Suspending Operation of recited Acts.

6Anne, c. 14. s. 8. (I.)

Soldier's Pay who shall unlawfully detain the same for the Space of One Month, or refuse to pay the same when it shall become due, according to the several Rates and agreeably to the several Regulations established by Her Majesty's Orders, shall, upon Proof thereof before a Court-martial, be discharged from his Employment, and shall forfeit One hundred Pounds, and the Informer, if a Soldier, if he demand it, shall be discharged from any further Service: Provided, as aforesaid, that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty's Secretary-at-War to give Orders for withholding the Pay of any Officer or Soldier for any Period during which such Officer or Soldier shall be absent without Leave, or improperly absent from his Corps and from his Duty, or, in case of any Doubt as to the proper Issue of Pay, to withhold it from the Parties aforesaid until Her Majesty's Orders shall have been signified by the Secretary-at-War.

LXVII. And whereas by Petition of Right in the Third Year of King Charles the First it is enacted and declared, that the People of the Land are not by the Laws to be burdened with the sojourning of Soldiers against their Wills; and by a Clause in an Act of the Parliament of England, made in the Thirty-first Year of the Reign of King_Charles_the Second, for granting a Supply to His Majesty of Two hundred and six thousand four hundred and sixty-two Pounds Seventeen Shillings and Threepence, for paying and disbanding the Forces, it is declared and enacted, that no Officer, Civil or Military, nor other Person whosoever, should thenceforth presume to place, quarter, or billet any Soldier upon any Subject or Inhabitant of this Realm, of any Degree, Quality, or Profession whatsoever, without his Consent, and that it shall be lawful for any Subject or Inhabitant to refuse to quarter any Soldier, notwithstanding any Warrant or Billeting whatsoever: And whereas by an Act passed in the Parliament of Ireland in the Sixth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, Chapter Fourteen, Section Eight, intituled An Act to prevent the Disorders that may happen by the marching of Soldiers, and providing Carriages for the Baggage of Soldiers on their March, it was enacted, that no Officer, Soldier, or Trooper in the Army, nor the Servant of any Officer, nor any Attendant on the Train of Artillery, nor any Yeoman of the Guard or Battle-axes, nor any Officer commanding the said Yeomen, nor any Servant of any such Officer, should at any Time thereafter have received or be allowed any Quarters in any Part of Ireland, save only during such Time or Times as he or they should be on their March as in the same Act is before mentioned, or during such Time as he or they should be and remain in some Seaport Town or other Place in the Neighbourhood of a Seaport Town in order to be transported, or during such Time as there should be any Commotion in any Part of Ireland, by reason of which Emergency the Army, or any considerable Part thereof, should be commanded to march from One Part of Ireland to another: But forasmuch as there is and may be Occasion for the marching and quartering of Regiments,

land not now

necessary.

Regiments, Troops, and Companies in several Parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the said several Provisions of the said recited Acts shall be suspended and cease to be of any Force or Effect during the Continuance of this Act: And whereas by the Eleventh Section of the said Act Certain Reof the Sixth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, Chapter 6 Anne, c. 14. quirements of Fourteen, it is provided and enacted, that no Civil Magistrate (I.) as to Bilor Constable should be obliged to find Quarters for or give leting in IreBillets to more or other Soldiers than those only whose true Christian and Surnames should be delivered to him in Writing under the Hand of the Officer desiring Quarters or Billets for such Soldiers at the Time such Quarters or Billets should be desired, and that all such Names should be written together and delivered in One Piece of Paper, signed as aforesaid, and that the Christian and Surnames of every Soldier to be quartered or billeted, together with the Name of the Person on whom he or they should be billeted or quartered, should be given in Writing by the Constable or Civil Officer billeting or quartering such Soldier, and be contained in the Billet given by such Civil Officer: And whereas it has been found inconvenient and difficult to comply with all the Requirements of the said Enactment: It shall not be necessary, so long as this Act shall continue in force, for any Officer, upon the Occasion of his requiring Quarters or Billets for any Soldiers in Ireland, to deliver to the Constable or other Person whose Duty it shall be to find or give the same any List of the Names of the Soldiers to be so quartered or billeted; and that it shall not be necessary for the Constable or other such Person as aforesaid to set forth in any Billet the Name of any Soldier to be billeted or quartered, but only to the Number of the Soldiers, or the Number of the Soldiers and Horses respectively, as the Case may require, to be billeted or quartered on the Person named in the Billet, and to whom the same shall be addressed.

billeted.

LXVIII. It shall be lawful for all Constables of Parishes How and where and Places, and other Persons specified in this Act, in England Troops may be and Ireland, and they are hereby required, to billet the Officers and Soldiers in Her Majesty's Service and Persons receiving Pay in Her Majesty's Army, and the Horses belonging to Her Majesty's Cavalry, and also all Staff and Field Officers' Horses, and all Bât and Baggage Horses belonging to any of Her Majesty's other Forces, when on actual Service, not exceeding for each Officer the Number for which Forage is or shall be allowed by Her Majesty's Regulations, in Victualling Houses and other Houses specified in this Act (taking care in Ireland not to billet less than Two Men in One House, except only in case of billeting Cavalry as specially provided); and they shall be received by the Occupiers of such Houses in which they are so allowed to be billeted, and be furnished by such Victuallers with proper Accommodation in such Houses, or if any Victualler shall not have sufficient Accommodation in the House upon which a Soldier is billeted, then in some good and sufficient

Quarters

Quarters to be provided by such Victualler in the immediate Neighbourhood, and in England with Diet and Small Beer, and with Stables, Hay, and Straw for such Horses as aforesaid, paying and allowing for the same the several Rates herein-after provided; and at no Time when Troops are on a March shall any of them, whether Infantry or Cavalry, be billeted above One Mile from the Place mentioned in the Route; and in all Places where Cavalry shall be billeted in pursuance of this Act, the Men and their Horses shall be billeted in One and the same House, except in case of Necessity; and in no other Case whatsoever shall there be less than One Man billeted where there shall be One or Two Horses, nor less than Two Men where there shall be Four Horses, and so in proportion for a greater Number; and in no Case shall a Man and his Horse be billeted at a greater Distance from each other than One hundred Yards; and the Constables are hereby required to billet all Soldiers and their Horses on their March in a just and equal Proportion upon the Keepers of all Houses within One Mile of the Place mentioned in the Route, although some of such Houses may be in the adjoining County, in like Manner in every respect as if such Houses were locally situate within such Place: Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to authorize any Constable to billet Soldiers out of the County to which such Constable belongs when the Constable of the adjoining County shall be present and undertake to billet the due Proportion of Men in such adjoining County; and no more Billets shall at any Time be ordered than there are effective Soldiers and Horses present to be billeted; all which Billets, when made out by such Constables, shall be delivered into the Hands of the Commanding Officer present; and if any Person shall find himself aggrieved by having an undue Proportion of Soldiers billeted in his House, and shall prefer his Complaint, if against a Constable or other Person not being a Justice, to One or more Justices, and if against a Justice then to Two or more Justices within whose Jurisdiction such Soldiers are billeted, such Justices respectively shall have Power to order such of the Soldiers to be removed, and to be billeted upon other Persons, as they shall see Cause; and when any of Her Majesty's Cavalry or any Horses as aforesaid shall be billeted upon the Occupiers of Houses in which Officers or Soldiers may be quartered by virtue of this Act who shall have no Stables, then and in such Case, upon the written Requisition of the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, Troop, or Detachment, the Constable is hereby required to billet the Men and their Horses, or Horses only, upon some other Person or Persons who have Stables by this Act liable to have Officers and Soldiers billeted upon them; and upon Complaint being made by the Person or Persons to whose House or Stables the said Men and Horses shall have been so removed to Two or more Justices within whose Jurisdiction such Men or Horses shall be so billeted, it shall be lawful for such Justices to order a proper Allowance to be paid

by

by the Person relieved to the Persons receiving such Men and Horses, or to be applied in furnishing the requisite Accommodation; and Commanding Officers may exchange any Man or Horse billeted in any Place, with another Man or Horse billeted in the same Place, for the Benefit of the Service, provided the Number of Men and Horses do not exceed the Number at that Time billeted on such Houses; and the Constables are hereby required to billet such Men and Horses so exchanged accordingly; and it shall be lawful for any Justice, at the Request of any Officer or Non-commissioned Officer commanding any Soldiers requiring Billets, to extend any Routes or enlarge the Districts within which Billets shall be required, in such Manner as shall appear to be most convenient to the Troops: Provided that, to prevent or punish all Abuses in billeting Soldiers, it shall be lawful for any Justice within his Jurisdiction, by Warrant or Order under his Hand, to require any Constable to give him an Account in Writing of the Number of Officers and Soldiers who shall be quartered by such Constables, together with the Names of the Persons upon whom such Officers and Soldiers are billeted, stating the Street or Place where such Persons dwell, and the Sign, if any, belonging to those Houses; and it shall be lawful for Constables to billet Officers and Soldiers in Scotland according to the Provisions of the Laws in force in Scotland at the Time of its Union with England; and no Officer shall be obliged to pay for his Lodging where he shall be regularly billeted, except in the Suburbs of Edinburgh: Provided, that no Officer or Soldier shall be billeted in England in any private Houses, or in any Canteen held or occupied under the Authority Exemptions of the Ordnance Department, or upon Persons who keep Taverns from Billets. only, being Vintners of the City of London admitted to their Freedom of the said Company in right of Patrimony or Apprenticeship, notwithstanding such Persons who keep such Taverns only have taken out Victualling Licences, nor in the Houses of any Distiller kept for distilling Brandy and Strong Waters, nor in the House of any Storekeeper whose principal Dealing shall be more in other Goods and Merchandise than in Brandy and Strong Waters, so as such Distillers and Shopkeepers do not permit tippling in such Houses, nor in the House of Residence in any Part of the United Kingdom of any Foreign Consul duly accredited as such.

near West

LXIX. The Officers and Soldiers of Her Majesty's Foot Billeting the Guards shall be billeted within the City and Liberties of West- Guards in and minster and Places adjacent, lying in the County of Middlesex minster. (except the City of London) and in the County of Surrey, and in the Borough of Southwark, in the same Manner and under the same Regulations as in other Parts of England, in all Cases for which particular Provision is not made by this Act; and the High Constable shall, on Receipt of the Order for billeting Soldiers, deliver Precepts to the several Constables within their respective Divisions, in pursuance of which the said Constables shall billet such Officers and Soldiers equally

and

Military Offi

cers not to act as Justices in billeting.

Allowance to
Innkeepers.

and proportionally on the Houses subjected thereto by this Act; and the said Constables shall, at every General Sessions of the Peace to be holden for the said City and Liberties, Counties and Borough respectively, make and deliver to the Justices then in open Session assembled, upon Oath, which Oath the said Justices are hereby required to administer, Lists, signed by them respectively, of the Houses subject by this Act to receive Officers and Soldiers, together with the Names and Rank of all Officers and Soldiers billeted on each respectively, which Lists shall remain with the respective Clerks of the Peace, for the Inspection of all Persons, without Fee or Reward; and such Clerk shall forthwith from Time to Time deliver to any Persons who shall require the same true Copies of any such Lists, upon being paid Twopence per Sheet for the same, each Sheet to contain at the least One hundred and fifty Words.

LXX. No Justice having or executing any Military Office or Commission in any Part of the United Kingdom shall, directly or indirectly, be concerned in the billeting or appointing Quarters for any Soldier in the Regiment, Troop, or Company under the immediate Command of such Justice, but that all Warrants, Acts, or Things so appointed by such Justice for or concerning the same shall be void.

LXXI. The Innholder or other Person on whom any Soldier is billeted in England, shall, if required by such Soldier, furnish him for every Day of the March, and for a Period not exceeding Two Days when halted at the intermediate Place upon the March, and for the Day of the Arrival at the Place of final Destination, with One hot Meal in each Day, the Meal to consist of such Quantities of Diet and Small Beer as may be fixed by Her Majesty's Regulations, not exceeding One Pound and a Quarter of Meat previous to being dressed, One Pound of Bread, One Pound of Potatoes or other Vegetables, and Two Pints of Small Beer, and Vinegar, Salt, and Pepper, and for such Meal the Innholder or other Person furnishing the same shall be paid the Sum of Tenpence; and all Innholders and other Persons on whom Soldiers may be billeted in England, except when on the March and entitled to be furnished with the hot Meal as aforesaid, shall furnish such Soldiers with Candles, Vinegar, and Salt, and shall allow them the Use of Fire, and the necessary Utensils for dressing and eating their Meat, and shall be paid in consideration thereof the Sum of One Halfpenny per Diem for each Soldier; and the Sum to be paid to the Innholder or other Person on whom any of the Horses belonging to Her Majesty's Forces shall be billeted in England, for Hay and Straw, shall be Ninepence per Diem for each Horse; and in Ireland the Sum to be paid for Forage, to the Innholder or other Person, for Horses billeted by virtue of this Act, shall be the Rate established by the Lord Lieutenant or other sufficient Authority from Time to Time, the same to be regulated by the average Rate of Contracts for

Forage