New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law. by this Act charged on such bill; and the person who shall indorse, transfer, or negotiate such bill shall, before he shall deliver the same out of his hands, custody, or power, cancel the stamp so affixed by writing thereon his name or the name of his firm and the date of the day and year on which he shall so write the same, to the end that such stamp may not be again used for any other purpose; and if any person shall present for payment, or shall pay or indorse, transfer or negotiate any such bill as aforesaid whereon there shall not be such adhesive stamp as aforesaid duly affixed, or if any person who ought as directed by this Act to cancel such stamp in manner aforesaid shall refuse or neglect so to do, such person so offending in any such case shall forfeit the sum of 50%.; and no person who shall take or receive from any other person any such bill as aforesaid, either in payment or as a security, or by purchase or otherwise, shall be entitled to recover thereon, or to make the same available for any purpose whatever, unless at the time when he shall so take or receive such bill there shall be such stamp as aforesaid affixed thereon and cancelled in the manner hereby directed. 6. If any person shall within the United Kingdom draw and issue any bill of exchange payable out of the United Kingdom purporting to be drawn in a set, and shall not draw and issue on paper duly stamped as required by law the whole number of bills which such bill purports the set to consist of, or if any person shall within the United Kingdom transfer or negotiate any such bill of exchange as afore. said purporting to be drawn in a set, and shall not at the same time transfer or deliver on paper duly stamped as aforesaid, the whole number of bills which such bill purports the set to consist of, every such person so offending in any of such cases shall forfeit the sum of 100l.; and if any person shall take or receive in the United Kingdom any such bill as aforesaid, either in payment or as a security or by purchase or otherwise, without having transferred or delivered to him duly stamped as aforesaid the whole number of bills which such bill purports the set to consist of, he shall not be entitled to recover on any such bill, or to make the same available for any purpose whatever. 7. And whereas, under and by virtue of certain Acts relating to stamp duties, certain drafts or orders for the payment of any sum of money to the bearer on demand, drawn upon any banker or person acting as a banker residing or transacting the business of a banker within 15 miles of the place where such drafts or orders are issued, are exempted from all stamp duty, and it is expedient to prevent the negotiating or circulating of such drafts or orders unstamped at any place beyond the distance of 15 miles from the place where the same are made payable, be it enacted, that no such draft or order as aforesaid shall, unless the same be duly stamped as a draft or order, be remitted or sent to any place beyond the 319 distance of 15 miles in a direct line from the bank or place at which the same is made payable or be received in payment, or as a security, or be otherwise negotiated or circulated at any place beyond the said distance; and if any person shall remit or send any draft or order not duly stamped as aforesaid to any place beyond the distance aforesaid, or shall receive the same in payment or as a security, or in any manner negotiate or circulate the same at any such last-mentioned place, he shall forfeit the sum of 501. 8. Provided always, that it shall be lawful for any person who shall receive any such draft or order as aforesaid at any place within the said distance of 15 miles from the bank or place at which the same is made payable, which draft or order shall have been lawfully issued unstamped, to affix thereto a proper adhesive stamp, and to cancel such stamp by writing thereon his name or the initial letters of his name, and thereupon such draft or order may lawfully be received and negotiated at any place beyond the distance aforesaid, anything herein contained notwithstanding. 9. And whereas an Act was passed in the 17 Geo. 3, c. 30, for restraining the negotiation of promissory notes and inland bills of exchange under a limited sum: be it enacted, that the said Act, and any Act or Acts continuing or perpetuating the same, shall, so far as they respectively extend or may be deemed or construed to extend to any draft on a banker for payment of money held for the use of the drawer, be and the same are hereby repealed. 10. The adhesive stamps provided by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for denoting the duty of 1d. payable on receipts and on drafts or orders for the payment of money to the bearer or to order on demand respectively may lawfully be used for the purpose of denoting the like amount of duty either on a receipt or on such draft or order as aforesaid, without regard to the special appropriation thereof for the other of such instruments by having its name on the face thereof, anything in any Act or Acts contained to the contrary notwithstanding. 11. And whereas an Act was passed in the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 32, to regulate the issue of bank notes; and an Act was passed in the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 38, to regulate the issue of bank notes in Scotland; and another Act was passed in the last-mentioned years, c. 37, to regulate the issue of bank notes in Ireland; and in order to prevent evasions of the regulations, and provisions of the said respective Acts it is. expedient to define what shall be deemed to be bank notes within the meaning thereof respectively: be it enacted, that all bills, drafts, or notes (other than notes of the Bank of England) which shall be issued by any banker or the agent of any banker for the payment of, money to the bearer on demaud, and all bills, drafts, or notes so issued, which shall entitle or be intended to entitle the bearer or holder thereof, without endorsement, or without any further or other endorsement than may be 320 New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law. thereon at the time of the issuing thereof, to the payment of any sum of money on demand, whether the same shall be so expressed or not, in whatever form and by whomsoever such bills, drafts, or notes shall be drawn or made, shall be deemed to be bank notes of the banker by whom or by whose agent the same shall be issued within the meaning of the said three several Acts last mentioned, and within all the clauses, provisions, and regulations thereof respectively. 12. All bills, drafts, and notes which by or under this Act, or the said three several Acts last mentioned, or any of them respectively, are declared or deemed to be bank notes, shall be subject and liable to the stamp duties, and composition for stamp duties, imposed by or payable under any Act or Acts in force upon or in respect of promissory notes for the payment of money to the bearer on demand; and all clauses, provisions, regulations, penalties, and forfeitures contained in any Act or Acts relating to the issuing of such promissory notes, or for securing the said stamp duties and composition respectively, or for preventing or punishing frauds or evasions in relation thereto, shall respectively be deemed to apply to all such bills, drafts, and notes as aforesaid, and to the stamp duties and composition payable upon or in respect thereof, anything in this Act, or any other Act or Acts, to the contrary notwithstanding. 13. And whereas under and by virtue of certain Acts relating to stamp duties, letters by the General Post acknowledging the safe arrival of any bills of exchange, promissory notes, or other securities for money are exempted from the stamp duty granted and imposed on receipts or discharges given for or upon the payment of money be it enacted, that the said exemption shall be and the same is hereby repealed. 14. And whereas under and by virtue of the laws in force the stamp duty on receipts given for or upon the payment of money to or for the use of her Majesty, her heirs or successors, is made payable by the person requiring any such receipt be it enacted, that all such receipts as last mentioned shall be and the same are hereby exempted from stamp duty. : 15. And whereas by an Act passed in the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 97, certain reduced rates of stamp duty were granted and made payable under the head or title of "Duplicate or Counterpart" in the schedule thereto annexed: and whereas by an Act passed in the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 63, certain stamp duties were granted and made payable upon conveyances, charters, dispositions, and contracts, described under the head or title of "Conveyance" in the schedule to the said last-mentioned Act, but no provision is made for charging the duplicates or counterparts of the said conveyances, charters, dispositions, and contracts with the said reduced duties, and it is expedient to give such relief in that respect as hereinafter mentioned: be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and they are hereby required, upon production to them of any such conveyance, charter, disposition, or contract duly stamped, and of the duplicate or counterpart thereof stamped for denoting the amount of duty chargeable upon a duplicate or counterpart under the said Act of the 13 & 14 Vict., to stamp the said duplicate or counterpart with the particular stamp directed by the said last-mentioned Act to be impressed upon a duplicate or counterpart for denoting or testifying the payment of the full and proper stamp duty on the original deed or instrument; and if the said duplicate or counterpart shall be stamped with any ad valorem stamp duty of greater amount than the amount of stamp duty so chargeable as aforesaid on a duplicate or counterpart, the said Commissioners shall allow and repay such excess of stamp duty, and rectify the stamps accordingly, and thereupon such duplicate or counterpart shall be deemed to be duly stamped. 16. And where any conveyance, charter, disposition, or contract described in the schedule to this Act shall be made partly in consideration of such annual sum as in the said schedule is mentioned, and partly in consideration of a sum of money or stock as mentioned under the head or title of " Conveyance" in the schedule to the said Act of the 13 & 14 Vict., such conveyance, charter, disposition, or contract shall be chargeable with the ad valorem stamp duties granted by the said Acts respectively in respect of each of the said considerations; and in any case where any deed or instrument which shall be chargeable with any ad valorem stamp duty in respect of any sum of money yearly or in gross or any stock or security therein mentioned shall be made also for any further or other valuable consideration, such deed or instrument shall be chargeable (except where express provision to the contrary is or shall be made in any Act of Parliament) with such further stamp duty as any separate deed or instrument made for such last-mentioned consideration alone would be chargeable with, except progressive duty. 17. And to prevent fraud and evasion of stamp duty in any case where application is made to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to assess and charge the stamp duty to which any deed or instrument is liable, or to impress on any deed or instrument the particular stamp provided to denote the payment of the full and proper duty on the same or on any other deed or instrument, or that any deed or instrument is not liable to any stamp duty, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners to require such evidence by affidavit as they may deem necessary in order to show to their satisfaction the quantity of words contained in any such deed or instrument, and whether or not the consideration, or any definite or certain sum or sums of money, stock, or other valuable matter or thing capable of being ascertained and set forth, or any other facts, upon the full or proper statement of any of which matters and things in such deed or instrument the stamp duty which shall be or which ought to be pay New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law. 321 able thereon shall in any measure depend, is orfeitures, and disabilities, contained in or imare truly and fully set forth therein; and it posed by the said last-mentioned Act which shall be lawful for the said Commissioners and may have been incurred by reason of any their officers in any case to refuse to impress omission to express or set forth in any such on any such deed or instrument, or any dupli-instrument the full and true purchase or concate or counterpart respectively, the particular sideration-money upon the sale of the property stamp to denote the payment of the full and thereby conveyed, transferred, assigned, or asproper duty as aforesaid, except on payment of the full stamp duty which would be chargeable on such deed or instrument if all or any of such matters and things aforesaid had been truly set forth therein. sured, or vested in the purchaser; and all such instruments shall be available in evidence notwithstanding the full and proper ad valorem duties which ought to have been paid in respect of the purchase or consideration-money therein expressed for the conveyance, transfer, or assignment of any such trade, business, or goodwill shall not have been paid and denoted thereon. 18. Provided, that no such affidavit shall be used against any person making the same in any proceeding whatever, except only in any inquiry as to the stamp duty with which such deed or instrument is chargeable, and every 20. And whereas it is expedient to reduce such person shall, upon payment of such full the stamp duty now payable on licences to stamp duty as aforesaid, be relieved from any pawnbrokers in Dublin: be it enacted, that the penalty, forfeiture, or disability he may have stamp duty of 157. now payable on a licence to incurred by reason of the omission to state be taken out yearly for exercising the trade or truly in such deed or instrument any of the business of a pawnbroker within the city of facts, matters, and things aforesaid. Dublin, or the circular road surrounding the same, shall be reduced to the sum of 71. 10s. 21. All indentures of apprenticeship, bonds, contracts, and agreements entered into in the United Kingdom for or relating to the service in any of her Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad of any person as an artificer, clerk, domestic servant, handicraftsman, mechanic, gardener, servant in husbandry, or labourer, shall be and the same are hereby exempted from all stamp duty. 19. Whereas by an Act passed in the 48 Geo. 3, c. 149, certain penalties and disabilities were imposed upon the parties to any deed or instrument of conveyance of property upon sale, wherein the full purchase or considerationmoney directly or indirectly paid or secured or agreed to be paid should not be truly expressed and set forth, and also upon the attorney, solicitor, writer to the signet, or other person employed in or about the preparing of any such deed or instrument: and whereas the 22. And whereas by an Act passed in the sale of a trade or busiuess, or the goodwill 55 Geo. 3, c. 184, and by the said Act of the thereof, has been erroneously considered by 13 & 14 Vict. respectively, certain stamp duties some persons not to be a sale of property with- were imposed upon any schedule, inventory, in the meaning of the Acts imposing ad valorem or catalogue containing the matters and things stamp duties on the conveyance thereof, and in the said Acts respectively mentioned, which the instruments whereby property of that de- should be referred to in or by and be intended scription, or whereby certain messuages, lands, to be used or given in evidence as part of or as or other property wherein or whereupon such material to any instrument charged with stamp trade or business has been carried on, has or duty, but which should be separate and distinct have been in such cases assigned, transferred, therefrom, and not endorsed on or annexed or otherwise conveyed to or become vested in a thereto, and doubts are entertained whether purchaser may not have been stamped with the the said duties extend to certain documents full and proper duties with which the same and writings of a public character hereinafter were by law chargeable, and in some instances mentioned: for the removal of such doubts, the purchase or consideration-money has been be it declared and enacted, that the said lastomitted to be fully and truly expressed and set mentioned stamp duties shall not extend or be forth as required by law in such instruments, deemed to have extended to any public map, by reason whereof the parties to such instru- plan, survey, apportionment, allotment, award, ments, and the attorney, solicitor, writer to the or other parochial or public document or writsignet, or other person employed in or about ing whatsoever made under or in pursuance of the preparing of the same, may have incurred any Act of Parliament, and deposited or kept the penalties, forfeitures, and disabilities in that for reference in any registry, or in any public behalf mentioned in and imposed by the said office, or with the public books, papers, or Act of the 48 Geo. 3, c. 149, and it is ex-writings of any parish, by reason of any such pedient that they should be relieved therefrom, document or writing as aforesaid being referred and that such instruments should be rendered to in or by any deed or instrument whatever, available in evidence: be it enacted, that in provided that such document or writing be not any such case as aforesaid the parties to any endorsed on or annexed to such deed or insuch instrument made and bearing date on or strument. before the 15th day of June, 1854, and every 23. And whereas by the said Act of the 13 & person employed in or about the preparing of 14 Vict. and this Act respectively, certain ad the same, shall be and they are hereby declared valorem stamp duties are granted and imposed to be respectively freed, discharged, and in- upon leases or tacks of any lands, tenements, demnified from and against any penalties, for-hereditaments, or heritable subjects at a yearly 322 New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law.. THE SCHEDULE TO WHICH THIS ACT REFERS. rent, and doubts are entertained, whether the required by law impressed thereon or affixed said duties extend to any lease or tack for any thereto. term or period less than a year for the removal of such doubts, be it enacted, that where any lease or tack of any lands, tenements, hereditaments, or heritable subjects shall be made for any term or period less than a year at a rent reserved or payable for the same, such lease or tack shall be cargeable with the same ad valorem duty as a lease or tack at a yearly rent of the same amount as the sum so reserved or payable. 24. And in order to encourage the purchase of stamps for drafts, bills, and notes of the several rates and denominations hereinafter mentioned, and to facilitate the distribution and supply thereof there shall be granted and allowed to every person who at one and the same time shall produce at the office of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue in London or Dublin, paper, to be stamped with such stamps or any of them to the amount of 51. in the whole, or shall purchase such stamps or any of them to the like amount at the office of the said Commissioners in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, or of any distributor or sub-distributor of stamps at any place not within the distance of 10 miles from the said offices respectively the allowance following; (that is to say), on stamps for denoting any rate of duty not exceeding 1s. on bills of exchange, drafts, or orders, or promissory notes, an allowance after the rate of seven and a half per centum on the amount of such stamp duties respectively; provided that no allowance shall be made on any fraction of a pound; which said allowances are in lieu of any allowance payable on stamps of the like rates and denominations under any other Act or Acts in force. 25. And in consideration that such allowance as aforesaid is by this Act granted on the purchase of stamps of the several rates and denominations aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for any person on the sale of any such stamp to make any charge for the paper whereon the same is impressed; and if any person upon the sale of any stamp denoting any rate of duty not exceeding 1s. for any bill of exchange, draft, or order, or promissory note, shall make any charge for the paper whereon the same is impressed, or under any colour or pretence whatever demand or receive a greater price or sum than the amount of the stamp duty, he shall forfeit the sum of 101. 26. Where any person shall be possessed of any stamps readered useless by this Act, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of In land Revenue, on application to them or to their proper officer in that behalf, at any time on or before the 5th day of April, 1855, to cancel and make allowance for the same as in the case of spoiled stamps, after deducting the discount granted and allowed by law on the purchase of stamps of the like description, 27. Every instrument liable to stamp duty shall be admitted in evidence in any criminal proceeding, although it may not have the stamp Inland Bill of Exchange, Not exceeding Duty. £ £ s. d. 5-0 01 0 2 25-0 03 Exceeding £5 and not exceeding 10 If 50-006 75-0 0 9 100-01 0 10 25 50 75 Foreign Bill of Exchange If drawn in sets of three or 4,000-2 00 25-00 1 £25 and not exceed 50-0 0 2 8 50 75-0 03 750-0 26 750 1,000 0 3 4 1,000 1,500-0 5 0 1,500 2,000 0 6 8 2,000 3,000 4,000 and upwards 3,000 0 10 0 4,000-0 13 4 0 15 0 Foreign Bill of Exchange drawn out of the United Kingdom, and payable within the United Kingdom, the same duty as on an inland bill of the same amount and tenor. Foreign Bill of Exchange drawn out of the United Kingdom, and payable out of the United Kingdom, but indorsed or negotiated within the United Kingdom, the same duty as on a foreign bill drawn within the United Kingdom, and payable out of the United Kingdom. 0 1,000 1,500 2,000 3,000 4,000 and upwards 10 25 50 75 I 25-0 75-0 0 100-0 500-05 7 6 750-0 1,000-0 10 0 1,500-0 15 2,000-1 0 0 3,000-1 10 0 4,000-200 2 5 0 Promissory Note for the payment, either to the bearer on demand or in any other manner than to the bearer on Lease or Tack of any lands, tenements, hereditaments, or heritable subjects, for any term of years exceeding 35, at a yearly rent, with or without any sum of money by way of fine, premium, or grassum paid for the same, the following duties in respect of such yearly rent, And where the same shall exceed £100 then for every also for any fractional part of £50 And where any such lease or tack as aforesaid shall be granted in consideration of a fine, premium, or grassum, and also of a yearly rent, such lease or tack shall be chargeable also, in respect of such fine, premium, or grassum, with the ad valorem stamp duties granted under the head or title of "Conveyance" in the schedule annexed to the Act passed in the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 97. EXEMPTION. Any lease made in pursuance of the Trinity College, Dublin, Leasing and Perpetuity Act, 1851, and liable before the passing of the Act 16 & 17 Vict. c. 63. Conveyance of any kind or description whatsoever in England or Ireland, and charter, disposition, or contract containing the first origi nal constitution of feu and ground annual rights in Scotland (not being a lease or tack for years, in consideration of an annual sum payable in perpetuity or for any indefinite period, whether fee farm or other rent, feu duty, ground annual, or otherwise.-The same duties as on a lease or tack for a term exceeding 100 years, at a yearly rent equal to such Every such lease or tack, and every such conveyance, charter, disposition, or contract as aforesaid hereby charged with duty, and the duplicate or counterpart thereof respectively, shall be chargeable with the respective stamp duties granted and made payable under the several heads or titles of "Duplicate or Counterpart," and "Progressive Duty," in the schedule annexed to the Act of the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 97. Licence to demise copyhold lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or the memorandum thereof if granted out of Court, and the copy of Court Roll of any such licence if granted in Court: Where the clear yearly value of the estate to be demised shall be expressed in such licence and shall not exceed 751.-The same duty as on a lease at a yearly rent equal to such yearly value, under the Act of the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 97. And in all other cases,-108. " ་་ |