6 CA P. XLVII. An Act for the better and more effectually carying into effect the Treaties and Conventions made with Foreign Powers for suppressing the Slave Trade. [27th July 1838.] WE HEREAS by additional Articles to various Treaties entered into between His late Majesty and Her present Majesty and certain Foreign Powers and States, for the Pre'vention of the Traffic in Slaves, it has been stipulated, that all 'Vessels which shall be seized and condemned, under any of the 'Provisions of the said Treaties or Conventions, and which 'under the said Treaties were directed to be sold by public Sale, 'shall, by virtue of such additional Articles, be entirely demo'lished and broken up, and the Materials thereof publicly sold ' in separate Parts, as well as the Cargo, for the Profit of the 'Governments engaged in such Treaties or Conventions: And 'whereas Treaties or Conventions have been entered into by His 'late Majesty and by Her present Majesty with various Powers and States, under the Authority of which the Ships or Vessels ' of the Subjects of those States, and also the Ships and Vessels of 'Subjects of the Crown of the United Kingdom, may be seized and condemned, when equipped in the Manner described in 'the said Treaties and Conventions, although they shall have no Slaves on board: And whereas by various Acts of Parliament 'certain Bounties are payable to the Captors of Ships having 'Slaves on board for every Slave captured under Treaties made 'with Foreign Powers authorizing such Capture: And whereas it 'is expedient that Her Majesty should be empowered to grant 'certain Bounties to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of 'Her Majesty's Ships seizing such Ships or Vessels' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That where any Ship or Vessel employed or engaged in illicit Traffic in Slaves, in violation of any of the said Treaties or Conventions, shall have been or may be seized by any Ship or Vessel belonging to Her Majesty, duly authorized to make such Seizure, and making the same, and shall have been or shall be afterwards condemned by any of the Commissioners appointed in virtue of the said Treaties or Conventions, there shall be paid to the Captors the Moiety to which Her Majesty is entitled of the net Proceeds of the said Ship and Cargo. II. And be it enacted, That where any Ship or Vessel which shall have been or may be seized and condemned under the Provisions of any Treaty or Convention made or to be made with any Foreign Power, or additional Article to any such Treaty or Convention, shall have been or shall be entirely demolished, and the Materials thereof publicly sold in separate Parts, as well as her Cargo, there shall be paid to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships authorized to make and making such Seizures, in addition to the Amount which may be payable in respect of the Moiety of the Proceeds of such Sale as herein-before mentioned, a further Bounty on the Tonnage of such Ship or Queen's Moiety of Proceeds to be paid to the Captors. Bounty on Ton nage of Slave Ships captured and demolished. Where no Slaves are on board a Ship seized an additional Bounty to be paid. Bounty to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. Proof of Tonnage. Distribution of Vessel at the Rate of One Pound Ten Shillings for every Ton of such Tonnage. III. And be it enacted, That where any Ship or Vessel having no Slaves on board shall have been or may be seized and condemned under the Provisions of any Treaty or Convention or any additional Articles made or to be made with any Foreign Power for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, there shall be paid to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships authorized to make and making such Seizure an additional Bounty upon the Tonnage of such Ship or Vessel at the Rate of Four Pounds for every Ton, and the Tonnage of all such Vessels shall be estimated or ascertained according to the Mode of ascertaining the Admeasurement of British Vessels, either by the principal Officer of the Customs at the Port where the Vessel may be at the Time of Condemnation, or, in default thereof, by the best Evidence which can be obtained, to be certified by the Commissioners by whom such Condemnation shall be pronounced: Provided always, that in every Case in which any Ship or Vessel shall be seized with Slaves on board in which the Bounty calculated upon the Number of Slaves shall be less than the Bounty calculated upon the Tonnage, the Commanders of Her Majesty's Ships making the Seizure may elect to take the Bounty calculated according to Tonnage, in lieu and instead of the Bounty which would be payable upon the Number of Slaves on board. IV. And be it enacted, That all such Bounties on Tonnage shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships authorized to make such Seizures under the Provisions of any such Treaties or Conventions, and such Bounties shall be issued and paid by Order from the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. V. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in order to entitle the Captors to receive the said Bounty Money the Tonnage of the Ship or Vessel so seized, delivered over, and condemned shall be proved to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury by producing a Copy duly certified of the Sentence or Decree of Condemnation, or by such documentary or other Evidence as they may deem satisfactory. VI. And be it enacted, That the Bounties payable under this or any other Act of Parliament for the Seizure of Slaves and Vessels fitted out for or engaged in the Traffic of Slaves shall be paid to and distributed amongst the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships engaged in the Seizure thereof in such Manner and Proportion and to and amongst such Persons as by any Order in Council or Proclamation of His late Majesty King William the Fourth at present in force hath been, or by any Order in Council or Proclamation of Her present Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, shall be for that Purpose ordered and directed; and that all the Provisions in regard to Prize Money, and other Money in the Nature thereof, including all Rules and Regulations relating to the Delivery by Agents of Accounts of Prize and other Money as aforesaid, and to the Examination of such Accounts, and to the Distribution of Prize or other Money, and to the accounting for and paying over the unclaimed and forfeited forfeited Shares, and to the Per-centage payable in aid of the Greenwich Out-Pension Fund for the Benefit of the old and invalid Seamen who have served in the Royal Navy, which under any Act or Acts of Parliament are now in force, and all Penalties and Forfeitures to which Agents and others are made subject by any such Acts, shall be and the same are hereby extended to all Bounties and Proceeds payable and distributable under the Provisions of this Act to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of any of Her Majesty's Ships or Vessels. CA P. XLVIII. An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Qualification of WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Ninth Year of the W Reign of Queen Anne, intituled An Act for securing the 9 Anne, c.5, Freedom of Parliament by further qualifying the Members to sit in the House of Commons: And whereas another Act was passed in the Thirty-third Year of the Reign of King George the Second, intituled An Act to enforce and render more effectual the Laws 33 G.2. c.20, relating to the Qualification of Members to sit in the House of Commons: And whereas by the Act for the Union of Great 'Britain and Ireland it is amongst other things enacted, that the Qualification in respect of Property of the Members elected on 'the Part of Ireland to sit in the House of Commons of the 'United Kingdom shall be respectively the same as were at the Time of the passing of the said Act provided by Law in the 'Cases of Elections for Counties and Cities and Boroughs respectively in that Part of Great Britain called England, unless any other Provision should thereafter be made in that respect by 'Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom: And whereas it is 'expedient to repeal the said Act passed in the Ninth Year of the 'Reign of Queen Anne, and the said Act passed in the Thirty'third Year of the Reign of King George the Second, and the 'said Enactment in the Act for the Union of Great Britain and 'Ireland, and to make other Provisions in lieu thereof, for the 'better qualifying Members to sit in the House of Commons by reason of the Possession of Property:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the said Act passed in the Ninth Year of the Reign of Recited Acts Queen Anne, and the said Act passed in the Thirty-third Year of repealed. the Reign of King George the Second, and the said Enactment in the Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, be and the same are hereby repealed. II. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Qualification of Act no Person shall be capable of being elected a Member of the Members, House of Commons for any County, Riding, Part, or Division of a County, within that Part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, or Ireland, unless he shall be seised or entitled, for his own Use and Benefit, of and to an Estate, legal or equitable, in Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments of any Tenure whatever, situate, lying, or being within the United Kingdom of 1 & 2 VICT. Q Great Great Britain and Ireland, or in the Rents and Profits thereof, for his own Life, or for the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, or for a Term of Years either absolute or determinable on his own Life or on the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, of which Term not less than Thirteen Years shall be at the Time of his Election unexpired, such Estate being of the clear yearly Value of not less than Six hundred Pounds over and above all Incumbrances affecting the same; or unless he shall be possessed or entitled, for his own Use and Benefit, at Law or in Equity, for his own Life or for the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, or for any Term of Years, either absolute or determinable on his own Life or on the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, of which Term not less than Thirteen Years shall be at the Time of his Election unexpired, of or to Personal Estate or Effects of any Nature or Kind whatsoever within the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the Interest, Dividends, or annual Proceeds of any such Personal Estate or Effects, such Personal Estate or Effects, Interest, Dividends, or annual Proceeds, actually producing the clear yearly Income of not less than Six hundred Pounds over and above all Incumbrances affecting the same; or unless he shall possess more than One of the several Kinds of Qualification herein-before mentioned, the several Qualifications of or to which he shall be so seised, possessed, or entitled being jointly of sufficient Value to qualify a Person as a Member to serve in Parliament for any County according to the Provisions herein contained, although each of such Qualifications may, according to the same Provisions, be separately insufficient for that Purpose; nor shall any Person be capable of being elected a Member of the House of Commons for any City, Borough, or Cinque Port within that Part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, the Town of Berwick-uponTweed, or Ireland, unless he shall be seised or entitled, for his own Use and Benefit, of and to an Estate, legal or equitable, in Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, of any Tenure whatever, situate, lying, or being within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in the Rents and Profits thereof, for his own Life or for the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, or for a Term of Years, either absolute or determinable on his own Life or on the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, of which Term not less than Thirteen Years shall be at the Time of his Election unexpired, such Estate being of the clear yearly Value of not less than Three hundred Pounds over and above all Incumbrances affecting the same; or unless he shall be possessed or entitled, for his own Use and Benefit, at Law or in Equity, for his own Life or for the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, or for any Term of Years, either absolute or determinable on his own Life or for the Life or Lives of any other Person or Persons then living, of which Term not less than Thirteen Years shall be at the Time of his Election unexpired, of or to Personal Estate or Effects of any Nature or Kind whatsoever, situate within the said United Kingdom, or the Interest, Dividends, or annual Proceeds of any such Personal Estate or Effects, such Personal Estate or Effects, Interest, Dividends, or annual Proceeds, actually producing the clear yearly any County, Riding, Part, or Division of a County, City, Borough, or Cinque Port as aforesaid, shall, upon a reasonable Request made to him at the Time of such Election, or at any Time before the Day named in the Writ of Summons for the meeting of Parliament, by or on behalf of any Candidate at such Election, or by any Two or more registered Electors having a Right to vote at such Election, make and subscribe a Declaration to the Purport or Effect following, such Request to be in Writing, and signed by the Candidate or the said Two or more Electors; (that is to say,) Candidates at Elections to make the fol lowing Declara tion, if required. A. B. do solemnly and sincerely declare, That I am to the Form of Declabest of my Knowledge and Belief duly qualified to be ration. 'elected as a Member of the House of Commons, according to 'the true Intent and Meaning of the Act passed in the Second "Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria, intituled An Act to amend 'the Laws relating to the Qualification of Members to serve in Par'liament, and that my Qualification to be so elected doth arise out of [here let the Party state the Nature of his Qualification, as the Case may be; if the same ariseth out of Lands, Tenements, or 'Hereditaments, let him state the Barony or Baronies, Parish or 'Parishes, Township or Townships, Precinct or Precincts, and also the County or Counties, in which such Lands, Tenements, or 'Hereditaments are situate, and also the Estate in the said Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, or in the Rents or Profits thereof, of or to which he is seised or entitled; or if the same ariseth out of Personal Estate or Effects let him state of what Nature and where situate such Personal Estate or Effects are, and what 'Interest he hath in such Personal Estate or Effects, and upon 'what Securities and in whose Names the same are vested], as 'hereunder set forth.' And the Election and Return of any Person who, upon such Request as aforesaid, shall wilfully refuse or neglect to make and subscribe the said Declaration within Twenty-four Hours after such Request shall have been so made, shall be void. Declaration to be made. IV. And be it enacted, That the said Declaration shall be made Before whom before the Returning Officer at any Election, or a Commissioner for that Purpose lawfully appointed, or any Justice of the Peace within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and the |