No. III. 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 94. For regulating the sale of goods taken in execution. c. 93. goods and chattels of such party, shall and may and is hereby empowered to levy, by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of such party being within the jurisdiction of the said court, such sum and sums of money and costs as shall be so ordered, decreed, or adjudged. XL. Provided always, That no sale of any goods which shall be taken under or by virtue of any precept or execution to be issued in manner aforesaid shall take place or be made until after the expiration of eight days at least next following the day on which such goods shall have been so taken; and in the meantime and until any such sale shall be made the goods taken by virtue of any precept as aforesaid shall be deposited by the beadle, serjeant, or other officer taking or levying the same in some fit and convenient place or places to be appointed by the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled: Provided also, That it shall be lawful for the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, from time to time, and when and as often as they shall think proper, to nominate and appoint such and so many sworn brokers and appraisers for the purpose of selling or valuing any goods, chattels, or effects taken in execution under or by virtue of this act as shall appear to the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, to be necessary or proper. Costs of dis- XLI. Provided always, That the costs and charges levied for the distress, 57 G. 3, tress shall not exceed the costs and charges specified in an act passed in the fifty-seventh year of the reign of king George the third, intituled An Act to regulate the Costs of Distresses levied for Payment of small Rents. Execution against the body may issue after an execu tion against the goods. In case parties shall secrete abscond. XLII. That if the said beadle, serjeant, or officer to whom such precept shall have been issued shall certify and make a return thereon in writing under his hand, that the said party or parties against the goods of whom execution shall have been awarded hath or have no goods or chattels, or not sufficient goods or chattels whereon or whereby such levy can be made, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to award execution against the body or bodies of the party or parties against whom such order or decree shall be made for the whole or so much of such sum or sums of money and costs so ordered, decreed, or adjudged as shall then remain unsatisfied; and thereupon it shall be lawful for the proper officer or officers of the said court, at the prayer of the party prosecuting such order or decree for the payment of money, to issue a precept under his hand to one of the beadles, serjeants, or officers of the said court, who shall and may and is hereby empowered to take such party or parties, who shall remain in custody until he, she, or they shall perform and obey such order, decree, or judgment, for the space of time herein in that behalf particularly directed. XLIII. That if the party against whose goods or body any such execution shall be awarded, and process thereupon shall issue, shall, by their goods or secreting or removing his or her goods or chattels, or by absconding, or by any other means, prevent or evade the service or effect of any such execution, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners present in the said court, upon due proof thereof made before them by the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, at their discretion to award further execution either against the body or goods and chattels of such party, and process shall issue thereupon, and be served by one of the beadles, serjeants, or officers of the said court in manner aforesaid, until the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be fully paid and satisfied; and it shall be lawful for the said commissioners from time to time, in case they shall think fit, for the ease and convenience of the defendant or defendants, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to order, decree, or adjudge any debt due to the plaintiff or plaintiffs to be paid by several payments or instalments, and under such terms and conditions as may appear reasonable and just to them the said commissioners, for the ease of the defendant or defendants, and the security of the plaintiff or plain. tiffs; and it shall be lawful for the said commissioners present in court, in case any default or failure of any such payments or instalments so No. III. c. 94. ordered, decreed, adjudged, and directed shall afterwards be made, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, at the instance of the plain- 5 & 6 W. 4, tiff or plaintiffs, and upon due proof of the said default or failure, to award execution against the said defendant or defendants, or against any other person or persons within the jurisdiction of this act who may have given security to the said plaintiff or plaintiffs, under directions of the said commissioners, for the payment of such payments or instalments in manner aforesaid, for the whole debt or such part thereof as shall then remain unpaid, together with such further costs as to them shall seem just and reasonable; and such debt or such part thereof and such further costs shall be recovered by the same ways and means as are herein provided for the recovery of the debt and costs first decreed. XLIV. That it shall not be lawful for the said commissioners to issue Process not to any process against the body or bodies of any person or persons in any issue against action, cause, or question where the party entitled to the benefit of any the body and order, judgment, or decree shall at the same time have obtained any goods and chatwarrant or process against the goods and chattels of the same person or tels of the same persons, unless there shall be a return of no goods to such warrant, or person at the unless the goods sold under the execution shall not be sufficient to de- same time. fray the sum and sums of money and costs so ordered, decreed, and adjudged, in either of which cases any process against the body or bodies of any such person or persons shall be issued only for the deficiency. cept, &c. XLV. That in all cases where a final decree or judgment for any sum If defendants or sums of money shall have been obtained in the said court it shall be remove out of lawful for any beadle, serjeant, or officer of the said court to apply to the jurisdiction any justice of the peace acting for the division or place to which such of the court to defendant or defendants, or his, her, or their goods and chattels, shall avoid execube removed; and upon proof being made upon oath (which oath such tion, a justice of justice is hereby authorized and required to administer) of the precept the peace may indorse the preof execution having issued against the person or persons or effects, as the case may be, of the defendant or defendants, and that the person or persons, goods and chattels of such defendant or defendants, is or are not to be found within the jurisdiction of the said court, but is or are believed to be within the county or district where such justice of the peace shall act, such justice of the peace is hereby authorized and required to sign or indorse his name upon the back of the said precept of execution, and thereupon the beadle, serjeant, or other officer of the said court shall be and is hereby authorized and empowered to take and seize the person and persons or effects of the defendant or defendants, wheresoever the same shall be found, within the county or district for which such justice of the peace who shall have so signed or indorsed the said precept of execution as aforesaid shall act, and to deal therewith in like manner as if the same had been taken or seized within the jurisdiction of the said court; and all constables and other peace officers shall and they are hereby required to be aiding and assisting within their respective districts in the execution of the said precept so indorsed as aforesaid. clerk of court before sale, execution to be superseded. XLVI. That in or upon each and every precept to be issued upon Clerk to insert execution awarded against the goods and chattels or body of any person or indorse debt or persons whomsoever, the clerk of the said court or his assistants and costs on shall insert or indorse the sum or sums of money and the costs so precepts, and ordered, decreed, and adjudged; and if the party or parties against if paid to the whom such execution shall be awarded respectively shall, before an actual sale of the goods and chattels, or before he, she, or they is or are apprehended, or before the expiration of the term of his, her, or their imprisonment, as herein mentioned, pay or cause to be paid or tendered unto the clerk of the said court or his assistants, or to the officer holding the execution, or, in case such party or parties shall be in prison, to the gaoler of the prison, such sum or sums of money as aforesaid, or such part thereof as the plaintiff or plaintiff's shall agree to accept in full for his, her, or their debt or debts, together with the costs, then and in every such case the execution shall be superseded, and the body or No. III. 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 94. Limitation of the times of imprisonment of debtors. If any debtor conceal money or goods, the time of his imprisonment shall be extended. To be imprisoned the li mited time for the first execution, and afterwards half the limited time. Fees to be taken. goods and chattels of the said party or parties shall be discharged and set at liberty, and the officer holding the execution, or the gaoler, (as the case may be,) shall immediately transmit such sum or sums of money to the clerk of the said court. XLVII. That no person or persons whomsoever, being a debtor or debtors, defendant or defendants, who shall be committed to gaol or prison by order of the said court of requests, shall be kept or continued in custody on any pretence whatsoever (except in the cases herein-after otherwise provided for) for any longer space or spaces of time, from the time of his, her, or their commitment to prison, than is or are hereinafter limited; that is to say, where the debt, exclusive of costs, shall amount to twenty shillings and no more, then he, she, or they shall be kept or continued in custody eight days, and where the debt, exclusive of costs, shall be more than the sum of twenty shillings, he, she, or they shall be kept or continued in custody as many days as shall be equal to the number of sums of two shillings and sixpence in the amount of such debt, unless the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be sooner satisfied, and signify the same in writing under his, her, or their hand or hands to the officer who shall have executed the process, which officer, upon producing the same to the gaoler, shall thereupon forthwith discharge such debtor or debtors out of custody. XLVIII. And in order the more effectually to prevent persons summoned for debts or demands to the said court from fraudulently concealing their money, goods, or effects; be it further enacted, That in case, upon the summons of any person for any debt or demand before the said court, information of such fraudulent concealment shall be given, such court shall have power to hear evidence as to the fact; and in case it shall be proved to their satisfaction upon the oath of one or more witness or witnesses, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the said court to extend the aforesaid time of imprisonment of such debtor to any period in addition thereto not exceeding three calendar months. XLIX. Provided always nevertheless, That all and every person and persons who shall be taken in execution under or by virtue of any process issuing from or out of the said court, and who at the time of being taken into custody, or during his, her, or their imprisonment, shall have more than one execution against him, her, or them in the said court, shall be imprisoned the limited time for the first execution, and afterwards half the limited time only for and in respect of each other execution; (that is to say,) after the limited time is expired on the first execution the imprisonment shall commence on the second execution, and continue half the limited time only, and after half the limited time is expired on the second execution the imprisonment shall commence on the third execution, and so on until he, she, or they shall have been imprisoned the limited time for the first execution, and afterwards half the limited time only for and in respect of each other separate execution to be issued against him, her, or them in the said court previously to his, her, or their being taken into custody, or during his, her, or their imprisonment; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. L. That such fees shall be taken by the said clerks, beadles, serjeants, and other officers of the said court, for their several and respective services in the execution of this act, as shall from time to time be appointed and fixed for that purpose by the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the said city of London, in common council assembled, in like manner as the fees of the officers of the said court of requests have heretofore been regulated and fixed by them; and the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, shall and they are hereby required to cause a table of such fees as for the time being shall be appointed to be taken as aforesaid to be affixed in some conspicuous place of the court or place of meeting of the said commissioners, in order that all persons concerned may be enabled to peruse the same: Provided always, That such table of fees shall be allowed by one or more of the justices or barons of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster before the same shall be used or acted upon. No. III. 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 94. LI. That the keeper or keepers for the time being of the prison for debtors of the said city of London shall and he and they is and are hereby required to receive and take into his or their custody respectively Penalty on all and every person and persons who shall be committed or ordered to keeper of prison stand committed by the said commissioners; and in case the keeper or neglecting his keepers of the said prison respectively shall neglect or refuse to receive duty. or take into his or their custody any person or persons committed by virtue of this act, or shall, before the expiration of the time for which any person or persons shall be committed to his or their custody, discharge such person or persons out of his or their custody, and wilfully suffer such person or persons to go at large, without a warrant or order for that purpose in writing, signed by the plaintiff or plaintiffs as aforesaid, or in court by the said commissioners or any three or more of them, such keeper or keepers respectively so offending in either of the said cases, and being thereof convicted before one or more of the alder men of the said city upon the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses (which oath such alderman and aldermen is and are hereby authorized and required to administer), or upon his or their own confession, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the debt or debts and costs for which such person or persons shall have been committed to the custody of such keeper or keepers, and also any sum not exceeding twenty pounds, at the discretion of the said alderman or aldermen. LII. That if any beadle or beadles, serjeant or serjeants, or other Penalty ou officer or officers of the said court employed to serve any execution beadle or sershall, by wilful neglect, omission, or connivance, cause or suffer the jeant neglectparty against whom such execution shall be awarded to escape or ing his duty. abscond, or the goods of such party to be carried away or secreted, so that such execution shall not have its due effect, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, upon complaint, and due proof thereof made upon the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, to order such beadle, serjeant, or officer to pay the sum or sums of money for which such execution was awarded, or such part thereof as the said commissioners may think proper, to the party complaining, and to enforce the payment thereof by the same ways and means as are herein provided for the recovery of their debts; and it shall be lawful for the said commissioners and they are hereby enabled to impose any fine not exceeding twenty pounds for every such offence on such beadle or beadles, serjeant or serjeants, officer or officers, and to levy such fine by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of such beadle or beadles, serjeant or serjeants, or other officer or officers of the said court, rendering the overplus (if any), after deducting such fine, and the costs and charges of such distress and sale, to the owner or owners of such goods and chattels; and such fine, when so levied and recovered, shall be paid to and distributed by the said commissioners in such shares and proportions and in such manner amongst the poor of the several parishes and places within the jurisdiction of the said court as they the said commissioners may think fit and proper. LIII. That if any clerk, beadle, serjeant, or any other officer or ser- Officers taking vant employed in putting this act or any of the powers thereof in execu- any fee besides tion, shall exact, take, or accept any fee or reward whatsoever, other the fees allowed than and except such fees as are or shall be appointed and allowed to to be disthem respectively as aforesaid, for or on account of any thing done or to charged and be done by virtue of this act, or on any account whatsoever relative to forfeit 101. putting this act into execution, every such person so offending shall upon conviction thereof before the said commissioners at any of their meetings, or upon verdict or judgment being had against him in such action as next herein-after mentioned, be for ever incapable of serving or being employed under this act in any office of profit or emolument, and shall, over and above, forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds to any person or persons who shall sue for the same by action of debt, bill, plaint or in P P No. III. 5 & 6,W. 4, c. 94. A list to be made out of unclaimed money. For supporting the dignity of the court, and preventing insults. Offices of clerk and treasurer not to be held by the same person. Recovery and application of penalties. formation in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster, within three calendar months after the offence committed, in which suit no essoign or protection shall be allowed. LIV. That the clerk to the said commissioners shall and he is hereby required, in the month of June in every year, to make out and lay before the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, a correct list of all sums of money which shall have been paid into court, and which shall have remained unreclaimed for the space of twelve calendar months or for any longer period next before the making out such list; and the said list shall also contain the names of the parties having paid such sum or sums of money, and also the names of the parties for whom or on whose account the same was or were so paid into court. LV. And for the more effectually maintaining the dignity and consequence of the said court, and to protect the commissioners, clerks, and officers of the said court from insult, be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall contemptuously and wilfully insult or abuse all or any of the said commissioners, clerks, or officers of the said court for the time being, during his or their sitting or attendance in the said court, or going to or from the said court, or shall interrupt or obstruct the proceedings of the said court, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the beadle or beadles, serjeant or serjeants, officer or officers of the said court, with or without the assistance of any other person or persons, by the order of the said commissioners, to take such offender or offenders into custody; and the said commissioners shall then examine into such insult, abuse, or misbehaviour, either from their own view or knowledge of what passed, or by the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses; and upon such insult, abuse, or misbehaviour being duly proved as aforesaid it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, to impose a fine not exceeding ten pounds for each and every such offence on each and every such offender or offenders and in case of nonpayment forthwith to commit such offender or offenders to the common gaol or house of correction, for any space of time not exceeding one calendar month, unless the said fine or forfeiture shall be sooner paid. LVI. Provided always, That it shall not be lawful for the said mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, to appoint any person who may be appointed a clerk in the execution of this act, or the partner of any such clerk, or the clerk or other person in the service or employ of any such clerk or of his partner, the treasurer for the purposes of this act, or to appoint any person who may be appointed treasurer, or the partner of any such treasurer, or the clerk or other person in the service or employ of any such treasurer or of his partner, a clerk in the said court for the purposes of this act; and if any person shall accept both the offices of clerk and treasurer for the purposes of this act, or if any person being the partner of any such clerk, or the clerk or other person in the service or employ of any such clerk or of his partner, shall accept the office of treasurer, or shall act as deputy of the treasurer, or in any manner officiate for the treasurer, or being the partner of any such treasurer, or the clerk or other person in the service or employ of any such treasurer or of his partner, shall accept the office of clerk in the execution of this act, or shall act as deputy of such clerk, or in any manner officiate for such clerk, every such person so offending shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds to any person who shall sue for the same, to be recovered, with full costs of suit, in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster, by action of debt or on the case, or by bill, suit, or information, wherein no essoign or protection shall be allowed. LVII. That all fines, penalties, or forfeitures by virtue of this act imposed or authorized to be imposed (the manner of levying and recovering whereof is not hereby otherwise particularly directed) shall on proof of the offences respectively before any three or more of the com |