Power to Justices to visit Houses. Power to General Board of Health to appoint a Superintending Inspector to visit Houses, and examine Officers, &c. Interpretation of Act. Extent of Act. Act may be amended, &c. 43 Eliz. c. 2. VIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace acting in and for the Jurisdiction in which such House or Establishment shall be situated to visit, inspect, and examine the same, at such Times as he shall think proper, for the like Purpose and with the same Power as any Justice has now by virtue of the Act herein-before mentioned of the Fifth Year of His late Majesty in respect of the Workhouse of any Union or Parish; and it shall be lawful for the General Board of Health, where they shall think proper, by Order under the Seal of the said Board and the Hands of any Two or more Members thereof, to authorize a Superintending Inspector to visit and inspect from Time to Time, or at such Time or Times as such Board shall direct, any such House or Establishment, and to ascertain the State and Condition of the same, and of the poor People therein, and to report thereon to the Board; and it shall be lawful for such Superintending Inspector accordingly so to visit and inspect, and to ascertain such State and Condition, and to examine any Officer, Servant, Assistant, or Inmate of such House or Establishment in relation thereto; and the Powers and Provisions of the Public Health Act, 1848, in relation to the Examination of Persons for the Purposes of an Inquiry under such Act by a Superintending Inspector, shall extend and be applicable to the Examination of such Officers, Servants, Assistants, and Inmates. IX. And be it enacted, That the several Words used in this Act shall be construed in the same Manner as in the said Act of the Fifth Year of His late Majesty, and the Statutes explaining and amending it, and all the Provisions, Enactments, and Regulations contained in the said Act and the said subsequent Statutes shall be extended to this Act, so far as the same may be applicable, and subject to the Provisions herein contained. X. And be it enacted, That this Act shall extend only to England and Wales. XI. And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this present Session. CA P. XIV. An Act to enable Overseers of the Poor and Surveyors of Recovery of the Sum or Sums at which any Person is rated or assessed to the Relief of the Poor, or is rated or assessed in any Rate for the Highways, in England or Wales, by Distress and Sale of his Goods and Chattels, and in default of such Distress by Commitment to Prison until the same shall be paid; but no Provision is made for levying the Costs and Expenses incurred by the Overseers of the Poor or the Surveyors of Highways in the Recovery of the same respectively: 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 Parlia levied. ment assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That it Where a Warshall be lawful hereafter for all Justices of the Peace, if in their rant of Distress Discretion they shall so think fit, in any Warrant of Distress is granted for a Poor Rate or they shall make and issue for the levying of any Sum or Sums Highway Rate, to which any Person or Persons is or are now or may hereafter &c. the Costs of be rated or assessed in or by any Rate or Assessment for the obtaining it Relief of the Poor or for the Highways in England or Wales, or may also be in or by any other Rate or Assessment which by Law now or hereafter is or shall be directed to be enforced or recovered in the same Manner as a Poor Rate, or in any Warrant for the levying of any Arrears of the same, to order that a Sum, such as they may deem reasonable, for the Costs and Expenses which such Overseers or Surveyors, or the Persons applying for such Warrant, shall have incurred in obtaining the same, shall also be levied of the Goods and Chattels of the Person or Persons against whom such Warrant shall be granted, together with the reasonable Charges of the taking, keeping, and selling of the said Distress. So much of 48 Eliz. c. 2. as relates to ComNonpayment of Rates, or for Default of Distress, repealed. mitments for II. And whereas by an Act passed in the Forty-third Year Imprisonment of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, intituled An Act for the Relief in default of of the Poor, it is amongst other things enacted, that in default Distress. ' of Distress for a Poor Rate it shall be lawful for Two Justices 49 Eliz. c. 2. * of the Peace to commit the Party against whom the Distress 'Warrant shall have issued to the Common Gaol of the County, there to remain without Bail or Mainprize until Payment: And whereas it is desirable to limit the Time within which a 'Person assessed to a Poor Rate, or any other of the Rates or • Assessments aforesaid, may be imprisoned for Nonpayment of the same:' Be it therefore enacted, That so much of the said recited Act as relates to the Commitment of any Person to the County Gaol for Nonpayment of any Poor Rate, or for Default of Distress whereon to levy the same, shall be and the same is hereby repealed; and every Person now undergoing any such Imprisonment under or by virtue of the said recited Act shall be discharged from such Imprisonment so soon as he or she shall have been imprisoned Three Calendar Months, or shall sooner pay the Sum or Sums with which he or she is charged; and that hereafter, when to any Warrant of Distress for the levying of any Sum or Sums to which any Person or Persons is or are now or may hereafter be rated or assessed in or by any Rate or Assessment herein-before mentioned it shall be returned by the Constable or Person having the Execution of such Warrant that he could find no Goods or Chattels, or no sufficient Goods or Chattels, whereon to levy such Sum or Sums, together with the Costs of or occasioned by the levying of the same, it shall be lawful for any Two or more Justices of the Peace before whom the same shall be returned, or for any Two or more Justices of the Peace for the same County, Riding, Division, Liberty, City, Borough, or Place, if in their Discretion they shall so think fit, to issue their Warrant of Commitment against the Person with relation to whom such Return shall be so made as aforesaid, in the Form (D.) in the Schedule to this Act annexed, or in any Form to the like Effect, and thereby order such Person to be imprisoned in the Common Gaol or House of Correction for any Time not exceeding Three Calendar Months, unless the Sum or D 3 Sums Power to order in default of One Warrant of Distress may be issued against several Rate-payers,&c. To whom Warrants of Distress or Commitment to be directed. Summons, and how served; if not obeyed, the Justices may proceed ex parte. On Payment or and Costs Pro- cease. Sums therein mentioned shall be sooner paid; and every such Warrant of Commitment made or issued for Default of Distress as aforesaid shall be made as well for the Nonpayment of the Costs and Expenses so as aforesaid incurred in obtaining such Warrant of Distress, if the same shall be so ordered as aforesaid, and the Costs attending the said Distress, and also the Costs and Charges of taking and conveying the Party to Prison, (the Amount of such several Costs, Expenses, and Charges being stated in such Warrant of Commitment,) as for the Nonpayment of the Sum or Sums alleged to be due for the said Rates respectively. III. And be it enacted, That for the saving of Expense in the levying of any Sum or Sums for Rate and Costs as aforesaid it shall be lawful to make and issue One Warrant of Distress against any Number of Persons neglecting or refusing to pay the same, in the Form in the Schedule to this Act annexed; but nothing herein shall be deemed or construed to authorize Justices in like Manner to grant or issue One Warrant of Commitment against several Persons in default of Distress as aforesaid. IV. And be it enacted, That the Warrants aforesaid may be directed to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, or the Overseers of the Poor, or the Surveyors of the Highways, respectively, and to the Constable of the Parish or Township, and to any other Person or Persons, or to any One or more of them, as by the Justices granting the same shall be deemed fit. V. And be it enacted, That every Summons to be issued against any Person for Nonpayment of any Sum for which he or she is or shall be so rated or assessed as aforesaid shall be directed to such Person, and may be in the Form (B.) in the Schedule to this Act annexed, or in any Form to the like Effect; and the same may be served by any Churchwarden or Overseer of the Poor, or Surveyor of the Highways, respectively, or Constable or other Person, to whom it shall be delivered for that Purpose, upon the Person to whom it is so directed, by delivering the same to the Party personally or by leaving the same with some Person for him or her at his or her last Place of Abode; and the Person who shall serve the same in manner aforesaid shall attend at the Time and Place and before the Justices in the said Summons mentioned, to depose if necessary to the Service of the said Summons; and if, upon the Day and at the Place appointed in and by the said Summons for the Appearance of the Party so summoned, such Party shall fail to appear accordingly in obedience to such Summons, then and in every such Case, if it be proved upon Oath or Affirmation to the Justices then present that such Summons was duly served as aforesaid a reasonable Time before the Time so appointed for his or her Appearance as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Justices of the Peace in their Discretion, if they shall so think fit, to proceed ex parte, in the same Manner to all Intents and Purposes as if such Party had personally appeared before them in obedience to the said Summons. VI. And be it enacted, That in all Cases where any Proceedings have been or shall hereafter be taken to compel Payment of any Sum for which any such Person is or shall be so rated or assessed as aforesaid, if at any Time before such Person shall be be committed to and lodged in Prison for Nonpayment thereof, or for or by reason of its being returned to such Warrant of Distress as aforesaid that there are no Goods or Chattels or no sufficient Goods or Chattels of such Person whereon the same may be levied as aforesaid, such Person shall pay or tender to the Churchwardens or Overseers of the Poor, or any of them, or to the Surveyor of Highways respectively, or other Person authorized to collect or receive such Rate, the Sum so sought to be recovered, together with the Amount of all Costs and Expenses up to that Time incurred in the Proceedings so taken to compel Payment thereof as aforesaid, then and in every such Case the Person to whom such Sum and Costs shall be so paid or tendered shall receive the same, and thereupon no further Proceedings for the Recovery of the same shall be had or taken. VII. And be it enacted, That in all Cases where such Costs and Expenses as aforesaid shall have been paid and received, or any Proceedings taken or Imprisonment had for Nonpayment of the same, such Payment and Receipt, and such Proceedings or Imprisonment, shall be deemed legal to all Intents and Purposes, and no Action or other Proceeding shall be had or proceeded in for or in respect of the same. Costs already recovered or proceeded for deemed legal. VIII. And whereas it may be convenient, and save Expense Forms in Sche' and Litigation, if Forms to be used for the Purpose of levying dule valid. the Sums aforesaid should be given :' Be it enacted, That the Forms in the Schedule to this Act contained, or Forms to the same or the like Effect, shall be deemed good, valid, and sufficient in Law. every ment of Church Rate limited. IX. And whereas it is desirable to limit the Time within which Imprisonment ⚫ a Person assessed to a Church Rate may be imprisoned for Non- for Nonpay'payment of the same:' Be it enacted, That Person now undergoing any such Imprisonment shall be discharged from such Imprisonment so soon as he or she shall have been imprisoned Three Calendar Months, or shall sooner pay the Sum or Sums with which he or she is charged; and that hereafter no Person shall be imprisoned for the Nonpayment of any Church Rate for any Time exceeding Three Calendar Months. SCHEDULE. Complaint of the Overseers or Surveyors against One to wit. } Rate-payer. BE it remembered, That on the in the Year of our Lord Day of the [Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, or the Surveyors of aforesaid, by C.D., One of the said [Overseers or Surveyors], Ꭰ 4 Day of Parish, in and by a Rate* made on the in the Year in the Sum of the same or any Part thereof, but hath refused so to do: Wherefore the said [Churchwardens and Overseers or Surveyors], by C.D. aforesaid, pray that the said A.B. may be summoned to appear before Two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, to show Cause why he hath not paid and refuses to pay the said Sum. Day of wardens and Overseers of the Poor, or the Surveyors of the Highways] of the Parish of in the [County] of aforesaid, by C.D., One of the said [Overseers or Surveyors], complain to the undersigned [One] of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace in and for the said [County], that the several Persons whose Names are mentioned and set out in the Schedule hereunder written, being Persons duly rated and assessed to [the Relief of the Poor, or the Maintenance of the Highways] of the said Parish, in and by the Rates in the said Schedule mentioned, in certain Sums set down opposite to their respective Names in the said Schedule, have not respectively paid the said Sums or any Part thereof, but have respectively refused so to do: Wherefore the said [Churchwardens and Overseers, or Surveyors], by C.D. aforesaid, pray that said several Persons may respectively be summoned to appear before Two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, to show Cause respectively why they have not paid and refuse to pay the said Sums respectively. |