the rules of friendly societies there, and in Ireland to the barrister for the time being appointed to certify the rules of friendly societies there, for the purpose of ascertaining whether such society is entitled to the benefit of this Act; and such barrister or lord advocate, as the case may be, shall give a certificate on each of the said copies that the society so applying is entitled to the benefit of this Act, or shall state in writing the grounds on which such certificate is withheld; and one of such copies, when certified by such barrister or lord advocate, shall be returned to the society, another copy shall be retained by such barrister or lord advocate, and the other of such copies shall be transmitted by such barrister or lord advocate to the clerk of the peace for the borough or county where the land or buildings of such society in respect of which such exemption is claimed shall be situated, and shall by him be laid before the recorder or justices for such borough or county at the general quarter sessions, or adjournment thereof, held next after the time when such copy shall have been so certified and transmitted to him as aforesaid and the recorder or justices then and there present are hereby authorized and required, without motion, to allow and confirm the same; and such copy shall be filed by such clerk of the peace with the rolls of the sessions of the peace in his custody, without fee or reward.

3. CERTAIN ALTERATIONS MADE IN THE RULES TO BE CERTIFIED AND DEPOSITED IN LIKE MANNER-IN CASE OF REFUSAL TO CERTIFY, SOCIETY TO CEASE TO BE ENTITLED TO EXEMPTION.—If the laws, rules, and regulations of any such society shall be altered, so as to affect or relate to the property or constitution of such society, such alterations shall, within one calendar month after the same shall have been made, be submitted to such barrister or lord advocate, and such barrister or lord advocate shall certify as aforesaid; and such rules, when so certified, shall be filed with the clerk of the peace as aforesaid; and in the meantime such society shall be entitled to the benefit of this Act, as if no such alterations had been made: Provided always, that if the said barrister or lord advocate shall refuse to certify, that then, subject to such appeal as is herein-after provided, the said society shall cease to be entitled to the benefit of this Act from the time when such alterations shall come into operation.

4. FEE TO BARRISTER, &C. TO BE PAID, WITH EXPENCE OF TRANSMISSION OF RULES, BY SOCIETY.-Provided always, that the fee payable to such barrister or lord advocate for perusing the laws, rules, and regulations of each society, or the alterations made therein, and giving such certificate or statement as aforesaid, shall not at any one time exceed the sum of one guinea, which, together with the expence of transmitting the rules to and from the said barrister or lord advocate, shall be defrayed by each society respectively.

5. REFERENCE TO QUARTER SESSIONS WHERE CERTIFICATE IS REFUSED.— -Provided always, that in case any such barrister or lord advocate shall refuse to certify that any such society is entitled to the benefit of this Act, it shall then be lawful for any such society to submit the laws, rules, and regulations thereof to the court of quarter sessions for the borough or county where the land or buildings of the society shall be situated, together with the reasons so assigned by the said barrister or lord advocate as aforesaid; and the recorder or justices at such quarter sessions shall and may, if he or they think fit, order the same rules to be filed, notwithstanding such refusal as aforesaid; and such filing shall have the same effect as if the said barrister or lord advocate had certified as aforesaid.

6. APPEAL TO QUARTER SESSIONS BY ANY PERSON ASSESSED TO ANY RATE FROM WHICH ANY SOCIETY IS EXEMPTED AGAINST DECISION OF BARRISTER, &c. GRANTING CERTIFICATE. -Provided also, that any person or persons assessed to any rate from which any society shall be exempted by this Act may appeal from the decision of the said barrister or lord advocate in granting such certificate as aforesaid to the said court of quarter sessions within four calendar months next after the first assessment of such rate made after such certificate shall have been filed as aforesaid, or within four calendar months next after the first assessment of such rate made after such exemption shall have been claimed by such society, such appellant first giving to the clerk or secretary of the society in question, twenty-one days previously to the sitting of the said court, notice in writing of his intention to bring such appeal, together with a statement in writing of the grounds thereof, and within four days after such notice entering into a recognizance before some justice, with two sufficient sureties, to try such appeal at and abide the order of and pay such costs as shall be awarded by the recorder or justices at such quarter sessions;

and at such quarter sessions such recorder or justices shall, on its being proved that such notice and statement have been given as aforesaid, proceed to hear such appeal, according to the grounds set forth in such statement, and not otherwise, and, if the certificate of the said barrister or lord advocate shall appear to him or them to have been granted contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall and may annul the same, and shall and may, according to their discretion, award such costs to the party appealing or appealed against as he or they shall think proper, and his or their determination concerning the premises shall be conclusive and binding on all parties to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE ACT, 1843 (Short Titles Act, 1896).

AN ACT to make further Regulations for facilitating the hearing Appeals and other Matters by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.1

[28th July 1843.]

1 The words in brackets and sections 9, 10, so far as relates to maritime causes, are repealed by 53 & 54 Vict. c. 27, s. 18, as respects any British possession as from the commencement of that Act in that possession, and as respects any courts out of her Majesty's dominions as from the date of any order applying that Act.

[Preamble.]

[S. 1 rep. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 67 (S.L.R.).]

2. POWERS OF THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE AND THEIR SURROGATES IN RESPECT TO INTERLOCUTORY ORDERS, &C. IN APPEALS FROM ECCLESIASTICAL AND ADMIRALTY COURTS— 2 & 3 WILL. 4, c. 92; 3 & 4 WILL. 4, c. 41.-In respect to all incidents, emergents, dependents, and things adjoined to, arising out of, or connected with appeals from any ecclesiastical court, [or from any admiralty or vice-admiralty court] (save in giving a definitive sentence, or any interlocutory decree having the force and effect of a definitive sentence,) the said judicial committee and their surrogates shall have full power, subject to such rules, orders, and regulations as shall from time to time be made by the said judicial committee, (with the approval of her Majesty in council,) to make all such interlocutory orders and decrees, and to administer all such oaths and affirmations, and to do all such things as may be necessary, or the judges of the courts below appealed from or their surrogates in the cases appealed, or the judges of the courts appealed to or their surrogates, [or the lords commissioners of appeals in prize causes or their surrogates,] and the judges delegate or their condelegates under commissions of appeal under the great seal in ecclesiastical and maritime causes of appeal, would respectively have had before an Act passed in the third year of the reign of his late Majesty, intituled “An "Act for transferring the powers of the high court of delegates, both in ecclesiastical "and maritime causes, to his Majesty in council," and the Judicial Committee Act, 1833, were passed.

3. WHO TO BE SURROGATES AND EXAMINERS OF THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE IN ECCLESIASTICAL AND ADMIRALTY APPEALS.-The surrogates and examiners of the Arches Court of Canterbury [and the High Court of Admiralty of England], and such persons as shall from time to time be appointed surrogates or examiners of the said courts, shall be by virtue of this Act surrogates and examiners respectively of the judicial committee of the privy council in all causes of appeal from eccleciastical courts [and from any admiralty or vice admiralty court].

[S. 4 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).]

5. MANNER OF CONDUCTING APPEALS BEFORE THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE.- Subject to such rules and regulations as may from time to time be made by the said judicial committee with the approval of her Majesty in council, and save and in so much as the practice thereof may be varied by the said Acts of the reign of his late Majesty or by this Act, the said causes of appeal to her Majesty in council shall be commenced within the same times, and conducted in the same form and manner, and by the same persons and officers, as if appeals in the same causes had been made to the Queen in Chancery,

[the High Court of Admiralty of England, or the lords commissioners of appeals in prize causes respectively; and all things otherwise lawfully done and expedited in the said causes of appeal by the registrar of the High Court of Admiralty of England, his deputy or deputies, in consequence of the passing of the said Acts of the reign of his late Majesty, shall be deemed to be valid to all intents whatsoever].

[S. 6 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).]

7. PUNISHING CONTEMPTS, COMPELLING APPEARANCES, ENFORCING JUDGMENTS, &C. IN SUCH APPEALS-3 & 4 VICT. c. 65. For better punishing contempts, compelling appearances, and enforcing judgments of her Majesty in council, and all orders and decrees of the said judicial committee or their surrogates, in all causes of appeal from ecclesiastical courts [and from admiralty or vice admiralty courts], her Majesty in council. and the said judicial committee and their surrogates shall have the same powers, by attachment and committal of the person to any of her Majesty's gaols, and subsequent discharge of any person so committed, as by any statute, custom, or usage belong to the judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England; and the said judicial committee shall have the same immunities and privileges as are conferred on the judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England under an Act passed in the fourth year of the reign of her Majesty, intituled "An Act to improve the practice and extend the jurisdiction of "the High Court of Admiralty of England," as fully as if the same had been thereby expressly given to the said judicial committee.

[S. 8 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).]

9. INHIBITIONS, &c. TO BE IN HER MAJESTY'S NAME AND UNDER SEAL.-All inhibitions, citations, monitions, and other instruments incidental to or arising out of such causes of appeal shall be issued in the name of her Majesty, and under seal of her Majesty in ecclesiastical and maritime causes, and shall be of full authority in all places throughout the dominions of her Majesty.

10. MONITIONS FOR TRANSMISSION OF SUMS INTO THE REGISTRY OF THE ADMIRALTY COURT. In all appeals in ecclesiastical and maritime causes to her Majesty in council it shall be lawful for her Majesty in council, and the said judicial committee or their surrogates, at the petition of any person interested in the same, to decree monitions for the transmission of any sum or sums of money respecting which any order or decree may be made, or any questions may be depending arising out of such causes, and the proceeds of all ships or vessels, goods, and cargoes respecting which any appeals may be depending, into the registry of the High Court of Admiralty and Appeals, for the benefit of the person or persons who may be ultimately entitled thereto, or for payment thereof to the person to whom the same may be lawfully due.

11. ALL APPEALS FROM ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS MAY BE REFERRED TO THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE BY A GENERAL ORDER IN COUNCIL, AND MAY PROCEED AS IF REFERRED BY A SPECIAL ORDER IN EACH CASE. It shall be lawful for her Majesty, by order in council, to direct that all causes of appeal from ecclesiastical courts, in which the appeal and petition of reference to her Majesty shall have been lodged in the registry of the High Court of Admiralty and Appeals within twelve calendar months from the giving or pronouncing of any order, decree, or sentence appealed from, shall be referred to the judicial committee of the privy council, and the said judicial committee and their surrogates shall have full power forthwith to proceed in the said appeals, and the usual inhibition and citation shall be decreed and issued, and all usual proceedings taken, as if the same had been referred to the said judicial committee by a special order of her Majesty in council in each cause respectively.

S. 11 in part rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).

-

12. COSTS MAY BE AWARDED BY THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE AND TAXED- -3 & 4 WILL. 4, c. 41. As well the costs of defending any decree or sentence appealed from as of prosecuting any appeal, or in any manner intervening in any cause of appeal, and the costs on either side, or of any party, in the court below, and the costs of opposing any matter which shall be referred to the said judicial committee, and the costs of all such issues as shall be tried by direction of the said judicial committee respecting any such appeal or matter, shall be paid by such party or parties, person or persons, as the said judicial committee shall order, and such costs shall be taxed as in and by the Judicial

Committee Act, 1833, is directed respecting the costs of prosecuting any appeal or matter referred by her Majesty under the authority of the said Act, save the costs arising out of any ecclesiastical [or maritime] cause of appeal, which shall be taxed by the registrar herein-after named, or his assistant registrar.

[S. 13 rep. 42 & 43 Vict. c. 59.]

14. CUSTODY OF RECORDS, &C. OF THE COURT OF DELEGATES AND APPEALS.-All records, muniments, books, papers, wills, and other documents remaining in the registry of the High Court of Admiralty and Appeals, appertaining to the late High Court of Delegates and Appeals for Prizes, shall be and remain in the custody and possession of the said registrar of her Majesty in ecclesiastical and maritime causes.

15. JUDICIAL COMMITTEE EMPOWERED TO MAKE RULES, &C. RESPECTING PRACTICE AND MODE OF PROCEEDING IN APPEALS, &C.-RULES TO BE APPROVED BY HER MAJESTY IN COUNCIL. It shall be lawful for the said judicial committee from time to time to make such rules, orders, and regulations respecting the practice and mode of proceeding in all appeals from ecclesiastical [and admiralty and vice admiralty] courts, and the conduct and duties of the officers and practitioners therein, and to appoint such officer or officers as may be necessary for the execution of processes under the said seal of her Majesty, and in respect to all appeals and other matters referred to them, as to them shall seem fit, and from time to time to repeal or alter such rules, orders, or regulations: Provided always, that no such rules, orders, or regulations shall be of any force or effect until the same shall have been approved by her Majesty in council.

[S. 16 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).]

17. DEFINITION OF TERMS.-In this Act all words denoting a male person shall be taken to include a female also, and all words denoting one person or thing shall be taken to include also several persons or things, unless a contrary sense shall clearly appear from the context; and the words "Arches Court of Canterbury," used in this Act, shall be construed to extend to such court as shall exercise the jurisdiction of the said court or be substituted for the same; and wherever the words "ecclesiastical "court" have been used in this Act the same shall be construed to extend to such court as shall exercise the jurisdiction or any part of the jurisdiction exercised by any ecclesiastical court or be substituted for the same; and the words "ecclesiastical and "maritime cause of appeal" shall be construed to extend to causes appealed from ecclesiastical courts and such court as shall exercise the jurisdiction or any part of the jurisdiction exercised by any ecclesiastical court or be substituted for the same.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

THE THEATRES ACT, 1843 (Short Titles Act, 1896).

AN ACT for regulating Theatres.

Preamble.

[22nd August 1843.]

[S. 1 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S.L.R.).]

2. ALL THEATRES FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF PLAYS MUST BE LICENSED

PENALTY.

It shall not be lawful for any person to have or keep any house or other place of public resort in Great Britain, for the public performance of stage plays, without authority by virtue of letters patent from her Majesty, her heirs and successors, or predecessors, or without licence from the lord chamberlain of her Majesty's household for the time being, or from the justices of the peace as herein-after provided; and every person who shall offend against this enactment shall be liable to forfeit such sum as shall be awarded by the court in which or the justices by whom he shall be convicted, not exceeding twenty pounds for every day on which such house or place shall have been so kept open by him for the purpose aforesaid, without legal authority.

S. 2 in part rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (S. L.R.).

3. WHAT LICENCES SHALL BE GRANTED BY THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN.-The authority of the lord chamberlain for granting licences shall extend to all theatres (not being patent theatres) within the parliamentary boundaries of the cities of London and Westminster, and of the boroughs of Finsbury and Marylebone, the Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, and Southwark, and also within those places where her Majesty, her heirs and successors, shall, in their royal persons, occasionally reside: Provided always, that, except within the cities and boroughs aforesaid, and the boroughs of New Windsor in the county of Berks, and Brighthelmstone in the county of Sussex, licences for theatres may be granted by the justices as herein-after provided, in those places in which her Majesty, her heirs and successors, shall occasionally reside; but such licences shall not be in force during the residence there of her Majesty, her heirs and successors; and during such residence it shall not be lawful to open such theatres as last aforesaid (not being patent theatres) without the licence of the lord chamberlain.

4. FEE FOR LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S LICENCE. For every such licence granted by the lord chamberlain a fee, not exceeding ten shillings for each calendar month during which the theatre is licensed to be kept open, according to such scale of fees as shall be fixed by the lord chamberlain, shall be paid to the lord chamberlain.

5. LICENCES MAY BE GRANTED BY JUSTICES.-The justices of the peace within every county, riding, division, liberty, cinque port, city, and borough in Great Britain beyond the limits of the authority of the lord chamberlain, in which application shall have been made to them for any such licence as is herein-after mentioned, shall, within twenty-one days next after such application shall have been made to them in writing signed by the party making the same, and countersigned by at least two justices acting in and for the division within which the property proposed to be licensed shall be situate, and delivered to the clerk to the said justices, hold a special session in the division, district, or place for which they usually act, for granting licences to houses for the performance of stage plays, of the holding of which session seven days notice shall be given by their clerk to each of the justices acting within such division, district, or place; and every such licence shall be given under the hands and seals of four or more of the justices assembled at such special session, and shall be signed and sealed in open court, and afterwards shall be publicly read by the clerk, with the names of the justices subscribing the same.

6. FEE FOR JUSTICES LICENCE.-For every such licence granted by the justices a fee, not exceeding five shillings for each calendar month during which the theatre is licensed to be kept open, according to such scale of fees as shall be fixed by the justices, shall be paid to the clerk of the said justices.

7. TO WHOM LICENCES SHALL BE GRANTED.-No such licence for a theatre shall be granted by the lord chamberlain or justices to any person except the actual and responsible manager for the time being of the theatre in respect of which the licence shall be granted; and the name and place of abode of such manager shall be printed on every play bill announcing any representation at such theatre; and such manager shall become bound himself in such penal sum as the lord chamberlain or justices shall require, being in no case more than five hundred pounds, and two sufficient sureties, to be approved by the said lord chamberlain or justices, each in such penal sum as the lord chamberlain or justices shall require, being in no case more than one hundred pounds, for the due observance of the rules which shall be in force at any time during the currency of the licence for the regulation of such theatre, and for securing payment of the penalties which such manager may be adjudged to pay for breach of the said rules, or any of the provisions of this Act.

8. LORD CHAMBERLAIN MAY SUSPEND ANY LICENCE GRANTED BY HIM, OR ORDER ANY THEATRE LICENSED BY HIM, OR ANY PATENT THEATRE, TO BE CLOSED ON PUBLIC OCCASIONS. -In case it shall appear to the lord chamberlain that any riot or misbehaviour has taken place in any theatre licensed by him, or in any patent theatre, it shall be lawful for him to suspend such licence or to order such patent theatre to be closed for such time as to him shall seem fit; and it shall also be lawful for the lord chamberlain to order that any patent theatre or any theatre licensed by him shall be closed on such public occasions as to the lord chamberlain shall seem fit; and while any such licence shall be suspended, or any such order shall be in force, the theatre to which the same applies shall not be entitled to the privilege of any letters patent or licence, but shall be deemed an unlicensed house.