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No. 13. Act 4 Vic. c. 21.

The recital or

execution of such lease for a

or leases for a year, to give effect to deeds or instruments of release of freehold estates heretofore executed, have been lost or mislaid; Be it enacted, That where, in or by any deed or instrument of release of freehold estates executed before the Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-one, any deed or instrument mention of a of bargain and sale or lease for a year for giving effect to such lease for a year deed or instrument of release shall be recited, or by any mention in a release thereof in such deed or instrument of release appear to have been executed before the passing of made or executed, such recital or mention thereof shall be deemed this Act, to be and taken to be conclusive evidence of the deed or instrument of evidence of the bargain and sale or lease for a year so recited or mentioned having been made and executed; and such deed or instrument of release shall also have the like effect as if the same had been executed after year. the Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and fortyone, whether such deed or instrument of bargain and sale or lease for a year shall or shall not have been lost or mislaid, or may or may not be produced: Provided always, that this Act shall not prejudice or affect any proceedings at law or in equity pending at the time of the passing of this Act, in which the validity of any bargain and sale or lease for a year shall be in question between the party claiming under such bargain and sale or lease for a year and the party claiming adversely thereto; and such bargain and sale or lease for a year, if the result of such proceedings, shall invalidate the same, shall not be rendered valid by this Act.

III. And be it enacted, That in the construction of this Act the Construction word "freehold" shall have not only its usual signification, but of the word "freehold." shall extend to all lands and hereditaments for the conveyance of which if this Act had not been passed a bargain and sale or lease for a year, as well as a release, would have been used.

IV. And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed during the present session of Parliament.

No. 14.-6 & 7 Vic. ch. 96. An Act to amend the Law respecting
Defamatory Words and Libel. (24th Aug., 1843.)

FOR

OR the better protection of private character, and for more effectually securing the liberty of the press, and for better preventing abuses in exercising the said liberty; Be it 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 Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That in any action for defamation it shall be lawful for the defendant (after notice in writing of his intention so to do, duly given to the plaintiff at the time of filing or delivering the plea in such action,) to give in evidence, in mitigation of damages, that he made or offered an apology to the plaintiff for such defamation before the commencement of the action, or as soon afterwards as he had an opportunity of doing so, in case the action shall have been commenced before there was an opportunity of making or offering such apology.

II. And be it enacted, That in an action for a libel contained in any public newspaper or other periodical publication, it shall be competent to the defendant to plead that such libel was inserted in

Act may be altered, &c.

No. 14. Act 6 & 7 V. c. 96.

Offer of an apology admissible in

evidence in mitigation of damages.

In an action against a newspaper for libel, the

No. 14.

Act 6 & 7 V. c. 96.

Defendant may plead that

it was inserted

without malice and without neglect, and

may pay money into Court as amends.

3 & 4 W. 4, c. 42.

Publishing or

threatening to publish a libel, or proposing to abstain from

publishing any thing with intent to extort

money, punish

able by im

prisonment and

hard labour.

False defamatory libel punishable by imprisonment and fine.

Malicious

defamatory

such newspaper or other periodical publication without actual
malice, and without gross negligence, and that before the com-
mencement of the action, or at the earliest opportunity afterwards,
he inserted in such newspaper or other periodical publication a full
apology for the said libel, or, if the newspaper or periodical publi-
cation in which the said libel appeared should be ordinarily pub-
lished at intervals exceeding one week, had offered to publish the
said apology in any newspaper or periodical publication to be
selected by the plaintiff in such action; and that every such
defendant shall, upon filing such plea, be at liberty to pay into
Court a sum of money by way of amends for the injury sustained
by the publication of such libel, and such payment into Court shall
be of the same effect, and be available in the same manner and to
the same extent, and be subject to the same rules and regulations
as to payment of costs and the form of pleading, except so far as
regards the pleading of the additional facts hereinbefore required
to be pleaded by such defendant, as if actions for libel had not
been excepted from the personal actions in which it is lawful to
pay money into Court under an Act passed in the session of Parlia-
ment held in the fourth year of His late Majesty, entitled,
"An
Act for the further Amendment of the Law, and the better Ad-
vancement of Justice;" and that to such plea to such action, it
shall be competent to the plaintiff to reply generally, denying the
whole of such plea.

III. And be it enacted, That if any person shall publish, or threaten to publish, any libel upon any other person, or shall directly or indirectly threaten to print or publish, or shall directly or indirectly propose to abstain from printing or publishing, or shall directly or indirectly offer to prevent the printing or publishing, of any matter or thing touching any other person, with intent to extort any money or security for money, or any valuable thing from such or any other person, or with intent to induce any person to confer or procure for any person any appointment or office of profit or trust, every such offender, on being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding Three years: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall in any manner alter or affect any law now in force in respect of the sending or delivery of threatening letters or writings.

IV. And be it enacted, That if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, knowing the same to be false, every such person, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned in the common gaol or house of correction for any term not exceeding Two years, and to pay such fine as the Court shall award.

V. And be it enacted, That if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, every such person, being convicted libel, by impri- thereof, shall be liable to fine or imprisonment, or both, as the Court may award, such imprisonment not to exceed the term of One year.

sonment or fine.

Proceedings upon the trial

of an indictment

or information for a defamatory libel.

VI. And be it enacted, That on the trial of any indictment or information for a defamatory libel, the defendant having pleaded such plea as hereinafter mentioned, the truth of the matters charged may be inquired into, but shall not amount to a defence, unless it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged

No. 14.

Act 6 & 7 V.

c. 96.

should be published; and that to entitle the defendant to give evidence of the truth of such matters charged as a defence to such indictment or information, it shall be necessary for the defendant, in pleading to the said indictment or information, to allege the truth of the said matters charged in the manner now required in pleading a justification to an action for defamation, and further to allege that it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged should be published, and the particular fact or facts by reason whereof it was for the public benefit that the said matters charged should be published, to which plea the prosecutor shall be at liberty to reply generally, denying the whole thereof; and that if after such plea the defendant shall be convicted on such indictment or information, it shall be competent to the Court, in pronouncing sentence, to consider whether the guilt of the defendant is aggravated or mitigated by the said plea, and by the evidence given to prove or to disprove the same: Provided always, that the truth of the matters charged in the alleged libel complained of by such indictment or information shall in no case be inquired into without such plea of justification: Provided also, that in addition Double plea. to such plea it shall be competent to the defendant to plead a plea of not guilty: Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall take away or prejudice any defence under the plea of not guilty, which it is now competent to the defendant to make under such plea to any action or indictment or information for defamatory words or libel.

Proviso as to plea of not guilty in civil

and criminal proceedings.

Evidence to rebut primâ facie case of

publication by an agent.

VII. And be it enacted, That whensoever, upon the trial of any indictment or information for the publication of a libel, under the plea of not guilty, evidence shall have been given which shall establish a presumptive case of publication against the defendant by the act of any other person by his authority, it shall be competent to such defendant to prove that such publication was made without his authority, consent, or knowledge, and that the said publication did not arise from want of due care or caution on his part. VIII. And be it enacted, That in the case of any indictment or On prosecution information by a private prosecutor for the publication of any for private libel, defamatory libel, if judgment shall be given for the defendant, he defendant shall be entitled to recover from the prosecutor the costs sustained by the said defendant by reason of such indictment or information; and that upon a special plea of justification to such indictment or information, if the issue be found for the prosecutor, he shall be entitled to recover from the defendant the costs sustained by the prosecutor by reason of such plea, such costs so to be recovered by the defendant or prosecutor respectively to be taxed by the proper officer of the Court before which the said indictment or information is tried.

entitled to costs on

acquittal.

IX. And be it enacted, That wherever throughout this Act, Interpretation in describing the plaintiff or the defendant, or the party affected of Act. or intended to be affected by the offence, words are used importing the singular number or the masculine gender only, yet they shall be understood to include several persons as well as one person, and females as well as males, unless when the nature of the provision or the context of the Act shall exclude such construction.

X. And be it enacted, That this Act shall take effect from Commencethe First day of November next; and that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to Scotland.

ment and extent of Act.

No. 15. Act 8 & 9 V. c. 106.

Repeal of

so much of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 76 as

abolishes

contingent remainders as from the

commence

ment;

and the residue as

from 1st Oct. 1845.

The immediate freehold of corporeal

tenements to lie in grant as well as in livery.

Stamp duty on grants thereof.

Feoffments, partitions, exchanges,

leases, assignments, and surrenders required

(subject to

certain exceptions) to be by deed.

Feoffments not

to operate by wrong, nor exchanges or

No. 15.-8 & 9 Vic. ch. 106. An Act to amend the Law of Real
Property. (4th August, 1845.)

BE

E it 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 Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows; (that is to say,)

I. That so much of an Act passed in the last session of Parliament, entitled "An Act to simplify the Transfer of Property," as enacted that after the time at which that Act should come into operation no estate in land should be created by way of contingent remainder; but that every estate which before that time would have taken effect as a contingent remainder should take effect (if in a will or codicil) as an executory devise, and (if in a deed) as an executory estate of the same nature, and having the same properties as an executory devise; and that contingent remainders existing under deeds, wills, or instruments, executed or made before the time when that Act should come into operation should not fail or be destroyed or barred, merely by reason of the destruction or merger of any preceding estate, or its determination by any other means than the natural effluxion of the time of such preceding estate, or some event on which it was in its creation limited to determine, shall be and is hereby repealed, as from the time of the commencement and taking effect thereof; and that the residue of the said Act shall be and is hereby repealed, as from the First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.

II. That after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five all corporeal tenements and hereditaments shall, as regards the conveyance of the immediate freehold thereof, be deemed to lie in grant as well as in livery; and that every deed which, by force only of this enactment shall be effectual as a grant, shall be chargeable with the stamp duty with which the same deed would have been chargeable in case the same had been a release, founded on a lease or bargain and sale for a year, and also with the same stamp duty (exclusive of progressive duty) with which such lease or bargain and sale for a year would have been chargeable.

III. That a feoffment made after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, other than a feoffment made under a custom by an infant, shall be void at law, unless evidenced by deed; and that a partition and an exchange of any tenements or hereditaments not being copyhold, and a lease required by law to be in writing of any tenements or hereditaments, and an assignment of a chattel interest not being copyhold in any tenements or hereditaments, and a surrender in writing of an interest in any tenements or hereditaments, not being a copyhold interest, and not being an interest which might by law have been created without writing, made after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall also be void at law, unless made by deed: Provided always that the said enactment so far as the same relates to a release or a surrender, shall not extend to Ireland.

IV. That a feoffment made after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five shall not have any tortuous operation; and that an exchange, or a partition of any

No. 15.

Act 8 & 9 V.

c. 106.

tenements or hereditaments made by deed, executed after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five shall not imply any condition in law; and that the word "give" or the word "grant" in a deed executed after the same day shall not partitions to imply any covenant in law in respect of any tenements or here- imply any "condition, or ditaments, except so far as the word "give" or the word “ grant' give and grant may by force of any Act of Parliament imply a covenant.

any covenant.

under an inden

shall take effect

as such.

other like interests, also rights of entry, by deed, saving estates in tail; and as regards

made alienable

V. That under an indenture executed after the First day of Strangers October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, an immediate may take estate or interest in any tenements or hereditaments, and the immediately, benefit of a condition or covenant respecting any tenements or ture, and a deed hereditaments may be taken, although the taker thereof be not purporting to named a party to the same indenture; also that a deed executed be an indenture after the said First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, purporting to be an indenture, shall have the effect of an indenture although not actually indented. VI. That after the First day of October, One thousand eight Contingent and hundred and forty-five, a contingent, an executory, and a future interest, and a possibility coupled with an interest in any tenements or hereditaments of any tenure, whether the object of the gift or limitation of such interest or possibility be or be not ascertained, also a right of entry, whether immediate or future, and whether vested or contingent into or upon any tenements or hereditaments in England of any tenure may be disposed of by deed; but that no such disposition shall, by force only of this Act, defeat or enlarge an estate tail; and that every such disposition by a married woman shall be made conformably to the provisions relative to dispositions by married women, of an Act passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, entitled "An Act for the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries, and for the Substitution of more simple Modes of Assurance," or in Ireland of an Act passed in the Fourth and fifth years of the reign of His said late Majesty, entitled "An Act for 4 & 5 W. 4, the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries, and for the Substitution of c. 92. more simple modes of Assurance in Ireland."

VII. That after the First day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, an estate or interest in any tenements or hereditaments in England of any tenure may be disclaimed by a married woman by deed; and that every such disclaimer shall be made conformably to the said provisions of the said Act for the abolition of fines and recoveries and for the substitution of more simple modes of assurance.

VIII. That a contingent remainder existing at any time after the Thirty-first day of December One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, shall be, and if created before the passing of this Act, shall be deemed to have been capable of taking effect notwithstanding the determination, by forfeiture, surrender, or merger, of any preceding estate of freehold in the same manner in all respects as if such determination had not happened.

married women
enjoining
conformity to
3 & 4 W. 4,
c. 74.

Capacity of married women

to disclaim estates or interests by deed extended to England.

Contingent remainders protected as

from 31st Dec. 1844, against the premature failure of a preceding estate. IX. That when the reversion expectant on a lease, made either When the rever before or after the passing of this Act of any tenements or here- sion on a lease ditaments of any tenure shall, after the said First day of October, is gone, the next One thousand eight hundred and forty-five, be surrendered or deemed the merge the estate which shall for the time being confer as against reversion. the tenant under the same lease the next vested right to the same

estate to be

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