No. II.

5 & 6 W. 4,

c. 41.

the holder of

such securities

shall be deemed to be paid on account of the

person to whom

vided always, That nothing herein contained shall prejudice or affect any note, bill, or mortgage which would have been good and valid if this act had not been passed.

II. That in case any person shall, after the passing of this act, make, Money paid to draw, give, or execute any note, bill, or mortgage for any consideration on account of which the same is by the herein-before recited acts of the sixteenth year of the reign of his said late Majesty king Charles the second, the tenth year of the reign of his said late Majesty king William the third, and the ninth and eleventh years of the reign of her said late Majesty queen Anne, or by any one or more of such acts, declared to be void, and such person shall actually pay to any indorsee, holder, or assignee of such note, bill, or mortgage the amount of the money thereby secured, or any part thereof, such money so paid shall be deemed and taken to have been paid for and on account of the person to whom such note, bill, or mortgage was originally given upon such illegal consideration as aforesaid, and shall be deemed and taken to be a debt due and owing from such last-named person to the person who shall so have paid such money, and shall accordingly be recoverable by action at law in any of his Majesty's courts of record.

the same was originally given.

shall enure for the benefit of parties in remainder.

Repealing so III. That so much of the said acts of the ninth and eleventh years of much of recited the reign of her said late Majesty queen Anne as enacts that where such acts of 9 & 11 mortgages, securities, or other conveyances as therein mentioned should Anne, as enacts be of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or should be such as should that securities 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 grantor or grantors thereof, or the person or persons 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 purposes whatsoever, shall be and the same is hereby repealed; saving to all persons all rights acquired by virtue thereof previously to the passing of this act.

PART III.

CLASS VI.

ANNUITIES.

[No. I.] 10 G. IV. c. 24.-An Act to enable the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to grant Life Annuities and Annuities for Terms of Years (1).

[22nd May 1829.]

WHEREAS an act was passed in the last session of parliament, inti

Commissioners

tuled, An Act to repeal so much of several Acts as empowers the Com- 9 G. 4, c. 16. missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to grant Life Annuities; and it is expedient that the said commissioners should be enabled to grant such annuities in future according to the duration of human life as ascertained by recent tables of observation thereon, and also to grant annuities to continue for a certain limited term of years; and that all such annuities should be granted in consideration of the transfer of bank annuities, or annuities commonly called long annuities, or in consideration of payment of money to the said commissioners; and that provisions should be made for carrying the said measure into effect as herein-after expressed; be it therefore enacted, &c., That from and after the passing of this act it shall be lawful for the commissioners for the for reduction of reduction of the national debt, at such days and times as they shall national debt from time to time appoint by notice in the London Gazette for that pur- may accept pose, to accept and receive from any person or persons whomsoever the transfers of transfer of any bank annuities or long annuities transferrable at the stock, or receive money bank of England, or to receive any sum or sums of money as the consideration for the purchase of life annuities, or of annuities for a certain for the purlimited term of years, to be chargeable and charged upon and to be payable out of the consolidated fund of the united kingdom; and to sell and grant annuities, either on the continuance of single lives or on the continuance of two lives, and the life of the longest liver of them, or for terms of upon the joint continuance of two joint lives, such annuities to com- years. mence respectively either immediately or at a period to be fixed at the time of granting any annuity; and also to sell and grant deferred annuities upon the continuance of a single life or joint lives; and also to sell and grant annuities, to continue for any certain limited term of years, to commence either immediately or on any day to be named at the time of granting any such annuity; and also to sell and grant, generally, any immediate annuities, or any temporary annuities, or any deferred annuities, of whatsoever kind or denomination, (save and except that no deferred annuities shall be granted for any certain limited term of years to commence from and after the death of any nominee,) as are allowed by this act, in the manner and under the limitations and restrictions and regulations herein-after expressed.

chase of

annuities for life, immediate or deferred, or

II. Provided always, That no annuity or annuities shall be sold or Annuities not granted by the said commissioners upon the life of any nominee under to be granted the provisions of this act, who, on the day when the contract for such on the life of annuity or annuities shall be made, shall be under the age of fifteen any nominee years: Provided also, That it shall be lawful for the said commissioners under 15 years

(1) See the 2 & 3 W. 4, c. 59, post.

No. I.

or the comptroller general or assistant comptroller acting under the 10 G. 4, c. 24. said commissioners, to decline or refuse to sell and grant any annuity

of age; nor in any other case

under the provisions of this act, in such cases where there shall be, in the opinion of the said commissioners, or of the said comptroller general or assistant comptroller, sufficient grounds for refusing or declining so to do.

where the commissioners, &c. may think fit to decline.

Annuities may be purchased by the transfer of not less than 1001. stock,

&c.

or payment of not less than 51. a year, &c.

III. That it shall and may be lawful for the said commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, to accept and receive any amount, not less than one hundred pounds, of any bank annuities, or to accept and receive any sum of money or any amount of long annuities, equal in value to not less than one hundred pounds of three per cent. bank annuities, according to the average price of such annuities, to be ascertained in manner herein-after directed, from any person or persons desirous of purchasing any annuity or annuities for lives or years of whatsoever kind, under the regulations of this act, at and according to such rates as shall be specified in any table or tables which shall be from time to time approved by the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury, or any three or more of them; and it shall also be lawful for the said commissioners for the reduction of the national debt to accept and receive from any person or persons any sum of money by the year, at such time or times in each and every year as the said commissioners shall appoint, amounting to five pounds or upwards, in money, for the purpose of enabling the person or persons making such payment or transfer to purchase any of the before-mentioned deferred annuities for lives, under the provisions of this act, according to such regulations as the said commissioners for the reduction of the national debt shall direct and approve; and all All bank anbank annuities and long annuities which shall be so transferred, and nuities so trans- also all bank annuities which shall be purchased with any sums of ferred, &c. money so paid, shall from time to time be carried to the account of the said commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, and shall then be cancelled, and all interest or dividends on such annuities respectively shall cease to be charged upon or to be issued out of the consolidated fund from and after the day upon which any such annuities respectively shall be transferred to and placed in the names of the said commissioners: Provided always, That the several persons by whom any annuities for lives or years of whatsoever kind shall be purchased, or to whom any such annuities shall be assigned and transferred under the provisions of this act, shall (if the governor and company of the said bank shall require the same) respectively underwrite his, her, or their acceptance thereof in the books of the said governor and company, by himself or herself, or by some other person or persons duly authorized on his, her, or their behalf.

shall be

cancelled.

Annuities granted shall

be accepted by grantees, if required.

Purchasers of

annuities may appoint nominees, being

natives of the united kingdom.

IV. That whenever any person shall be desirous of purchasing, under the provisions of this act, any life annuity of whatsoever kind, it shall be lawful for the person or persons so desiring to purchase such annuity to name and appoint any other person or persons, being of the age of fifteen years or upwards at the time of such nomination, and being a native or natives of, and most usually resident within, the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the continuance of whose life such Not to prevent annuity shall depend: Provided always, That nothing herein contained any persons shall be construed to prevent any person, whether a native or not of the from purunited kindom, or not residing in the united kingdom, from purchasing life annuity of whatsoever kind under this act, to depend upon the nuities on their continuance of the life of himself, herself, or themselves, as the nominee or nominees of such annuity.

chasing an

own lives.

Previously to transfer of

any

V. That before any bank annuities or long annuities shall be transferred, or any money shall be paid to the commissioners for the reducstock or paytion of the national debt, for the purchase of any life annuity under the ment of money, provisions of this act, a declaration in such form as shall from time to parties shall time be directed or authorized by the said commissioners, or by the

No. I.

pro

comptroller general or assistant comptroller acting under the said commissioners, shall be signed by the person or one of the persons desirous 10 G. 4, c. 24. of purchasing such annuity, or by some person on his, her, or their behalf, stating the name of the person by whom or on whose behalf such sign declaraannuity shall be purchased, and the name or names of the person or tion, and persons on whose life or lives such annuity is required to be granted, luce certifiwith such other particulars as the said commissioners, or the said cates of age of comptroller general or assistant comptroller, shall from time to time nominees of life annuities. direct, and such declaration shall be delivered to the said comptroller general or assistant comptroller or other officer acting under the said commissioners; and there shall also be produced to the said officer a copy of the register of the birth or baptism of the person desiring to purchase such annuity on his own life, or of any and every nominee on whose life or lives any such annuity shall be purchased, certified as true, under the hand of the minister of the parish or place where such register shall be kept, or in the absence of the minister, then a copy of such register, together with a certificate of the truth thereof (wherein such absence shall be specified,) under the hands of the churchwardens or chapelwardens or overseers of such parish or place, or any two of them, and every such certificate, whether of the minister or churchwardens, or chapelwardens or overseers, shall be attested by two or more credible witnesses; and to such certificate there shall also be annexed an affidavit of the said witnesses, or one of them, or their, his, or her solemn affirmation, (in case they or either of them shall be of the persuasion called Quakers,) to be made before any justice of the peace or magistrate in the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or before the comptroller general or assistant comptroller, or other officer or officers appointed by the said commissioners for that purpose, (and which oath or affirmation such justice or magistrate, or comptroller general, assistant comptroller, or other officer, is hereby authorized and empowered to administer,) that such witness or witnesses did examine and compare the said copy of the register of birth or baptism with the register thereof, and did see such minister, or churchwardens or chapelwardens, or overseers (as the case may be,) sign the said certificate, and that the names of such witnesses are of their own proper handwriting; and to every such certificate shall also be annexed an affidavit or solemn affirmation made by the purchaser of the said annuity, (or by one of the purchasers in case there shall be two or more,) or by some person on his, her, or their behalf, before any justice of the peace or magistrate in the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or before such comptroller general or assistant comptroller, or other officer or officers of the said commissioners, that the person named and described in the copy or certificate of the register of birth or baptism produced to the said officer is the same person who is appointed to be such nominee.

VI. Provided always, That in all cases where any copy or certificate If day of birth of any register, which shall be produced pursuant to this act, shall pur- not named in port to be a copy or certificate of the register of the baptism only, and certificate, age not of the birth of any person, the age of such person shall, for the pur- shall be calcuposes of this act, be calculated from the date of such baptism, and the lated from the amount of the annuity to be purchased on the life of the person named day of baptism. in any such copy or certificate shall be estimated and ascertained in like manner in all respects as if such person had been born on the day expressed in such copy or certificate to be the date of his or her baptism.

VII. Provided also, That in case any person by whom or on whose Proof of age. behalf any annuity shall be purchased on his or her own life shall not be a native of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in case the birth or baptism of any nominee whatever, whether such person shall be his own nominee or not (being a native of the united kingdom,) shall not appear in the register of the parish where such nominee shall have been born or baptized, then and in every such case there shall be produced to the said comptroller general or assistant comptroller, or other officer of the said commissioners (in lieu of such

No. I.

certificates and affidavits as aforesaid), an affidavit or solemn affirmation, 10 G. 4, c. 24. in writing, of the age of such nominee, together with his or her name, surname, addition, and employment or occupation (if any), and usual place of abode, and also the place of his or her birth, and the names of his or her parents or reputed parents, also stating that the person named and described in such affidavit or affirmation is the person on whose life such annuity is intended to be purchased; and such affidavit or affirmation shall be made either by the person or one of the persons by whom or on whose behalf such annuity shall be purchased, or by such nominee, or by some other person having knowledge of the several circumstances before mentioned, in which latter case the said affidavit or affirmation shall also be accompanied by an affidavit or affirmation to be made by the person or one of the persons by whom or on whose behalf such annuity shall be purchased, that the contents of such last-mentioned affidavit are true to the best of his or her knowledge and belief; and such affidavits or affirmations respectively shall and may be taken before any justice of the peace or magistrate in the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or before the said comptroller general or assistant comptroller, or other officer or officers of the said commissioners; and if any such person or nominee shall be a native of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, then in such affidavit shall also be stated the cause why a certificate of the copy of the register of his or her birth or baptism cannot be produced.

Purchaser of

VIII. Provided also, That in cases where any annuity for a certain limited term of years is intended to be purchased under the provisions an annuity for of this act, it shall be sufficient for that purpose for the purchaser, or years, to sign a for some person on his, her, or their behalf, to sign and produce a declaration ap- declaration to such officer of such his intention, in such form as the proved by the said commissioners, or the said comptroller general or assistant compcommissioners. troller, shall from time to time approve.

IX. And for ascertaining the average price of bank annuities, acAverage prices cording to which the amount of any annuities purchased under the proof stocks to be visions of this act is to be regulated, be it enacted, That the cashier or daily made out cashiers of the governor and company of the bank of England shall and and transmitted they are hereby required to cause an account to be made out, on every to officer.

When it shall appear to the comptroller general, that the declaration, &c. has been made conformable to this act, he may grant a certificate thereof;

day on which any bank annuities or long annuities shall have been bought at the bank of England, of the average price at which all or any bank annuities or long annuities shall have been bought on such day; and such account shall be transmitted to the comptroller general or assistant comptroller of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, for the purpose of enabling him to ascertain and certify, in manner hereinafter directed, the respective amounts of the life annuities which may be purchased under the provisions of this act; and a copy thereof shall be put up in some conspicuous place of his office, in order that the same may be seen by all persons desirous of ascertaining the price at which stock may be transferred, and the price at which money may be laid out, for the purchase of any annuities under the provisions of this act.

X. That whenever it shall appear to the said comptroller general or assistant comptroller, or any other officer acting under the said commissioners, that the certificates and affidavits and declaration produced by the proposed purchaser of any annuity as aforesaid are conformable to the directions of this act, such officer shall thereupon ascertain the amount of the annuity for life or lives or years, to be payable in respect of the bank annuities or long annuities proposed to be transferred, or in respect of the sum of money proposed to be paid for the purchase of any such annuities respectively; and the amount of such respective annuities for lives or years shall in all cases be calculated and checked by the actuary and accountant, or other check officer, of the check branch in the office of the said commissioners; and thereupon such comptroiler general or assistant comptroller, or other officer, shall grant his certificate to the party making such purchase, and shall transmit a duplicate thereof to the governor and company of the bank of England;