with the seal of the foreign or colonial court to which the original document belongs, or, in the event of such court having no seal, to be signed by the judge, or, if there be more than one judge, by any one of the judges of the said court, and such judge shall attach to his signature a statement in writing on the said copy that the court whereof he is a judge has no seal; but if any of the aforesaid authenticated copies shall purport to be sealed or signed as hereinbefore respectively directed, the same shall respectively be admitted in evidence in every case in which the original document could have been received in evidence, without any proof of the seal where a seal is necessary, or of the signature, or of the truth of the statement attached thereto, where such signature and statement are necessary, or of the judicial character of the person appearing to have made such signature and statement.

VIII. Every certificate of the qualification of an apothecary which shall purport to be under the common seal of the Society of the art and mystery of Apothecaries of the city of London shall be received in evidence in any court of justice, and before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, without any proof of the said seal or of the authenticity of the said certificate, and shall be deemed sufficient proof that the person named therein has been from the date of the said Certificate duly qualified to practise as an apothecary in any part of England or Wales.

IX. Every document which by any law now in force or hereafter to be in force is or shall be admissible in evidence of any particular in any court of justice in England or Wales without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in evidence to the same extent and for the same purposes in any court of justice in Ireland, or before any person having in Ireland by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same.

X. Every document which by any law now in force or hereafter to be in force, is or shall be admissible in evidence of any particular, in any court of justice in Ireland, without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in evidence to the same extent and for the same purposes in any court of justice in England or Wales, or before any person having in England or Wales by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, without proof of

the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed

the same.

XI. Every document which by any law now in force or hereafter to be in force is or shall be admissible in evidence of any particular in any court of justice in England or Wales or Ireland without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in evidence to the same extent and for the same purposes in any court of justice of any of the British colonies, or before any person having in any of such colonies by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same.

XII. Every register of a vessel kept under any of the Acts relating to the registry of British vessels may be proved in any court of justice, or before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, either by the production of the original or by an examined copy thereof, or by a copy thereof purporting to be certified under the hand of the person having the charge of the original, and which person is hereby required to furnish such certified copy to any person applying at a reasonable time for the same, upon payment of the sum of 1s.; and every such register or such copy of a register, and also every certificate of registry, granted under any of the Acts relating to the registry of British vessels, and purporting to be signed as required by law, shall be received in evidence in any court of justice, or before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, as prima facie proof of all the matters contained or recited in such register when the register or such copy thereof as aforesaid is produced, and of all the matters contained or recited in or endorsed on such certificate of registry when the said certificate is produced.

XIII. And whereas it is expedient, as far as possible, to reduce the expense attendant upon the proof of criminal proceedings; be it enacted, that whenever in any proceeding whatever it may be necessary to prove the trial and conviction or acquittal of any person charged with any indictable offence, it shall not be necessary to produce the record of the conviction or acquittal of such person, or a copy thereof, but it shall be sufficient that it be certified or purport to be certified under the hand of the clerk of the court or other officer having the custody of the records of the court where such conviction or acquittal took place, or by the deputy of such clerk or other officer, that the paper produced is a copy of the record of the

indictment, trial, conviction, and judgment or acquittal, as the case may be, omitting the formal parts thereof.

XIV. Whenever any book or other document is of such a public nature as to be admissible in evidence on its mere production from the proper custody, and no statute exists which renders its contents provable by means of a copy, any copy thereof or extract therefrom shall be admissible in evidence in any court of justice, or before any person now or hereafter having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, provided it be proved to be an examined copy or extract, or provided it purport to be signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original is intrusted, and which officer is hereby required to furnish such certified copy or extract to any person applying at a reasonable time for the same, upon payment of a reasonable sum for the same, not exceeding 4d. for every folio of 90 words.

XV. If any officer authorised or required by this Act to furnish any certified copies or extracts shall wilfully certify any document as being a true copy or extract, knowing that the same is not a true copy or extract, as the case may be, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 18 months.

XVI. Every court, judge, justice, officer, commissioner, arbitrator, or other person, now or hereafter having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, is hereby empowered to administer an oath to all such witnesses as are legally called before them respectively.

XVII. If any person shall forge the seal, stamp, or signature of any document in this Act mentioned or referred to, or shall tender in evidence any such document with a false or counterfeit seal, stamp, or signature thereto, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, he shall be guilty of felony, and shall upon conviction be liable to transportation for 7 years, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 3 years nor less than 1 year, with hard labour; and whenever any such document shall have been admitted in evidence by virtue of this Act, the Court or the person who shall have admitted the same may, at the request of any party against whom the same is so admitted in evidence, direct that the same shall be impounded and be kept in the custody of some officer of the Court or other proper person for such period and subject to such conditions as to the said Court or person shall seem meet; and every person who shall be charged with committing any felony under this Act, or under the Act of the 8th and 9th years of Her present Majesty, chapter 113, may be dealt with, indicted, tried, and, if convicted, sentenced, and his offence may be laid and charged to have been

committed, in the county, district, or place in which he shall be apprehended or be in custody; and every accessory before or after the fact to any such offence may be dealt with, indicted, tried, and, if convicted, sentenced, and his offence laid and charged to have been committed, in any county, district, or place in which the principal offender may be tried.

XVIII. This Act shall not extend to Scotland.

XIX. The words "British Colony" as used in this Act shall apply to all the British territories under the government of the East India Company, and to the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and to all other possessions of the British Crown, wheresoever and whatsoever.

XX. This Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of November in the present year.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION respecting the raising of the Danish Restrictions on the Navigation of the Eyder.London, January 30, 1851.

Ir is hereby notified, that Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has received a despatch, dated the 21st instant, from Her Majesty's Minister at Copenhagen, inclosing a copy of a note from the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, informing him that the restrictions on the navigation of the Eyder, imposed in October last, being no longer necessary, have been taken off.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION respecting the Turkish Blockade of the Ports and Coasts of Samos.-London, February 11, 1851.

Ir is hereby notified, that Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has received from Sir Stratford Canning, Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, a despatch, inclosing an official notification from the Ottoman Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated the 18th of January last, of the blockade of all the ports and coasts of Samos, by the naval forces of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan. Such blockade to commence 20 days after the said 18th of January.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION respecting the placing, by the British Admiral in the Pacific, of an Embargo on all Traffic in the Port of "The Union," and Blockade of the Coast of Salvador. -London, March 8, 1851.

It is hereby notified, that Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has received despatches from Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Guatemala, dated respectively the 5th of November and the 2nd of December last, inclosing 2 letters from Commander Hayes, of Her Majesty's ship Champion, which had arrived off the coast of the State of Salvador by order of Rear-Admiral Hornby, Commander-in-chief of Her Majesty's naval forces in the Pacific, stating in the first, that he had placed an embargo on all traffic in the port of " The Union,” and declaring in the second, the entire coast of Salvador to be in a state of blockade.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION respecting the raising of the Turkish Blockade of the Ports and Coasts of Samos.London, May 22, 1851.

Ir is hereby notified, that Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has received from Sir Stratford Canning, Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, a despatch, dated the 23rd of April last, inclosing a note verbale or memorandum from the Porte, announcing that the blockade of the coasts and ports of Samos has been raised by order of the Sultan.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, fixing the Consular Fee on Certificates relative to the Shipment, Discharge, or Desertion of British Seamen in Foreign Ports.—April 14, 1851.

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 14th day of April, 1851. PRESENT,

THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS by a certain Act of Parliament made and passed in the 6th year of the reign of His late Majesty King George IV [cap. 87],*

* Vol. XII. Page 377.