shall make the solemn declaration
or affirmation set out in the act.
And instead of the form prescribed by the said
act of the first year of his then Majesty's reign, for

40
the effect of the abjuration oath, every such Quaker
shall take the effect thereof in the words set out in
the act.
The forms now in use are given in 3 Sf 4 Will.
IV c. 49, post.
Authority for And all persons authorised or required to admi-
administering
new forms. n'ster or tender, either the said former declaration
of fidelity, or the said former solemn affirmation
or declaration, or the former effect of the abjura
tion oath aforesaid, shall be, and are hereby au
thorised and required to administer and tender the
same respectively, to the said people called Quakers,
in the words by this act respectively appointed.
To be of the sect. 2. The declaration of fidelity, and solemn
same effect as J
former ones. affirmation or declaration, and the effect of the
abjuration oath, appointed by this act for the said
people called Quakers, instead of the respective
forms prescribed for the same by the said recited
acts, shall respectively be adjudged and taken to be
of such and the same force and effect, and no other,
to all intents and purposes, in all courts of justice
and elsewhere, as if such Quaker had made and
subscribed the declaration of fidelity, or had made
the solemn affirmation or declaration, or had taken

41
the effect of the abjuration oath, in the respective
forms appointed by the said recited acts : And if
any person making such affirmation or declaration, False affirma
tion.
as is appointed by this act to be made, instead
of the affirmation or declaration in the form pre
scribed by 7 & 8 Will. III. shall be lawfully con
victed of wilful, false and corrupt affirming and
declaring any matter or thing, which, if sworn in
the common or usual form, would have amounted to
wilful and corrupt perjury, every such person, so
offending shall incur and suffer such and the same
pains, penalties, and forfeitures, as are inflicted or
enacted, by the laws and statutes of this realm,
against persons convicted of wilful and corrupt
perjury.

Sect. 3. All clauses, provisoes, and exceptions, clauses not
repealed.
contained in the said recited acts, or any of them,
not hereby expressly altered or repealed, shall be of
such and the same force and effect, as they were
before the making of this act .*
* By the Annual Indemnity Acts, all persons who ought to have
taken certain oaths, and subscribed certain declarations required by
various acts, and amongst which are mentioned several of the acts set
out under this head, but who have neglected or omitted so to do, are
indemnified against all penalties, forfeitures, incapacities, and disabi
lities, incurred by such neglect or omission, by taking the said oaths,
and subscribing the said declarations, on or before a particular day
therein mentioned, before which day the next Indemnity Act is gene
rally passed.

42
By 22 Geo. II. c. 46, it was enacted, that in all cases where
by any act then in force or thereafter to be made, an oath was
or should be allowed, authorized, directed, or required, the
affirmation of a Friend should be allowed and taken instead
of such oath ; but the act contains similar exceptions to those
contained in the former acts, as to giving evidence in criminal
cases, serving on juries, and bearing any office of profit in the
Government. And by 15 Geo. III. c. 39, the affirmation of
Friends was extended to cases where penalties were to be
levied, or distresses to be made under any Act of Parliament ;
but as the affirmation is now by 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 49, post,
extended to all cases where an oath is or shall be required, it
is needless to set them out in full.

Geo. iv. u. By 9 Geo. IV. c. 32, intituled "An act for
32. amending the law of evidence in certain cases," it
Friends or is by Sect. 1 enacted, that every Quaker or Moravian
Moravians re
quired to give wno shall be required to give evidence in any case
evidence, may ¦"¦ ° J
oathmakean whatsoever, criminal or civil, shall, instead of taking
affirmation, an oath in the usual form, be permitted to make his
which shall
be of the or her solemn affirmation or declaration in the words
same effect in
^r^HminaT11 following, (that is to say,)
The form of "I, A. B. do solemnly, sincerely, and truly
the affirma-
hi?n ISA0Wo declare and affirm," which said affirmation or de-
altered by S
c. 49, post, claration shall be of the same force and effect in
all courts of justice, and other places, where by law
an oath is required, as if such Quaker or Moravian

43
had taken an oath in the usual form ; and if any
person making such affirmation or declaration shall
be convicted of having wilfully, falsely, and corruptly
affirmed or declared any matter or thing, which if
the same had been sworn in the usual form, would
have amounted to wilful and corrupt perjury, every
such offender shall be subject to the same pains,
penalties, and forfeitures, to which persons convicted
of wilful and corrupt perjury are or shall be subject.

By 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 49, intituled "An act3&4Wiu.
J IV. c. 49.
to allow Quakers and Moravians to make affir
mation in all cases where an oath is or shall be
required," it is by Sect. 1 enacted, that every per- Friends per
mitted to
son of the persuasion of the people called Quakers, ™ake solemn
"¦ "• ' affirmation or
and every Moravian, be permitted to make his or her jn^ea^of'an
solemn affirmation or declaration instead of taking cases.
an oath, in all places and for all purposes whatso
ever where an oath is or shall be required, either by
the common law or by any Act of Parliament already
made or hereafter to be made, which said affirma
tion or declaration shall be of the same force and
effect, as if he or she had taken an oath in the
usual form ; and if any such person making such
solemn affirmation or declaration shall be lawfully Penalty on
affirming or
convicted wilfully, falsely, and corruptly to have declaring
falsely.
affirmed or declared any matter or thing, which, if

44
the same had been in the usual form, would have
amounted to wilful and corrupt perjury, he or she
shall incur the same penalties and forfeitures as by
the laws and statutes of this realm are enacted
against persons convicted of wilful and corrupt per
jury, any law, statute, or custom to the contrary
Proviso. notwithstanding ; provided always, that every such
affirmation or declaration shall be in the words
following ; (that is to say,)
Formofdecia- " I, A. B. being one of the people called Quakers,
ration. [or one of the persuasion of the people called Quakers,
or of the United Brethren called Moravians, as the
case may be,] do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare
and affirm."
By Sect. 2, after reciting that some doubts may
arise as to the form of the affirmation to be taken in
lieu of the oath of abjuration, by persons of the per
suasion of the people called Quakers, it is enacted,
that instead of the form of affirmation prescribed in
8 Geo. i. c. 6. lieu of the abjuration oath by the act 8 Geo. I,
Ante p. 37. and instead of the form of the oath of abjuration
6 Geo. m. prescribed by the act 6 Geo. Ill, every person of
the persuasion of the people called Quakers, shall
be permitted to make his or her solemn affirmation
in the following words, videlicit,

c. 53.

45
" I, A. B., being one ofthe people called Quakers, Form of
affirmation in
[or one of the persuasion ofthe people called Quakers, jj™u°£t°o*h of
or of the United Brethren called Moravians, as the
case may be~] do solemnly, sincerely, and truly acknow
ledge, profess, testify and declare, that King William
is lawful and rightful King of this realm, and of all
other his dominions and countries thereunto belong
ing ; And I do solemnly and sincerely declare, that
I do believe that not any of the descendants of the
person who pretended to be Prince of Wales, during
the life of the late King James the Second, and since
his decease pretended to be and took upon himself
the style and title of King of England, by the
name of James the third, or of Scotland by the
name of James the eighth, or the style and title of
king of Great Britain, hath any right or title what
soever to the crown of this realm, or any other the
dominions thereunto belonging; and I do renounce
and refuse any allegiance or obedience to any of
them : And I do solemnly promise, that I will be
true and faithful and bear true allegiance to King
William, and to him will be faithful against all trai
torous conspiracies and attempts whatsoever, which
shall be made against his person, crown, or dignity ;
and I will do my best endeavour to disclose and
make known to King William and his successors all
treasons and traitorous conspiracies, which I shall

46
know to be made against him or any of them ; and I
will be true and faithful to the succession of the
crown against the descendants of the said James, and
against all other persons whatsoever, which succes
sion, by an act intituled An act for the further
limitation of the Crown, and better securing the rights
and liberties of the subject, is and stands limited to
the Princess Sophia, electress and duchess dowager
of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being Pro
testants : And all these things I do plainly and
sincerely acknowledge, promise, and declare, accord
ing to these express words by me spoken, and
according to the plain and common sense and under
standing of the same words, without any equivoca
tion, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever :
And I do make this recognition, acknowledgment,
renunciation, and promise heartily, willingly, and
truly."

Although all questions as to the applicability of the affirma
tion of a Friend instead of an oath, are set at rest by 3 & 4
Will. IV. c. 49, yet it may not be unsuitable, as a matter of
historical interest, to give some extracts from the votes of the
House of Commons in the year 1833, on the occasion of
Joseph Pease being returned by one of the divisions of the
County of Durham as their representative in Parliament.
They are as follow —

47
Veneris, 8° die Februarii, 1833.
Several members attended at the table to take the oaths,
and Joseph Pease, Esq., returned for the southern division of
the County of Durham, having stated that being one of the
people called Quakers, he claimed the privilege of making an
affirmation, instead of taking the oaths ; whereupon he was
desired by Mr. Speaker to retire until the sense of the house
could be taken upon his claim, and he retired accordingly.
Quaker Affirmation. — Select Committee appointed " to
" search the journals of the house, and to -report to the house
" such precedents, and such acts, or parts of Acts of Parlia-
" ment as relate to the right of the people called Quakers to
" take their seats in Parliament, and to the privilege conferred
" upon them to make their solemn affirmation in courts of
¦¦justice and other places where by law an oath is allowed,
" authorized or required to be taken."
Jovis, 14° die Februarii, 1833.
Joseph Pease, Esq. — Resolved, That it appears to this
house that Joseph Pease, Esq., is entitled to take his seat
upon making his solemn affirmation and declaration to the
effect of the oaths directed to be taken at the table of this
house. Veneris, 15° die Februarii, 1833.
Joseph Pease, Knight of the Shire for the County of Dur
ham, appeared at the table, and made his solemn affirmation ;
and several other members took the oaths.
By 1 and 2 Vict. c. 77, intituled, "An act fori&2Vict.
J . c 77.
permitting affirmation to be made instead of an oath

48
in certain cases," it is enacted, that it shall be lawful
Persons who for any person who shall have been a Quaker, or a
mayhavebeen J r
makedaflirSL Moravian, to make solemn affirmation and declara
tion in lieu of. ... , . , „,, . .,
oath. tion in lieu ol taking an oath, as fully as it would
be lawful for any such person to do if he still
remained a member of either of such religious deno
minations of Christians, which said affirmation or
declaration shall be of the same force and effect as
if he or she had taken an oath in the usual form ;
navinV1fafse0f an<^ ^ any sucn Person making such solemn affirma-
punished as if fi°n or declaration shall be convicted of having wil-
guilty of per
jury, fully, falsely, and corruptly affirmed or declared any
matter or thing which, if the same had been sworn
in the usual form, would have amounted to wilful
and corrupt perjury, every such offender shall be
subject to the same pains, penalties, and forfeitures
to which persons convicted of wilful and corrupt per-
Proviso. jury are or shall be subject : Provided always that
every such affirmation or declaration shall be in the
words following (that is to say)
Formofdecia- t a. B. having been one of the people called
ration. ° r jt
Quakers, [or one of the persuasion of the people
called Quakers, or of the United Brethren called
Moravians, as the case may be~\, and entertaining
conscientious objections to the taking of an oath, do
solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare, and affirm.

OFFICES.
By 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, intituled "An act for repeal- 9 Geo. iv. ^.
17.
ing so much of several acts as imposes the necessity
of receiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as
a qualification for certain offices and employments,"
After reciting the acts of 13 Chas. II. st. 2, c. 1 ; 25 13 Chas. 11.
st 2 c 1 • 25
Chas. II. c. 2, and 16 Geo. II. c. 30, it is, by Sect. 1 ciw. ri. d 2 ;
J 16 Geo. II. o.
enacted, that so much ofthe recited acts as requires 30"
the person or persons in the said acts respectively So much of re
cited acts as
described, to take or receive the sacrament of the require the
persons there-
Lord's Supper according to the rites or usage of the J" recelveUie
Church of England, for the several purposes therein certain pur
poses, re-
expressed, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed, pealed.
And by Sect. 2, the form is given of a Declaration Declaration
substituted.
to be made in lieu of the sacramental test.

The form to be used by Friends is given in 1 and
2 Vict. c. 5, post.

By 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 28, intituled " An act for 5 & 6 will.
J IV. c. 28.
removing doubts as to the declaration to be made,
and oaths to be taken by persons appointed to the
office of sheriff of any city or town being a county
of itself," after reciting that by 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, it 9 Geo. iv.^
17, ante.
is enacted, that every person who should thereafter

50
be placed, elected, or chosen, in or to the several
public Offices or Trusts therein named, should within
one calendar month next before or upon his admis
sion into any of the aforesaid Offices or Trusts,
make and subscribe the Declaration therein men-
No person tioned ; it is by Sect. 1 enacted, that no person who
chosen a she-
nff: ll!*le ,to had already been or should thereafter be elected or
make the de- J
Geaiv T.vi. chosen to the office of sheriff of any city or town
being a county of itself, should by reason thereof be
liable to make or subscribe the aforesaid Declaration
within one calendar month next before or upon his
Proviso. admission to the said office : Provided always that
every person so elected or chosen to the said office
of sheriff shall take, make, and subscribe, within
the time required by law, all Oaths and Declarations
which sheriffs of counties are bound to take, make,
and subscribe.
5&6wm.iv. By 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76, intituled "An act to
c. 76. provide for the regulation of municipal corporations
in England and Wales," it is by Sect. 50 enacted,
Mayor, alder- that no person elected a mayor, alderman or coun-
man and
auartoralnd cillor' or auditor or assessor, for any borough, shall
boroughs, not be capable of acting as such, except in administer-
to act until .
they have ing the declaration thereinafter contained, until he
made a decla-
ceptTnce of sha11 have made and subscribed before any two or
more such aldermen or councillors (who are thereby

51
respectively authorized and required to administer
the same to each other) the declaration of acceptance
of office and of qualification by estate, in the words
or to the effect therein mentioned : And that every Aldermen, if
required, to
alderman who shall have made and subscribed the ma!*e a ,de£la*
ration of office
foregoing declaration in respect of estate, shall once years!" three
in every period of three years, if required in writing
so to do by any two members of the council, make
and subscribe a declaration that he is qualified to
the same amount in real or personal estate, or both,
as the case may be, as the amount mentioned in the
declaration originally made and subscribed by him:
Provided that nothing in the act contained should Proviso.
be construed to dispense with the obligation of any
person to make and subscribe the declaration pro
vided and enjoined by the act of 9 Geo, IV. c. 17. 9 Geo. iv. c.
17, ante.
By 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 104, intituled " An act for 6 & 7 wm.
J IV. c. 104.
the better administration of the borough fund in
certain boroughs," after reciting 5 and 6 Will. IV. 5 & 6 will.
5 J * IV. c. 76, ante.
c. 76, and that no provision is made in the said act
for resigning any corporate office on payment of a
fine or otherwise, it is by Sect. 8 enacted, that every corporate offices may be
rjerson elected into any corporate office in any of the resigned on
t •> *¦ •> payment ot
said boroughs, may at any time resign such office on fine-
payment of the fine which he would have been liable
to pay for non-acceptance of the same office : Pro-
e 2

52
Proviso ex- vided that no person enabled by law to make an affir-
empting from
fine, persons mation instead of taking an oath, shall be liable to
enabled to °
make affirma- aQy £ne fQr non.acceptance of office in any borough,
by reason of his refusal on conscientious grounds to
take any oath or make any declaration required by
the said act, or to take upon himself the duties of
such office.

By the 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 108, like provision is
made for Ireland.

i&2Vict. u. By 1 and 2 Vict. c. 5, intituled "An act for the
relief of Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists elected
to Municipal offices," it is enacted, that instead of
instead of the the declarations required to be subscribed in 9 Geo.
declarations
gTivcA? IV- c- 17' ancl in 5 ancl 6 Wil1' IV- c- 76 respectively,
Win. iv. c Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists, entertaining
76, the follow- .
ing deciara- conscientious scruples to such declarations, be per-
tion to be
made. mitted to make the following declaration on accept
ing office in any municipal corporation as mayor,
alderman, or councillor :

Declaration. " I, A. B., being one of the people called Quakers,
[or one of the persuasion of the people called
Quakers, or of the United Brethren called Moravians,
or of the denomination called Separatists, as the case
may be] having conscientious scruples against

53
subscribing the declaration contained in an act passed
in the ninth year of the reign of King George the
Fourth, intituled ' An act for repealing so much of
several acts as imposes the necessity of receiving the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a qualification
for certain offices and employments,' do solemnly,
sincerely, and truly declare and affirm, that I will
not exercise any power or authority or influence
which I may possess by virtue of the office of
to injure or weaken the Protestant
Church as it is by law established in England, nor
to disturb the said church, or the bishops and clergy
of the said church, in the possession of any right or
privileges to which such church or the said bishops
and clergy may be by law entitled."

Sect. 2 enacts, That such affirmation or declaration Such declara
tion to be of
shall be of the same force and effect as if the person same force as
x those in 9 Geo.
making it had made or subscribed the declarations * &' g wiiind
aforesaid as contained in the said acts of 9 Geo. IV.

and 5 and 6 Will. IV. respectively.

By 1 and 2 Vict. c. 15, intituled "An act for i and 2 vict.
J c. 15.
the further relief of Quakers, Moravians and Sepa
ratists," it is enacted, that every person being instead ofthe
declaration
of the persuasion of the people called Quakers, or ^quired by
being a Moravian or Separatist, and entertaining cratainld^

54
i&2Vict. conscientious scruples against making the declara-
c. 5, may be .
taken by tion prescribed by 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, who has been or
Friends, &c. r J
officetn any sha11 be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the office
corporation. ^ reCorder, bailiff, town clerk, or common council
man, or any office of magistracy, or place, trust or
employment relating to the government of any city,
corporation, borough, or cinque port within England
and Wales, or the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or
who has been or shall be admitted into any office or
employment, or has accepted, or shall accept from
her Majesty, her heirs or successors, any patent,
grant, or commission, may, instead of making and
subscribing the declaration prescribed by the said act
of 9 Geo. IV., make and subscribe the declaration
contained in the act 1 and 2 Vict. c. 5 ; and every
such person so making and subscribing such last
mentioned declaration shall have the same rights,
powers, and authorities which he would have had if
he had made and subscribed the declaration con-
Proviso, tained in the said act of 9 Geo. IV. : Provided
always, that every declaration to be made by virtue
of this act shall be made and subscribed before the
same person or persons or court, and within the same
time, and shall be preserved in the same manner as
by the said act of 9 Geo. IV. is directed, as to the
declaration therein mentioned.

55
It may be proper, in reference to this subject of offices, to
remark, that neither of the acts modifying the form of decla
ration on accepting office, (1 and 2 Vict. c. 5, and 1 and 2 Vict.
c. 15,) was passed at the instance of the Society of Friends ;
and it should also be observed that previously to the passing
of the act for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts
(9 Geo. IV, c. 1 7, ante p. 49,) and also again on the occasion
of the passing of the two modifying acts (1 and 2 Vict. c. 5,
and 1 and 2 Vict. c. 15,) care was taken to represent on
behalf of the Society, to members of the government, and to
the legislature, not only the objections to the form, but the
difficulties which would probably be entertained by Friends to
the substance of the declaration, as involving some compro
mise of the religious principles which the Society has uniformly
maintained in regard to all ecclesiastical establishments.
See also the Caution issued by the Yearly Meeting of the
Society of Friends to its members in reference to taking office,
Appendix to the Rules of Discipline, title " Civil Govern
ment.''

I 1

TITHES AND OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL
DEMANDS.
iw.&m.c.is.By the said act 1 W. and M. c. 18, Sect. 6, it is
Ante P. l. enacted, that nothing therein contained shall exempt
Tithes saved, any person from paying of tithes or other parochial
duties, or any other duties to the church or minister ;
nor from any prosecution in any Ecclesiastical Court
or elsewhere for the same.
7 & 8 w. m. By the said act 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, Sect. 4,
c. 34.
Ante p. 32. Reciting that by reason of a pretended scruple of
Tithes and conscience, Quakers do refuse to pay tithes and
church rates. church rates ; it is enacted that where any Quaker
shall refuse to pay, or compound for his great or
justices to small tithes, or to pay any church rates, it shall and
summonFriends. may be lawful to and for the two next justices of the
Vid. 53 Geo. peace of the same county (other than such justice
J.J.J.. C I'-l,
post. 0f the peace as is patron of the church or chapel,
whence the said tithes do or shall arise, or any
ways interested in the said tithes) upon the com
plaint of any parson, vicar, farmer, or proprietor of
tithes, churchwarden or churchwardens, who ought
to have, receive or collect the same, by warrant
under their hands and seals, to convene before them
such Quaker or Quakers neglecting or refusing' to

57
pay or compound for the same, and to examine
upon oath ; which oath the said justices are hereby
empowered to administer, or in such manner as by
this act is provided, the truth and justice of the said
complaint, and to ascertain and state what is due
and payable by such Quaker or Quakers to tbe
party or parties complaining, and by order under
their hands and seals to direct and appoint the pay
ment thereof, so as the sum ordered, as aforesaid, do
not exceed £10 ;* and upon refusal by such Quaker
or Quakers to pay according to such order, it shall
and may be lawful to and for any one of the said
justices, by warrant under his hand and seal, to
levy the money thereby ordered to be paid, by dis
tress and sale of the goods of such offender, his Distress.
executors or administrators, rendering only the
overplus to him, her, or them, necessary charges of
distraining being thereout first deducted and allowed
by the said justice ; and any person finding him,
her, or themselves aggrieved by any judgment given
by such two justices of the peace, shall and may
appeal to the next general quarter sessions, to be Appeal.
held for the county, riding, city, liberty, or town
corporate ; and the justices of the peace there pre
sent, or the major part of them, shall proceed finally
* Extended to £50, by 53 Geo. III. c. 127, post.

58
to hear and determine the matter, and to reverse the
said judgment, if they shall see cause; and if the
justices then present, or the major part of them,
shall find cause to continue the judgment given
by the first two justices of the peace, they shall
then decree the same by order of sessions, and shall
also proceed to give such costs against the appellant,
to be levied by distress and sale of the goods and
chattels of the said appellant, as to them shall seem
just and reasonable : And no proceedings or judg
ment had, or to be had, by virtue of this act, shall
be removed or superseded by any writ of certiorari,
or other writ out of his Majesty's Courts at West
minster, or any other court whatsoever, unless the
title of such tithes shall be in question.
Warrant stopt Sect. 5. In case any such appeal be made, as
on appeal. aforesaid, no warrant of distress shall be granted
until after such appeal shall be determined.
This act was to continue in force for 7 years, its
duration was extended for a further term by 13 Will.
III. c. 4, and it was made perpetual by 1 Geo. I. c. 6.
1 Geo. i.e. 6. By the said act 1 Geo. I. c. 6, Sect. 2, Reciting
Ante p. 36. °
that by 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, a remedy was pro-
For recovery .
of tithes, &c vided lor the recovery of tithes and church rates,

59
where any Quaker should refuse to pay the same ;*
it is enacted that such remedy shall be and was
thereby extended, and the like remedy shall and
may be had and used against any Quaker or
Quakers, for the recovery of any tithes or rates,
or any customary or other rights, dues, or payments,
belonging to any church or chapel, which of right
by law and custom ought to be paid, for the stipend
or maintenance of any minister or curate officiating
in any church or chapel ; and any two or more jus- Vid 53 Geo
tices of the peace of the same county or place, other post.
than such justice of the peace as is patron of any
such church or chapel, or any ways interested in
the said tithes, upon complaint of any parson, vicar,
curate, farmer, or proprietor, of such tithes, or any
churchwarden or chapelwarden, or other person who
ought to have, receive or collect any such tithes,
rates, dues, or payments, as aforesaid, are thereby
authorised and required to summon in writing,
under their hands and seals, by reasonable warning,
such Quaker or Quakers, against whom such com-

* Lord Mansfield, in a MS. case cited by Burn under the head Tithes,
says " That this act 1 Geo. I, c. 6, extends the act 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34,
concerning tithes, to all customary payments due to clergymen, and
that these two acts are to be taken together as one law. They were
intended for the benefit of the Quakers, to prevent their being liable to
expensive suits, for refusing to pay tithes upon principles of conscience,
by giving an apparent compulsory method of levying tithes, and other
customary payments in a summary way."

60
plaint shall be made, and after his or their appear
ance, or upon default of appearance, the said
warning or summons being proved before them upon
oath, to proceed to hear and determine the said
complaint, and to make such order therein, as in the
said act is limited or directed, and also to order such
costs and charges as they shall think reasonable,
not exceeding ten shillings* as upon the merits
of the cause shall appear just ; which order shall
and may be so executed, and on such appeal, may
¦ be reversed or affirmed by the general quarter
sessions of the county or place, with such costs and
remedy for the same, and shall not be removed into
any other court, unless the titles of such tithes, dues
or payments shall be in question, in like manner as
in and by the same act is limited and provided.
27 Geo. it. By 27 Geo. II. c. 20, intituled " An act for the
u. 20. more easy and effectual proceeding upon distresses
to be made by warrants of justices of the peace,"
it is provided that nothing therein contained shall
extend, or be construed to extend, to alter or repeal

* This sum not exceeding ten shillings is, the compiler apprehends,
intended as a compensation to the complainant for his trouble in the
business, and out of which he is to pay all expenses by him incurred
up to the time of the order for payment made by the justices, and
not to be paid to the justice's clerk, which is often the case ; and
indeed the order made by the justices directs the same to be paid to
the complainant.

61
any of the provisions or directions relating to dis- Exception.
tresses to be made for the payment of tithes and
church rates by the people called Quakers, con
tained in the acts of 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, and 1
Geo. I. c. 6.
By 53 Geo. III. c. 127, intituled "An act for 53 Geo. 111.
c. 127.
the better regulation of Ecclesiastical Courts in Limitation of
actions
England, and for the more easy recovery of church respecting tlTjllGS.
rates and tithes," it is by Sect. 5 enacted, that from
and after the passing of this act, no action shall be
brought for the recovery of any penalty for the not
setting out tithes, nor any suit instituted in any
Court of Equity, or in any Ecclesiastical Court, to
recover the value of any tithes, unless such action
shall be brought, or such suit commenced, within
six years from the time when such tithes became
due. Sect. 6. After reciting, that by 7 and 8 Will. III.
c. 34, where any Quaker shall refuse to pay for or
compound for his great or small tithes, or to pay
any church rates, two or more of his Majesty's
justices of the peace are authorised to hear and
determine the same, not exceeding the value of £10 ;
and that by 1 Geo. I. c. 6, the said act is extended
to other objects : And that it is become expedient

62
Sum enlarged, to enlarge the said sum; It is enacted that all the
provisions of the said acts shall be deemed and
taken to extend to any value not exceeding £50 :
One justice Provided always, that one justice of the peace shall
competent to . , . . , 1 • j
receive the be competent to receive the original complaint, and
complaint. to summon the parties to appear before two or more
justices ofthe peace as in the said act is set forth.

Observations.
Besides the above-mentioned acts, there are several others
which have at various times been passed by the Legislature in
aid of the ecclesiastical laws for compelling the payment of
tithes and other offerings and dues. The principal clauses
are as follow :
27 Hen. VIII. By 27 Hen. VIII. c. 20, Every subject of this realm,
c. 20.
Every person according to the ecclesiastical laws and ordinances of the
to pay his
tithes. Church of England, and after the laudable usages and customs
of the parish or other place where he dwelleth or occupieth,
shall pay his tithes, offerings, and other duties of holy church ;
And for sub- and f°r subtractions of the same, the party grieved, may by
t"n pt ions t Ti^
party to be process of the King's ecclesiastical laws of the Church of
convented
before the England convent the person offending before his ordinary or
ecclesiastical
judge. other competent judge, and compel the person offending to
yield his said duties ; and in case the ordinary or other com
petent judge, for any contempt, contumacy, disobedience,

63
or other misdemeanor of the defendant, make information
and request to any of the King's most honourable council, or
to the justices of the peace of the shire where such offender
dwelleth, to assist him to order or reform such person in any
cause before rehearsed, the King's said honourable council, or
such two justices, shall have power to cause to be attached
the person against whom such information shall be made, and
to commit the same person to ward till he shall have found
surety to the use of the King, to give due obedience to the
process, decrees, and sentences, of the Ecclesiastical Court
wherein such suit shall depend.
By 32 Hen. VIII. c. 7, Sect. 2. In case any persons of 32 Hen. VIII.
c. 7.
their ungodly and perverse will, withhold any tithes or offer- Persons with
holding their
ings, then the person or persons, having cause to demand the tithes.
said tithes or offerings, may convent the persons offending
before the ordinary, or other competent judge, according to the
ecclesiastical laws. And the ordinary or other competent
judge, having the parties before him, shall proceed to the
examination, hearing, and determination, of such matter, ordi
narily or summarily.
Sect. 4. If any persons, after sentence definitive given Persons after
judgment
against them, obstinately and wilfully refuse to pay their refusing to
pay.
tithes or duties, or such sums of money wherein they be con
demned for the same, two justices shall have authority, upon
information, certificate, or complaint, made in writing by the
ecclesiastical judge that gave the sentence, to cause the party
refusing, to be attached and committed to the next gaol, till
he shall have found surety to the use of the King to perform
the sentence.
By 2 and 3 Ed. VI. c. 13, Sect. I. Every of the King's 2 & 3 Ed. VI.
c. 13.
subjects shall justly without fraud, set out and pay all manner

64
All persons to of their prsedial tithes,* in kind as they happen, as hath been
set out their „ . ,
pradial tithes of right paid within forty years before this act, or ot right or
under the
penalty of custom ought to have been paid : And no person shall carry
treble value. away any such or like tithes, before he hath justly set forth
for the tithe, the tenth part of the same, or otherwise agreed
for the tithes with the owner or farmer of the same ; under
the pain of treble value of the tithes.
Persons car- Sect. 2. If any person carry away his prsedial tithes,
the^comf&c. before the tithe be set forth, or willingly withdraw his tithes
outTithe6 mg of the same, or of such other things whereof prsedial tithes
ought to be paid, or do stop the owners or their farmers, to
view and carry away their tithes, by reason whereof their
tithe is lost or impaired ; upon proof thereof made before the
spiritual judge, or any other judge, to whom heretofore he
might have made complaint, the party so withdrawing or stop
ping, shall pay the double value of the tithe so taken, lost, or
carried away, besides costs.
* Tithes with regard to their several kinds or natures may be
divided into prsedial, mixt, and personal. PrEedial tithes are such as
arise merely and immediately from the ground ; as grain of all sorts,
hay, wood, fruit, and herbs : for a piece of land or ground, being called
in Latin prsedium, (whether it be arable, meadow or pasture,) the fruit
or produce thereof is called prsedial, and consequently the tithe payable
for such annual produce is called a prsedial tithe. Mixt tithes are those
which arise not immediately from the ground, but from things imme
diately nourished by the ground as by means of goods depastured
thereupon, or otherwise nourished with the fruits thereof ; as colts,
calves, lambs, chickens, milk, cheese, and eggs. Pergonal tithes are
such profits as arise by the labour and industry of man, employing him
self in some personal work, artifice or negociation ; being the tenth
part of the clear gain, after charges deducted. Tithes with regard to
value, are divided into great and small. Great tithes are chiefly corn,
hay, and wood. Small tithes are the prsedial tithes of other kinds,
together with those which are called mixt and personal. Offerings,
oblations, and obventions are the customary payments for communi
cants at Easter, for marriages, christenings, churching of women,
burials, and such like.

65
Sect. 13. If any person subtract any manner of tithes (not Persons sub
tracting tithes
prsedial) obventions, profits, or other duties, he shall be sued (not prsedial.)
in the King's Ecclesiastical Court ; and it shall not be" lawful
to the owner or farmer to sue such withholder of tithes, or
other duties aforesaid, before any other judge than ecclesias
tical. And if any judge give any sentence in the aforesaid
causes (and no appeal or prohibition hanging) and the party
condemned do not obey the sentence, it shall be lawful to such
judge, to excommunicate the party disobeying; in which sen
tence of excommunication, if the party wilfully endure forty
days, upon publication thereof in the parish church where the
party is most abiding, the judge may at his pleasure signify to
the King in Chancery the condition of the said party, and
thereupon require process de excommunicato capiendo.
But by the said act 53 Geo. III. c. 127, It is enacted that Ante p. 61.
excommunication with all proceedings following thereupon Excommuni
cation discon-
shall in all cases be discontinued, except as spiritual censures tinued.
for offences of ecclesiastical cognizance ; and that no person
who shall be declared excommunicate shall incur any civil
penalty or incapacity whatever, except imprisonment not
exceeding six months, as the court shall direct. And that in
all causes cognizable by the Ecclesiastical Courts, when any
person shall neglect or refuse to appear or to pay obedience
to the orders or decrees of the court, or shall commit a con
tempt in the face of the court, no sentence of excommuni
cation shall be pronounced ; but instead thereof it shall be
lawful for the judge to pronounce such person contumacious,
and to signify the same to the King in Chancery, and there
upon a writ de contumace capiendo shall issue, which shall
have the same force and effect as the writ de excommunicato
capiendo.

66
There was also an act 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 6, and which
was made perpetual by 3 and 4 Anne, c. 18, for the more
easy recovery of small tithes from any persons whomsoever,
the amount whereof was not above the yearly value of forty
shillings (extended by 53 Geo. III. c. 127, to not exceeding
£1 0 :) but it is deemed unnecessary here to set out the same,
inasmuch as all proceedings against Friends for tithes or other
ecclesiastical demands due from them should be under and by
virtue of the acts hereinbefore detailed.
It may not be improper to observe, that the Ecclesiastical
Courts cannot take cognizance of any dispute whether tithes
be due and accustomed, for if the defendant pleads any custom,
modus, composition, or other matter, whereby the right of
tithing is called in question, this takes it out of the juris
diction of the ecclesiastical judges : for the law will not suffer
the existence of such a right to be decided by the sentence of
any single, much less an ecclesiastical, judge, without the
verdict of a jury. But where the right does not come into
question, but only the fact, it is considered a transient per
sonal injury, for which the remedy may be had in the
Spiritual Court; viz. the recovery of the tithes or their
equivalent. By Sect. 2 of the 2 and 3 Ed. VI., power is given to sue
for double the value of the tithes before the ecclesiastical
judge, which is equivalent to treble the value to be sued for
in the Temporal Courts as given by Sect. 1 of the same
statute. For a person may sue for and recover in the Eccle
siastical Courts the tithes themselves, or a recompense for
them, by the ancient law ; to which the suit for the double
value is superadded by the statute. But as no suit lay in the
courts of common law for the subtraction of tithes themselves,

67
the statute gave a treble forfeiture if sued for there ; in order
to make the course of justice uniform.

By the original Poor Law Amendment Act 4 and 5 4 and 5 W.I V.
Will. IV. c. 76, Friends were virtually incapacitated for voting Guardians of
in the election of Guardians by the provision Sect. 40, which
requires the payment of the parochial rates and assessments
generally : but this is now remedied by 7 and 8 Vict. c. 101, 7 and 8 Vict.
& 3 '. ... A. 101, s. 16.
sect. 16, which confines this requisite to rates made for the
relief of the poor.

By 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 17, intituled "An act to 7&8Geo.iv
J c. 17.
extend the provisions of an act made in the 57th 57 Geo. in.
u. 93.
year of King George the Third, for regulating the
costs of certain distresses," after reciting that by the
said act intituled An act to regulate the costs of dis
tresses levied for payment of small rents, certain
regulations are made with respect to the costs and
charges of levying and disposing of such distresses
where the sum demanded and due shall not exceed
£20, it is enacted that from and after the passing of Provisions of
recited act
this Act all the rules, regulations, clauses, provisions, extended to
tiistrcssGS tor
penalties, matters and things, in the said act con- tfthes'.&cfnot
tained, shall extend and be construed to extend and
shall be applied and put in execution so far as the
f2

68
same are applicable and capable of being put in
execution with respect to any distress or levy which
shall be made for any land-tax, assessed taxes, poor's
rates, church rates, tithes, highway rates, sewer
rates, or any other rates, taxes, impositions or assess
ments whatever, in all cases where the sum de
manded and due for or in respect of such taxes,
rates, tithes, assessments or impositions shall not
exceed the sum of twenty pounds, and in all cases
where the whole of the several sums sought to be
levied by distresses taken for different purposes at
the same time shall not exceed the sum of twenty
pounds; and that such costs and charges and no
other shall be taken and payable as the costs and
charges of the levy and disposition of such distresses ;
and that all such proceedings shall and may be had
and taken against any and every person transgress
ing the regulations of the said act in the levying or
distraining for any such taxes, rates, impositions or
assessments, and all such persons shall be liable to
and shall incur such and the like penalties as by the
said act are directed, required and imposed with
respect to persons making any distress for rent con
trary to the directions of the said act, and that in any
order or judgment of any justices before whom any
complaint shall be preferred in consequence of this
act, such order shall be expressed to be made upon

69
a Complaint for the breach of the said recited act as
amended by this act ; and that the said recited act
and this act shall be taken and construed together as
one act to all intents and purposes whatsoever.*

By 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 74, intituled " An act 5 & 6 wm.
J IV. c. 74.
for the more easy recovery of tithes," after recit
ing the acts of 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 6 ; 53 Geo. 7 & 8 wm.
& ' III.c.6;53
III. c. 127 ; 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34 ; and 1 Geo. I. f^H'
c. 6, and corresponding acts with reference to Ireland, 34 ; i Geo.C'i.
c. 6.
it is by Sect. 1 enacted, that no suit or other pro- proceedings
1 •¦ -i- r tt- for recovery
ceedmg shall be had or instituted in any of His of tithes of or
under the
Majesty's courts, either in England or Ireland, now va},- of £50,
•> J ' o withheld by
having cognisance of such matter, for or in respect behead only
„ n • i ^ • • under 7 & 8
of any great or small tithes, moduses, compositions, wm. in.
c. 34, and 53
rates or other ecclesiastical dues or demands whatso- Geo- In- c-
127.
ever, of or under the value of fifty pounds, withheld
by any Quaker, either in England or Ireland, but
that all complaints touching the same, if in England,
shall be heard and determined only under the

* The costs in 57 Geo. Ill, c. 93, referred to in this act are :—
£ s. d.
Levying distress  0 3 0
Man in possession, per day  0 2 6
Appraisement, whether by one broker or more, sixpence in
the £ on the value of the goods . ...
Stamp, the lawful amount thereof 
All expenses of advertisements, if any such . . . 0 10 0
Catalogues, sale and commission, and delivery of goods, one
shilling in the pound on the net produce of the sale

70
powers and provisions contained in the said recited
acts of 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 34, and 53 Geo. III. in
the same manner as if the same were herein set forth
Proviso. and re-enacted : Provided always that nothing herein
before contained shall extend to any case in which
the actual title to any tithe, oblation, composition,
modus, due or demand, or the rate of such composi
tion or modus, or the actual liability or exemption of
the property to or from any such tithe, oblation,
composition, modus, due, or demand, shall be bond
fide in question, nor to any case in which any suit
or other proceeding shall have been actually insti
tuted before the passing of this Act.
Manner of Sect. 2 enacts, that in case any suit or other pro-
recovenng "¦
from Friends, ceeding has been prosecuted or commenced, or shall
hereafter be prosecuted or commenced, in any of his
Majesty's Courts in England or Ireland, for recover
ing any great or small tithes, modus or composition,
for tithes, rate or other ecclesiastical demand, sub
tracted, unpaid, or withheld by or due from any
No execution Quaker, no execution or decree or order shall issue
is to issue
person! the or be made a§amst tne person or persons of the
defendant or defendants, but the plaintiff or plaintiffs
shall and may have his execution or decree against
the goods or other property of the defendant or
defendants, and in case any person now is detained

71
in custody in England or Ireland, under any execu
tion or decree in such suit or proceeding, the sheriff
or other officer having such person in his custody
shall forthwith discharge him therefrom ; and the
plaintiff or plaintiffs in such suit or proceeding
shall and may, notwithstanding such discharge,
issue any other execution or take any other pro
ceeding for recovering his demand and his costs out
of the property, real or personal, of the person so
discharged. By 4 and 5 Vict. c. 36, intituled " An act to amend 4 and 5 Vict.
c. 36.
an act of the fifth and sixth years of King William 5 and 6 wm
J IV. c.74.
the Fourth, for the more easy recovery of tithes, and
to take away the jurisdiction from the Ecclesiastical
Courts in all matters relating to tithes of a certain
amount," it is enacted, that from and after the pass- Provisions of
recited Act as
ing of this act all the enactments and provisions oftoproceedings
° for recovery
the said recited act, respecting suits or other pro- y^efand fit ll AT* P*Pf"l PS1-
ceedings in any of Her Majesty's courts in England asticai dues,
extended toall
in respect of tithes, oblations, and compositions, of or ecclesiastical
r courts in Eng-
under the yearly value of ten pounds, and of any land-
great or small tithes, moduses, compositions, rates,
or other ecclesiastical dues or demands whatsoever,
of or under the value of fifty pounds, withheld by
any Quaker, shall extend and be applied to all Eccle
siastical Courts in England.

TITHE RENT CHARGES.
6 and 7 Will. By 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 71, intituled "An act for
IV. c. 71. the commutation of tithes in England and Wales,"
Expenses of it is by Sect. 75 enacted, that all expenses of or
apportion- , ,
ment to be incident to making any apportionment, (except tne
bornerateably
by the land- saiarv or allowance to any commissioner or assistant
owners. z z
commissioner, and except any expense which the
commissioners or assistant commissioner may be
authorised and may have ordered to be otherwise
paid,) shall be borne and paid by the owners of lands
included in the apportionment, in rateable proportion
to the sum charged on the said lands in lieu of tithes
by such apportionment.

Recovery of Sect. 76 enacts, that if any difference shall arise
expenses. touching the said expenses, or the share thereof to
be paid by any person, it shall be lawful for the
commissioners or some assistant commissioner, to
certify under their or his hand the amount to be
paid by such person ; and in case any person shall
neglect or refuse to pay his share so certified to be
An additional payable by him, and upon the production of such
and more
summary re- certificate before any two justices of the peace for
medy is given J r
Vict' cap. Ij, tne county or other jurisdiction, wherein the lands
mentioned in the agreement or award or apportion-

73
ment are situate, such justices, upon the nonpayment
thereof, are thereby required by warrant under their
hands and seals, to cause the same and the costs of
the distress to be levied by distress and sale of the
goods of the person liable to pay the same, and to
render the surplus (if any) after deducting the charges
of the distress and sale to the person distrained
upon. Sect. 81 enacts, that in case the said rent charge shall Recovery of
arrears of rent
at any time be in arrear and unpaid for the space of charse-
twenty-one days next after any half-yearly day of
payment, it shall be lawful for the person entitled to ?
the same, after having given or left ten days' notice
in writing at the usual or last known residence of
the tenant in possession, to distrain upon the lands
liable to the payment thereof, or on any part thereof,
for all arrears of the said rent charge, and to dispose
of the distress when taken, and otherwise to act
and demean himself in relation thereto as any land
lord may for arrears of rent reserved on a common
lease for years : provided that not more than two Proviso.
years arrears shall at any time be recoverable by
distress.

Sect. 82 enacts, that in case the said rent charge Recovery of
arrears of rent
shall be in arrear and unpaid for the space of forty charge when

74
no sufficient days next after any half-yearly day of payment, and
distress . there shall be no sufficient distress on the premises
liable to the payment thereof, it shall be lawful for
any judge of His Majesty's Courts of Record at
Westminster, upon affidavit of the facts, to order a
writ to be issued, directed to the sheriff of the county
in which the lands chargeable with the rent charge
are situated, requiring the said sheriff to summon
a jury to assess the arrears of rent charge remaining
unpaid, and to return the inquisition thereupon taken
to some one of His Majesty's Courts of Law at
Westminster, on a day therein to be named either
in term time or vacation, a copy of which writ, and
notice of the time and place of executing the same,
shall be given to the owner of the land, or left at
his last known place of abode, or with his known
agent, ten days previous to the execution thereof;
and the sheriff is hereby required to execute such writ
according to the exigency thereof; and the costs of
such inquisition shall be taxed by the proper officer
of the court, and thereupon the owner of the rent
charge may sue out a writ of habere facias posses
sionem, directed to the sheriff commanding him to
cause the owner of the rent charge to have posses
sion of the lands chargeable therewith until the
an-ears of rent charge, found to be due, and the said
costs, and also the costs of such writ and of exe-

75
cuting the same, and of cultivating and keeping pos
session of the lands, shall be fully satisfied : Pro- Proviso.
vided always, that not more than two years arrears
over and above the time of such possession shall be
at any time recoverable.
Sect. 83 enacts, that it shall be lawful for the Account, how
to be ren-
court out of which such writ shall have issued, or any deredl
judge at chambers, to order the owner of the rent-
charge who shall be in possession by virtue of such
writ, from time to time to render an account of the
rents and produce of the lands, and of receipts and
payments in respect of the same, and to pay over the
surplus (if any) to the person for the time being
entitled thereunto, after satisfaction of such arrears
of rent charge, and all costs and expenses as afore
said, and thereupon to order a writ of supersedeas to
issue to the said writ of habere facias possessionem,
and also by rule or order of such court or judge from
time to time to give such summary relief to the
parties as to the said court or judge shall seem fit.
Sect. 84 enacts, that in all cases in which it Recovery of
rent charges
shall be necessary to make any distress under this from Friends-
act in respect of any lands in the possession of any
person of the persuasion of the people called Quakers,
the same may be made upon the goods, chattels, or

76
effects of such person, whether on the premises or
elsewhere, but nevertheless to the same amount only
and with the same consequences in all respects as if
made on the premises ; and that in all cases of dis
tress under this act upon persons of that persuasion,
the goods, chattels, or effects which may be dis
trained shall be sold without its being necessary to
Proviso. impound or keep the same : Provided always, that
no writ under the provision hereinbefore contained
shall be issued for assessing or recovering any rent
charge payable under this act, in respect of any
lands in the possession of any person of the persua
sion aforesaid, unless the same shall be in arrear
and unpaid for the space of forty days next after any
half yearly day of payment, without the person en
titled thereto being able to find goods, chattels, or
effects either on the premises or elsewhere liable to
be distrained as aforesaid, sufficient to satisfy the
arrears to which such lands are liable together with
the reasonable costs of such distress.

7 wm. iv By 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 69, intituled "An
and 1 Vict.
c- 69- act to amend an act for the commutation of tithes
Rates on rent in England and Wales," it is by Sect. 8 enacted,
charges may
be recovered that all rates and charges to which any rent-charge
TandToiVof payable in lieu of tithes shall be liable may be
which the n .
rent-charge assessed upon the owner ol the rent-charge, and

77
the whole or any part thereof may be recovered isB,uesi a°d the
J L J collector s
from any one or more of the occupiers of the lands received°ine
c 1 • i i • • satisfaction
out oi which such rent-charge shall issue, in case the for so much of
the rent
same shall not be sooner paid by the owner of the charse-
rent-charge, upon whom the same shall be assessed,
in like manner as any poor rate assessed on such
occupier or occupiers in respect of such lands may
be recovered, upon giving to such occupier twenty-
one days notice in writing, previous to any one of
the half-yearly days of payment of the rent-charge,
and the collector's receipt for the payment of such
rates and charges, or of any part thereof, shall be
received in satisfaction of so much of the rent charge
by the owner thereof, but no occupier shall be liable
to pay at any one time, in respect of such rates and
charges any greater sum than the rent charge, pay
able in respect of the lands occupied by him in the
same parish shall amount to for the current half-
year in which such notice shall have been given.

By 2 and 3 Vict. c. 62, intituled "An act to2&3Vict.
J c. 62.
explain and amend the acts for the commutation of
tithes in England and Wales," after reciting 6 and 7
Will. IV c. 71; 1 Vict, c. 69, and 1 and 2 Vict. 6&7W iv
c. 71 ; I Vict.
c. 64, it is by Sect. 18 enacted, that payment of the vict/c!64 ?
expenses of or incident to making any apportion- Expenses of
r apportion
ment or any other expenses which the said commis- ^covereYin6

78
the same way sioners are authorized, and may have ordered or may
as rent charge. order to be paid by any owner of lands under and
by virtue of the recited acts, or any of them or this
act, may be enforced by the same ways and means
as payment of rent charge in arrear may be enforced
under the provisions of the said acts, or either of
them.

Observations.

A perusal of the extracts from Acts of Parliament which
are given under this and the preceding head, will show that
the Legislature many years ago intended to provide, and to a
considerable extent effected it, a summary and cheap remedy for
the recovery of Ecclesiastical demands from Friends where the
amount did not exceed £10, (subsequently extended to J?50,)
and more recently they have extended further relief to Friends
by wholly excluding the jurisdiction of the Courts of Law and
Equity, and the Ecclesiastical Courts, in all cases where the
amount claimed is under £50, unless the actual title to any
such claim, or the actual liability or exemption of the pro
perty to or from any such claim, shall be bond fide in question,
and by the abolition of all imprisonment in the case of Friends
on account of Ecclesiastical demands. Friends are also
relieved in common with others by the provision for limiting
the costs of distraint on distresses for sums under £20. With
respect to the limitation contained in the act 1 Geo. I. c. 6,
of the costs to ten-shillings, it is not an unfrequent practice
for the clerk to the justices to take that sum for the warrant,

79
but which it must be clear is erroneous. The justices at the
time of adjudication, which is before they know that any War
rant will issue, are to order such costs as they shall think
reasonable, not exceeding ten shillings, which costs must, as a
matter of course, be the fees incurred for the summons and
serving and the adjudication, and a compensation, if they
think fit, to the claimant for his trouble.
In reference to the legality of including several defaulters
in the payment of Ecclesiastical demands in one Warrant of
Distress, a case was prepared in the year 1831, as follows:
" By several statutes, and particularly by the 7th and 8th
Will. III. c. 34, and 53 Geo. III. c. 127, the Legislature
has made various provisions for the relief of the conscientious
scruples of the Quakers, against the payment of Tithes,
Church rates, and other Ecclesiastical demands ; and in order
to lessen the expense of enforcing these claims, has provided a
summary process before two justices of the peace.
" It has happened, in several instances, of late years, that
magistrates, especially in districts where Quakers are numer
ous, have, with a view to keep the charges within reasonable
limits, included several defaulters in one Warrant of Distress.
" In other cases, the justices, though equally desirous of
treating the sufferers with lenity, have declined to adopt this
course, till they were satisfied, by a legal opinion of weight
and authority, that the practice in question was not contrary
to law.
" In support of the legality of the above course, it has been
considered, that where several defaulters are named in the
same Warrant, and the constable is directed to levy the
demand claimed from each, by distress and sale of his goods

80
and chattels respectively, such a Warrant amounts in effect to
several distinct Warrants on one and the same piece of paper ;
and it has been apprehended that the constable might plead it
as such, in any proceedings instituted against him by any one
of the defaulters ; and on the other hand, that any of the
defaulters might take exceptions against that part of the
Warrant which affected himself, if irregular, in precisely the
same manner as if it were a distinct Warrant.
" It may further be proper to observe, that in several local
acts for compounding tithes, &c, a course similar to the above
is expressly pointed out by the Legislature, and a form of
Warrant given. Amongst others, see 6 Geo. IV. c. clxxvi.
s. 19 ; 7 Geo. IV. c. cxvi, s. 22 ; 10 Geo. IV. c. xiv. s. 22,
(local and personal.) It is therefore conceived that the
Legislature must have considered such a proceeding as not
open to any difficulties or objections, on the part of either the
constable or the defaulter, or it would not have directed its
adoption, at any rate without making some provision to meet
such difficulties or objections."
The case was laid before Sir Thomas (now Lord) Denman,
the then Attorney General, for his opinion whether, if several
defaulters are included in one Warrant of Distress, under 7th
and 8th Will. III. c. 34, or 53 Geo, III. c. 127, the demands
against them being of a similar nature, such Warrant would
be valid, so as to prevent the magistrates who granted, and
the officers who executed it, from incurring any legal liability
beyond what they would incur by granting separate Warrants.
His opinion was : — " I think such Warrants are undoubtedly
legal." The same case was laid before Sir James Scarlett
(afterwards Lord Abinger,) who said : — " It appears to me,

81
that there would be no risk, nor any objection result from
comprising several defaulters in one Warrant, taking care that
the case of each is sufficiently distinguished from the other ;
such an instrument is in effect a separate Warrant against each
defaulter." It will be observed that in the recovery of the rent charge
in lieu of tithes, the remedy is extremely simple, not requiring
the intervention of magistrates or constables, only such a pro
cedure as every landlord is enabled to take for the recovery of
rent from his tenant.

THE MILITIA AND MILITARY SERVICE.

Regular Militia.
42 Geo. m. BY 42 Geo. III. c. 90, intituled " An act for amend-
c. 90.
housekeepers ing the laws relating to the Militia in England, and
lists'0 U°e for augmenting the Militia,"* It is enacted, Sect.
26, that the several constables, tithing-men, head-
boroughs, and other officers and persons required to
return lists, (that is, lists of the names of all the men
usually and at the time of making such lists, dwelling
within their respective parishes, 8gc. between the ages
of 18 and 45 years, to be returned to the deputy
lieutenants,) shall, within fourteen days after any
such returns shall be required, give or leave notice
in writing to or for every occupier of every dwelling-
house where any person shall reside, within the
limits of the places for which they act, as such con
stables or other officers as aforesaid in the execution
of this act, or any of the provisions thereof, at his
or her dwelling-house, or where such dwelling-
house shall be divided into different stories or apart-

* The militia in Scotland is raised under 42 Geo. III. c. 91 ; Sect.
22 of which is similar to Sect. 27 of the .English act ; Sect. 28, relat
ing to the appointment of deputies to Friends who are constables, is
nearly similar to Sect. 33 of the English act ; and Sections 45 and 46,
relating to Friends who are ballotted, and denning who shall be deemed
Friends, are nearly the same as Sects. 50 and 51 of the English act.

83
ments, and occupied distinctly by several persons,
then, to or for the occupier of each distinct story or
apartment, to prepare or produce within fourteen
days, next ensuing the day of giving such notice, a
list in writing, to the best of his or her belief, of the
christian and surname of each and every man resi
dent in such dwelling-house, or distinct story or
apartment, between the ages of 18 and 45, distin
guishing every person in such dwelling-house, or
distinct story or apartment, of such age as aforesaid,
claiming to be exempt from serving in the militia,
together with the ground of every such claim of
exemption ; and every such notice shall mention the
day, time, and place, appointed for hearing appeals
within such sub-division, by persons claiming to be
exempt from serving in the militia ; and every such
occupier shall, after such notice so given or left,
make out such list, and sign the same with his or
her own name, and shall deliver the same, or cause
the same to be delivered, to such constable, or other
officer or person as aforesaid ; and if any occupier
shall neglect or refuse to make out, sign, and deliver Penalty for
not delivering
such list as aforesaid, within the time before limited, lists. or
making false
or shall omit any person who ought to have been in- returIls'
eluded therein, in pursuance of this act, or knowingly
make any false return of any particular required
therein, every such occupier shall, for every such
g 2

84
offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding the sum
of five pounds.
Sect. 27. In every case where any notice shall
be served upon any occupier being one of the people
called Quakers, such occupier shall, within seven
days after the service of such notice, produce to the
Friends to constable or other officer, a certificate under the
produce cer- .
tificatesof hands of two or more reputable housekeepers being
their being
such. 0f thg pe0pie called Quakers, acknowledging such
person to be one of their persuasion ;* and that in
all such cases, such constables or other officers are
hereby required to make returns of the persons liable
to serve in the militia, resident in the houses, stories,
or apartments of such occupiers so certified to be of
the people called Quakers, in the same manner as is
directed by this act in cases where returns are not
made to such notices as aforesaid.f
* The certificate required to be produced by Friends under as well
the regular as the local militia acts, and also under the annual training
act, may be very properly in the following form ; it must be signed by
persons resident within the same county or place as the Friend for
whom the certificate is given, and must be dated within three months
immediately preceding the day on which it is produced.
We, the undersigned, being housekeepers and members of the Society
of Friends, commonly called Quakers, resident within the parish, city,
or county (as the case may be) of do hereby certify and
acknowledge A. B. resident within the aforesaid parish, city, or county
(as the case may be) to be one of our persuasion. C. D.
Dated the day of the month, 184 . E. F.
t In 46 Geo. III. c. 91, intituled " An act for the return of correct
lists of persons liable to serve in the militia, under an act passed in the

85
Sect. 29. If any person whose name shall be in- Persons
aggrieved
serted in any list, in pursuance of this act, shall may appea'-
think himself aggrieved thereby, or by the omission
of any other name or names, or shall claim to be
exempted from serving in the militia, it shall be
lawful for such person, and he is hereby required to
appeal to the sub-division meeting appointed to be
held for hearing such appeals ; and any two or more
of the said deputy-lieutenants are hereby empowered
and required to hear and determine all such appeals,
and if the same cannot be heard on the day first
appointed, to adjourn to any other day or days ; and
the determination of any two deputy-lieutenants, if
only two are then and there assembled, or of the
major part of them, if more than two are assembled,
shall be final to all intents and purposes; and no
appeal shall be afterwards heard or allowed, or any

forty second year of his present Majesty, and to suspend the ballot for
the militia in England for two years," and in 47 Geo. III. c. 71, inti
tuled " An act for the speedily completing the militia of Great Britain
and increasing the same under certain limitations and restrictions,"
there is a general reference to the 42 Geo. III. c. 90, extending all
powers, provisions, and regulations contained therein (as far as the
same are applicable) to those acts respectively, and consequently ex
tending to it, amongst other provisions, that (Sect. 27) which exempts
the people called Quakers from the general requisition to occupiers of
houses, &c. to make returns of such men, between the ages of 18 and
45, as are resident in their respective dwelling houses ; also that (Sect.
33) which is in favour of those of the said people who may be con
stables, head-boroughs, tithing-men, or overseers of the poor : proper
certificates of the religious persuasion of the parties being in both
cases produced. ,

86
exemption whatever claimed or admitted, by or on
behalf of any person or persons whatever.
43 Geo. in. But by 43 Geo. III. c. 50, intituled "An act
c. 50.
Penalty on for more speedily completing the militia of Great
neglecting to ± j x o
appeal. Britain, raised under two acts, passed in the 42nd
year of the reign of his present Majesty, and for
amending the said acts," Sect. 13 enacts, that on the
making out or amending of any lists of persons fit
to serve in the militia, every person who shall wil
fully neglect to appeal* within the time appointed
for that purpose, shall forfeit for every such offence
any sum not exceeding twenty shillings, nor less
than five, at the discretion of any two or more
deputy-lieutenants, or justices of the peace, or magis
trates; and, on nonpayment thereof, be imprisoned
at the discretion of any two or more deputy-lieu
tenants, or justices of the peace, or magistrates as
aforesaid, for any time not exceeding one week.
42 Geo. iii. By the aforesaid act, 42 Geo. III. c. 90, Sect. 33,
c. 90.
Justices may If any chief or other constable, head-borough, tithins-
appoint ° °
Kds3 being raan- or overseer> sha11 be of the people called
constables. Quakers, (and certified to be so by two persons of
n0nteep' tne people called Quakers,) and shall neglect or
* This is applicable to every person who has some legal objection to
the return of his name.

87
refuse to perform the duties required by this act, it
shall be lawful for any two justices of the peace
acting for the division within which such Quaker
shall be such officer as aforesaid, and they are
hereby required, in all cases where the circumstances
of the case shall, in their judgment, render it expe
dient and necessary for the due execution of the
provisions of this act, by their order, under their
hands and seals, to appoint a fit and proper person
to be deputy to such Quaker, for the purpose only
of carrying this act into execution ; and every person
so appointed deputy as aforesaid, shall have and
exercise all the powers, authorities, and jurisdic
tions given by this act to such officer for whom he
shall so act, and shall do and perform all the like
duties and offices, under the like pains, penalties,
and forfeitures, as are hereby imposed for neglect of
duty of any such officer as aforesaid, in like manner
in every respect as the person for whom he shall
so act; and where an appointment of any deputy
shall be so made, the principal chief constable,
headborough, tithing-man, or overseer, (being one
of the people called Quakers,) shall be, and he is
hereby discharged from the performance of any duty
required of him by this act, and from all penalties
incurred for neglect thereof after the time of such
appointment.

88
Parishes may Sect. 42. If the churchwardens or overseers of
offer volun
teers without the poor of any parish, tithing, or place, shall with
the consent of the inhabitants taken at a vestry, or
at any other meeting to be holden for that purpose,
for the calling of which vestry or meeting, three
days public notice shall be given, specifying the
cause of calling such vestry or meeting, provide
and produce to the said deputy-lieutenants, or any
two or more of them, at any sub-division meeting for
choosing the militia men by ballot, any volunteer or
volunteers who shall be examined and approved as is
thereinafter mentioned, such volunteer or volunteers
so examined and approved shall be then and there
sworn in and enrolled to serve for such term, and on
the same conditions, as is provided in the case of
substitutes produced by persons chosen by ballot ;
and the said deputy-lieutenants shall cause only such
number of persons to be chosen by ballot out of the
list returned for such parish, tithing, or place, as
shall be then wanted to make up the whole number
to serve for such parish, tithing, or place : And if any
Overseers, &c. such churchwardens or overseers shall give to such
may make
rate for pay- volunteer or volunteers any sum or sums of money
ment of j j
volunteers0 not exceeding six pounds each, to serve in the militia
for such parish, tithing, or place, it shall be lawful
for such churchwardens or overseers to make a rate
upon the inhabitants of such parish, tithing, or

89
place, according to the rate then made for the relief
of the poor, which rate (being approved by any
justice of the peace) it shall be lawful for such
churchwardens or overseers to collect, and to reim
burse themselves such sum or sums of money as
they shall have paid to such volunteer or volunteers
as aforesaid, and the overplus (if any) shall be
applied as part of the poor's rate : And if any person
shall refuse to pay such rate, it shall be lawful for
any justice of the peace upon complaint thereof Vid. Sect. 51,
post.
made by any such churchwarden or overseer, by war
rant under his hand and seal, to levy the same by
distress and sale of the offender's goods and chattels,
returning the overplus (if any) after the said rate,
and the charges of such distress and sale shall be
paid : But no person chosen by ballot, who shall
have served in the militia, either by himself or by
substitute, according to the directions of this act, or
any other act or acts, or who shall be then serving
himself or by substitute, shall be liable to pay any
such rate : Provided always, that if any person shall Appeal.
think himself aggrieved by any such rate, as afore
said, such person may appeal to the next general or
quarter sessions, in like manner as is provided in the
case of appeals against rates for the relief of the poor.*
* It appears that the rate mentioned in the present clause is to be a
special one : This is clear as well from the words " A Rate— according

90

Certain
persons ex
empt from
service.

Sect. 43. Amongst others mentioned in this
clause, no constable or other peace officer, nor any
articled clerk, apprentice, seaman, seafaring man,
nor any poor man who has more than one child born
in wedlock, shall be liable to serve personally, or
provide a substitute to serve in the militia ; and no
person having served personally, or by substitute,
according to the directions of any former act or acts
relating to the militia, or under this act, shall be
obliged to serve again, until by rotation it shall come
to his turn.

Friends being Sect. 50. If any person, being one of the people
ballotted. called Quakers, shall be chosen by ballot to serve in
the militia, and shall refuse or neglect to appear,
and to take the oath, and serve in the militia, or to
provide a substitute of the same county, riding, or
place, or of some adjoining parish or place, to be
examined and approved as thereinafter directed, who
shall take the said oath, and subscribe his consent
to serve as the substitute of such Quaker, then and
in every such case, any two or more deputy-lieu
tenants shall, if they shall think proper, upon as

to the rate (lien made for the relief of the poor" as from the consideration that
" no person chosen by ballot, who shall have served in the militia, either by him
self, or by substitute," $c. will be liable to pay any such rate. By Sect. 122,
another rate is in a certain case directed to be made, and it is evident
from the words of the act, that there also a special rate is required.

91
reasonable terms as may be, provide and hire a fit
person of the same county, riding, or place, or of
some adjoining parish or place, to serve as a sub
stitute for such Quaker ; and such substitute shall,
after being duly examined and approved, take the
said oath, and subscribe his consent to serve in the
militia, for the same term and on the same condi
tions as is thereinbefore directed in the case of sub
stitutes produced by persons chosen by ballot ; and
any two or more deputy-lieutenants may and are
hereby authorised, by warrant under their hands
and seals, to levy by distress and sale of the goods
and chattels of such Quaker, such sum of money as
shall be necessary to defray the expense of providing
and hiring such substitute, rendering to such Quaker
the overplus (if any,) after deducting the charges of
such distress and sale ; and if no goods or chattels
belonging to such Quaker be found sufficient to levy
such distress, and it shall nevertheless appear satis
factorily to such deputy-lieutenants that such Quaker
is of sufficient ability to pay the sum of ten pounds,*
then it shall be lawful for such deputy-lieutenants to
commit such Quaker to the common gaol, there to
remain, without bail or mainprize, for the space of

* From this provision it would appear that if a Friend is not of suffi
cient ability to pay the sum of £10, he is not liable to either fine or
imprisonment.

92
three months, or until he shall have paid such sum
of money as such deputy-lieutenants shall have
agreed to pay to such substitute as aforesaid : And
in case any measures shall be used in making dis
tress as aforesaid, which may be by any such
Quaker thought oppressive, it shall be lawful for
such Quaker to complain to the deputy-lieutenants
at their next meeting, who are hereby empowered
and required to hear and finally determine the same.
vid. p. 88. Sect. 51. Where any rate shall have been made
for the providing of volunteers according to the
directions of this act, and the churchwardens and
overseers shall make complaint to a justice of the
Friends refos- peace that any Quaker or Quakers had refused to
ing to pay
rate. pay the sum or sums of money he or they shall be
rated at, such justice shall order such costs and
charges to be paid for levying such distress, as he
shall think reasonable, not exceeding ten shillings
on each of the said Quakers, where there are no
more than two, and where there are a greater num
ber than two, not exceeding five shillings on each of
Who shall be the said Quakers : Provided always, that no man
deemed
Friends. shall be deemed, taken, and accepted to be a Quaker
within the meaning of this act, unless he shall pro
duce, before the deputy-lieutenants, at some of their
sub-division meetings, a certificate under, the hands

93
of two or more reputable housekeepers, being of the via. p. 84.
note.
people called Quakers, resident within the said
county, riding, or place, and dated within the three
months immediately preceding the day on which it
shall be produced as aforesaid, acknowledging such
man to be one of their persuasion.
The form of a certificate applicable to the latter
part of this clause, may be seen in p. 84, note.
By the said act, 43 Geo. III. c. 50, Sect. 12, It 43 Geo. 111.
c. 50.
is enacted, that where any deputy-lieutenant shall Overseers to
J x pay money for
provide any substitute for any Quaker, under the substltutes-
provisions of the said recited acts, the sum of money
which such deputy-lieutenants shall have agreed to
give to such substitute, shall be paid to such sub
stitute upon the certificate of such deputy-lieutenant,
by the overseer of the poor of the parish, tithing, or
place, for which such substitute shall be provided,
out of the poor rates for such parish, tithing, or
place; and such sum of money shall be levied in
manner directed by the said act, and repaid to the Vid.p.91.
overseers who shall have advanced the same.

By the aforesaid act 42 Geo. III. c. 90, Sect. 42 Geo. 111.
J c. 90.
53, It is further enacted, that whenever it shall "Vacancy by
person

94
baiiotted appear to any two or more deputy-lieutenants
being infirm,
or short of assembled at any sub-division meeting, that any
size. J
person chosen by ballot to serve in the militia,
is not of the full height of five feet four inches, or
is not approved, upon examination by a surgeon,
according to the directions of this act, and is not
seised or possessed of an estate in land, goods, or
money, of the clear value of one hundred pounds,
and who shall make oath that he is not seised or
possessed of such estate, such deputy-lieutenants
shall, and are hereby empowered and required to
discharge such person, and immediately to amend
the list for the place for which such person shall
have been baiiotted, and to cause another person to
be chosen in his stead by ballot, according to the
directions of this act.
Providing Sect. 95. When the militia shall be called out to
be trained and exercised, any justice being there
unto required, as in the act is mentioned, shall issue
his warrant to the constables, &c. requiring them to
provide such carriages, &c. as shall be mentioned in
the said warrant : and the constables, &c. shall order
such persons having carriages as they shall think
proper, to provide and furnish the same according to
the said warrant ; and every person so ordered, is

carnages.

95
required to provide and furnish the same for one
day's journey and no more.
Sect. 122. In case any person not possessed of Certain per
sons intitled
any estate in land, goods, or money, ofthe clear value to asum of
of £500, and who shall make oath that he is not
possessed of such estate, shall be chosen by ballot to
serve in the militia for any parish, tithing, or place
where the said militia is drawn or ordered out for
actual service, and such person shall be approved,
sworn, and enrolled as aforesaid, or shall provide a
fit person to serve as his substitute, who shall be
approved, sworn, and enrolled as aforesaid, the
churchwardens or overseers of the poor of such
parish, tithing, or place, shall, on receiving an order
under the hands of any two or more deputy-lieu
tenants acting within the sub-division wherein such
parish, tithing, or place, is situate, pay to every such
person so chosen by ballot, any such sum of money,
not exceeding the sum which such deputy-lieutenants
shall adjudge to be as near as may be one half of
the current price then paid for a volunteer, or substi
tute, in the county, riding, or place, where such
person was so chosen, which said sum of money
shall be taken out of the rate to be made as herein
before directed, for providing and producing volun
teers, or in case no volunteers shall have been

96
provided or produced by the churchwardens or over
seers, then out of a rate to be made and collected
agreeable to the poor's rate as hereinbefore also
directed. See note in p. 89 for an observation re
specting this rate.
Overseers to Sect. 161. The overseers of the poor of the
pay fines for
men deficient several parishes and tithings upon which any such
out ofthe
poor rates. rate or assessment shall have been made as in the
said act aforesaid,* shall, within fourteen days after
notice from the treasurer of the county, riding, or
place, pay the amount of the rate or assessment
made upon their respective parishes or tithings, out
of any money in their or any of their hands, of the
rates for the relief of the poor ; and if they or any
of them shall not have sufficient of such money for
that purpose, then such overseers shall, and they are
hereby required to make a rate sufficient to satisfy
such rate and assessment ; and it shall be lawful for
the said overseers to levy and collect the same in
such manner as rates made for the relief of the poor,
or any other rates made for the purposes of this act,
may be levied and collected.

* This refers to a rate to be made by the justices of the quarter ses
sions upon every county, hundred, parish, tithing, or place, for which
the quota required under this act shall not have been raised and com
pleted by a certain time.

97

Militia of the Tower Hamlets.
By the said act 42 Geo. III. c. 90, (viz. the Reqular 42 Geo. in.
v J c. 90.
Militia Act, see ante p. 82.) Sect. 153, after reciting
that the Militia of the Tower Hamlets are raised and
regulated by 37 Geo. III. cc. 25 and 75, and that the 37 Geo. in.
cc. 25 & 75.
same are thereby made subject to certain of the
provisions contained in 26 Geo. III. c. 107, by this 26 Geo. in.
act repealed, it is enacted, that, from and after the
passing of this act, all and every the clauses, pro
visions, powers, authorities, punishments, bounties,
penalties, forfeitures, matters, and things in this act
contained, in relation to any persons, acts, matters,
and things as to which the said act 26 Geo. III.
c. 107, or any of the clauses or provisions thereof,
were in force or applicable as to the said militia,
shall from and after the passing of this act, be
applied, practised, and put in full force as to all such
persons, matters, and things, as far as the same can
be applied, and are not contrary to any of the pro
visions of the said respective acts, or either of them,
as fully and effectually in all respects, as if the said
acts and this act, and the respective provisions
thereof, were consolidated into one act: Provided
always that nothing in this act contained shall be
construed to extend to repeal any of the provisions
of the said acts, or either of them, other than such
H

98
as are in and by the said acts made subject to the
rules, regulations, clauses, powers, and provisions of
the said recited act of the twenty-sixth year afore
said.*

Militia of the City of London.
1 Geo. iv. By 1 Geo. IV. c. 100, intituled " An act for amend-
c. 100.
Certain acts big and reducing into one act of Parliament, two
repealed. . .
several acts, passed in the thirty sixth and thirty
ninth years of the reign of his late Majesty King
George the Third, for the better ordering and further
regulating of the Militia of the City of London :"
Sect. 1, It is enacted, that the said recited acts (viz.
the acts mentioned in the title) should be, and the
same are thereby repealed.
Powers of Sect. 42. All the powers and authorities, clauses,
regular militia
acts extended provisions, rules, and regulations of any act or acts of
10 lit IS <IC t- Parliament that then were or thereafter should be in
force for regulating the militia in England, or the pay
of the same, and for the regulating of the number of
officers, non-commissioned officers, drummers and

* The purport of this clause is to make the present (42 Geo. III. c. 90,)
instead of a previous act, applicable in certain respects to the militia of
the Tower Hamlets.

99
fifers, to be serving in the said militia, and in all
other respects whatsoever, so far as the same are not
altered or varied by this act, and can be made appli
cable thereto, shall extend and be applied and be
put in force as to the militia to be raised by virtue of
this act, as fully and effectually as if the same were
severally and separately re-enacted in and made part
of the body of this act*
Sect. 11. The aldermen or deputies, and com- Rate to be
made.
mon council-men of the several wards of the said
city and liberties, or the major part of them, shall
from time to time, as occasion may require, make an
equal rate upon all and every person and persons, &c.
who do or shall inhabit, hold, occupy, possess, or
enjoy any land, house, shop, warehouse, vault, cellar,
or other tenements or hereditaments, within the said
several wards, and the liberties and precincts within
the same, regard being had in making the said rate
to the abilities of, and likewise to the rent paid by
the said several person and persons, &c. to defray
the expense of raising and maintaining the quota
* Under this general reference, Friends would be entitled to any
privileges contained in the regular militia acts, in their favour ; but as
the militia in London is raised by bounty, and not by ballot, tbe clauses
respecting Friends being drawn, & c. do not there come into operation.
They are, however, liable to be distrained upon for their proportion of
rates, for the payment of bounties under Sect. 13, of the London
militia act, see post, page 100.
H 2

100
or number of men to serve in the said militia, and
all other incidental charges relating thereto.
Appeal Sect. 12. In case any person or persons shall
against rate. think him, her, or themselves aggrieved by any rate
or assessment to be made as aforesaid, it shall and
may be lawful for them respectively to appeal to the
Court of Mayor and Aldermen of the said city,
whose decision shall be final and conclusive : Pro
vided, that notice of such appeal shall be left in
writing, at the office of the town clerk of the said
city, within ten days after the sum so rated and
assessed, shall be demanded ; and such appeal shall
be made to the next Court of Mayor and Aldermen
of the said city, after such notice shall be so left as
aforesaid.
Rates may be Sect. 13. If any person or persons, &c. who
distress. shall be rated and assessed by virtue and in pursu
ance of this act, shall refuse or neglect, by the space
of fourteen days next after his or their respective
rate or rates, assessment or assessments, shall be
due, and demanded by the collector or collectors,
authorised and appointed, either by the alderman, or
his deputy and common council-men for the time
being, in each ward, or the major part of them, or
by the said commissioners, (viz. commissioners of

101
lieutenancy) in case the said alderman, deputy, and
common council-men, or the major part of them,
shall refuse, omit, and neglect to make the rate or
assessment, and appoint collectors to collect and
receive the same, such demand being left in writing
by the said collector or collectors at the land, house,
shop, warehouse, vault, cellar or other tenement,
hereditaments, premises, or other property, possessed,
rented, or occupied by him, her, or them, to pay
such rate or rates, assessment or assessments, so
demanded as aforesaid, (unless notice of appeal shall
have been left as aforesaid) or if any such notice be
left, and if such appeal shall not be made accord
ingly at the next court of mayor and aldermen of
the said city, as aforesaid ; then, and in every such
case, it shall and may be lawful to and for such
collector or collectors, every or any of them, having
a warrant or warrants under the hand and seal of
the mayor or any other magistrate of the said city,
which warrant or warrants the said collector and
collectors is and are hereby required to apply for,
and the mayor, or any other magistrate of the said
city, is hereby authorised and required to grant, and
with the assistance of a constable or any peace
officer of the ward, county, city, or liberty, where
the person or persons so refusing or neglecting shall
reside, there to seize and distrain any of the goods

102
and chattels of the person or persons so neglecting
or refusing to pay ; and if the same shall not be re
plevied, or such rate or assessment paid within five
days next after such distress made, together with the
costs and charges thereof, then to appraise and sell
so much and such parts of the said goods and
chattels as shall be sufficient to pay the said rate or
assessment, and the costs and charges attending such
distress and sale, returning the overplus (if any) to
the owner or owners of such goods and chattels ;
and the said costs and charges to be settled and
allowed by the said mayor or other magistrate who
shall have granted such warrant or warrants respec
tively : Provided that no distress shall by virtue of
this act be made out of the limits of the said city or
liberties thereof, unless such warrant or warrants
respectively shall be first backed or countersigned
by some magistrate of the county, city, or liberty,
where such distress is proposed to be made, which
warrant or warrants any magistrate who shall be
applied to for that purpose shall forthwith, and is
hereby authorized and required, to back or counter
sign without fee or reward.

How the Sect. 35. For defraying the necessary charges
charges ot J ° jo
bidefrryed*.0 and incidental expenses of the said militia, it shall
be lawful for the said commissioners to continue to

103
raise and levy as heretofore, in every year the propor
tion of one month's tax, amounting to four thousand
six hundred and sixty six pounds thirteen shillings
and four pence, which the said city hath been used
to pay by virtue of 13 and 14 Chas. II. and no
warrant shall be issued for the raising of any trophy
money, till the justices, at some general or quarter
sessions for the said city, shall have examined and
allowed the accounts of the trophy money last
raised, levied, and collected, and certified such exa
mination of the accounts, under the hands and seals
of three or more of such justices, to the said com
missioners.

Miners in Cornwall and Devon.
By 42 Geo. III. c. 72, intituled " An act for repeal- 42 Geo. hi.
ing an act, made in the thirty eighth year of the
reign of his present Majesty, intituled, - An act for
raising a body of miners in the counties of Cornwall
and Devon, for the defence of the kingdom during
the present war;' and for the more effectually
raising and regulating a body of miners for the
defence of Great Britain:" It is (Sect. 16) pro
vided, that if any person baiiotted to serve in the
said regiment, shall be one of the people called

104
Quakers, the same proceedings shall be had with
respect to such person, as may be had with respect
to a Quaker baiiotted to serve in the militia in
England ; (See Regular Militia, page 82, J and all
and every the provisions with respect to the people
called Quakers, in the several acts concerning the
militia forces of England, shall be carried into exe
cution in the levying of men to be raised by virtue
of this act, in the same manner, and as fully and
amply as if the same had been repeated and enacted
in the body of this act.

Annual Training.
46 Geo. in. By 46 Geo. III. c. 90, intituled " An act to enable
c. 90.
Certain'per- his Maiesty annually to train and exercise a propor-
sonsnot J J J r r
exempt. tjon 0f njg Sllbjectg {n England, under certain regu
lations, and more effectually to provide for the
defence of the Realm,"* It is enacted, (Sect. 5)
that no articled clerk, nor apprentice, nor any poor
man who has more than one child, born in wedlock,
nor any person serving by substitute in the militia,
or under any act for raising any additional force for
the defence of the realm, shall by reason thereof be
exempt from this act.
* This act not having, so far as the Compiler observes, been repealed,
is here noticed ; though he apprehends it was virtually superseded by
the establishment ofthe local militia,

105
Sect. 20.* If any person, being one of the people Friends
called Quakers, or of the people called Unitas Jg-£^.of
Fratrum, or United Brethren, who shall be baiiotted
under this act, shall produce before any of the
deputy-lieutenants at any sub-division meeting, or
any two deputy-lieutenants or justices of the peace,
a certificate under the hands of two or more re- Ante p. 84.
note.
spectable housekeepers, being of the people called
Quakers, or of the people called Unitas Fratrum,
or United Brethren, resident within the county, or
place of residence, of such person, and dated within
three months immediately preceding the day on
which such certificate shall be produced, acknow
ledging such person to be one of their persuasion,
such person shall not be enrolled for training or
exercise, or if he shall have been enrolled, shall
be struck out of the enrolment; and it shall be
lawful for any such deputy-lieutenants or justices to
adjudge any such person to pay such proportion of
fines imposed by this act, on persons enrolled for
non-attendance at training and exercising, not ex
ceeding seven pounds, nor less than twenty shillings,
for the year in which he shall have been so baiiotted,
as to such deputy-lieutenants or justices may appear

* In balloting for the persons to be trained under this act, recourse is
to be had to the returns of men between the ages of 18 and 45, made
under any act or acts relating to the militia.

106
to be proper, according to the situation in life, and
property of such person, and the amount of fine so
adjudged by such deputy-lieutenants or justices may
be levied by distress and sale of the goods and
chattels of such person, by warrant under their
hands and seals, (the overplus, if any, after deduc
tion of reasonable charges, being rendered to the
party,) and if no goods or chattels can be found,
then they may commit him to prison, for any time
not exceeding fourteen days, unless such sum be
sooner paid.
A form applicable to the certificate required by this
clause, may be seen in page 84, note.
Justices may Sect. 21. If any constable, head-borough, tithing-
appoint deputies for man, or overseer shall be of the people called
Friends ref us- *- "¦
constables?8 Quakers, (and so certified to be by two Quakers)
&c. and shall neglect or refuse to perform the duties
required by this act, any two justices acting within
that division shall, if they think it expedient, by
their order, under their hand and seal, appoint a fit
person to be such Quaker's deputy, for the purposes
only of this act, who shall act and be subject to
the provisions of this act as the person originally
appointed, and such person shall be altogether dis
charged from the duties required and penalties im
posed by this act.

service.

107
Sect. 28. The lieutenant or deputy. lieutenants General and
sub-division
at any general meeting, and the deputy -lieutenants meetings may
•" ° *->' s. j appoint spe-
within their respective sub-divisions, may, when 0uf Xp^rt"™
they judge it expedient, appoint from those who mniSry r°
under this act would be exempt from enrolment,
such a number of those usually resident in any
parish, who may be willing to undertake the duty of
constables under this act, to be special constables
for all or any of its provisions within such parish as
they shall think fit, or to appoint any persons to
act as constables instead of Quakers, according to
any militia act, and the deputy-lieutenant shall cause
the names of such special constables to be given to
the chief constable or other proper officer of the
district, and such special constables shall do all
things in this act contained, as any other consta
bles may.

Local Militia.

By 52 Geo. III. c. 38, intituled " An act for amend- 75 Geo. in.
c. 38.
ing the laws relating to the Local Militia in Eng- Provisions of
0 ° former acts
land;"* It is enacted (Sect. 21) that all such t0 extend t0

* This act repeals sundry preceding acts on the subject of the local
militia, the first of which is 48 Geo. III. c. 3.
The local militia in Scotland, is raised and regulated by 52 Geo. III.
c. 68, by Sect. 19, of which certain powers of former acts relating to the

108
powers, provisions, rules, regulations, clauses, mat
ters, and things contained in the forty-second year of
George Third, chapter ninety, forty-sixth year of
George Third, chapter ninety-one, and forty-ninth
year of George Third, chapter eighty-two, or in any
other act relating to the militia, as relate to the
appointing and holding general and sub-division
meetings of lieutenancy, or to the making out lists
from which to ballot, or to the mode of ballotting
shall, as far as the same are applicable and can be
applied to and for the purposes of carrying this act
into execution, and are not hereby altered, varied,
or repealed, be used, exercised, applied and put in
force, with respect to the local militia, in as full and
ample a manner as if the said powers, provisions,
rules, regulations, clauses, matters, and things, were
re-enacted and repeated in this act.*

Men to be Sect. 23. The men to be raised under this act,
baiiotted out
of the militia shall be baiiotted out of and from the persons between
the ages of eighteen and thirty returned in the lists
now existing, or which may hereafter be returned or
regular militia are extended to this act : Sect. 25, is similar to Sect. 27,
of the English act, both relate to Friends who may be constables, &c.
and Sect. 49, is nearly the same as Sect. 50, of the English act ; both
of them contain special provisions respecting Friends who may be
balloted. * By virtue of this general reference Sect. 27, of the militia act,
42 Geo. III. c. 90, is in force in the execution of this act. Vid. p. 82.

109
amended and corrected for the raising of the militia
under any acts relating to the militia of England.
Sect. 24. On making out or amending any lists
after the passing of this act, of persons fit to serve
in the local militia, every person who shall wil
fully neglect to appeal,* within the time appointed Penalty for
neglecting to
for that purpose, shall forfeit for every such offence aPPeal-
any sum not exceeding five pounds, nor less than
twenty shillings, at the discretion of any two or more
deputy-lieutenants, or justices of the peace, or magis
trates, and on non-payment thereof, be imprisoned,
at the discretion of any two or more deputy-lieu
tenants, or justices of the peace, or magistrates, as
aforesaid, for any time not exceeding fourteen days.
Sect. 27. If any chief or other constable, head- Justices may
appoint depu-
borough, tithing-man or overseer, shall be of the f0rScarr\?nnds
people called Quakers, (and certified to be so by two execution.
persons of the people called Quakers) and shall Ante p. 84,
note.
neglect or refuse to perform the duties required by
this act, it shall be lawful for any two justices ofthe
peace acting for the division within which such
Quaker shall be such officer as aforesaid, and they
are hereby required, in all cases where the circum
stances of the case shall in their judgment render it
* This is applicable to every person who has some legal ground of
objection to the return of his name.

110
expedient and necessary for the due execution of the
provisions of this act, by their order under their
hands and seals, to appoint a fit and proper person
(who, by Sect. 25, must be above thirty years of age,)
to be deputy to such Quaker, for the purpose only of
carrying this act into execution ; and every such
person so appointed deputy as aforesaid, shall have
and exercise all the powers, authorities and jurisdic
tions, given by this act, to such officer for whom
he shall so act, and shall do and perform all
the like duties and offices, under the like pains,
penalties and forfeitures, as are hereby imposed
for neglect of duty of any such officer as afore
said, in like manner, in every respect, as the person
for whom he shall so act ; and where an appointment
of any deputy shall be so made, the principal chief
constable, head-borough, tithing-man or overseer,
(being one of the people called Quakers) shall be,
and he is hereby discharged from the performance of
any duty required of him by this act, and from all
penalties incurred for neglect thereof, after the time
of such appointment.
Rate may be Sect. 36. If the churchwardens or overseers of
made for pay-
bXiUes^of t^ie P00r °*" any Pa"s^i tithing, or place, shall, with
g^CneSneich.° the consent of the inhabitants, taken at a vestry, or
at any other meeting to be holden for that purpose,
for the calling of which vestry or meeting three days

Ill
public notice shall be given, specifying the cause of
calling such vestry or meeting, provide and produce
to the said deputy-lieutenants, or any two or more of
them, at any sub-division meeting for choosing the
local militia men by ballot, any volunteer or volun
teers, being of the same county, riding or place, or
of some adjoining parish or place, who shall be ex
amined and approved, as is hereinafter mentioned,
such volunteer or volunteers so examined and
approved, shall be then and there sworn in and
enrolled to serve for such term, and on the same
conditions as are hereinbefore provided in case
of persons chosen by ballot ; and the said deputy-
lieutenants shall cause only such number of persons
to be chosen by ballot out of the list returned for
such parish, tithing, or place, as shall be then wanted
to make up the whole number to serve for such
parish, tithing, or place; and if any such church
wardens or overseers shall give to such volunteer or
volunteers, any sum or sums of money, not exceed
ing two guineas each, to serve in the local militia,
for such parish, tithing, or place, it shall be lawful
for such churchwardens or overseers to make a rate*

* This must be distinct from the poor's rate ; as clearly appears not
only from the terms, "A Rate— according to the rate then made for the relief
of the poor:" but also from the consideration that persons serving in
the local militia, &c, though assessed to the poor's rate, are not liable
to the payment of this.

112
upon the inhabitants of such parish, tithing, or
place, according to the rate then made for the relief
of the poor, which rate (being approved by any
justice of the peace) it shall be lawful for such
churchwardens or overseers to collect, and to reim
burse themselves such sum or sums of money as
they shall have paid to such volunteer or volunteers
as aforesaid, and the overplus (if any) shall be ap
plied as part of the poor's rate : and if any person
Refusal to shall refuse to pay such rate, it shall be lawful for
pay rate. any justice of the peace, upon complaint thereof
made by any such churchwarden or overseer, by
warrant under his hand and seal, to levy the same by
distress and sale of the offender's goods and chattels,
vid. Sect. 53. returning the overplus, (if any) after the said rate,
post. and the charges of such distress and sale shall be
paid; but no person who shall be then serving in
the local militia, nor any person serving either per
sonally or by substitute in the regular militia, shall
be liable to pay any such rate : Provided always,
that if any person shall think himself aggrieved by
any such rate as aforesaid, such person may appeal
to the next general or quarter sessions, in like
manner as is provided in the case of appeals against
rates for the relief of the poor.

Certain per- Sect. 38. No constable or peace officer, not being
sons exempt
from service.

113
a special constable, nor any seaman or seafaring man,
nor any person being free of the Company of the
Watermen of the River Thames, nor any poor man
who has more than two children, born in wedlock,
nor any person receiving his education on an elee
mosynary foundation, shall be liable to serve in tbe
local militia ; and no person having served personally
in the regular militia, or additional force, (viz. the
army of reserve) or provided any substitute, or for
whom any substitute has been provided, or paid any
fine for not serving or finding a substitute in the
regular militia, or such additional force as aforesaid,
shall be liable to serve in the local militia until four
years after the expiration of his period of service, if
he shall have served in person, or six years after the
period at which such substitute shall have been
enrolled, or four years after having paid any such
fine ; and no person having paid any fine, or upon
whom distress has been made for any fine for not
serving in the local militia, shall be liable to serve
until the expiration of two years, from the period of
having paid such fine, or suffered such distress.

Sect. 44. If any person baiiotted to serve in the Persons
baiiotted, not
local militia under this act, shall after notice given ^peen^fdt0
to him, or left at his usual or last place of abode, ofsha11 befined-
his having been so baiiotted, refuse or neglect to
i

114
appear within such period, and at such place as shall
be appointed for that purpose, within the sub-division
for which he shall have been so baiiotted (which
times and places shall be appointed by the deputy-
lieutenants in their respective sub-divisions, under
any order of the lieutenant of the county, and notice
thereof given by the constables of the several
parishes, by putting up the same on churches, chapels,
or other conspicuous places) and be enrolled under
this act, and take the oath to serve under this act,
such person shall forfeit the sum of thirty pounds ;
or if a person not having or receiving any annual
sum of money, profits, gains, allowances, or other
income whatsoever, amounting in the whole to two
hundred pounds, clear of all out-goings, taxes, or re
prizes, the sum of twenty pounds ; and if not amount
ing in the whole to one hundred pounds, clear of all
out-goings, taxes, or reprizes, the sum of ten pounds ;
and every such fine shall be paid to the clerk of the
sub-division meetings, who shall on receipt thereof
give a certificate, without fee or reward, of the same
being paid, which certificate shall be countersigned
by some justice of the peace or deputy-lieutenant :
and shall within twenty one days after the receipt
thereof, pay the same into the Bank of England to a
separate account of the agent general for the local
militia, for the purposes of the local militia of Great

115
Britain, being furnished with a receipt for the same,
and the payment of such fine shall exempt such per- Fines to
exempt for
son from being baiiotted and enrolled under this act tw,° yea,s
° only.
for two years and no longer : and such person shall
be liable to be baiiotted and enrolled in the year
next but one after that in which he shall have been
so baiiotted as aforesaid, and in like manner to serve
or pay such fine as aforesaid, and so in each second
succeeding year.

Sect. 46. Every person claiming to be exempted Personsclaiming ex-
from service under this act, upon payment of the fine emption on
x x J payment of
of twenty pounds, or ten pounds, instead of thirty tTsfgnf1168'
pounds, shall sign a declaration that the amount of their income.
his income does not exceed two hundred pounds, or
one hundred pounds, as aforesaid, as the case may
be, and shall deliver the same to the deputy-lieu
tenant, before whom he shall appear to claim such
exemption, or produce a certificate to the like effect,
allowed by any commissioners under any act relating
to the rates and duties arising on property, profes
sions, trades, and offices, or to any allowances made
on any such rates and duties, within twelve months,
previous to the production of such certificate ; and
every person who shall make any false declaration in
relation to any such claim, shall forfeit and pay for
i 2

116
such offence, the sum of fifty pounds, in addition to
such fine.
Persons to Sect. 47. Every person claiming to be exempted
sign a declara- ~ „
tion that they from service, under this act, upon payment of fine as
have not
insured. aforesaid, and every person who shall be liable to
the payment of any fine under this act, for not
appearing to be enrolled in tbe local militia, shall
be summoned and required to appear before some
deputy-lieutenant or justice of the peace, and shall
be required by the deputy-lieutenant before whom
he shall appear to claim such exemption, or by
such deputy-lieutenant or justice of the peace before
whom he shall be so summoned and required to
appear, as aforesaid, to sign a declaration that he
hath not, directly or indirectly, by any policy,*
premium, or promise of any policy or premium,
or by any engagement, insured himself against such
fine, or any part thereof, and that no person or
persons hath or have, directly or indirectly, in con
sideration of any sum of money, or promise of any
sum of money, or gift or reward, or for any valuable
consideration whatever, undertaken, engaged, or pro
mised, in any way, to indemnify him therefrom, or

* By Sect. 34, a penalty of fifty pounds is imposed for being any
ways concerned in insuring against or for any fine under the act.

117
from any part thereof, or to repay to him, or to any
person or persons on his behalf, or for his use,
benefit, or advantage, the said fine, or any part
thereof; and in case any person so claiming to be
exempt, or so summoned or required to appear as
aforesaid, shall refuse so to sign such declaration, or so
to appear according to such summons or requisition,
or shall make any false declaration in that behalf,
every such person shall, upon conviction thereof
before two justices of the peace, forfeit three times
the amount of such fine ; and in default of pay
ment thereof, shall be confined in any house of cor
rection, or common gaol for such county, for any
period not exceeding three months, or until payment
of such penalty ; and shall be liable personally to
serve in the said local militia for the full term of
four years after the expiration of such imprisonment,
or the payment of such penalty.

Sect. 50. If any person being of the people Friends not to
be enrolled,
called Quakers, or of the people called Unitas but liabl„e t0
x x certain fines.
Fratrum, or United Brethren, who shall be bai
iotted under this act, shall produce before the de
puty-lieutenants of any sub-division meeting, or any
two deputy-lieutenants, or justices of the peace, a cer- Ante p. 84,
tificate under the hands, of two or more respectable note.
house-keepers, being of the people called Quakers,

118
or of the people called Unitas Fratrum, or United
Brethren, resident within the county .or place of
residence of such person, and dated within three
months immediately preceding the day on which
such certificate shall be produced as aforesaid,
acknowledging such person, to be one of their per
suasion, such person shall not be enrolled ; and it
shall be lawful for any such deputy-lieutenants or
justices to adjudge any such person to pay such pro-
Ante p. 114. portion of such fines,* as are by this act imposed
on persons baiiotted and not appearing, as to such
deputy-lieutenants or justices may appear to be pro
per, according to the situation in life and property
of such person ; and the amount of fine so adjudged
by such deputy-lieutenants or justices may be levied
Distress. by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of
such persons, by warrant under their hands and
seals, (the overplus, if any, after deducting of rea
sonable charges, being rendered to the party;) and
if no goods or chattels can be found whereby the
sum so imposed upon such Quaker or United
Brother can be levied, and the deputy-lieutenants or

* These fines are specified in Sect. 44, and it is to be understood by
the words " Such proportion of such fines," such proportion of the sums
of £30, £20, or £10 respectively, as to the deputy-lieutenants or jus
tices may appear to be proper, according to the situation in life and
property of the person baiiotted. A power is thus vested in them
to reduce the fine, with regard to the people called Quakers, to any
sum in their discretion.

119
justices shall nevertheless upon enquiry be satisfied
that such Quaker or United Brother is of sufficient
ability to pay such fine of ten pounds, then it shall
be lawful for any deputy-lieutenant or justice of the
peace, if he shall think fit,* to commit such Quaker
or United Brother to prison, there to remain for any
time not exceeding one month, unless such sum
shall be sooner paid and satisfied : provided always,
that no Quaker or United Brother so committed as
aforesaid shall be confined among felons.
A form of the certificate required in this clause
may be seen in the note in page 84.
Sect. 51. Every person liable to serve in the Persons
having more
local militia, having more than one place of resi- tnan one place
of residence.
dence, shall serve for the county, riding, or place,
where his name shall have been first inserted in
such list as aforesaid ; and the clerk to the sub
division meeting to which such list shall be re
turned, shall, if such person requires the same, grant
a certificate gratis under his hand, that such person's
name was inserted in such list, and specifying the
time when such list was made and returned.
* From this it would appear that if a Friend is not of sufficient
ability to pay the sum of £10, he is not liable to either fine or impri
sonment, and it is obvious that a person who, though of ability to pay
the sum of £10, has no distrainable effects, may be spared the penalty
of imprisonment.

120
justices may Sect. 53. Where any rate shall have been made
orderpaymentof costs for for tjje providing of volunteers according to the
levying by x °
distress. directions of this act, and the churchwardens and
overseers shall make complaint to a justice of the
peace, that any Quaker or Quakers has refused to
pay the sum or sums of money he or they shall be
rated at, such justice shall order such costs and
charges to be paid for levying such distress as he
shall think reasonable, not exceeding ten shillings on
each of the said Quakers, where there are no more
than two, and where there are a greater number than
two, not exceeding five shillings on each of the said
Quakers : Provided always, that no man shall be
deemed, taken and accepted to be a Quaker within
the meaning of this act, unless he shall produce,
before the deputy-lieutenants at some of their sub-
vid. p. 84, division meetings, a certificate under the hands of
two or more reputable housekeepers, being of the
people called Quakers, resident within the said
county, riding, or place, and dated within the three
months immediately preceding the day on which it
shall be produced as aforesaid, acknowledging such
man to be one of their persuasion.
A form is given in a note p. 84, as applicable to the
certificate required by this clause.

note

121
Sect. 55. Whenever it shall appear to any two Persons cho
sen by ballot
or more deputy-lieutenants, or any one deputy-lieu- unfi* for
x J J x J service.
tenant and one justice of the peace assembled at any
sub-division meeting, that any person chosen by
ballot to serve in the local militia, is unable to serve
from any permanent illness, debility, or bodily infir
mity, or is not of the full height of five feet two
inches, or is not approved upon examination, by a
surgeon according to the directions of this act, such
deputy-lieutenants or such deputy-lieutenant and
justice of the peace shall and are hereby empowered
and required to discharge such person, and imme
diately to amend the list for the place for which such
person shall have been baiiotted, and to cause another
person to be chosen in his stead, by ballot, according
to the directions of this act.
Sect. 101. When the local militia shall be called Mode of pro
cedure in
out to be trained and exercised, or for the suppression providing
xx carnages.
of riots or tumults, any justice being thereunto
required (as in the act is mentioned) shall issue his
warrant to the constables, &c. requiring them to
provide carriages to convey the arms, clothes, accou
trements, ammunition, and other stores, with able
men to drive such carriages; and every such con
stable, &c. shall order and appoint such persons
having carriages, within their respective hundreds,

122
&c. as they shall think proper, to provide and furnish
such carriages and men, according to the warrant
aforesaid ; and every person so ordered is required
to provide and furnish the same accordingly for one
day's journey and no more.
Overseers to Sect. 179. The overseers of the poor of the
pay sums
assessed for several parishes and tithings, upon which any rate
men deficient
0atesf P°°r or assessraent shall have been made as in the said act
aforesaid* shall within fourteen days after notice
from the clerks of the sub-divisions, pay the amount
of the rate or assessment, made upon their respective
parishes or tithings, out of any money in their or
any of their hands, of the rates for the relief of the
poor ; and if they or any of them shall not have suffi
cient of such money for that purpose, then such
overseers shall, and they are hereby required to make
a rate sufficient to satisfy such rate and assessment,
and it shall be lawful for the said overseers to levy
and collect the same in such manner as rates made
for the relief of the poor, or any other rates made for
the purposes of this act may be levied and collected.
Sect. 190. If any person shall think himself or
* This refers to a rate to be made by the justices of the quarter
sessions upon every county, hundred, or parish for which the full
number of men required under this act shall not have been baiiotted
and enrolled before certain days in the act mentioned.

123
herself aggrieved by any such rate as aforesaid, such
person may appeal to the next general or quarter Appeal.
sessions, in such manner as is provided in cases of
appeal against rates for the relief of the poor.
By 53 Geo. III. c. 28, intituled " An act to ex- 53 Geo. in.
c.28.
plain and amend an act passed in the last session of Lif3 notirre-
x * gular on ac-
Parliament for amending the laws relating to the mistakes of
names.
local militia in England." Sect. 8, No return or list
or ballot shall be deemed irregular, by reason of any
mistake in the christian name of the person returned
and baiiotted, and all the penalties of 52 Geo. III.
c. 38, shall be enforced against the person so re
turned and baiiotted in like manner in every respect
as if the christian name had been correctly returned ;
provided, that notice of the person being baiiotted
shall have been given to the person so baiiotted
according to the provision of the said act : provided
always, that every person so returned and baiiotted
under any wrong christian name as aforesaid, shall
be entitled to claim any exemption to which he may
be entitled after being so baiiotted, and although
the days and times for hearing appeals shall have
passed.

124

Conveyance of Soldiers' and Sailors' Baggage, Sfc.

Providingcarriages.

By the act annually passed, intituled "An act
for punishing mutiny and desertion; and for the
better payment of the army and their quarters,"
provision is made enabling a justice on such appli
cation as is therein mentioned to issue his warrant to
the constables, requiring them to make such pro
vision of carriages and horses or oxen, with able
men to drive the same, as is mentioned in the said
warrant : And tbe constables shall order and ap
point such persons having carriages within their
respective liberties as they shall think proper, to
provide and furnish such carriages and horses and
oxen and men, according to the said warrant, who
are thereby required to furnish and provide the same
accordingly.

Cases of
emergency.

And also empowering the justices in cases of emer
gency to be certified to them as therein is mentioned,
to issue their warrants to the constables, requiring
them to provide saddle horses, coaches, chaises, and
other four-wheeled carriages usually let to hire, and
also boats, barges, and other vessels used upon any
canal or navigable river, with able men and horses
to drive, navigate, and draw the same, as shall be

125
mentioned in such warrants : And the constables
so required, shall order and appoint such persons
within their respective limits as they shall think
proper, to provide and furnish such horses, carriages,
boats, barges, or other vessels, and men, according
to the warrants aforesaid, who are thereby required
to furnish the same accordingly.
And also providing that if any person appointed Penalties.
by such constable, to furnish any carriage, man,
horse, boat, barge, or other vessel, shall refuse or
neglect to provide the same; or if such person or
any other person or persons whomsoever shall wil
fully do any act or thing whereby the execution of
any such warrant shall be hindered or frustrated,
every such person or persons so offending, shall for
every such offence forfeit any sum not exceeding
five pounds, nor less than forty-shillings, to the use
of the poor of such parish or parishes adjoining to
the parish where such offence shall be committed,
.as shall be fixed upon by the justice by whom such
offence shall be heard : And all and every such
offence and offences shall and may be inquired of,
heard, and finally determined by one justice, dwell
ing in or near the place where any such offence
shall be committed, who has thereby power to cause
the said penalty to be levied by distress and sale of

126
the offender's goods and chattels, rendering the over
plus (if any) to the owner.
And in another act annually passed, intituled
"An act for the regulation of Her Majesty's Royal
Marine forces while on shore," provisions similar to
the foregoing are contained.

127

MARRIAGE.
In an act of the 26 Geo. II. c. 33, intituled " An 26 Geo. n.
c.33.
act for the better preventing of clandestine mar- Repealed by
r & 4 Geo. py.
riages," it is provided, that nothing in the said act "¦ 76' post
contained shall extend to that part of Great Britain
called Scotland, nor to any marriages among the
people called Quakers, or amongst the persons pro- Exemption.
fessing the Jewish religion, where both the parties
to any such marriage shall be of the people called
Quakers, or persons professing the Jewish religion
respectively, nor to any marriages solemnized beyond
the seas.

And in the acts 3 Geo. IV. c. 75, intituled " An 3 Geo. iv.
c. 75.
act to amend certain provisions of 26 Geo. II. for
the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages,"
and 4 Geo. IV. c. 76, intituled *f An act for amend- 4 Geo. iv.
u. 76.
ing the Laws respecting the solemnization of mar
riages in England," similar provisions are contained,
and by the last act the 26 Geo, II. c. 33, and
4 Geo. IV. c. 17, are repealed, and by 5 Geo. IV. 5 Geo. iv.
c. 68.
c. 68, intituled " An act to repeal an act passed in Newfound™
the fifty-seventh year of the reign of his late Majesty an '
King George the Third, intituled ' An act to regulate
the celebration of Marriages in Newfoundland ; and

128
to make further provision for the celebration of mar
riages in the said Colony and its Dependencies," it
is by Sect. 9 enacted, that nothing in this act con
tained relating to marriages in Newfoundland, shall
extend to any marriages amongst the people called
Quakers, or amongst the persons professing the Jewish
religion, where both the parties to any such marriage
shall be of the people called Quakers, or persons
professing the Jewish religion respectively.
6 & 7 will. By 6 and 7 Will IV. c. 85, intituled " An act for
IV. c. 85. J
marriages in England," it is by Sect. 2 enacted, that
Provision for the Society of Friends commonly called Quakers, and
the marriage
of Friends, also persons professing the Jewish religion, may con
tinue to contract and solemnize marriage, according to
the usages of the said society, and of the said persons
respectively ; and every such marriage, is thereby
declared and confirmed good in law, provided that the
parties to such marriage be both of the said society,
or both persons professing the Jewish religion, re-
Proviso, spectively ; provided also, that notice to the registrar
shall have been given, and the registrar's certificate
shall have issued in manner hereinafter provided.

Notice of Sect'. 4 enacts, that in every case of marriage in-
every in- J °
riag^tobtT tended to be solemnized in England after the first
iuperinten- day of March, 1837, (altered by 7 Will. IV. c. 1, to
dent Registrar
of the district.

129
the last day of June,) according to the rites of the
Church of England, (unless by license or by special
license, or after publication of banns,) and in every
case of marriage intended to be solemnized in Eng
land after the said first day of March, according to
the usages of the Quakers or Jews, or according to
any form authorized by this act, one of the parties
shall give Notice under his or her hand, in the form
of Schedule (A) to this act annexed, or to the like
effect, to the Superintendent Registrar of the District
within which the parties shall have dwelt for not
less than seven days then next preceding, or if the
parties dwell in the Districts of different Superinten
dent Registrars, shall give the like Notice to the
Superintendent Registrar of each District, and shall
state therein the name and surname and the profession
or condition of each of the parties intending marriage,
the dwelling place of each of them, and the time,
not being less than seven days, during which each
has dwelt therein, and the church or other building
in which the marriage is to be solemnized : Provided Proviso.
that if either party shall have dwelt in the place
stated in the notice during more than one calendar
month, it may be stated therein that he or she hath
dwelt there one month and upwards.

Sect. 5 enacts, That the Superintendent Registrar Superinten dent Registrar
K

130
to keep no- shall file all such notices, and keep them with the
tices in a
book. records of his office, and shall also forthwith enter a
true copy of all such notices fairly into a book, to be
for that purpose furnished to him by the Registrar
General, to be called •' The Marriage Notice Book,"
the cost of providing which shall be defrayed in
like manner as the cost of providing register books
of births and deaths ; and the marriage notice book
inspection of shall be open at all reasonable times without fee to
book. all persons desirous of inspecting the same ; and for
every such entry the Superintendent Registrar shall
Fee. be entitled to have a fee of one shilling.
After 7 days Sect. 7 enacts, That after the expiration of seven
or 21 days,
certificate of days, if the marriage is to be solemnized by license,
notice to be
demand1 or °^ twenty-one days, if the marriage is to be solem
nized without license, after the entry of such notice,
the Superintendent Registrar, upon being requested
so to do by or on behalf of the party by whom the
notice was given, shall issue under his hand a cer
tificate in the form of Schedule (B) to this act
annexed, provided that no lawful impediment
be shown to the satisfaction of the Superintendent
Registrar why such certificate should not issue, and
provided that the issue of such certificate shall not
have been sooner forbidden in manner hereinafter
mentioned by any person or persons authorized in

131
that behalf as hereinafter is provided ; and every
such certificate shall state the particulars set forth in
the notice, the day on which the notice was entered,
and that the full period of seven days or of twenty-
one days, (as the case may be,) has elapsed since
the entry of such notice, and that the issue of such
certificate has not been forbidden by any person or
persons authorized in that behalf; and for every
such certificate the Superintendent Registrar shall
be entitled to have a fee of one shilling. Fee.
Sect. 9 enacts, That any person authorized in that issue of
Superinten-
behalf may forbid the issue of the Superintendent den* Kesi.s:
J x trar s certin-
Registrar's certificate, by writing at any time before forbidden. °
the issue of such certificate the word "forbidden,"
opposite to the entry of the notice of such intended
marriage, in the Marriage Notice Book, and by sub
scribing thereto his or her name and place of abode,
and his or her character, in respect of either of the
parties, by reason of which he or she is so author
ized ; and in case the issue of any such certificate
shall have been so forbidden, the notice and all pro
ceedings thereupon shall be utterly void.

Sect. 14 enacts, That after the said first day of Marriages not
to be solem-
March, no marriage after such notice as aforesaid, f^f^L s
unless by virtue of a license to be granted by the ^ce! unLsf

by license.
K 2

132
Superintendent Registrar, shall be solemnized or re
gistered in England until after the expiration of
twenty-one days after the day of the entry of such
Marriage by notice as aforesaid; and no marriage shall be solem-
nized by the license of any Superintendent Registrar
or registered until after the expiration of seven days
after the day of the entry of such notice as aforesaid.
New notice Sect. 15 enacts, That whenever a marriage shall
required after .. i<-
three months, not be had within three calendar months after the
notice shall have been so entered by the Superinten
dent Registrar, the notice and certificate, and any
license which may have been granted thereupon, and
all other proceedings thereupon, shall be utterly
void ; and no person shall proceed to solemnize the
marriage, nor shall any Registrar register the same,
until new notice shall have been given, and entry
made, and certificate thereof given, at the time and
in the manner aforesaid.

Superintend- Sect. 16 enacts, That the Superintendent's certi-
ent registrar's
certificate or ficate, or in case the parties shall have given notice
license to be
thfpersonby to the Superintendent of different districts, the certi-
whomThe ficate of each Superintendent, shall be delivered to
marriage is , . .
solemnized, the Officiating Minister, if the marriage shall be
solemnized according to the rites of the Church of
England ; and the said certificate or license shall be

133
delivered to the Registering Officer of the people
called Quakers for the place where the marriage is
solemnized, if the same shall be solemnized accord
ing to the usages ofthe said people; or to the Officer
of a Synagogue by whom the marriage is registered,
if the same shall be solemnized according to the
usages of persons professing the Jewish Religion ;
and in all other cases shall be delivered to the Regis
trar present at the marriage, as hereinafter provided.
Sect. 39 enacts, That every person who after the Persons un
duly solemniz-
said first day of March, shall knowingly and wilfully ™% marriage,
solemnize any marriage in England, except by spe- felony-
cial license, in any other place than a church or
chapel in which marriages may be solemnized
according to the rites of the church of England, or
than the registered building or office specified in the
notice and certificate as aforesaid, shall be guilty of
felony (except in the case of a marriage between
two of the Society of Friends commonly called
Quakers, according to the usages of the said society,
or between two persons professing the Jewish reli
gion, according to the usages of the Jews;) and
every person who in any such registered building
or office shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize
any marriage in the absence of a Registrar of the
District in which such registered building or office

134

is situated shall be guilty of felony ; and every person
who shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize any
marriage in England after the said first day of
March (except by license) within twenty-one days
after the entry of the notice to the Superintendent
Registrar as aforesaid, or if the marriage is by license,
within seven days after such entry, or after three
calendar months after such entry, shall be guilty of
Felony. Schedule (A.)
Notice of Marriage.
To the Registrar of the District of Hendon, in the
County of Middlesex.
I hereby give you notice, That a marriage is
intended to be had within three calendar months
from the date hereof, between me and the other
party herein named and described ; (that is to say,)

Name.

Condition.

Bank or
Profession.

Age.

Dwelling Place.

Length of
Residence.

Church or Build
ing in whichmar-
riage is to be
solemnized.

District and
County in which
the other party
resides, when the
parties dwell in
different di ¦ -
tricts.

James Smith.

Widower.

Carpenter.

of full
age.

16, High
Street-

23 days.

Sion Chapel,
West Street,
Hendon,
Middlesex.

Tonbridge, Kent.

Martha Green.

Spinster.

Minor.

Grove
Farm.

more
than a
month.

Witness my hand this sixth day of May, 1837,
(Signed) James Smith.
[The italics in this schedule to be filled up as the
case may be.

135
By 3 and 4 Vict. c. 72, intituled " An act to pro- 3 &4 vict.
vide for the solemnization of marriages in the districts
in or near which the parties reside," After reciting the
acts of 4 Geo. IV. c. 76, 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 85,
and 7 Will. IV., and 1 Vict. c. 22, and that it was ex
pedient to restrain marriages under the said act of his
then late Majesty (». e. 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 85) from
being solemnized out of the district in which one of
the parties dwells, unless either of the said parties
dwells in a district within which there is not any re
gistered building, wherein marriages is solemnized
according to the ceremony the parties see fit to adopt,
it is by Sect. 5 enacted, that notwithstanding anything Provision as
to marriages
in this act or in the said recited acts or either of them of members of
the Society of
contained, the Society of Friends, commonly called f^f* tufid-
Quakers, and also persons professing the Jewish the districts'
in which they
religion, may lawfully continue to contract and dwe11-
solemnize marriage according to the usages of the
said society, and of the said persons respectively,
after notice for that purpose duly given, and certi
ficate or certificates duly issued, pursuant to the pro
vision of the said recited act of his late Majesty,
notwithstanding the building or place wherein such
marriage may be contracted or solemnized be not
situate within the district or either of the districts
(as the case may be,) in which the parties shall
respectively dwell.

136
io&nvict. By 10 and 11 Vict. c. 58, intituled "An act to
c. 58.
Marriages of remove doubts as to Quakers and Jews marriages
Friends and
nfJel before solemnized before certain periods," after reciting
j-irt-*»f ri i« f\ o f"PQ
declared that doubts had been entertained as to the validity of
valid. marriages amongst the people called Quakers, and
amongst persons professing the Jewish religion,
solemnized in England before the first day of July,
1837, or in Ireland before the first day of April,
1845, according to the usages of those denominations
respectively, and that it was expedient to put an end
to such doubts, it is declared and enacted, that all
marriages so solemnized as aforesaid were and are
good in law to all intents and purposes whatsoever,
provided that the parties to such marriages were
both Quakers, or both persons professing the Jewish
religion respectively.

REGISTERS.
By 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 86, intituled "An act for 6&7Wmiv.
>•• 86.
registering births, deaths, and marriages in England,"
it is by Sect. 20 enacted, that the father or mother Parent or oc
cupier of
of every child born in England after the first day of house re- .
J <z J quired to give
March, 1837, (altered by 7 Will. IV. c. 1, to the^l^u/
last day of June,) or in case of the death, illness,
absence, or inability of the father and mother, the
occupier of the house or tenement in which such
child shall have been born, shall, within forty-two
days next after the day of every such birth, give in
formation, upon being requested so to do, to the
Registrar of the District, according to the best of his
or her knowledge and belief, of the several particu
lars hereby required to be known and registered
touching the birth of such child.

Sect. 21 enacts, That if any child of an English Registry of
children born
parent shall be born at sea on board of a British at sea-
vessel, the captain or commanding officer of the
vessel on board of which the said child shall have
been born, shall forthwith make a minute of the
several particulars hereinbefore required to be in
serted in the register touching the birth of such
child, so far as the same may be known, and the

138
name of the vessel wherein the birth took place, and
shall, on the arrival of such vessel in any port of the
United Kingdom, or by any other sooner opportunity,
send a certificate of the said minute through the post
office to the Registrar General, who shall file the
same, and enter a copy thereof under his hand in a
book to be kept for that purpose in '• the General
Register Office," to be called the " Marine Register
Book," and shall keep the said book with the other
registers, according to the provisions of this Act.
As to registry Sect. 22 enacts, That after the expiration of forty-
after expira-
from°brrth ofS *wo ^ays f°uowmg tne day 0I" ^e birth of any child, it
shall not be lawful for any Registrar to register such
birth, save as hereinafter is next mentioned ; provided
that, in case the birth of any child shall not have
been registered according to the provisions herein
before contained, it shall be lawful for any person
present at the birth of such child, or for the father
or guardian thereof, at any time within six calendar
months next after the birth, to make a solemn
declaration of the particulars required to be known
touching the birth of such child, according to the
best of his or her knowledge and belief, and it shall
thereupon be lawful for the said Registrar then and
there, in the presence of the Superintendent Regis
trar to register the birth of the said child according

139
to the information of the person making the said
declaration ; and in every such case the Superin
tendent Registrar before whom the said declaration
is made shall sign the entry of the birth as well as
the Registrar, and for every such registry as last Fees.
aforesaid the Superintendent Registrar shall be en
titled to have a fee of two shillings and sixpence
from the person requiring the same to be registered ;
and the Registrar, over and above the fee herein
after enacted in respect of every birth registered by
him, shall be entitled, unless the delay shall have
been occasioned by his default, to have a fee of
five-shillings from the person requiring the same
to be registered ; and no Register of births shall be
given in evidence to prove the birth of any child
wherein it shall appear that forty-two days have
intervened between the day of the birth and the day
of the registration of the birth of such child, unless
the entry shall be signed by the Superintendent Penalty.
Registrar ; and every person who shall knowingly
register or cause to be registered the birth of any
child, otherwise than hereinbefore is last mentioned,
after the expiration of forty-two days following the
day of the birth of such child, shall forfeit and pay
for every such offence a sum not exceeding £50.

Sect. 23 enacts, That after the expiration of six Births not to
be registered

140
after six calendar months following the birth of any child, it
months. shall not be lawful for any Registrar to register the
birth of such child, and no register of births, except
in the case of children born at sea, shall be given in
evidence to prove the birth of any child, wherein it
shall appear that six calendar months have inter
vened between the day of the birth and the day of
Penalty. the registration of the birth of such child ; and every
person who shall knowingly register or cause to be
registered the birth of any child after the expiration
of six calendar months following the day of tlie
birth of such child, shall forfeit and pay for every
such offence a sum not exceeding £50.

Some person Sect. 25 enacts, That some person present at the
present at
death, in at- death, or in attendance during the last illness of
tendance, or °
hou"e,ieto°give every person dying in England after the said first
T\Q l*f 1 C* 111 fll*^ fit
death, so far day of March, (altered by 7 Will. IV. c. 1, to the last
as known. day of June,) or in case of the death, illness, in

ability, or default, of all such persons, the occupier of
the house or tenement, or if the occupier be the per
son who shall have died, some inmate of the house
or tenement in which such death shall have hap
pened, shall, within eight days next after the day of
such death, give information, upon being requested
so to do, to the said Registrar, according to the best
of his or her knowledge and belief, of the several

141
particulars by this act required to be known and
registered touching the death of such person : Pro- Registrar to
make entry
vided always, that in every case in which an inquest ?ffmdingof
J J T- jury upon
shall be held on any dead body the Jury shall in<luests-
inquire of the particulars herein required to be
registered concerning the death, and the Coroner
shall inform the Registrar of the finding of the Jury,
and the Registrar shall make the entry accordingly.
Sect. 26 enacts, That if any of his Majesty's Registry of
persons dying
English subjects shall die at sea on board of a at sea-
British vessel, the captain or commanding officer
of the vessel on board of which such death shall
have happened shall forthwith make a minute of
the several particulars hereinbefore required to be
inserted in the register touching such death, so far
as the same may be known, and the name of the
vessel wherein the death took place, and shall on
the arrival of such vessel in any port of the United
Kingdom, or by any other sooner opportunity, send
a certificate of the said minute through the post
office to the Registrar General, who shall file the
same, and enter a copy thereof under his hand in
the Marine Register Book, and keep the same with
the other registers, according to the provisions of
this act.

142
Registrar to Sect. 27 enacts, That every Registrar, immediately
give certifi- . . - , . r
cate of regis- upon registering any death, or as soon thereafter
try of deaths
to undertaker, as he shall be required so to do, shall, without
&c. x
fee or reward, deliver to the undertaker or other
person having charge of the funeral a certificate
under his hand, according to the form of Sche
dule (E) to this act annexed, that such death has
been duly registered, and such certificate shall be
delivered by such undertaker or other person to the
minister or officiating person who shall be required
to bury or to perform any religious service for the
burial of the dead body, and if any dead body shall be
buried for which no such certificate shall have been
so delivered, the person who shall bury or perform
any funeral or any religious service for the burial
shall forthwith give notice thereof to the Registrar :
Coroner may Provided always, that the Coroner, upon holding any
order body to
beburied.and inquest, may order the body to be buried, if he shall
give certi
ficate, think fit, before registry of the death, and shall in
such case give a certificate of his order in writing
under his hand, according to the form of Schedule
(F) to this act annexed, to such undertaker or
other person having charge of the funeral, which
Penalty on shall be delivered as aforesaid ; and every person
burying dead
body without who shall bury or perform any funeral or any reli-
registry. gious service for the burial of any dead body for
which no certificate shall have been duly made and

143
delivered as aforesaid, either by the Registrar or
Coroner, and who shall not within seven days give
notice thereof to the Registrar, shall forfeit and pay
any sum not exceeding £10 for every such offence.
Sect. 28 enacts, That every person by whom the Register to be
signed by the
information contained in any register of birth or informant.
death under this act shall have been given shall sign
his name, description, and place of abode in the
register ; and no register of birth or death according
to this act shall be given in evidence which shall
not be signed by some person professing to be the
informant, and to be such party as is by this act
required to give such information to the Registrar.
Sect. 30 enacts, That the Registrar General shall Marriage re
gister books
furnish or cause to be furnished to the rector, vicar, to. ,e fi
nished
or curate of every church and chapel in England
wherein marriages may lawfully be solemnized, and
also to every person whom the Recording Clerk of the to every regis
tering officer
Society of Friends commonly called Quakers, at their °£ ™^g^c
central office in London, shall from time to time
certify in writing under his hand to the Registrar
General to be a Registering Officer in England of the
said Society, and also to every person whom the Pre
sident for the time being of the London committee of
deputies of the British Jews shall from time to time

144
certify in writing under his hand to the Registrar
General to be the Secretary of a Synagogue in Eng
land, of persons professing the Jewish religion, a
sufficient number in duplicate of Marriage Register
Books, and forms for certified copies thereof, as here-
Cost of books, inafter provided; and the cost of all such books
and forms shall be paid by the churchwardens and
overseers of the parish or chapelry out of the monies
in their hands as such churchwardens and overseers,
or by the registering officer or secretary respectively
to whom the same shall be furnished.
Marriage re- Sect. 31 enacts, That every clergyman of the
gisters to be
kept in dupli- church of England, immediately after every office of
matrimony solemnized by him, shall register in
duplicate in two of the Marriage Register Books the
several particulars relating to that marriage accord
ing to the form of the said Schedule (C) ; and every
such Registering Officer of the Quakers, as soon as
conveniently may be after the solemnization of any
marriage between two Quakers in the district for
which he is Registering Officer, and every such Secre
tary of a Synagogue, immediately after every marriage
solemnized between any two persons professing the
Jewish religion, of whom the husband shall belong
to the Synagogue whereof he is Secretary, shall
register or cause to be registered in duplicate in two

145
of the said Marriage Register Books the several par
ticulars relating to that marriage according to the
form of the said Schedule (C) ; and every such Regis
tering Officer or Secretary, whether he shall or shall
not be present at such marriage, shall satisfy himself
that the proceedings in relation thereto have been
conformable to the usages of the said society, or of
the persons professing the Jewish religion, as the case
may be ; and every such entry as hereinbefore is
mentioned (whether made by such clergyman or by
such Registering Officer or Secretary respectively as
aforesaid,) shall be signed by the clergyman or by
the said Registering Officer or Secretary, as the case
may be, and by the parties married, and by two
witnesses, and shall be made in order from the
beginning to the end of each Book, and the number
of the place of entry in each Duplicate Marriage
Register Book shall be the same.
Sect. 33 enacts, That the rector, vicar, or curate of Duplicatesand certified
every such church and chapel, and every such ReA4Pters°of re"
gistering Officer and Secretary, shall, in the months ^"mfto Su
perintendent
of April, July, October, and January respectively, Registrar.
make and deliver to the Superintendent Registrar of
the District in which such church or chapel may be
situated, or which may be assigned by the Registrar
General to such Registering Officer or Secretary, on
L

146
durable materials, a true copy, certified by him under
his hand of all the entries of marriages in the Register
Book kept by him since the last certificate, the first
of such certificates to be given in the month of July,
7Wm.iv.c.i. 1837, (altered ly 7 Will. IV. c. 1, to the month of
October,) and to contain all the entries made up to
that time, and if there shall have been no marriage
entered therein since the last certificate, shall certify
the fact under his hand, and shall keep the said
Marriage Register Books safely until the same shall
Custody of be filled ; and one copy of every such Register Book,
registers when filled, when filled, shall be delivered to the Superintendent
Registrar of the District in which such church or
chapel may be situated, or which shall have been
assigned as aforesaid to such Registering Officer or
Secretary, and the other copy of every such Register
Book kept by any such rector, vicar, or curate, shall
remain in the keeping of such rector, vicar, or curate,
and shall be kept by him with the Registers of Bap
tisms and Burials of the parish or chapelry within
which the marriages registered therein shall have
been solemnized; and the other copy of every such
Register Book of marriages among the people called
Quakers, and among persons professing the Jewish
religion respectively, shall remain under the care of
the said people or persons respectively, to be kept
with their other Registers and Records, and shall, for

147
the purposes of this act, be still deemed to be in the
keeping of the Registering Officer or Secretary for
the time being respectively.
Sect. 35 enacts, That every rector, vicar, or curate, Searches may
be made, and
and every Registrar, Registering Officer and Secre- c?^ hte^he
tary, who shall have the keeping for the time being FngS<the reg£
ters.
of any register book of births, deaths, or marriages,
shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be
made of any register book in his keeping, and shall
give a copy certified under his hand of any entry or
entries in the same, on payment of the fee herein
after mentioned ; (that is to say,) for every search Fee.
extending over a period not more than one year, the
sum of one shilling, and sixpence additional for
every additional year, and the sum of two shillings
and sixpence for every single certificate.
Sect. 36 enacts, That every Superintendent Regis- indexes to be
made at the
trar shall cause Indexes of the register books in his Supermtend-
° entRegistrar s
office to be made, and kept with the other Records pfrcS0'nsIld
-ii ini -it allowed to
of his office ; and that every person shall be entitled search them.
at all reasonable hours to search the said Indexes,
and to have a certified copy of any entry or entries
in the said register books under the hand of the
Superintendent Registrar, on payment of the fees
hereinafter mentioned (that is to say,) for every Fees.
l2

148
general search the sum of five shillings, and for
every particular search the sum of one shilling, and
for every such certified copy the sum of two shillings
and sixpence.
indexes to be Sect. 37 enacts, That the Registrar General shall
kept at ge
neral register cause in(jexes 0f a\\ the said certified copies of the
oiiice.searcnes x
cerfified co- registers to be made and kept in the general register
pies given. .
office; and that every person shall be entitled, on
payment of the fees hereinafter mentioned, to search
the said Indexes between the hours of ten in the
morning and four in the afternoon of every day,
except Sundays, Christmas-day, and Good Friday,
and to have a certified copy of any entry in
the said certified copies of the registers ; and for
Fees. every general search of the said Indexes shall be
paid the sum of twenty shillings, and for every par
ticular search the sum of one shilling, and for every
such certified copy the sum of two shillings and six
pence, and no more shall be paid to the Registrar
General or such other officer as shall be appointed
for that purpose on his account.

Penalty for Sect. 41 enacts, That every person who shall wil-
wilfullygiving
false informa- folly make or cause to be made, for the purpose of
being inserted in any register of birth, death, or
marriage, any false statement touching any of the

149
particulars herein required to be known and regis
tered, shall be subject to the same pains and penal
ties as if he were guilty of perjury.
Sect. 42 enacts, That every person who shall Penalty for
not duly regis-
refose or without reasonable cause omit to register *cri"S bir\hs>
o deaths, and
any marriage solemnized by him, or which he ought for l^smg o°r
. injuring the
to register, and every Registrar who shall refuse or registers.
without reasonable cause omit to register any birth
or death, of which he shall have had due notice as
aforesaid, and every person having the custody of
any register book, or certified copy thereof or of any
part thereof, who shall carelessly lose or injure the
same, or carelessly allow the same to be injured
whilst in his keeping, shall forfeit a sum not ex
ceeding £50 for every such offence.
Sect. 43 enacts, That every person who shall wil- Penalty for
destroying or
fully destroy or injure, or cause to be destroyed or falsifying re-
J J J ' J gister books.
injured any such register book, or any part or cer
tified copy of any part thereof, or shall falsely make
or counterfeit, or cause to be falsely made or coun
terfeited, any part of any such register book or cer
tified copy thereof, or shall wilfully insert or cause
to be inserted in any register book or certified copy
thereof any false entry of any birth, death, or mar
riage, or shall wilfully give any false certificate, or

150
shall certify any writing to be a copy or extract of
any register book, knowing the same register to be
false in any part thereof, or shall forge or counter
feit the seal of the register office, shall be guilty of
felony.
Accidental Sect. 44 enacts, That no person charged with the
errors may be
corrected. ^y 0f registering any birth, death, or marriage,
who shall discover any error to have been com
mitted in the form or substance of any such entry,
shall be therefore liable to any of the penalties
aforesaid, if within one calendar month next after
the discovery of such error, in the presence of the
parents of the child whose birth may have been so
registered, or of the parties married, or of two per
sons attending upon any person in his or her last
illness whose death may have been so registered, or
in case of the death or absence of the respective
parties aforesaid, then in the presence of the Super
intendent Registrar and of two other credible wit
nesses who shall respectively attest the same, he
shall correct the erroneous entry according to the
truth of the case, by entry in the margin, without
any alteration of the original entry, and shall sign
the marginal entry, and add thereunto the day of
the month and year when such correction shall be
Proviso. made : Provided also, that in the case of a mar-

151
riage register he shall make the like marginal entry,
attested in like manner in the duplicate Marriage
Register Book to be made by him as aforesaid, and
in every case shall make the like alteration in the
certified copy of the register book to be made by
him as aforesaid, or in case such certified copy
shall have been already made, provided he shall
make and deliver in like manner a separate cer
tified copy of the original erroneous entry, and of
the marginal correction therein made.
By 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 22, intituled " An7wm.1v. &
1 Vict. c. 22.
act to explain and amend two acts passed in the
last session of Parliament, for marriages, and for
registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in Eng- Penalty for
neglecting to
land," it is by Sect. 28 enacted, That every person send certified
copies of re-
who under the provisions of the said acts or either glster book'
of them, as amended by this act, is required to
make and deliver to any Superintendent Registrar a
certified copy of the entries of any births, deaths,
or marriages registered by him, or the certificate
required by the said acts as amended by this act,
that there have been no entries since the last
certificate, and who after being duly required to
deliver such certified copy, or such certificate as
aforesaid, shall refuse or during one calendar month
neglect so to do, shall be liable for every such

152
offence to forfeit a sum not exceeding ten pounds to
be recovered as other penalties for offences against
the said acts are made recoverable.
ioGeo.iv. By 10 Geo. IV. c. 24, intituled '-An act to enable
u. 24. the commissioners for the reduction of the National
Debt to grant life annuities and annuities for terms
of years," After providing for the evidence which
should be adduced in support of claim for a quarter's
Annuity on the death of any nominee or nominees,
Certificates of it is by Section 28 enacted, That it shall be lawful
burials of
Friends, &c. f0r the proper officer of the said commissioners for
the reduction of the National Debt, and he is hereby
authorized, empowered and required, to receive any
extracts or copies from the registers of the Society of
Friends commonly called Quakers, or from the regis
ters of any Dissenting or Roman Catholic Chapel, or
other chapel not being parochial, as evidence of the
death or burial of any nominee or nominees; pro-
Proviso, vided that such extracts or copies shall be duly cer
tified under the hand of the Registrar or person
keeping such registers ; and that such copy so
certified, shall be accompanied by an affidavit as to
the identity of such nominee or nominees, to be
made and taken by and before such and the like
person and persons as is required by this act on the
death of any nominee.

NONPAROCHIAL REGISTERS.
By 3 and 4 Vict. c. 92, intituled " An act for enabl- 3 & 4 Viet.
u. 92.
ing Courts of Justice to admit Non-Parochial Re
gisters as evidence of Births or Baptisms, Deaths or
Burials, and Marriages," after reciting the appoint
ment of certain Commissioners for inquiring into the
state, custody, and authenticity of any registers or
records of births or baptisms, deaths or burials, and
marriages lawfully solemnized, as had been kept in
England and Wales other than the parochial regis
ters, and tbe copies thereof deposited with the
Diocesan Registrars, and for inquiring whether any
and what measures could be beneficially adopted for
collecting and arranging and depositing such regis
ters or records, and for considering and advising the
proper measures to be adopted for giving full force
and effect as evidence in all courts of justice to all
such registers as were found accurate and faithful,
and for facilitating the production and reception of
the same : And that there were then about seven
thousand registers in the custody of the said Com
missioners which by their report to her Majesty they
had recommended to be kept together in some secure
place of deposit, and to be deemed to be in legal
custody, and to be receivable in evidence in all
courts of justice, subject to certain conditions and

154
restrictions therein recommended, it was by Sect. 1
Certain Regis- enacted, That the Registrar General of births, deaths,
ters to be
deposited in and marriages in England should receive, and de-
the custody of o d
General18'™1 Pos^ ™ tne general register office, all the registers
and records of births, baptisms, deaths, burials, and
marriages then in the custody of the Commissioners
appointed as aforesaid, and which they had by their
said report recommended to be kept in some secure
place of deposit, and also the several other registers
and records therein referred to.

Declaratory Sect. 3 enacts, That every office or place where
provisions as
register office1 any registers or records which by this or any other
act are directed to be in the custody of the Registrar
General shall be deposited by direction of the Regis
trar General, with the approval of the Lord High
Treasurer, or three or more Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury, shall be deemed to be a branch
or part of the general register office, so long as such
registers or records shall remain therein, and the
execution of this act shall be deemed to be a part of
the business of the general register office.

Commission- Sect. 4 enacts, That the said commissioners shall
ers to identify
deeosUedters *"rom t*me to t*me deliver to the Registrar General a
descriptive list or lists of all the registers and records
now in their custody, and also of all the registers

155
and records which shall be certified as fit to be placed
with the other registers and records in the general
register office, containing such particulars, and refer
ring to the registers and records in such manner, as
in the opinion of the Registrar General shall be
sufficient to identify every such register and record ;
and three or more of the said Commissioners, (of
whom the Registrar General shall not be one,) shall
certify under their hands, upon some part of every
separate book or volume containing any such register
or record, that it is one of the registers or records
deposited in the general register office pursuant to
this act, and in every case in which the Commis
sioners shall certify to the Registrar General as afore
said that certain parts only of such registers or
records appear to them to be original or authentic,
the Commissioners shall refer in the descriptive list
or lists, and also in the certificate upon such book
or volume, to those parts, in such manner as to
identify them to the satisfaction of the Registrar
General. Sect. 5 enacts, That the Registrar General shall Lists to be
made
cause lists to be made of all the registers and re
cords which may be placed in his custody by virtue
of this act; and every person shall be entitled, on which shall be
open to
payment of the fees hereinafter mentioned, to search search ;

156
the said lists, and any register or record therein men
tioned, between the hours of ten in the morning
and four in the afternoon of every day, except Sun
days and Christmas Day and Good Friday, but
subject to such regulations as may be made from
time to time by the Registrar General, with the appro
bation of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries
and certified of State, and to have a certified extract of any entry
extracts had
therefrom. "n the said registers or records, and for every search
in any such register or record shall be paid the sum
of one shilling ; and for every such certified extract
Fee. the sum of two shillings and sixpence, and no more.
Registers Sect. 6 enacts, That all registers and records de-
deemed in
legal custody, posited in the general register office by virtue of
and shall be *¦ ° ° J
evidence.6 m tn-is act' except the registers and records of baptisms
and marriages at tbe Fleet and King's Bench prisons,
at May Fair, at the Mint in Southwark, and else
where, which were deposited in the registry of the
Bishop of London in the year 1821, as hereinafter
mentioned, shall be deemed to be in legal custody,
and shall be receivable in evidence in all courts of
justice, subject to the provisions hereinafter con-
Production of tained ; and the Registrar General shall produce or
registers. cause to be produced any such register or record, on
subpoena or order of any competent court or tribunal,
and on payment of a reasonable sum, to be taxed as

157
the court shall direct, and to be paid to the Registrar
General, on account of the loss of time of the officer
by whom such register or record shall be produced,
and to enable the Registrar General to defray the
travelling and other expenses of such officer.
By the subsequent Sections of the act, provision
is made as to the authentication of extracts from
these registers, and for regulating the practice in
reference to the production of the originals or the
extracts, according to circumstances, in legal and
other proceedings.
It may be proper to state that, under this act, the whole
of the registers of births, marriages and burials in the Society
of Friends in England and Wales, from the rise of the Society
to the period of the establishment of the Civil Registry in 1 837,
were (with the exception of a very few register books which
were not discovered in time) surrendered to the government
by the respective Meetings to which they belonged, and are
now in the custody of the Registrar General.

CHARITIES.
52 Geo. m. By 52 Geo. III. c. 102, intituled " An act for the
c. 102. registering and securing of charitable donations," it
Exemption, is, by Sect. 12, provided, that nothing in the said
act contained, shall extend to any charitable foun
dation or donation which shall have been, or shall
be given to and for the benefit of any person or per
sons of the society of people called Quakers, and
which shall be under the superintendence and con
trol of persons of that persuasion.
58 Geo. in. By an act of the 58 Geo. III. c. 91, intituled
c. 91. J
"An act for appointing Commissioners to inquire
concerning charities in England for the education of
Exemption, the poor," it is provided, (Sect. 12) that the act
** shall not extend to any funds applicable to the pur
poses of education, for the benefit of any persons of
the Jewish persuasion, or the people called Quakers,
or person or persons of the Roman Catholic persua
sion, and which shall be under the superintendence
and control of persons of such persuasions respec
tively.*

» It may be proper to observe that the exemption in this and the
subsequent acts, was unsought for by the Society.

159

By an act 59 Geo. III. c. 81, intituled "An act 59 Geo. in.
c. 81.
to amend an act of the last session of Parliament,
for appointing Commissioners to enquire concerning
charities in England for the education of the poor,
and to extend the powers thereof to other charities
in England and Wales ; to continue in force until
the first day of August, 1823, and from thence until
the end of the then next session of Parliament,"
Sect. 7 provides, that the act, or any of the provi- Exception.
sions therein contained, shall not extend, or be con
strued to extend, to any funds applicable to the
benefit of any persons of the Jewish persuasion, or
of the people called Quakers, or of persons of the
Roman Catholic persuasion, and which shall be
under the superintendence and control of persons
of such persuasions respectively.
The powers of the Commissioners under these 5 Geo. iv.
r c. 58 ; 10 Geo.
acts were from time to time continued by 5 Geo. IV. IV- °-£7 > x
J and 2 Will.
c. 58, 10 Geo. IV. c. 57, 1 and 2 Will. IV- c. 34, ^ 6 wm.
IV. c. 71.
and 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 71, which contained simi
lar exceptions to those already set out, and the last-
mentioned act contained in addition the following
exception, Sect. 17, That this act or any of the Act not to ex-
tend to chari-
provisions therein contained shall not extend or be ties chi^h
construed to extend to any institution established, or tStations.00""
society for charitable purposes, wholly or principally

160
maintained by voluntary contributions, and under the
superintendence andcontrol of any committee orgover-
nors or other person or persons chosen or appointed out
of or by voluntary subscribers thereto ; and that the
application of any donation or bequest to the general
purposes of any such institution, establishment, or
society, in aid of such voluntary contributions, shall
not be subject to the examination or interference of
the commissioners appointed under this act: Pro-
except as to vided always that the management and application
management,&c. of rents of the rents and profits of any lands, tenements, or
for 20 years. hereditaments belonging to such institution, estab
lishment, or society for the period of twenty years or
upwards before the passing of this act, shall in all
such cases be subject to the examination of the said
Commissioners at their discretion.
By 9 Geo. ii. By 9 Geo. II. c. 36, intituled " An act to restrain
u. 36. the disposition of lands, whereby the same become
unalienable," after reciting that gifts or alienations
of lands, tenements or hereditaments, in mortmain,
were prohibited or restrained by Magna Charta, and
divers other wholesome laws, as prejudicial to and
against the common utility ; and that nevertheless
this public mischief had of late greatly increased by
many large and improvident alienations or disposi
tions made by languishing or dying persons, or by

161
other persons, to uses called charitable uses, to take
place after their deaths, to the disherison of their
lawful heirs ; it was enacted, that from and after the
twenty-fourth day of June, 1736, no manors, lands, After 24th
June, 1736, no
tenements, rents, advowsons or other hereditaments, Manors, &c.
nor money to
corporeal or incorporeal whatsoever, nor any sum or ^nda, &cAo
n iii i-i i -i • be given for
sums of money, goods, chattels, stocks in the public charitable
uses, unless
funds, securities for money, or any other personal by deed exe-
estate whatsoever, to be laid out or disposed of in the maUties!°r~
purchase of any lands, tenements or hereditaments,
shall be given, granted, aliened, limited, released,
transferred, assigned or appointed, or any ways con
veyed or settled to or upon any person or persons,
bodies politic or corporate or otherwise, for any
estate or interest whatsoever, or any ways charged
or incumbered by any person or persons whatsoever,
in trust, or for the benefit of any charitable uses
whatsoever; unless such gift, conveyance, appoint
ment or settlement of any such lands, tenements or
hereditaments, sum or sums of money, or personal
estate (other than stocks- in the public funds) be and
be made by deed indented, sealed and delivered in
the presence of two or more credible witnesses
twelve calendar months at least before the death of
such donor or grantor (including the days of the
execution and death) and be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six
M

162
calendar months next after the execution thereof;
and unless such stocks be transferred in the public
books usually kept for the transfer of stocks, six
calendar months at least before the death of such
donor or grantor (including the days of the transfer
and death) and unless the same be made to take effect
in possession for the charitable use intended, imme
diately from the making thereof, and be without any
power of revocation, reservation, trust, condition,
limitation, clause or agreement whatsoever, for the
benefit of the donor or grantor, or of any person or
persons claiming under him.
Purchases or Sect. 2 enacts, That nothing hereinbefore men-
vaiuabie con- tioned relating to the sealing and delivering of any
siderationsnot affected ^ee^ or ^ee^s twelve calendar months at least before
by death ol
grantor. ^ ^ea^ 0£ ^g grantor, or to the transfer of any
stock six calendar months before the death of the
grantor or person making such transfer, shall extend,
or be construed to extend, to any purchase of any
estate or interest in lands, tenements or heredita
ments, or any transfer of any stock, to be made
really and bona fide for a full and valuable considera
tion actually paid at or before the making such con
veyance or transfer without fraud or collusion.

made after 24 Sect. 3 enacts, That all gifts, grants, conveyances,
Jun e, 1736,

163

appointments, assurances, transfers, and settlements otherwise
than directed
whatsoever, of any lands, tenements, or other here- by this act to
be absolutely
ditaments, or of any estate or interest therein, or of V0ld"
any charge or incumbrance affecting or to affect
any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or of any
stock, money, goods, chattels, or other personal
estate, or securities for money to be laid out or dis
posed of in the purchase of any lands, tenements or
hereditaments, or of any estate or interest therein, or
of any charge or incumbrance affecting or to affect
the same, to or in trust for any charitable uses what
soever, which shall at any time from and after the
said twenty-fourth day of June 1736, be made in any
other manner or form than by this act is directed
and appointed, shall be absolutely, to all intents and
purposes, null and void.
By 9 Geo. IV. c. 85, intituled " An act for 9 Geo. iv.
c. 85.
remedying a defect in the titles of lands purchased
for charitable purposes," after reciting the act of
9 Geo. II. c. 36, and reciting that the said pro
vision contained in the said recited act, in relation
to the purchase of any estate or interest in lands,
tenements, or hereditaments, for a full and valuable
consideration, was only intended to prevent such pur
chases from being avoided by reason of the death of
the grantor within twelve calendar months after the
m2

164
sealing and delivery of the deed or deeds relat
ing thereto: And also reciting that it had not
withstanding been generally apprehended that the
said last-mentioned provision was intended wholly
to exempt such purchases from the operation of the
said act, and that in consequence thereof, the forma
lities by the said act prescribed, in relation to the
conveyance of hereditaments to charitable uses, had
in divers instances been omitted on purchases for a
full and valuable consideration, and that by reason
of such omission the title to such hereditaments
might be considered defective ; it is enacted, that
where any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any
Deedsreiating estate or interest therein, have or has been pur-
to purchase of
lands for cha- chased for a full and valuable consideration, in trust
ritable pur-
valid although or ror tne benefit of any charitable uses whatsoever,
theformalities , ir-n i iii -jj.- i i.
prescribed by and such full and valuable consideration has been
the recited
act have not actually paid for the same, every deed or other assu-
been duly per
formed, ranee already made for the purpose of conveying or
assuring such lands, tenements, or hereditaments,
estate or interest as aforesaid, in trust or for the
benefit of such charitable uses, (if made to take
effect in possession, for the charitable use intended,
immediately from the making thereof, and without
any power of revocation, reservation, trust, con
dition, limitation, clause, or agreement whatsoever,
for the benefit of the grantor, or of any person or

165
persons claiming under him,) shall be as good and
valid, and of the same effect, both for establishing
derivative titles, and in all other respects, as if the
several formalities by the said act prescribed had
been duly observed and performed.
Sect. 2 enacts, That nothing in this act contained Act not to
extend to
shall extend to give effect to any deed or other deeds avoided
J by suits at
assurance heretofore made, so far as the same has Iaw'
been already avoided by suit at law or in equity,
or by any other legal or equitable means what
soever, or to affect or prejudice any suit at law or
in equity actually commenced for avoiding any
such deed or other assurance, or for defeating the
charitable uses in trust or for the benefit of which
such deed or other assurance may have been
made.

Sect. 3 enacts, That nothing herein contained Not to dis
pense with
shall be construed to dispense with any of the said prescribed
formalities in
several formalities prescribed by the said recited future-
act, in relation to any deed or other assurance which
shall be made after the passing of this present
act* * See note ante page 23.

CHURCH WARDENS.
Though there is no general enactment which speci
fically exempts Friends from liability to serve the
office of Church Warden, yet it has been decided in
the Archdeaconry Court of London that they are not
compellable to serve or liable to any fine for refusing.
Adey v. Theobald, 1 Curtis, Eccles : rep. 447.

MISCELLANEOUS.
Discipline or Church Government.
The Rules of the Discipline or Church Government
of the Society of Friends are clearly recognized and
allowed by the laws of England, as appears in the
case of their marriages : so also in the case of Rex
v Francis Hart, on an indictment for a libel, the
rules of their discipline were recognized by the
judges, who refused to grant an information for a
libel, for which, application was made to them,
founded on an act of the Society in the course of their
disciplinary proceedings, and afterwards, when the
defendant was found guilty, on an indictment, the
court granted a rule absolute for a new trial on the
first application. The prosecutrix, Mary Jerom, was
educated among Friends, at the Town of Notting
ham; her parents who lived there, being of that
persuasion. She having acted in disobedience to
the rules, the usual means by visiting and admonish
ing, were taken by the Society, but they proving
ineffectual, and she absenting herself from the meet
ings and declaring that she did not look upon herself
as one of the body, the Society proceeded in their
usual manner to the sentence of expulsion, which
was reduced into writing, approved by the Monthly

168
Meeting, and afterwards read by the defendant as
clerk of the meeting, at the close of the meeting for
worship at Nottingham, in 1761.
The prosecutrix being acquainted with this pro
ceeding, sent her maid servant to the defendant for
a copy of the sentence : who transcribed it, and
enclosed it in a cover, directed to Mary Jerom ; who
being thus possessed of it, annexed to it an affidavit,
and applied to the Court of King's Bench for an in
formation for a libel. But the court rejected the
motion, and refused to grant a rule to shew cause.
She afterwards, on the 12th of March, 1762, pre
ferred a bill of indictment against the defendant for
a libel, before the grand jury at the assizes, held for
the Town of Nottingham ; which bill being found
by them, was afterwards removed by certiorari
into the King's Bench. And the defendant having
pleaded not guilty, it was tried before Justice Clive,
at the Summer assizes at Nottingham, July 30,
1762. The evidence on the part of the prosecution
was, the prosecutrix and her servant maid who went
for the paper ; and the evidence of the publication
of it as a libel, was, the direction of it to the prose
cutrix, and the defendant's acknowledgment to the
servant that he read it at the meeting. The defen
dant's counsel called no witnesses ; being of opinion,

169
that the Quakers, who were the only persons that
could give an account of their method of proceeding,
were disabled by the statute 7 and 8 Will. III.
c. 34,* from being witnesses on a criminal prose
cution ; and being restrained from arguing that the
paper in question was no libel, by the judge, who
said that such a question was more proper to be
determined by the court above, could only insist,
that the evidence on the part of the prosecution was
not sufficient to maintain the indictment. The
judge left the case, with its circumstances, to the
jury but rather recommended it to them to acquit
the defendant. The jury, after withdrawing about
three hours, found the defendant guilty.
In the Michaelmas Term following, counsel moved
the Court of King's Bench for a new trial ; and after
stating the above mentioned facts, and observing
upon the circumstances of hardship which would
attend the case on a motion in arrest of judgment,
where no facts could be relied on but what appeared
on the record, and after a verdict, it might be pre
sumed that a malicious intention to defame the
prosecutrix (which was charged in the indictment)
was proved, insisted, that the leaving such a case as
* This disability was removed by the 9 Geo. IV. c. 32, Ante,
p. 42.

170
this to a jury, would be enabling a jury to set up
a judgment in opposition to the Legislature, and
overturn the Toleration Act, and that therefore the
verdict ought to be set aside as a verdict against law.
The court was clearly of opinion, that the jury
should have been directed to acquit the defendant ;
and, as notice of the motion was given, and counsel
appeared for the prosecution, who did not contradict
the abovementioned facts, the court said they would
not do so much credit to such a prosecution, as to
grant a rule to show cause ; and they ordered the
verdict to be set aside on the first motion. — Burn's
Ecc. Law, vol. 2, p. 199.

On the non-observance of days of public humi
liation and thanksgiving, and of those called Good
Friday and Christmas-day.
It is well known that the Society of Friends have
an objection, founded as they believe on Christian
principles, to the observance of any religious Fasts
or Festivals, and that the consistent members of the
Society are in the practice of pursuing their business
on these, as on other days, and keeping their shops
open. And on one of these festivals (Christmas-
day) the mayor of a county town ordered the con-

171
stable to close the shutters of three shops belonging
to Friends, and intimated that the like course would
be taken in future, also that it was intended to levy
a fine for noncompliance on the part of the Friends
with the desire or injunction of the magistrates on
this head. On this occasion the opinion of Serj'- Lens
was taken, whether such procedure, or the levying
of a fine in such case, could be supported by the
Common or Statute Law, or even by the Canon Law
of England, and his opinion was, That the mayor
could not justify shutting up forcibly and against
the owner's will, such shops as might not be closed
on Christmas day. That he had not been able to
find any statute which inflicted a penalty for not
duly observing Christmas-day, and that no fine im
posed by the magistrates for such purpose, could in
itself be effectual: That he was not aware that
indictment at Common Law had ever been main
tained in such a case, or that the Ecclesiastical
Court had ever entertained any complaint against
Quakers not acting contumaciously, but from a
regard to their own religious notions.

LOCAL PROVISIONS.
In several acts (local and personal and private)
which have been passed by the Legislature prin
cipally of late years, for erecting chapels or other
places of worship, collecting certain rates and for
other objects, provisions have been introduced, ex
empting Friends from the offices of churchwardens,
collectors, &c. The titles of many of such acts,
with the nature of the exemption referred to, are
here subjoined : which besides rendering the present
compilation more complete may have the effect of
inducing Friends in different parts of the country,
when any bills for purposes of a similar description,
in their own vicinity, are about to be brought
into Parliament, wherein such clauses of exemption
can with propriety be introduced, to make early
application to the solicitors of the bill, and others
who are likely to have influence on the occasion ; as
such provisions can often be much more easily
obtained in the early stages of the business, than
when the form of the bill, and its several clauses,
are more settled.

Acts containing provisions for exempting Friends
from being collectors, 6fc. of Church and other
Ecclesiastical Rates.
By 23 Geo. II. c. xxxvi. intituled " An act for 23 Geo. 11.
c. xxxvi.
settling a stipend upon the rector of the parish
called St. George the Martyr, in Southwark, and
his successors, in lieu of tithes ;" Quakers (so called)
are exempted from being collectors.
By 24 Geo. II. c. xv. intituled "An act to en- 24 Geo. 11.
CXV.
able the parishioners of the parish called St. Mary,
Islington, in the county of Middlesex, to rebuild the
church of the said parish ;" Quakers (so called) are
exempted from being collectors.

By 26 Geo. II. c. xxxviii. intituled " An act to 2<- G^0-.?.1-
J c.xxxvm.
enable the parishioners of the parish of Stone, in
the county of Stafford, to re-build the church of the
said parish;" Quakers (so called) are exempted
from being collectors; and collectors are empowered
to make distress, by warrant from five trustees, on
such as refuse to pay the rates assessed by the act.
By 26 Geo. II. c. xciv. intituled "An act to 26 Geo. 11.
v. xciv.
enable the owners of houses and lands in the parish

174
called St. Botolph, without Aldersgate, and the
inhabitants thereof, to repair the church and steeple
belonging to the said parish ;" Quakers (so called)
are exempted from being collectors.

14 Geo. III.
c. xii.

By 14 Geo. III. c. xii. intituled "An act for
vesting a piece of waste ground, within the manor
of Clapham, in the county of Surrey, in trustees,
and for enabling them to build a parish church
thereon ;" Quakers (so called) are exempted from
being treasurers, clerks, collectors, or receivers.

19 Geo. III.
c.lvii.

By 19 Geo. III. c. Ivii. intituled "An act for
the better providing a maintenance for the vicar
of the parish of the Trinity, in the city of Coven
try ;" Quakers (so called) are exempted from being
assessors.

44 Geo. III.
u. lxxxix.

By 44 Geo. III. c. lxxxix. intituled " An act for
the relief of certain incumbents of livings in the
city of London." Sect. 17. Quakers (so called)
are exempted from being collectors.

47 Geo. III.
c. cxxxii.

By 47 Geo. III. c. cxxxii. intituled " An act for
making better provision for the support and main
tenance of the rector, for the time being, of the
parish of St. George, the Martyr, Southwark, in the

175
county of Surrey." By Sect. 3. Quakers (so called)
are exempted from the office of collecting the rate
or assessment, under this act.
By 54 Geo. III. c. cxi. intituled " An act for 54 Geo. hi.
c. cxi.
building a new church within the town and parish
of Liverpool, in the county Palatine of Lancaster."
Sect. 24. Quakers (so called) are exempted from
being assessors or collectors.
By 55 Geo. III. c. xliv. intituled " An act for 55 Geo. in.
c. xliv.
taking down and re-building the parish church of
St. Thomas, in the town of Dudley, in the county
of Worcester." Sect. 32. Quakers (so called) are
exempted from being collectors.
By 4 Geo. IV. c. cxviii. intituled " An act for 4 Geo. iv.
c. cxviii.
extinguishing Tithes, &c. within the London or city
liberty of St. Andrew Holborn, in the city of
London." (Local and personal,) s.s. 1 and 2.
Friends are exempted from the office of commissioners
under this act.

By 5 Geo. IV. c. xxviii. (Private act,) intituled 5 Geo. iv.
c. xxviii.
"An act to commute for a corn rent certain tithes
and dues payable to the vicar of the parish of
Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster." Sect. 33.

176
Quakers (so called) are exempted from the office of
collector.
7 Geo. iv. By 7 Geo. IV. c. cxvi. (Local and personal,) in-
c. cxvi. tituled "An act for extinguishing tithes, &c. in
that part of the parish of St. Botolph without Alders-
gate, which is situate in the City of London," &c.
Quakers (so called) are rendered ineligible to act
as commissioners, or to fill the office of treasurer,
clerk or collector.
7&8Geo.iv. By 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. xxi. (Local and personal,)
c. xxi. intituled " An act to commute for a corn rent the
tithes and dues payable to the rector of the parish
of Grappenhall in the county Palatine of Chester."
Sect. 33. Quakers (so called) are exempted from
being appointed tithe collectors.
10 Geo. iv. By 10 Geo. IV. c. xiv. (Local and personal,) in
tituled " An act for extinguishing tithes and pay
ments in lieu of tithes, &c. &c. within the parish of
Halifax, in the county of York." Sect. 4. Power
is given to the vicar to distrain for money in arrear
upon the churchwardens, but if sufficient goods
be not found with them he may summon not less
than three nor more than twenty of the inhabitants
who are in arrear, (not being of the persuasion of

C. XIV.

177
the people called (Quakers) to pay the deficiency or
to levy it by distraint upon them.
Sect. 14. Collectors of rates may be appointed
from the householders, but Friends are exempted.
Sect. 21. Persons making distress, to render an
account of expenses on demand in three days, under
a penalty of £10.
By 4 and 5 Will. IV., c. xviii. intituled " An 4&5Wiii.iv.
c xviii.
act to commute for a corn rent the tithes and dues
payable to the rectors and vicar of the parish of
Kendal, otherwise Kirby Kendal, in the county of
Westmoreland." Sect. 45 Provides that for the due
collection of the annual sum or sums in lieu of tithes
and other dues, one or more occupiers of land Sgc.
(not being one of the people called Quakers,) in each
of the said townships, shall be appointed yearly to be
tithe collectors.

Acts wherein Friends are exempted from being
Churchwardens, 8$c.
By 43 Geo. III. c. cxvii. intituled " An act for 43 Geo. in.
c cxvii.
erecting a new church to be called Christ Church,
in the town of Birmingham, in the county of War-
N

178
wick, and for providing a maintenance and residence
for the minister or perpetual curate thereof." By
Sect. 17, Quakers (so called) are exempted from
being churchwardens.
45 Geo. ill. By 45 Geo. III. c. xii. intituled " An act to
c. xii. enable his Majesty to grant part of his Majesty's
allotment of the disafforested forest or chase of
Needwood, in the county of Stafford, for the erection
of a church, and the endowment of the minister
thereof, and for building and establishing the said
church." By Sect. 17, churchwardens not to be of
the people called Quakers.
45 Geo. in. By 45 Geo. III. c. xiv. intituled "An act for
c. xiv. establishing a new church or chapel at Blaenavon in
the parish of Lanover, in the county of Monmouth."
By Sect. 14, the church or chapelwardens not to be
of the people called Quakers.
45 Geo. iii. By 45 Geo. III. c. lxvi. intituled " An act for
u. lxvi. building a chapel in the hamlet of Redditch, in the
parish of Tardebigg, in the counties of Worcester
and Warwick." By Sect. 24, Chapelwardens not to
be of the people called Quakers or Jews.
48 Geo. in. By 48 Geo. III. c. xcvii. intituled "An act for
u. XCVII. *

179
making more effectual provision for maintaining,
regulating, and employing the poor of the parish of
St. Luke, in the county of Middlesex." By Sect. 20,
Quakers (so called) are exempted from the office of
churchwarden. By 51 Geo. III. c, lxix. intituled "An act for si Geo. in.
J c lxix.
building and establishing a church or chapel of ease
at Buxton, in the county of Derby." By Sect. 10,
Quakers (so called) exempted from the office of
church or chapelwarden.
By 57 Geo. III. c. xxxiv. intituled " An act for 57 Geo. m.
c. xxxiv.
making the hamlet of Poplar and Blackwall, in the
county of Middlesex, a separate and distinct parish ;
and for erecting a parish church therein, and other
purposes relating thereto." Sect. 44 contains a pro
vision that Quakers (so called) shall not be eligible
to the office of churchwarden in the new parish.
It will be seen that all these Local Acts exempting Friends
from the office of churchwarden, were passed before the deci
sion of the archdeaconry court of London, in the case of A dey
v. Theobald, vide ante page 166. It now appearing from that
decision, that a special exemption is not requisite, there seems
no sufficient reason for applying to have such a clause inserted
in any future local act of this nature.
N 2

Acts relating to the compounding for parochial
rates, Sfc.
50 Geo. iii. By 50 Geo. III. c. xiv. intituled " An act for
c. xiv. J
better assessing and collecting the poor and other
rates in the parish of St. George the Martyr, in
the borough of Southwark, in the county of Surrey,
and regulating the poor thereof." In the clause
(Sect. 2J respecting the compounding for parochial
rates, it is provided, that the churchwardens and
overseers of the poor, may compound with any of the
people called Quakers for the poor rates only.
52 Geo. iii. By 52 Geo. III. c. lxxv. intituled " An act for
c. lxxv. amending and rendering more effectual several acts
for better assessing and collecting the poor and other
rates of the parish of St. John of Wapping, in the
county of Middlesex ; and for more effectually paving,
widening, and improving the streets, and other
places within and adjoining to the said parish."
In Sect. 5, which empowers the churchwardens and
others to compound with the landlords of small houses,
Sfc. for parochial rates, authority is given to enter
into such composition " with any of the people called
Quakers for the poor rates and watch rates only."

181
By 53 Geo. III. c. clxii. intituled " An act for 63 Geo. in.
C. clxii.
better assessing and collecting the poor and other
rates, in the parish of St. Giles, Camberwell, in the
county of Surrey, and regulating the affairs thereof;
for repairing or re-building the parish workhouse,
and purchasing ground for a cemetery, and for other
purposes relating thereto." In the clause (Sect. 2)
relating to a composition with the landlords of houses
under a certain rent, fyc. for the parochial taxes,
authority is given to compound with any of the people
called Quakers for the poor rates and highway duty
solely. By 54 Geo. III. c. xliii. intituled, " An act for 54 Geo. in.
u. xliii.
the better management and relief of the poor in the
parish of Lewisham, in the county of Kent, and for
better assessing and collecting the parochial rates in
the said parish." In the clause (Sect. 17 J relating
to a composition with the landlords of houses, under
a certain rent, fyc. for the parochial taxes, the power
to compound is restricted from extending, in the case
of the people called Quakers, to "Ecclesiastical, or
church rates."
Bv 55 Geo. III. c. xcvi. intituled "An act for 55 Geo. in.
J c xcvi.
building a new church, and also a workhouse, in the

182
parish of Bathwick, in the county of Somerset."
Sect. 33. And be it further enacted, that if any
person being one of the people called Quakers, shall
be assessed to any rate that shall be made under this
act, it shall be lawful for the said trustees, and they
are hereby required, to compute and ascertain what
proportion the whole of such rate is for or in respect
of the building and completing the said new church,
and what proportion of the same is for or in respect
of the^ building of the said workhouse, and accord
ing to such proportions, to fix and determine what
part of the assessment on such Quaker shall be for
or in respect of each of the said two purposes, and
the collector to be appointed as aforesaid shall there
upon make the demand upon such Quaker for such
two parts separately : provided always, that either
part of such assessment may and shall be recovered
by the same means, and under the same authority,
and also may and shall be appealed against in the
same manner, as the whole of such assessment might
have been, if it had not been so divided.
56 Geo: in. By 56 Geo. III. c. v. intituled "An act for the
better assessing and collecting the poor and other
parochial rates in the parish of Mitcham, in the
county of Surrey." Sect. 1. In this clause which

<;. V.

183
relates to compounding for rates, it is provided that
with any of the people called Quakers the composition
shall be for the poor's rates only.
By 56 Geo. III. c. lvi. intituled "An act for 56 Geo. in.
c. lvi.
enlarging the church-yard of the parish of St. George
the Martyr, in Southwark, in the county of Surrey,
and for other purposes relating thereto." Sect. 46.
Persons compounding for the poor rates shall be
deemed to compound for the rate or rates under the
present act, but with this provision, that any of the
people called Quakers may claim to be considered as
compounding for the poor rates only.
By 58 Geo. III. c. xxii. intituled "An act for 58 Geo. in.
u. xxii.
enlarging the church-yard of the parish of Chipping
Barnet, in the county of Hertford, and for other
purposes relating thereto." By Sect. 53, it appears
that Quakers (so called) may compound for the poor's
rate, without being considered as compounding for the
rate under this act.
Note — This must be the meaning, but the clause is
not accurately worded.

By 1 and 2 Will. IV. c. iv. intituled "An act i&2wm.iv.
J c. iv.
for settling disputed rights respecting tithes within
the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the county

184
Palatine of Lancaster, and for fixing certain annual
payments in lieu thereof." (Local and personal.)
Sect. 2 provides for the regular payment of the yearly
rents to the rector and his successors on a certain day
in the year by the owners or occupiers of farms, lands,
and tenements chargeable with the said yearly rents,
and every such owner or occupier making default of
such payment on the day appointed, not being one of
the people called Quakers, shall forfeit and pay the
sum of two shillings and sixpence in addition to the
said respective yearly rents or sums.
3 Win. iv. By 3 Will. IV. c. xxxiii. intituled "An act to
alter and amend an act of the 53 Geo. III. for better
assessing and collecting the poor and other rates in
the parish of Saint Giles, Camberwell, in tbe county
of Surrey and regulating the affairs thereof and for
other purposes relating thereto. (Local and per
sonal.) Sect. 4 Relates to a composition with the land
lords of houses under a certain rent, Sfc. for the
parochial taxes, in which authority is given to com
pound with any of the people called Quakers for the
poor rates and highway duty only.
See also Sect. 5 to the same purport.

c. xxxm.

INDEX.

Abjuration, see Oaths.
Affirmation,
Friends instead of oaths to make affirmation, 32, 43.
form of affirmation, 44.
penalty for false affirmation, 33, 41, 43.
affirmation for persons who have been Friends, 47, 48.
See Oaths, Seceders.
Allegiance, see Oaths.
Annual Training,
certain persons not exempt, 104-
Friends, on production of certificate, exempted on payment
of fine, 105.
form of such certificate, 84, note.
fine to be levied by distress, 106.
if no goods, Friends may be committed, 106.
justices may appoint deputies to Friends who are constables,
&c, 106.
general and subdivision meetings may appoint constables out
of persons exempt from service, 1 07.
Apprentice, not exempt from annual training, 104,
exempt from the regular militia, 90.
Articled Clerk,
not exempt from annual training, 104.
exempt from the regular militia, 90.
Baggage, conveyance of, 124.
penalties, 125.
Births, see Registers.
Burial Registers,
particular provision for those of Friends being evidence in a
certain case, 152.
Charitable Donations,
Friends exempted from registering of, 1 58.

188

Charities, for the education of the poor, 158, 159.
Friends exempted from the inquiries of the Commissioners,
159.
act not to extend to institutions or societies for charitable
purposes, principally supported by voluntary contribu
tions, 159.
no lands or personal estate to be laid out in lands to be
given or settled to any charitable use, unless by deed twelve
months before the death of the donor or grantor and
enrolled, 160.
if stock, to be transferred six months before death, 161, 162.
death of donor or grantor not to affect purchases for a valu
able consideration, 162.
gifts, &c. contrary to the provisions of the act to be void,
162.
purchases for valuable consideration rendered valid, though
not enrolled, 163.
act not to give effect to any assurance avoided by law, nor
to affect any suit then pending, 165.
not to extend to future purchases, 165.
Christian Belief, see Declaration.
Christmas Day,
note relative to the observance of, 170.
Church Rates and other Ecclesiastical demands,
particular exemptions of Friends in being collectors, 173.
provisions relating to compounding for, 180.
meeting-houses exempted from poor and church rates, 19.
payment of poor rates to qualify for voting in election of
guardians of the poor, 67.
See Tithes.
Churchwardens,
Friends not compellable to serve, 166.
particular exemptions of Friends, 177.
Constables, exempt from military service, 90, 112.
See Annual Training, Baggage, Militia, Local Militia.
Corporations, see Offices.

189

Deaths, see Registers.
Declaration, against popery, 7, note
against transubstantiation, 30, note.
of fidelity, 39.
of Christian belief, 8.
of affirmation, 44, 48.
to the effect of the oath of abjuration, 45.
See Offices.
Deputy Lieutenants, Annual Training, Local Militia, Militia.
Discipline, meetings of, recognised, 5, note.
Distress, cost of, for tithe and Church rates under ,£20. limited, 67.
table of costs, 69.
See Annual Training, Local Militia, Militia, Tithes.
Divine Service.
laws for, in force, 11.
Ecclesiastical Courts,
excommunication discontinued, 65, note.
See Tithes.
Education of the Poor,
Commissioners to enquire concerning charities for, 158, 159.
Fast Days, &c. See Christmas Day.
Fidelity. See Declaration, Oaths, Toleration.
Good Friday. See Christmas Day.
Guardians of the Poor. See Poor and other Rates.
Imprisonment for ecclesiastical demands abolished, 70.
Justices of the Peace,
may require persons to take the oaths, &c. mentioned in the
Act of Toleration, 6.
may appoint deputies to Friends who are constables for
military purposes, 86, 106, 109.
may levy by distress the amount of military rates, 89, 101,
106,112.
may require disaffected persons to take the oaths, 34.
may summon Friends refusing to pay tithes, 56, 59.
may levy amount by distress, 57, 60.

190

appeal against order of, to quarter sessions, 57.
See Annual Training, Local Militia, Militia, Oaths,
Tithes.
Local Acts,
provisions in, relating to Friends, 172.
Local Militia,
provisions of other acts to extend to, 107.
men to be balloted for, out of militia lists, 108.
penalty for neglecting to appeal to lists, 109.
justices may appoint deputies to Friends who are consta
bles, &c, 109.
parishes may offer volunteers, 110.
rate may be made for paying volunteers, 110.
justice to levy amount of rate by distress, 112.
costs against Friends refusing to pay rate, 120.
who shall be deemed Friends, 120.
certain persons exempt from rate, 112.
persons aggrieved by rate may appeal, 112.
certain persons exempt from service, 112.
persons having paid fine, or suffered distress, how long
exempt, 113.
persons chosen, unfit for service, exempted, 121.
persons balloted, and not appearing, to be fined, 113.
fines to exempt for two years, 115.
persons claiming exemption on payment of smaller fines, 115.
declaration that they have not insured against fine, 116.
penalty for insuring, 116, note.
Friends on production of certificate, not to be enrolled, but
subjected to certain fines, 1 17.
form of such certificate, 84, note.
fines to be levied by distress, 118.
if no goods or chattels, deputy-lieutenants, &c. may commit
the Friend to prison, 119.
persons to serve where their names are first inserted in the
lists, 119.
mode of providing carriages, 121.
overseers to pay sums for men deficient out of poor rates, 1 22.
persons aggrieved may appeal, 122, 123.

191

lists not irregular on account of mistakes of names, 123.
in Scotland, 107, noto.
London, militia of, 98.
Marriage,
several marriage acts not to extend to Friends, 127, 128.
Friends may solemnize marriages according to their usages,
128.
such marriage good in law, 128.
notice in the form given in the act, to be given to the Super
intendent Registrar of the District within which the
parties shall have dwelt for not less than seven days, or
if living in different districts, to the Superintendent
Registrar of each district, 128.
form of notice, 134.
Superintendent Registrar to file and preserve such notices,
and enter a copy in a book called the Marriage Notice
Book, 129.
book open to inspection without fee, 130.
Superintendent Registrar to give certificate of such notice,] 30.
issue of certificate may be forbidden, 131.
no marriage, except by license, to be solemnized till twenty-
one days after notice, 131.
if by license, not till seven days after notice, 132.
if marriage not had till three months after notice all the pro
ceedings void, 132.
Superintendent Registrars certificate, or if notice in two
districts, the certificate of each Superintendent, or license,
if any, to be delivered to the Registering Officer of
Friends for the place where the marriage is solemnized, 132.
persons unduly solemnizing marriages guilty of felony, 1 33.
Friends marriages may be solemnized in a District in which
neither party resides, 135.
declaration that all marriages among Friends prior to 1st of
Seventh Month, 1837, were and are good in law, 136.
See Registers.
Meetings, Disturbers of, how punished, 11, 17.

192

for discipline, may be select, 5, note.
act relating to religious assemblies not to extend to Friends, 1 5.
seditious meetings, exceptions, 15.
exemption from turnpike tolls in attending usual place of
worship, 17.
no exemption within five miles of Royal Exchange or
Westminster Hall, 18.
See Meeting Houses, Toleration.
Meeting Houses,
not to be locked, &c. during time of meeting, 4.
to be certified at the quarter sessions, 12.
note respecting certifying, 15.
where no trust declared of meeting houses, &c, usage for
twenty-five years to be evidence, 21.
conveyances of meeting houses and burial grounds or of land
for these purposes on the first acquisition thereof to be
enrolled, 23.
purchases for these purposes prior to 9 Geo. IV. c. 85, per
fected, 23.
exempted from poor and church rates, 19.
See Toleration, Mortmain, Charities.
Militia, Notice to house-keepers to deliver lists of persons, 82.
penalty on not delivering lists, 83.
Friends exempted from making return on producing certi
ficate, 84.
form of certificate, 84, note.
persons aggrieved by the lists may appeal, 85.
penalty on neglecting to appeal, 86.
justices may appoint deputies to Friends who are constables,
&c, 86.
parishes may offer volunteers without balloting, 88.
overseers may make a rate for payment of bounties to
volunteers, 88.
on refusal to pay rate, a justice may levy the same, 89.
persons exempted from payment of rate, 89.
persons aggrieved by the rate may appeal, 89.
costs allowed od levying distress on Friends, 92.

193

who shall be deemed Friends, 92.
certain persons exempted from service, 90.
persons infirm or short of size, 93.
Friends being baiiotted, deputy-lieutenants to provide sub
stitutes, and levy the expense, 90.
sum agreed to be given to any substitute, to be paid by the
overseer, and to be repaid to him by distress, 93.
if sufficient distress cannot be found, deputy-lieutenants
may commit, 91.
oppressive measures in making distress, 92.
one-half of the value of a substitute to be repaid to certain
persons, 95.
overseers to pay fines for men deficient, out of the poor
rate, 96.
mode of providing carriages, 94.
militia of the Tower Hamlets, 97.
 City of London, 98.
 Stannaries in Devon and Cornwall, 103.
 Scotland, 82, note.
Miners in Cornwall, &c.
provision respecting Friends, 103.
Mortmain Act,
applies to the first acquisition of meeting houses and burial
grounds or of land for these purposes, 23.
See Charities, Meeting Houses.
Nonconformists, certain acts relating to, repealed, 1, note, 14.
persons taking certain oaths, &c, not liable to prosecution, 4.
laws against nonconformists in force, unless persons go to
some assembly authorized by law, 11 .
provisions respecting persons scrupling the taking of oaths,
7. See Oaths.
Nonparochial Registers,
certain registers to be deposited with the Registrar General,
154.
Commissioners on Registers to certify and identify the
registers deposited, 154. O

194

Registrar General to make lists of the registers, to allow
searches, and give certified extracts, 155.
Registers deemed to be in legal custody, and receivable in
evidence, 156.
Registrar General to produce same on order of any compe
tent court, 156.
Friends registers in custody of Registrar General, 157.
Oaths,
persons taking certain oaths, &c, not liable to the penalties
enacted against nonconformists, 3, 4.
justices authorized to require any person going to meetings,
to make declaration against popery, and take certain
oaths, 6.
penalty for refusal, 6.
how purged after refusing to take the oaths, 9.
every person to take the oath of allegiance, 24.
refusal, 24.
penalties repealed, 24, note.
persons refusing, incapable of any office, &c, 25.
oaths repealed and others appointed, 25.
to be taken by the same persons as were required to take tbe
abrogated oaths, 25.
before whom oaths are to be taken, 24, 25.
persons in office to take the oaths, 26.
penalties for refusing to take the oaths, 26, 29, 35.
penalty for refusing the declaration against popery, 28.
certain penalties repealed, 25, note.
parish officers refusing oaths, allowed to act by deputy, 29.
persons practising law, &c, 29.
Friends subscribing the declaration of fidelity exempted
from penalties, 31 .
form of declaration of fidelity, 39.
persons refusing oaths, or Friends refusing to make the
declaration of fidelity and affirmation to the effect of the
oath of abjuration, to have no vote at elections, 31, 35.
Friends allowed to make affirmation instead of an oath,
32, 42.
exceptions, 33, 42.

195

penalty for false affirmation, 33, 41, 43.
justices may require disaffected persons to take the oaths, 34.
penalties for refusal, 34.
Friends declaring on their affirmation to the effect of tlie
abjuration oath, not liable to penalties, 36.
affirmation instead of abjuration oath, 36, 39, 44.
authority for administering affirmation, &c, 40.
persons having neglected to take oaths, &c, indemnified, 41,
note.
affirmation to be taken in all cases, civil or criminal, instead
of an oath, 42.
affirmation of Friends permitted in all cases where au oath
is required, without any exception, 43.
form of affirmation as now settled, 44.
form of affirmation in lieu of oath of abjuration as now
settled, 45.
persons who have ceased to be Friends permitted to make
affirmation, 47.
form of such affirmation, 48.
proceedings of the House of Commons in 1833, on a Friend
applying to sit on his affirmation, 46.
See Justices, Nonconformists, Toleration, Offices.
Offices, repeal of acts requiring persons qualifying for offices to take
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and enacting declara
tion to be made instead thereof, 49.
relieving persons appointed sheriff from the declaration, 49.
persons elected mayor, alderman, councillor, auditor or
assessor, for any borough, to make declarations, 50.
persons elected to any corporate office may resign on pay
ment of fine, 51.
no person enabled to make affirmation instead of oath, liable
to fine for nonacceptance of office in any borough by
reason of his refusing to take an oath, or make any decla
ration required, or to undertake the duties, 52.
form of declaration in lieu of the sacramental test to be made
by Friends or separatists on taking office in municipal
corporations, 52.

196

same form may be used by Friends or Separatists on taking
other specified offices, 53.
these provisions not obtained at the instance of Friends,
55, note.
Overseers. See Local Militia, Militia.
Parochial Rates,
acts relating to compounding for, 180.
Popery. See Declaration.
Poor Men,
certain poor men exempt from military service, 90, 112.
Poor. See Charities.
Poor and other Rates,
meeting houses exempted from poor and church rates,
19.
payment of poor rates to qualify for voting in election of
guardians of the poor, 67-
local acts relating to compounding for, 180.
Praemunire, explanation, 24, note.
Registers, father or mother of every child born, or occupier of house
in which a child shall have been born, shall within forty-
two days give information to the Registrar of the District,
137.
children born at sea, 137.
no Registrar to register a birth after forty-two days, except
within six months, on a solemn declaration of the par
ticulars, and in the presence of the Superintendent Regis
trar, 138.
births not to be registered after six months, 139.
some person present at death or in attendance during illness,
or occupier of the house, or some inmate of it, within
eight days to give information to the Registrar, 140.
in case of an inquest, jury to inquire the particulars, and
the coroner to inform the Registrar, 141.
registry of persons dying at sea, 141.
Registrar to give to undertaker or other person having charge
of funeral, a certificate of the registry, 142.

197

if buried without such certificate, the person who shall bury
to give notice to Registrar, 142.
in case of an inquest, coroner may order body to be buried
before registry, 142.
penalty on burying without a certificate, and omitting within
seven days to give notice, 142.
informant of any birth or death to sign name, &c., in
Register, 143.
Registrar General to furnish to every person whom the
Recording Clerk of Friends shall certify to be a regis
tering officer of the Society, Marriage Register Books,
and forms for certified copies, 143.
Registering Officer of Friends shall, immediately on a mar
riage in his District, register the particulars in two of the
said books, 1 44.
Registering Officer to make and deliver to the Superinten
dent Registrar quarterly, a copy of all the entries of
marriages in the books, and if no entry, to certify that
fact, 145.
penalty for neglect, 151.
when Register Books filled, to deliver one to the Superinten
dent Registrar, and the other to be under the care of
Friends, 146.
Registering Officer to allow searches to be made in the
Register Books, and give certified copies of any entry
therein, 147.
Superintendent Registrar to make and keep indexes of the
Register Books in his office, to allow searches, and give
certified copies of entries, 147.
Registrar General the like, 148.
penalty for persons giving false information relative to any
birth, death or marriage, 148.
penalty for not duly registering any marriage, birth or death,
or losing or injuring Registers, 149.
penalty for destroying or falsifying Register Books, 149.
accidental errors may be corrected, 150.
certificates of burials of Friends to be admitted in certain
cases, 152.
See Non Parochial Registers.

198

Scotland. See Local Militia, Militia.
Seamen, exempt from military service, 90, 112.
Seceders, provision for the affirmation of, 47.
Seditious Meetings. See Meetings.
Soldiers' and Sailors' Baggage. See Baggage, Local Militia,
Militia.
Separatists, persons who have been Friends, permitted to make affir
mation instead of an oath in all cases without excep
tion, 47.
form of affirmation, 48.
form of declaration on taking office, 52.
Tithes, Toleration Act not to exempt persons from payment of,
56.
Friends refusing to pay tithes, &c, 56, 58.
justices to hear complaint and make an order, 57, 60.
on refusal to pay, to levy the amount on the offender's goods,
57, 60.
appeal, 57.
warrant stopt on appeal, 58.
costs limited, 60.
costs of distresses under £20 limited, 67.
act relating to warrants of distress not to extend to dis
tresses for tithes, &c, 60.
limitation of actions respecting tithes, 61.
powers of justices extended and sum enlarged, 61.
other acts for recovery of tithes, &c, 62.
excommunication discontinued, 65.
Ecclesiastical Courts cannot take cognizance of tithes where
the right is disputed, 66.
definition of the several kinds of tithes, &c, 64, note.
no suit or other proceeding in any Civil Court for any
Ecclesiastical demands of or under £50 to be had against
Friends, unless the title thereto be in question, 69.
All complaints against Friends for demands of or under

199

£50, to be under the acts of 7 and 8 Will. III. and 53
Geo. III., 69.
no decree or execution of any court to issue or be made
against the person of the defendant, 70.
prohibition of suits for demands against Friends of or under
£50 extended to the Ecclesiastical Courts, 71.
observation relative to tithes and other Ecclesiastical de
mands, 78.
observation on the legality of including several defaulters in
one warrant, and the opinions of Counsel thereon, 79.
Tithe Rent Charge,
expenses of apportionment of rent charge to be borne by
owners ratably, 72.
to be recovered by warrant of distress, 72 ; or in the same
manner as rent charges, 77.
rent charge to be recovered by distress, as landlord may for
arrears of rent on common leases, 73.
limitation as to recovery of arrears of rent charge, 73, 75.
if no distress on the premises, sheriff under a writ from one
of the superior courts, to deliver possession of the land to
owner of the rent charge, 73.
judge to order owner of rent charge in possession to render
an account to owner of land, and after satisfaction of the
arrears of rent charge to order writ of Supersedeas, 75.
in all cases of Friends, distress may be made on the goods,
whether on the premises or elsewhere, 75.
goods distrained from Friends to be sold without impound
ing or keeping same, 76.
no writ to be issued in the case of Friends unless rent
charge be in arrear for forty days, and the person entitled
thereto not able to find effects either on the premises or
elsewhere, 76.
Toleration, several laws against dissenters suspended, 1.
sundry acts against nonconformists repealed, 1 note, 14.
persons taking certain oaths and making declaration, ex
empted from penalties enacted against papists and non
conformists, 3.

200

who are required to tender and administer such oaths and
declaration, 3.
persons taking said oaths and declaration not liable to pro
secution for nonconformity, 4.
justices may require persons to take said oaths, &c, 6.
persons scrupling the taking an oath, how exempted, 7.
how purged after refusal, 9.
disturbers of meetings, how punished, 11.
toleration confirmed, 12.
benefit of the act of Toleration extended, 13.
persons who have omitted to take oaths and declarations
indemnified, 9, note.
See Nonconformists, Oaths.
Tolls, exemption from turnpike tolls in attending usual place of
worship, 17.
no exemption within five miles of Royal Exchange or
Westminster Hall, 18.
Tower Hamlets,
militia of the, 97.
Transubstantiation. See Declaration.
Warrant. See Justices, Local Militia, Militia, Tithes.

Richard Barrett, Printer, 13, Mark Lane, London.

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