CAP. LVIII. AN ACT further to stay, until the End of the next Session of Parliament, Proceedings in certain Actions under the Provisions of several Statutes for the Prevention of excessive Gaming; and to prevent any similar Proceedings being taken under those Statutes during such further limited Time. (29th July 1844.) ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. 1. Suspending actions for penalties. 2. When actions are prosecuted contrary to provisions of this Act a verdict to be found for defendant. By this ACT, After reciting the passing of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 3, and that it is expedient that as well all the proceedings which were stayed or suspended, or authorized to be stayed or suspended, by the operation of that Act, should be stayed or suspended for a further period, and that no other proceedings of a like nature should be commenced or proceeded with during such further period: It is Enacted, 1. That all the actions, suits, or other proceedings which before the passing of this present Act shall have been brought, commenced, or prosecuted for the recovery of any forfeiture or pecuniary penalty incurred or supposed to have been incurred under the provisions of the several Acts of Parliament recited in the said recited Act, or any or either of them, by playing at any of the sports or pastimes mentioned in the Schedule annexed to the said recited Act, or at any bona fide variety of any of the said sports, pastimes, or games, or at any sport, pastime, or game of a like or similar description to any of the said sports, pastimes, or games, to which a different name may by general or local usage be appropriated, or by betting on the sides or hands of such as do play thereat, whether any order of any Court or Judge shall have been made therein or not, shall be and the same hereby are stayed and suspended until the end of the next session of Parliament; and that no action, suit, or other proceeding shall be brought, commenced, or prosecuted for the purpose of recovering any forfeiture or pecuniary penalty incurred or supposed to have been incurred, under the provisions of the several Acts recited in the said recited Act, or any or either of them, by playing at any of the said sports or pastimes mentioned in the Schedule annexed to the said recited Act, or at any bond fide variety of any of the said sports, pastimes, or games, or at any sport, pastime, or game of a like or similar description to any of the said sports, pastimes, or games, to which a different name may by general or local usage be appropriated, or by betting on the sides or hands of such as do play thereat, previously to the end of the next session of Parliament. II. That in case any such action or actions which have already been commenced shall be further prosecuted, or in case any such action or actions shall be commenced after the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for the defendant or defendants in any such action or actions to plead the general issue, and to give this Act in evidence under it; and thereupon the Judge before whom such action or actions shall be tried shall direct, and he is hereby authorized and empowered to direct, a verdict or verdicts and judgment or judgments to be entered for such defendant or defendants. III. That all the said recited Act of the present session of Parliament, so far as it relates to all other powers, provisions, matters, and things therein contained, shall continue in force until the end of the next session of Parliament. CAP. LIX. AN ACT for better regulating the Offices of Lecturers and Parish Clerks. ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. (29th July 1844.) 1. Lecturers or preachers may be required to perform other clerical duties in certain cases.—Saving the rights of present holders. 2. Power to appoint persons in holy orders to the office of church clerk, and to require such persons to act as assistant curates, if necessary. 3. Such person to be licensed by the bishop, and when appointed otherwise than by the bishop to be subject to the approval of the incumbent. 4. Appointments of assistant clergy under this Act not to exempt incumbents from the duty of providing curates in cases where they are now liable. 5. Power to suspend or remove church clerks not in holy orders who may be guilty of neglect or misbehaviour. 6. Power to remove person ceasing to be employed as mentioned in this Act from premises held by him in right of his employment. By this ACT, After reciting that in divers districts, parishes, and places there now are or hereafter may be certain lecturers or preachers in the holy orders of deacon or priest of the united church of England and Ireland elected or otherwise appointed to deliver or preach lectures or sermons only, without the obligation of performing other clerical or ministerial duties: and that it is expedient in many cases that such lecturers or preachers should be authorized and required to perform other clerical and ministerial duties, and to act, if necessary, as assistant curates, in such districts, parishes, or places:— It is Enacted, 1. That from and after the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese wherein any such lecturers or preachers shall be so elected or appointed as aforesaid, if he shall think fit, with the assent of the incumbent of every such district, parish, or place, to require, by writing under his hand and seal, any such lecturer or preacher to undertake and perform such other clerical or ministerial duties, as assistant curate or otherwise, within such district, parish, or place, as the said bishop, with the assent of such incumbent as aforesaid, shall think proper, and also to vary from time to time, if necessary, and with the like assent, the particular duties so required to be performed as aforesaid; and in case such lecturer or preacher shall at any time refuse or neglect duly and faithfully to perform such additional duties, and to act in the manner required by the said bishop as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said bishop to summon the said lecturer or preacher to appear before him, and thereupon the said bishop, with the assistance of one at least of the archdeacons and also of the chancellor of such diocese, shall proceed summarily to inquire into the facts of the case, and to adjudicate thereon, and, if necessary, to suspend or remove the said lecturer or preacher from his said office, and to declare the same vacant; but nevertheless such lecturer or preacher may, within fourteen days next after the passing or making of any such sentence or declaration, appeal therefrom to the archbishop of the province, who shall thereupon forthwith summarily hear and determine the same; and if no such appeal be made within the time aforesaid, or if the said sentence or declaration shall upon such appeal be affirmed by the said archbishop, the said bishop shall then cause the same to be forthwith duly published in the church or chapel wherein the said lecturer or preacher hath been used to deliver or preach his said lectures or sermons by virtue of his said office, and thereupon the said office shall be and be deemed to be vacant, and the parties entitled to elect or appoint a person to the same shall be entitled and required to elect or appoint a successor thereto, in the same manner as if the said lecturer or preacher were dead, and the right and interest of such lecturer or preacher to and in the said office, and to and in all the emoluments and advantages thereof, shall wholly cease and determine; provided that nothing herein contained shall affect or be deemed applicable to any lecturer or preacher who shall have been elected or appointed to his said office before the passing of this Act, unless such lecturer or preacher shall consent to be bound thereby. II. That when and so often after the passing of this Act as any vacancy shall occur in the office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, in any district, parish, or place, it shall be lawful for the rector or other incumbent or other the person or persons entitled for the time being to appoint or elect such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk as aforesaid, if he shall think fit, to appoint or elect a person in the holy orders of deacon or priest of the united church of England and Ireland to fill the said office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk; and such person so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall, when duly licensed as hereinafter provided, be entitled to have and receive all the profits and emoluments of and belonging to the said office, and shall also be liable in respect thereof, so long as he shall hold the same, to perform all such spiritual and ecclesiastical duties within such district, parish, or place as the said rector or other incumbent, with the sanction of the bishop of the diocese, may from time to time require; but such person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall not by reason of such appointment or election have or acquire any freehold or absolute right to or interest in the said office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, or to or in any of the profits or emoluments thereof, but every such person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall at all times be liable to be suspended or removed from the said office, in the same manner and by the same authority, and for such or the like causes, as those whereby any stipendiary curate may be lawfully suspended or removed; such suspension or removal nevertheless being subject to the same power of appeal to the archbishop of the province to which any stipendiary curate is or may be entitled. III. Provided and enacted, That every such appointment or election as last aforesaid, if made by any other person of persons than the rector or other incumbent of such district, parish, or place, shall be subject to the consent and approval of such rector or other incumbent of such district, parish, or place; and that no person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid, shall be competent to perform any of the duties of his said office, or any other spiritual or ecclesiastical duties, within such district, parish, or place, or to receive or take any of the profits or emoluments of his said office, unless and until he shall have duly obtained from the bishop of the diocese within which such district, parish, or place is situate such licence and authority in that behalf as are required and usual in respect of stipendiary curates; but nevertheless such licence and authority, when so obtained as aforesaid, shall entitle the person so obtaining it to hold the said office, and to receive and take the profits and emoluments thereof, as aforesaid, until he shall have resigned the same, or have been so suspended or removed as aforesaid, without any annual or other re-appointment or re-election thereto. IV. Provided and enacted, That no rector or other incumbent of any district, parish, or place wherein any such person or persons shall be so employed as aforesaid, or wherein any lecturer or preacher shall have been required to undertake and perform other clerical and ministerial duties, in the manner herein before provided, or wherein any person in holy orders shall have been appointed or elected to fill the office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, as aforesaid, shall by reason of any such provisions be exempt from any duty or obligation of employing within the same district, parish, or place any curate or other assistant to which by any law, statute, canon, or usage he is or may be already liable; but it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese from time to time to require every such rector or other incumbent to provide, or for the said bishop to nominate and license, such other curates and assistants to officiate within every such district, parish, or place, in addition, either to the person or persons so intended to be employed as aforesaid, or to such lecturer or preacher, or to such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, and to make regulations for the payment of the stipends of such other curates and assistants, as fully and in the same manner and subject to the same restrictions as he might have done by law if this Act had not been passed. v. That if at any time it shall appear, upon complaint or otherwise, to any archdeacon or other ordinary that any person not in holy orders, holding or exercising the office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk in any district, parish, or place within and subject to his jurisdiction, has been guilty of any wilful neglect of or misbehaviour in his said office, or that by reason of any misconduct he is an unfit and improper person to hold or exercise the same, it shall be lawful for such archdeacon or other ordinary forthwith to summon such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk to appear before him, and also by writing under his hand, or by such process as is commonly used in any of the Courts Ecclesiastical for procuring the attendance of witnesses, to call before him all such persons as may be competent to give evidence or information respecting any of the matters imputed to or charged against such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk as aforesaid; and such archdeacon or other ordinary shall and may, if he see fit, examine upon oath, to be by him administered in that behalf, any of the persons so appearing or attending before him respecting any of the matters aforesaid, and shall and may thereupon summarily hear and determine the truth of the matters so imputed to or charged against such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk as aforesaid; and if upon such investigation it shall appear to the satisfaction of such archdeacon or other ordinary that the matters so imputed to or charged against such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk are true, it shall be lawful for the said archdeacon or other ordinary forthwith to suspend or remove such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk from his said office, and by certificate under his hand and seal directed to the rector or other officiating minister of the parish, district, or place wherein such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk held or exercised his said office, to declare the said office vacant, and a copy of such certificate shall thereupon, by such rector or other officiating minister, be affixed to the principal door of the church or chapel in which the said church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk usually exercised his said office; and the person or persons who upon the vacancy of such office are entitled to elect or appoint a person to fill the same, shall and may forthwith proceed to elect or appoint some other person to fill the same in the place of the said church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk so removed as aforesaid: Provided always, that the exercise of such office by a sufficient deputy who shall duly and faithfully perform the duties thereof, and in all respects well and properly demean himself, shall not be deemed a wilful neglect of his office on the part of such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, so as to render him liable, for such cause alone, to be suspended or removed therefrom. VI. That in case any person, having ceased to be employed in any of the offices or duties in this Act mentioned or referred to, or having been duly suspended or removed from any such office or employment as aforesaid, shall at any time refuse or neglect to give up the possession of any house, building, land, or premises, or any part or parcel thereof, by him held or occupied by virtue or in respect of any such office or employment as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese, upon complaint thereof to him made, to summon such person forthwith personally to appear before him, and to shew cause for such refusal or neglect; and upon the failure of the person so summoned as aforesaid to obey such summons, or, upon his appearance, to shew to the said bishop such cause as may be deemed by the said bishop sufficient for such refusal or neglect, the said bishop shall thereupon grant a certificate of the facts aforesaid, under his hand and seal, to the person or persons entitled to the possession of such house, building, land, or premises as aforesaid, who may thereupon go before any neighbouring justice of the peace; and such justice, upon production of such certificate, and proof of such wrongful retention of possession as aforesaid, shall and he is hereby required to issued his warrant under his hand and seal, directed to the constables or other peace officers of the district, parish, or place within which such house, building, land, or premises is or are situate, or to the constables or other peace officers of any neighbouring district, parish, or place, requiring them forthwith to expel and remove from the said house, building, land, or premises, and from every part and parcel thereof, the person so wrongfully retaining possession thereof, and to deliver the peaceable possession thereof to the person or persons so entitled to the same as aforesaid; and such constables or other peace officers shall and they are hereby required promptly and effectually to obey and execute such warrant, according to the exigency thereof, and thereupon it shall be lawful for them also to levy, upon the goods and chattels of the person so by them expelled and removed as aforesaid, the necessary costs and expenses of executing such warrant, the amount whereof, in case the same shall be disputed, shall be forthwith settled and determined by the said justice of the peace by whom the said warrant was so issued as aforesaid, or by any other justice of the peace residing in or near to the said district, parish, or place, whose decision thereupon shall be final, and who is hereby authorized to make such order in that behalf as to him shall seem reasonable. CAP. LX. AN ACT to provide for the Care and Preservation of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster. (6th August 1844.) ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. 1. Trafalgar Square and the works thereon vested in Her Majesty. 2. Care and management of the square, and of all works thereon vested in the Commissioners of Woods, &c. 3. Powers of 10 Geo. 4. c. 44. and 2 & 3 Vict. c. 47. extended to this Act. 4. Act may be amended this session. 5. Public Act. By this ACT, After reciting that the Queen's most excellent Majesty, in right of her Crown, is seised to herself, her heirs and successors of the place or square called Trafalgar Square, in the parish of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in the city of Westminster and county of Middlesex: And that such place or square has recently been formed, laid out, embellished, and ornamented, at the public expense: And that upwards of 20,000l. have been collected by private subscription, and expended towards the erection of a column in the said square to commemorate the public services of the late Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson; and it is expedient that provision should be made for the care and preservation thereof, and for the ornamental and other works, matters, and things erected upon or around the same, as hereinafter mentioned : It is Enacted, I. That the said place or square called Trafalgar Square, and all the ornamental and other works, matters, and things now being or which may hereafter be placed or erected in, upon, about, or around the same, shall be and the same are by this Act vested in the Queen's most excellent Majesty, her heirs and successors, as part and parcel of the hereditary possessions and revenues of Her Majesty in right of her Crown, within the ordering and survey of the Court of Exchequer. II. That the care, controul, management, and regulation of the said place or square, and of all ornamental and other works, matters, and things now being or which may hereafter be placed or erected in, upon, or about or around the same, shall be and the same are by this Act vested in the Commissioners for the time being of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Buildings; and the said Commissioners shall and they are hereby required, by and out of such monies as may from time to time be placed at Her Majesty's disposal for that purpose by authority of Parliament, to well and sufficiently pave, light, cleanse, water, repair, and keep in good order and condition the said place or square, and all ornamental and other works, matters, and things now being or which may hereafter be placed or erected in, upon, about, or around the same, any law, statute, custom, or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding. III. That all the clauses and provisions of an Act, 10 Geo. 4. c. 44, intituled, 'An Act for improving the Police in and near the Metropolis,' and of another Act, 2 & 3 Vict. c. 47, intituled 'An Act for further improving the Police in and near the Metropolis, shall extend and apply to this Act, and to the said place or square, and to the works, matters, or things for the time being in, upon, about, or around the same, so far as such clauses and provisions are not repugnant to or inconsis tent with the provisions of this Act. IV. That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this present session of Parliament. v. That this Act shall be deemed to be a public Act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as such by all Judges, Justices, and others. CAP. LXI. AN ACT to annex detached parts of Counties to the Counties in which they are situated. ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. (6th August 1844.) 1. Detached portions of counties to be part of the county by which they are surrounded. 2. Detached parts to belong to adjoining hundred, &c., or to form a separate hundred. 3. Provision as to special and petty sessions. 4. Error in stating name of county not to invalidate legal documents. 5. Saving of ecclesiastical rights. 6. Saving the rights of certain coroners. 7. Act not to extend to alter or affect the land tax or assessed taxes in detached portions of counties. By this ACT, After reciting that there exist in England and Wales parts of counties detached from the main body of the county, and delay and hindrance to the administration of justice ensue, and inconvenience in other respects; and it is desirable to remedy the said evil: It is Enacted, 1. That from and after the 20th of October next, every part of any county in England or Wales which is detached from the main body of such county shall be considered for all purposes as forming part of that county of which it is considered a part for the purposes of the election of members to serve in Parliament as knights of the shire, under the provisions of an Act, 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 64, intituled, An Act to settle and to describe the Divisions of Counties and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament:' Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter the county, riding, or division to which any such detached part shall be deemed to belong for the purpose of holding inquests, under the provisions of an Act, 6 & 7 Vict. c. 12, intituled, An Act for the more convenient holding of Coroners Inquests.' II. That every such detached portion which under the provisions of this Act shall be annexed for purposes other than that of voting for Members of Parliament to any county to which it did not belong for such purposes before the passing of this Act shall thenceforth be taken to be part of the hundred, wapentake, ward, rape, lathe, or other like division by which it is wholly or for the most part surrounded, or to which it is next adjoining, in the county to which it will thenceforth belong, unless the Justices of the county, riding, parts, or division, in General or Quarter Session assembled, shall declare it to be a new or separate hundred or other like division, which they shall be empowered to do; and it shall be lawful for the Justices of such county, riding, parts, or division, in General or Quarter Sessions assembled, in every case in which there shall appear to them to be any doubt to which of such divisions any such detached part shall belong under this Act, to declare the division to which it shall be taken to belong; and such determination shall be final and conclusive, and shall be published in the London Gazette, the production of which paper shall be evidence thereof. III. That in all cases where any such detached part of a county shall have formed before the passing of this Act a separate division, in which special and petty sessions of the peace for such county shall have been usually holden, such detached part shall remain a separate division for special and petty sessions of the county to which it shall be annexed after the passing of this Act, until the Justices of the county, riding, parts, or division to which it shall be annexed after the passing of this Act shall have reconstituted such division for special and petty sessions of the peace under the provisions of an Act, 9 Geo. 4. c. 43, intituled, An Act for the better regulation of Divisions in the several Counties of England and Wales,' and also of an Act, 6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 12, intituled, 'An Act for amending an Act of the Ninth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled, “An Act for the better regulation of Divisions in the several Counties of England and Wales."' IV. Provided and enacted, That no judicial proceeding, or deed or other instrument in writing, shall be invalidated by reason of any error in stating the name of the county to which such detached portion originally belonged, instead of the county to which it will belong under this Act, or the converse; and that every proceeding at law, whether civil or criminal, already commenced, or to be commenced before the 20th of October next, shall and may be prosecuted and heard and determined exactly as if this Act had not been passed, save and except in so far as it shall be otherwise ordered by any of Her Majesty's superior courts of common law having jurisdiction in any case in which such order shall be made. v. Provided and enacted, That nothing herein contained shall alter or interfere with any ecclesiastical jurisdiction or right of patronage. And after reciting that as to some such detached parts there are coroners appointed expressly for and having jurisdiction in such detached parts only: It is Enacted, VI. That as to every such detached part for which at the time of the passing of this Act there is a coroner appointed for and acting in such detached part, such coroner shall during his life, or until he shall resign or be removed from his office, continue to hold and exercise his office and jurisdiction within such detached part in as ample a manner as if this Act had not been passed. VII. Provided and enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect or alter the assessments of the land tax or assessed taxes in or for any such detached portion of a county, or to extend or diminish the jurisdiction of any commissioners acting therein in the execution of the Acts relating to the said taxes respectively, but that all such detached portions shall be subject in that behalf to the jurisdiction of the commissioners acting for the same county or district as they would have been subject to if this Act had not been passed; and all parishes and parts of parishes and places, and all manors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments within any such detached portion, shall continue chargeable towards raising the land tax charged upon the same county or other district to or in aid of which they have heretofore contributed a quota or portion of such land tax. VIII. That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this present session of Parliament. CAP. LXII. AN ACT to amend the Law as to burning Farm Buildings. ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. (6th August 1844.) By this ACT, 1. Setting fire to any farm building. 2. Setting fire to farm produce or implements in farm buildings. 3. Males under eighteen years of age may be whipped in addition to any other sentence. 5. Act may be amended this session. After reciting that by 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 89, it is enacted, that whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any house, stable, coach-house, outhouse, warehouse, office, shop, mill, malt-house, hop-oast, barn, or granary, or to any VOL. XXII.-STAT. R |