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no other bank shall be erected, established, or allowed by Parliament, and that it shall not be lawful for any body politic or corporate whatsoever, erected or to be erected, or for any other persons, united or to be united in covenants or partnership, exceeding the number of six persons, in that part of Great Britain called England, to borrow, owe, or take up, any sum or sums of money on their bills or notes, payable on demand, or at any less time than six months from the borrowing thereof, during the continuance of the said privilege to the said governor and company: who are hereby declared to be and remain a corporation, with the privilege of exclusive banking, as before recited, subject to redemption on the terms and conditions before mentioned; that is to say, on one year's notice, to be given after the first day of August one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and repayment of the said sum of three millions two hundred thousand pound, and all arrears of the said one hundred thousand pounds, per annum; and also upon repayment of the said sum of eight millions four hundred and eighty-six thousand and eight hundred pounds, and the interest or annuities payable thereon or in respect thereof, and all the principal and interest money that shall be owing on all such tallies, Exchequer orders, Exchequer bills, parliamentary funds, or other government securities, which the said governor and company, or their successors, shall have remaining in their hands, or be entitled to, at the time of such notice to be given as aforesaid, and not otherwise; anything in this act or any former act or acts of Parliament, to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.

[48 Geo. 3, c. 88.]

An Act to restrain the Negotiation of Promissory Notes and Inland Bills of Exchange under a Limited Sum, in England. [23rd June, 1808.]

"Whereas various notes, bills of exchange, and drafts for money for very small sums, have for some time past, been circulated or negotiated in lieu of cash, within that part of Great Britain called England, to the great prejudice of trade and public credit, and many of such bills and drafts being payable under certain terms and restrictions, which the poorer sort of manufacturers, artificers, *labourers, and others, cannot comply with other[*393] wise than by being subject to great extortion and abuse; and whereas an act, passed in the fifteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act to restrain the Negotiation of Promissory Notes and Inland Bills of Exchange under a Limited Sum, within that part of Great Britain called England,' for preventing the circulating such notes and drafts ; and whereas doubts have arisen as to the power of justices of the peace to hear and determine offences under the said act, and it is therefore expedient that more effectual provisions should be made for enforcing the provisions of the said act;" be it therefore enacted, by the king's most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the

same, that from and after the passing of this act, the said recited act shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.

II. And be it further enacted, that all promissory or other notes, bills of exchange or drafts, or undertakings in writing, being negotiable or transferable, for the payment of any sum or sums of money, or any orders, notes, or undertakings in writing, being negotiable or transferable, for the delivery of any goods, specifying their value in money, less than the sum of twenty shillings in the whole, heretofore made or issued, or which shall hereafter be made or issued, shall, from and after the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and eight, be and the same are hereby declared to be, absolutely void and of no effect; any law, statute, usage, or custom, to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.

III. And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons shall, after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eight, by any art, device, or means whatsoever, publish or utter any such notes, bills, drafts, or engagements as aforesaid, for a less sum than twenty shillings, or on which less than the sum of twenty shillings shall be due, and which shall be in anywise negotiable or transferable, or shall negotiate or transfer the same, every such person shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, any sum not exceeding twenty pounds, nor less than five pounds, at the discretion of the justice of the peace who shall hear and determine such offence.

IV. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for any justice or justices of the peace, acting for the county, riding, city, or place within which any offence against this act shall be committed, to hear and determine the same in a summary way, at any time within twenty days after such offence shall have been committed; and such justice or justices, upon any information exhibited, or complaint made upon oath in that behalf, shall summon the party accused, and also the witnesses on either side, and shall examine into the matter of fact, and upon due proof made thereof, either by the voluntary confession of the party, or by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, or otherwise (which oath such justice or justices is or are hereby authorized to administer,) shall convict the offender and adjudge the penalty for such offence.

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An Act for repealing the Stamp Duties on Deeds, Law Proceedings, and other written or printed Instruments, and the Duties on Fire Insurances, and on Legacies and Successions to Personal Estate upon Intestacies, now payable in Great Britain, and for granting other Duties in lieu thereof. [11th July, 1815.]

[PRESENT GENERAL STAMP ACT.]

X. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this act

all instruments for or upon which any stamp or stamps shall have been used of an improper denomination or rate of duty, but of equal or greater value in the whole with or than the stamp or stamps which ought regularly to have been used thereon, shall, nevertheless, be deemed valid and effectual in the law, except in cases where the stamp or stamps used on such instruments shall have been specially appropriated to any other instrument, by having its name on the face thereof.

XI. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall make, sign, or issue, or cause to be made, signed, or issued, or shall accept or pay, or cause or permit to be accepted or paid, any bill of exchange, draft, or or order, or promissory note, for the payment of money, liable to any of the duties imposed by this act, without the same being duly stamped for denoting the duty hereby charged thereon, he, she, or they shall, for every such bill, draft, order, or note, forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.

XII. And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons shall make and issue, or cause to be made and issued, any bill of exchange, draft, or order, or promissory note for the payment of money, at any time after date or sight, which shall bear date subsequent to the day on which it shall be issued, so that it shall not, in fact, become payable in two months, if made payable after date, or in sixty days, if made payable after sight, next after the day on which it shall be issued, unless the same shall be stamped for denoting the duty hereby imposed on a bill of exchange and promissory note, for the payment of money, at any time execeding two months after date, or sixty days after sight, he, she, or they, shall, for every such bill, draft, order, or note, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.

XIII. And, for the more effectually preventing of frauds and evasions of the duties hereby granted on bills of exchange, drafts, or orders, for the payment of money, under colour of the exemption in favour of drafts or orders upon bankers, or persons acting as bankers, contained in the schedule hereunto annexed, be it further enacted, That, if any person or persons shall, after the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, make and issue, or cause to be made and issued, any bill, draft, or order, for the payment of money to the bearer on demand, upon any banker or bankers, or any person or persons acting as a banker or bankers, which shall be dated on any day subsequent to the *day on which it shall be [*395] issued, or which shall not truly specify and express the place where it shall be issued, or which shall not, in every respect, fall within the said exemption, unless the same shall be duly stamped as a bill of exchange, according to this act, the person or persons so offending shall, for every such bill, draft, or order, forfeit he sum of one hundred pounds; and, if any persons or persons shall knowingly receive or take any such bill, draft, or order, in payment of, or as security for, the sum therein mentioned, he, she, or they shall, for every such bill, draft, or order, forfeit the sum of twenty pounds; and, if any banker or bankers, or any person or persons acting as a banker, upon whom any such bill, draft, or order, shall be drawn, shall pay, or cause or permit

to be paid, the sum of money therein expressed, or any part thereof, knowing the same to be post-dated, or knowing that the place where it was issued is not truly specified and set forth therein, or knowing that the same does not, in any other respect, fall within the said exemption, then the banker or bankers, or person or persons so offending, shall, for every such bill, draft, or order, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, and, moreover, shall not be allowed the money so paid, or any part thereof, in account against the person or persons by or for whom such bill, draft, or order, shall be drawn, or his, her, or their executors or administrators, or his, her, or their assignees or creditors, in case of bankruptcy or insolvency, or any other person or persons claiming under him, her, or them.

XIV. And be it further enacted, that from and after the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, it shall be lawful for any banker or bankers, or other person or persons, who shall have made and issued any promissory notes for the payment to the bearer on demand of any sum of money not exceeding one hundred pounds each, duly stamped according to the directions of this act, to re-issue the same from time to time, after payment thereof, as often as he, she, or they shall think fit, without being liable to pay any farther duty in respect thereof, and that all promissory notes, so to be re-issued as aforesaid, shall be good, and valid, and as available in the law to all intents and purposes, as they were upon the first issuing thereof.

XV. And be it further enacted, that no promissory note for the payment to the bearer on demand of any sum of money not exceeding one hundred pounds, which shall have been made and issued by any bankers or other persons in partnership, and for which the proper stamp duty shall have been once paid, according to the provisions of this act, shall be deemed liable to the payment of any further duty, although the same shall be re-issued by and as the note of some only of the persons who originally made and issued the same, or by and as the note of any one or more of the persons who originally made and issued the same, and any other person or persons in partnership with him or them jointly; nor although such note, if made payable at any other than the place where drawn, shall be re-issued with any alteration therein, only of the house or place at which the same shall have been at first made payable.

*XVI. And be it further enacted, that all promissory notes for the payment to the bearer on demand of any sum of [*396] money, which shall have been actually and bona fide issued, and in circulation, before or upon the said thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, duly stamped, according to the aforesaid act of the forty-eighth year of his Majesty's reign, and which shall then be re-issuable, within the intent and meaning of that act, or of an act passed in the fifty-third year of his Majesty's reign, for altering, explaining and amending, the said former act, with regard to the duties on re-issuable promissory notes, shall continue to be re-issuable until the expiration of three years from the date thereof

respectively, but not afterwards, without payment of any further duty for the same; and if any banker or bankers, or other person or persons, shall at any time after the said thirty-first day of August, issue or cause to be issued, for the first time, any promissory note for the payment of money to the bearer on demand, bearing date before or upon that day, he, she, or they shall, for every such promissory note, forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.

XVII. Provided always, and in regard that certain bankers in Scotland have issued promissory notes for the payment to the bearer on demand, of a sum not exceeding two pounds and two shillings each, with the dates thereof printed therein, and many such notes have been but recently issued for the first time, although they may appear by the date to be of more than three years' standing, be it further enacted, That all such promissory notes as last mentioned, which shall have been actually and bona fide issued, and in circulation, before or upon the said thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, duly stamped, according to the said act of the forty-eighth year of his Majesty's reign, and which shall bear a printed date prior to the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, shall continue to be issuable until the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, but not afterwards, without payment of any further duty for the same; and if any banker or bankers, or other person or persons, shall, at any time after the said thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, issue or cause to be issued, for the first time, any such promissory note, bearing a printed date prior to the said thirty-first day of August one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, he or they shall for every promissory note so issued, forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.

XVIII. And be it further enacted, That from and after the thirty-first day of August one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, it shall not be lawful, for any banker or bankers, or other person or persons, to issue any promissory note for the payment of money to the bearer on demand, liable to any of the duties imposed by this act, with the date printed therein; and, if any banker or bankers, or other person or persons, shall issue, or cause to be issued, any such promissory note, with the date printed therein, he or they shall, for every promissory note so issued, forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.

XIX. *And be it further enacted, That all promissory notes [*397] hereby allowed to continue re-issuable for a limited period, but not afterwards, shall, upon the payment thereof, at any time after the expiration of such period, and all promissory notes, bills of exchange, drafts, or orders for money, not hereby allowed to be re-issued, shall, upon any payment thereof, be deemed and taken respectively to be thereupon wholly discharged, vacated, and satisfied, and shall be no longer negotiable or avail. able in any manner whatsoever, but shall be forthwith cancelled by the person or persons paying the same; and, if any person or persons shall re

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