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not be made payable at the place where the same shall be issued, anything in the said recited act of the seventh year aforesaid to the contrary notwithstanding.

V. And be it further enacted, That upon one year's notice given within six months after the expiration of ten years from the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and upon repayment by Parliament to the said governor and company, or their successors, of all principal money, interest, or annuities, which may be due from the public to the said governor and company at the term of the expiration of such notice, in like manner as is hereinafter stipulated and provided, in the event of such notice being deferred until after the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, the said exclusive privileges of banking granted by this act shall cease and determine at the expiration of such year's notice; and any vote or resolution of the House of Commons, signified by the Speaker of the said House in writing, and delivered at the public office of the said governor and company, or their successors, shall be deemed and adjudged to be a sufficient notice.

VI. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, unless and until Parliament shall otherwise direct, a tender of a note or notes of the governor and company of the Bank of England, expressed to be payable to bearer on demand, shall be a legal tender, to the amount expressed in such note or notes, and shall be taken to be valid as a tender to such amount for all sums above five pounds, on all occasions on which any tender of money may be legally made, so long as the Bank of England shall continue to pay on demand their said notes in legal coin: Provided always, that no such note or notes shall be deemed legal tender of payment by the governor and company of the Bank of England, or any branch bank of the said governor and company; but the said governor and company are not to become liable or be required to pay and satisfy, at any branch bank of the said governor and company, any note or notes of the said governor and company not made specially payable at such branch bank; but the said governor and company shall be liable to pay and satisfy at the Bank of England in London all notes of the said governor and company of any branch thereof.

VII. And be it further enacted, That no bill of exchange or promissory note made payable at or within three months after the date thereof, or not having more than three months to run, shall, by *reason of any interest taken thereon or secured thereby, or any agreement to pay or re[*449] ceive or allow interest in discounting, negotiating, or transferring the same, be void, nor shall the liability of any party to any bill of exchange or promissory note be affected by reason of any statute or law in force for the prevention of usury, nor shall any person or persons, drawing, accepting, indorsing or signing any such bill or note, or lending or advancing any money, or taking more than the present rate of legal interest in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, for the loan of money on any such bill or note, be

subject to any penalties under any statute or law relating to usury, or any other penalty or forfeiture; any thing in any law or statute relating to usury in any part of the United Kingdom to the contrary notwithstanding.

VIII. And be it further enacted, That an account of the amount of bullion and securities in the Bank of England belonging to the said governor and company, and of notes in circulation, and of deposits in the said bank, shall be transmitted weekly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being, and such accounts shall be consolidated at the end of every month, and an average state of the bank accounts of the preceding three months, made from such consolidated accounts as aforesaid, shall be published every month in the next succeeding London Gazette.

IX. And be it further enacted, That one-fourth part of the debt of fourteen million six hundred and eighty-six thousand eight hundred pounds, now due from the public to the governor and company of the Bank of England, shall and may be repaid to the said governor and company.

X. And be it further enacted, That a general Court of Proprietors of the said governor and company of the Bank of England shall be held at some time between the passing of this act and the fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, to determine upon the propriety of dividing and appropriating the sum of three million six hundred and thirtyeight thousand two hundred and fifty pounds, out of or by means of the sum to be repaid to the said governor and company as hereinbefore mentioned, or out of or by means of the fund to be provided for that purpose, amongst the several persons, bodies politic or corporate, who may be proprietors of the capital stock of the said governor and company on the said fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and upon the manner and the time for making such division and appropriation, not inconsistent with the provisions for that purpose herein contained; and in case such general Court, or any adjourned general Court, shall determine that it will be proper to make such division, then, but not otherwise, the capital stock of the said governor and company shall be and the same is hereby declared to be reduced from the sum of fourteen million five hundred and fifty-three thousand pounds, of which the same now consists, to the sum of ten million nine hundred and fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds, making a reduction or difference of three million six hundred and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty pounds capital [*450] stock, and such reduction shall take place from and after the said fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four; and thereupon, out of or by means of the sum to be repaid to the said governor and company as herein before mentioned, or out of or by means of the fund to be provided for that purpose, the sum of three million six hundred and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, or such proportion of the said fund as shall represent the same, shall be appropriated and divided amongst the several persons, bodies politic or corporate, who may be proprietors of the said sum of fourteen million five hundred and

fifty-three thousand pounds bank stock on the said fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, at the rate of twenty-five pounds sterling for every one hundred pounds of bank stock which such persons, bodies politic and corporate, may then be proprietors of or shall have standing in their respective names in the books kept by the said governor and company for the entry and transfer of such stock, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser sum.

XI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the reduction of the share of each proprietor of and in the capital stock of the said governor and company of the Bank of England, by the repayment of such one-fourth part thereof, shall not disqualify the present governor, deputy governor, or directors, or any or either of them, or any governor, deputy governor, or director who may be chosen in the room of the present governor, deputy governor, or directors at any time before the general Court of the said governor and company to be held between the twenty-fifth day of March and the twenty-fifth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five: Provided that at the said general Court, and from and after the same, no governor, deputy governor, or director of the said corporation shall be capable of being chosen such governor, deputy governor, or director, or shall continue in his or their respective offices, unless he or they respectively shall at the time of such choice have, and during such his respective office continue to have, in his and their respective name, in his and their own right, and for his and their own use, the respective sums or shares of and in the capital stock of the said corporation in and by the charter of the said governor and company prescribed as the qualification of governor, deputy governor, and directors respectively.

XII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no proprietor shall be disqualified from attending and voting at any general Court of the said governor and company, to be held between the said fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and the twenty-fifth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, in consequence of the share of such proprietor of and in the capital stock of the said governor and company having been reduced by such payment as aforesaid below the sum of five hundred pounds of and in the said capital stock: Provided such proprietor had in his own name the full sum of five hundred pounds of and in the said capital stock on the said fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four; nor shall any proprietor be required, between the fifth day of October, *one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, [*451] and the twenty-fifth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirtyfive, to take the oath of qualification in the said charter.

XIII. And be it further enacted, That from and after the said first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, the said governor and company, in consideration of the privileges of exclusive banking given. by this act, shall, during the continuance of such privileges, but no longer, deduct from the sums now payable to the said governor and company, for

the charges of management of the public unredeemed debt, the annual sum of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, any thing in any act or acts of Parliament or agreement to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that such deduction shall in no respect prejudice or affect the right of the said governor and company to be paid for the management of the public debt at the rate and according to the terms provided in an act passed in the forty-eighth year of his late Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act to authorize the Advancing for the Public Service, upon certain conditions, a proportion of the balance remaining in the Bank of England for payment of unclaimed dividends, annuities, and lottery prizes, and for Regulating the Allowances to be made for the Management of the National Debt."

XIV. And be it further enacted, That all the powers, authorities, franchises, privileges, and advantages given or recognized by the said recited act of the thirty-ninth and fortieth years aforesaid, as belonging to or enjoyed by the governor and company of the Bank of England, or by any subsequent act or acts of Parliament, shall be and the same are hereby declared to be in full force and continued by this act, except so far as the same are altered by this act, subject nevertheless to such redemption upon the terms and conditions following: (that is to say,) that at any time, upon twelve months' notice to be given after the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and upon repayment by Parliament to the said governor and company or their successors of the sum of eleven million fifteen thousand one hundred pounds, being the debt which will remain due from the public to the said governor and company after the payment of the onefourth of the debt of fourteen million six hundred and eighty-six thousand eight hundred pounds as herein before provided, without any deduction, discount, or abatement whatsoever, and upon payment to the said governor and company and their successors of all arrears of the sum of one hundred thousand pounds per annum in the said act of the thirty-ninth and fortieth years aforesaid mentioned, together with the interest or annuities payable upon the said debt or in respect thereof, and also upon repayment of all the principal and interest which shall be owing unto the said governor and company and their successors upon all such tallies, exchequer orders, exchequer bills, or parliamentary funds 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 last aforesaid, then and in such case, and not till then (unless under the proviso hereinbefore contained), the said exclusive *privileges of banking granted by this act shall cease and determine at the expiration of such notice of twelve months.

[*452]

XV. And be it further enacted, That this act may be altered, amended, or repealed, by any act to be passed in this session of Parliament.

[5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 41.]

An Act to amend the Law relating to Securities given for Considerations arising out of Gaming, usurious, and certain other illegal Transac[31st August, 1835.]

tions.

"Whereas by an act passed in the sixteenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King Charles the Second, and by an act passed in the Parliament of Ireland in the tenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Third, each of such acts being intituled An Act against deceitful, disorderly, and excessive Gaming,' it was enacted, that all and singular judgments, statutes, recognizances, mortgages, conveyances, assurances, bonds, bills, specialties, promises, covenants, agreements, and other acts, deeds, and securities whatsoever, which should be obtained, made, given, acknowledged, or entered into for security or satisfaction of or for any money or other thing lost at play or otherwise as in the said acts respectively is mentioned, or for any part thereof, should be utterly void and of none effect: And whereas by an act passed in the ninth year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, and also by an act passed in the Parliament of Ireland in the eleventh year of the reign of her said late Majesty, each of such acts being intituled An Act for the better preventing of excessive and deceitful Gaming,' it was enacted, that from and after the several days therein respectively mentioned all notes, bills, bonds, judgments, mortgages, or other securities or conveyances whatsoever, given, granted, drawn, or entered into or executed by any person or persons whatsoever, where the whole or any part of the consideration of such conveyances or securities should be for any money or other valuable thing whatsoever won by gaming or playing at cards, dice, tables, tennis, bowls, or other game or games whatsoever, or by betting on the sides or hands of such as did game at any of the games aforesaid, or for the reimbursing or repaying any money knowingly lent or advanced for such gaming or betting aforesaid, or lent or advanced at the time and place of such play to any person or persons so gaming or betting as aforesaid, or that should, during such play, so play or bet, should be utterly void, frustrate, and of none effect, to all intents and purposes whatsoever: and that where such mortgages, securities, or other conveyances, should be of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or should be such as should incumber or affect the same, such mortgages, securities, or other conveyances should enure and be to and for the sole use and benefit of and should devolve upon such person or persons as *should or might have or be entitled to such lands or hereditaments in case the said grantor or grantors thereof, or the person or persons [*453] so incumbering the same, had been naturally dead, and as if such mortgages, securities, or other conveyances had been made to such person or persons so to be entitled after the decease of the person or persons so incumbering the same; and that all grants or conveyances to be made for the preventing of such lands, tenements, or hereditaments from coming to or devolving upon such person or persons thereby intended to enjoy the same as aforesaid should be deemed fraudulent and void and of none effect, to all intents and

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