No. III. c. 5. or for using any art or mystery in the which the party hath not been brought up according to the statute in that behalf made, shall be sued 31 Elizabeth, and prosecuted in the general quarter sessions of the peace, or assizes, of the same county where the offence shall be committed, or otherwise enquired of, heard and determined in the assizes, or general quarter- 5 El. c. 4. sessions of the peace of the same county where such offence shall be Certainoffences committed, or in the leet within which it shall happen, and not in any punishable wise out of the same county where such offence shall happen or be com- only at the asmitted. 18 El. c. 5, 27 El. c. 10. 21 Jac. I. c. 4. [ No. IV. ] 21 James I. c. 4.-An Act for the Ease of the Subject, concerning Informations upon Penal Statutes.(1) sizes, quarter sessions, or in a leet. 21 James I. c. 4. WHEREAS the offences against divers and sundry penal laws and statutes of this realm may better, and with more ease and less charge to the subject be commenced, sued, informed against, prose- 38 El. c. 5. cuted and tried, in the counties where such offences shall be commit- Informations ⚫ted: And whereas the poor commons of this realm are grievously upon penal charged, troubled, vexed, molested and disturbed by divers trouble- statutes shall some persons, commonly called relators, informers, and promoters, by be prosecuted in the counties prosecuting and inforcing them to appear in his Majesty's courts at where the of• Westminster, and to answer offences supposed by them to be commitfences were ⚫ted against the said penal laws and statutes, or else to compound with committed. them for the same:' For remedy whereof be it enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, That all offences hereafter to be committed against any penal statute, for which any common informer or promoter may (2) lawfully ground any popular action, bill, plaint, suit or information, before (3) justices of assise, justices of nisi prius or gaol-delivery, justices of oyer and terminer, or justices of peace in their ge neral or quarter sessions, shall, after the end of this present session of Parliament, be commenced, sued, prosecuted, tried, recovered, and determined by way of action, plaint, bill, information, or indictment, before the justices of assize, justices of nisi prius, justices of oyer and terminer, and justices of gaol-delivery, or before the justices of peace of every county, city, borough, or town corporate, and liberty, having power to enquire of, hear and determine the same, within this realm of England, or dominion of Wales, wherein such offences shall be committed, in any of the courts, places of judicature, or liberties aforesaid (1) For the general effect of this Act, as connected with that of 31 Eliz. (the preceding number) see Barber v. Tilson, 3 M. & S. 429. (2) The statute does not extend to cases arising upon subsequent statutes; Hick's case, 1 Salk. 372; but if the offence was created by a temporary statute, expired before the 21 J. 1., and continued by subsequent statutes, the subsequent Acts which have continued it from time to time, all give effect to it as an Act of the time when it was first passed; Shipman v. Henbest, 4 T. R. 109. The defendant in penal action on a statute passed since 21 Jac. I. c. 4., may change the venue to the county where the offence is committed. Quære, Whether pe nal actions on statutes passed since the 21 Jac. I. c. 4, must lay the venue in the county where the offence is committed ? Admitted arguendo that it is not necessary, Wynne v. Belman, 5 Taunt. 754. (3) This Act does not extend to all proceedings on penal statutes. It only prohibits the proceedings in the courts of Westminster, in cases where actions, bills, plaints, suits, or informations might have been brought in inferior courts, (which power is expressly given by stat. 5 Eliz. c. 4.) and does not apply to 1 James I., respecting the searching of leather, which only enables justices of assize, &c. to enquire of the premises in their sessions-leets or law-days, and to hear and determine the same, and which can only be construed to mean the common-law mode of proceeding by indictment or presentment; Shipman v. Henbest, 4 T. R. 109. In the argument it was said, that according to this construction the Act could only attach upon three statutes, 5 and 6 Edward VI. c. 14. (repealed by 12 Geo. III. c. 31.) 5 Eliz. c. 4. sec. 39, and another not mentioned.. The only penalty under stat. Eliz. which had not fallen into disuse, (that for exercising a trade without having served an apprenticeship) is taken away by stat. 54 Geo. III. c. 96. The statute does not give any new jurisdiction to inferior courts; Farrington v. Keymer, Cro. Car. 112; Rex v. Galle, Carth. 465. 4 T. R. 116. See also Wms. n, 1 Saund. 312. No. IV. 21 James I. c. 4. Upon default of proving that the offence was committed in the same county, the defend ant shall be found not guilty. The informer shallmake oath that the offence was committed in the same county where the suit is commenced. The defendant in an informa tion upon a penal statute may plead the general issue. respectively, only at the choice of the parties which shall or will commence suit, or prosecute for the same, and not elsewhere, save only in the said counties, (1) or places usual for those counties, or any of them: And that the like process upon every popular action, bill, plaint, information, or suit, to be commenced, or sued, or prosecuted after the end of this present session of Parliament, by force of or according to the purport of this Act, be had and awarded, to all intents and purposes, as in an action of trespass, vi et armis, at the common law; and that all and all manner of informations, actions, bills, plaints, and suits whatsoever, hereafter to be commenced, sued, prosecuted, or awarded, either by the Attorney-general of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, for the time being, or by any officer or officers whatsoever for the time being, or by any common informer or other person whatsoever, in any of his Majesty's courts at Westminster, for or concerning any of the offences, penalties or forfeitures aforesaid, shall be void and of none effect: any law, custom, or usage to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all informations to be exhibited, and in all bills, counts, plaints, and declarations. in any action or suit to be commenced against any person or persons, either by or on the behalf of the king, or any other, for or concerning any offence committed or to be committed against any penal statute, the offence shall be laid and alleged to have been committed in the said county where such offence was in truth committed, and not elsewhere: And if the defendant to any such information, action, or suit, pleadeth that he oweth nothing, or that he is not guilty; and the plaintiff or informer in such information, action or suit, upon evidence to the jury that shall try such issue, shall not both prove the offence laid in the said information, action, or suit, and that the same offence was committed in that county; then the defendant and defendants shall be found not guilty. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no officer or minister in any court of record shall receive, file, or enter of record any information, bill, or plaint, count, or declaration, grounded the said penal statutes or any of them, which before by this Act upon are appointed to be heard and determined in their proper counties, until the informer or relator hath first taken a corporal oath (2) before some of the judges of that court, that the offence or offences laid in such information, action, suit or plaint, was or were not committed in any other county than where by the said information, bill, plaint, count, or declaration the same is or are supposed to have been committed, and that he believeth in his conscience the offence was committed, within a year before the information or suit, within the same county where the said information or suit was committed, the same oath to be there entered of record. IV, And be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any information, suit, or action, shall be brought or exhibited against any person or persons, for any offence committed or to be committed against the form of any penal law, either by or on the behalf of the King, or by any other, or on the behalf of the King and any other, it shall be lawful for such defendants to plead the general issue, that they are not guilty, or that they owe nothing, and to give such special matter in (1) It is settled by several cases, that this statute restrains actions being brought in the courts at Westminster under the stat. 5. Eliz., unless for offences arising in Middlesex, where these courts sit, although the contrary was formerly holden; see the authorities cited 1 Wms. Saund. 312. n. 1. It was usual to sue on that statute in the courts of the counties palatine, &c. in cases arising there. As to the course of proceeding in the courts of oyer and terminer, or sessions, see Wms. n. ubi supra. (2) This provision does not extend to cases arising upon subsequent statutes; French v. Coxen, 2 Str. 1031; more fully, Selwyn, N. P. Debt. In White v. Boot, 2 T. R. 274, proceedings were stayed for want of an affidavit being made as directed; but in Leigh v. Kent, 3 T. R. 360. the Court refused to set aside a verdict on that account, holding that the application was too late; and the Court strongly intimated an opinion that the provision only applied where the action might have been brought in inferior courts, as directed by s. 1. evidence to the jury that shall try the same, which matter being pleaded, had been a good and sufficient matter in law to have discharged the said defendant or defendants against the said information, suit or action, and the said matters shall be then as available to him or them, to all intents and purposes, as if he or they had sufficiently pleaded, set forth or alleged the same matter in bar, or discharge of such information suit or action. No. V. 3 Geo. IV. c. 46. V. Provided always, That this Act, or any clause contained therein, Certain Ofshall not extend to any information, suit or action, grounded upon any fences exceptlaw or statute made against Popish recusants, or for or concerning ed. Popish recusancy, or against those that shall not frequent the church and hear divine service; nor to any information suit or action for maintenance champerty or buying of titles; nor to any suit or information grounded upon the statute made in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord the King, of a subsidy granted to the King, of tonnage, 1 Jac. I. c. 33. poundage, wool, &c., nor for or concerning the concealing or defrauding the King, his heirs or successors of any custom, tonnage, poundage, subsidy, impost, or prisage; or for transporting of gold, silver, ordnance, powder, shot, munition of all sorts, wool, wool-fells or leather, but that such offence may be laid or alleged to be in any county, at the pleasure of any informer; any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. [No. V.] 3 George IV. c. 46.-An Act for the more speedy Return and Levying of Fines Penalties and Forfeitures and Recognizances estreated.-[24th June 1822.] WHEREAS an Act was passed in the twenty-second and twenty third years of His late Majesty King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for the better and more certain Recovery of Fines and Forfeitures due to 22 & 23 C. 2. His Majesty, which Act was made perpetual by an Act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of Their late Majesties William and Mary, c. 22. intituled, An Act for reviving continuing and explaining several Laws therein 4 & 5 W. & M. mentioned, which are expired and near expiring: And whereas an Act was passed in the forty-first year of His late Majesty George the Third, inti c. 24. tuled An Act for better Payment of Fines and Forfeitures imposed by Justices 41 G. 3. c.85. out of Sessions in England: And whereas great delays occur in the return of fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum and sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them, by or before any Justices of the Peace, or at any General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in that part of the United Kingdom called England: And whereas such delays impede the due administration of justice, as well as the recovery of the fines and forfeitures due to the Crown thereupon, and it is therefore expedient that further provision should be made for the speedy and regular return of all such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, and sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it 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 twenty- So much of ninth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, so recited Acts as much of the aforesaid Act passed in the twenty-second and twenty-third relates to years of the reign of His late Majesty King Charles the Second as elates Fines, &c. to fines issues and amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums repealed. of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them imposed and adjudged at any Quarter Sessions of the Peace; and also that such part of the aforesaid Act of Their late Majesties William and Mary, as makes perpetual the aforesaid Provisions contained in the said Act passed in the twenty-second and twenty-third year of the reign of His late Majesty King Charles the Second; and likewise so much of the said Act passed in the forty-first year of the reign of Ilis late Majesty VOL IV. No. V. 3 Geo. IV. c. 46. Statements of Fines, &c. to be forwarded to the Clerk of the Peace by the Justice by whom such Fine, &c. is imposed. Clerk of the sions, and send Clerk of the which shall be paid. King George the Third as relates to the annual payment of all fines forfeitures and penalties, or such parts thereof as shall be due to the King, imposed and received by any justice out of sessions, and not made payable to any body or bodies corporate, or any Commissioners of any public board, or any other person or persons, into the hands of the Sheriff previous to the Michaelmas Sessions; and also so much of the said Act of the forty-first year of the reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, as requires such justices, previous to the Michaelmas Sessions yearly, to transmit to the clerk of the peace or town clerk where such fine was imposed an account in writing of all such fines, shall be and are hereby repealed. II. And be it further enacted, That from and after the twenty-ninth day of September one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, all fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them (save and except the same shall, by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament made or to be made, be otherwise directed to he levied, recovered, appropriated or disposed of), which already are or hereafter shall be set, imposed, lost or forfeited, by or before any Justice or Justices of the Peace in that part of the United Kingdom called England, shall be and are hereby required to be certified by the Justice or Justices of the Peace by or before whom any such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them, or any of them, shall be set, imposed, lost, or forfeited to the clerk of the peace of the county, or town clerk of the city borough or place in writing, containing the names and residences, trade profession or calling of the parties, the amount of the sum forfeited by each respectively, and the cause of each forfeiture, signed by such Justice or Justices of the Peace, on or before the ensuing General or Quarter Sessions of such county, city, borough, or place respectively; and such clerk of the peace or town clerk shall copy on a roll such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them, together with all fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money, paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them imposed or forfeited at such Court of General or Quarter Sessions, and shall, within such time as shall be fixed and determined by such court, not exceeding twenty-one days after the adjournment of such court, send of such roll, with a writ of distringas and capias, or fieri facias copy and capias, according to the form and effect in the schedule marked (A.) annexed to this Act, to the sheriff of such county or the sheriff bailiff or officer of such city borough or place having execution of process therein respectively, as the case may be, which shall be the authority to such sheriff of such county, or the sheriff bailiff or officer, as the case may be, which shall be the authority to such sheriff of such county, or the sheriff bailiff or officer, as the case may be, for the proceeding to the immediate levying and recovering of such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them, on the goods and chattels of such several persons, or for taking into eustody the bodies of such persons, in case sufficient goods and chattels shall not be found whereon distress can be made for recovery thereof; and every person so taken shall be lodged in the common gaol until the next General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, there to abide the judgment of the said court. a III. And be it further enacted, That the clerk of the peace or town clerk shall, before he shall deliver the roll to such sheriff bailiff or officer, containing the fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them, and is hereby required, to make oath before any Justice of the Peace for the county, riding, city, borough, or place for which such clerk of the peace or town clerk shall act; which oath shall be endorsed on the back of the writ, or of the said roll attached thereto, such clerk of the peace or town clerk stating therein all such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money, which V. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if any person on whose goods and chattels such sheriff bailiff or officer shall be authorized to levy such forfeited recognizance, or sum of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction thereof, shall give security to the said sheriff bailiff or officer for his appearance at the next General or Quarter Sessions, then and there to abide the decision of the court, and also to pay such forfeited recognizance or sum of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction thereof, together with all such expences as shall be ordered and adjudged by the court, it shall be lawful for such sheriff bailiff or officer, and he is hereby authorized and required, to discharge such person so giving such security out of custody: Provided also, that in case such party so giving security shall not appear in pursuance of his undertaking, it shall be lawful for the court forthwith to issue a writ of distringas and capias or fieri facias and capias, against the surety or sureties of the person so bound as aforesaid. No. V. 3 Geo. IV. c. 46. Form of Oath. Notice to be given to the Sureties. Persons may appeal to Quarter Sessions against Fines, &c. upon giving Security. Quarter Ses. sions to hear and determine such Appeals. VI. And be it further enacted, That the Court of General or Quarter Justices at Sessions before whom any person so committed to gaol or bound to appear shall be brought, is hereby authorized and required to inquire into the circumstances of the case, and shall, at its discretion, be empowered to order the discharge of the whole of the forfeited recognizance, or sum of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction thereof, or any part thereof; and such order shall be made in the form or to the effect of the schedule marked (C.) to this Act annexed, and shall be signed by the clerk of the peace, which said order shall be a discharge to such sheriff bailiff or officer, on the passing of his accounts at the Exchequer, or before any auditor or other proper officer duly authorized to pass the same; and in all cases where the party shall have been lodged in the common gaol by such sheriff bailiff or other officer, the Justices of the Peace so assembled are hereby empowered either to remand such party to the custody of the sheriff bailiff or other officer, or upon the release of such party from the whole of such forfeited recognizance, to order such party to be discharged from custody, and such order shall be a full and sufficient discharge to the said sheriff bailiff or officer on the passing of his accounts at the Exchequer, or before any auditor or other proper officer duly authorized to pass the same; and it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Court of General or Quarter Sessions to |