No. I. 1&2 Geo. IV. c. 50. beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, Loaves made of the Meal of any VI. And be it further enacted, That every loaf of every sort of bread made of the meal or flour of any other grain than wheat, which shall be made for sale or be sold carried out offered or exposed in anywise to or for other Grain sale out of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and beyond the than Wheat to weekly bills of mortaility and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, shall be be marked with marked with a large roman (M); and that every person who shall make the Letter for sale sell offer or expose to or for sale any loaf of any such sort of (M). bread, which shall be made of the meal or flour of any other grain than wheat, which shall not be marked as herein-before directed, shall for every time he she or they shall so offend in the premises, and be thereof convicted in manner herein-after directed, forfeit and pay a sum not exceed- Penalty. ing forty shillings nor less than ten shillings for every loaf of such bread which shall not be so marked, as the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom any such person shall be convicted shall from time to time adjudge and determine. VII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any magis- Magistrates or trate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace within the limits of Peace Officers, their respective jurisdictions, and also for the peace officer or officers of by their Warany parish or place where any miller mealman or baker or other person rants, may who shall grind grain, or dress or bolt meal or flour, or make bread for search Bakers' reward or sale out of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and Premises, &c. beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, authorised by warrant under the hand and seal or hands and seals of any such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices, and which warrant any such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices is and are hereby empowered to grant, at seasonable times in the day to enter into any house mill shop stall bakehouse bolting-house pastry warehouse outhouse or ground of or belonging to any miller mealman or baker or other person who shall grind grain or dress or holt meal or flour or make bread for reward or sale as aforesaid, and to take with him or them to his or their assistance one or more master miller mealman or baker millers mealmen or bakers, and to search or examine whether any mixture ingredient or thing, not the genuine produce of the grain such meal or flour shall import or ought to be, shall have been mixed up with or put into any meal or flour in the possession of such miller mealman or baker, either in the grinding of any grain at the mill or in the dressing bolting or manufacturing thereof, whereby the purity of any meal or flour is or shall be in anywise adulterated, or whether any alum or other ingredient shall have been mixed up with or put into any dough or bread in the possession of any such baker or other person, whereby any such dough or bread is or shall be in anywise adulterated, and also to search for alum or any other ingredient which may be intended to be used in or for any such adulteration or mixture; and if on any such search it shall appear that any such meal flour dough or bread so found shall have been so adulterated by the person in whose possession it shall then be, or any alum or other ingredient shall be found which shall seem to have been deposited there in order to be used in the adulteration of meal flour or bread, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace or officer or officers authorised as aforesaid respectively, within the limits of their respective jurisdictions to seize and take any meal flour dough or bread which shall be found in any such search and deemed to have been adulterated, and all alum and other ingredients and mixtures which shall be found and deemed to have been used or intended to have been used in or for any such adulteration as aforesaid; and such part thereof as shall be seized by any peace officers authorised as aforesaid, shall, with all convenient speed after seizure, be carried to some magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace within the limits of whose jurisdiction the same shall have been so seized; and if any magistrate or magistrates justice or justices who shall authorise any such seizure to be made in pursance of this Act, or to whom any thing so seized under the authority of this Act shall be brought, shall adjudge that any such meal flour dough or bread so seized has been adulterated by any unwholesome or improper mixture or ingredient put therein, or shall adjudge that any alum or other ingredient or mixture so found as aforesaid have been deposited or kept where so found for the purpose of adulterating meal flour or bread, then and in any such case every magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace is and are hereby required, within the limits of their respective jurisdictions, to dispose of the same as he or they in his or their discretion shall from time to time think proper. VIII. And be it further enacted, That every miller mealman or baker out of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, in whose house mill shop stall bakehouse bolting-house pastry warehouse outhouse ground or possession any alum or other ingredient or mixture shall be found, which shall after due examination be adjudged by any magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace to have been deposited there for the purpose of being used in adulterating meal flour or bread, shall on being convicted of any such offence, either by his her or their own confession or by the oath or affirmation as aforesaid of one or more credible witness or witnesses, forfeit and pay on every such conviction any sum of money not exceeding twenty nor less than five pounds, or in default of payment thereof shall, by warrant under the hand and seal or hands and seals of the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom such offender shall be convicted, be committed to the house of correction or some other prison of the city county or place where the offence shall have been committed or the offender or offenders shall be apprehended, there to remain for any time not exceeding twelve nor less than three calendar months from the time of such commitment, unless such penalty shall be sooner paid, as any such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices shall think fit and order; unless the party or parties charged with any such offence shall make it appear to the satisfaction of the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom any such alum or other ingredient or mixture shall be brought, that such alum or other ingredient or mixture was not nor were brought or lodged where the same was or were found or seized with any design or intent to have been put into any meal flour or bread or to have adulterated therewith the purity of any meal flour or bread, but that the same was or were in the place or places in which the same shall have been so found or seized as aforesaid for some other lawful purpose; and that it shall be lawful for the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom any such offender shall be convicted, to cause the offender's name place of abode and offence to be published in some newspaper which shall be printed published or circulated in or near the county division riding or district where the said offence shall be committed, and to defray the expence of publishing the same out of the money to be forfeited as last mentioned, if any shall be paid or recovered. IX. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall wilfully obstruct or hinder any such search as herein-before is authorised to be made, or the seizure of any meal flour or dough or bread or of any alum or other ingredient or mixture which shall be found on any such search, and deemed to have been lodged with an intent to adulterate the No. I. 1 & 2 Geo. IV. purity or wholesomeness of any meal flour dough or bread, or shall wil- c. 50. X. And be it further enacted, That every baker and seller of bread Bakers shall shall cause to be fixed in some convenient part of his or her shop a beam keep proper and scales with proper weights, in order that every person or persons who Weights. may purchase any bread of any such baker or seller of bread may, if he she or they shall think proper, require the same to be weighed in his her or their presence; and that if any baker or seller of bread out of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, shall neglect to fix such beam and scales in some convenient part of his or her shop, or to provide and keep for use proper weights or whose weights shall be deficient in their due weight, or who shall refuse to weigh any bread purchased in his or her shop in the presence of the party or parties requiring the same, he she or they shall for every such offence forfeit and pay a sum not ex- Penalty. ceeding five pounds nor less than twenty shillings, as the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom such offender shall be convicted shall order and direct. XI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no master Regulations as mistress journeyman or other person respectively exercising or employed to Baking on in the trade or calling of a baker out of the city of London and the liber- Sundays. ties thereof, and beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, shall on the Lord's day commonly called Sunday or any part thereof make or bake any household or other bread rolls or cakes of any sort or kind, or shall on any part of the said day sell or expose to sale or permit or suffer to be sold or exposed to sale any bread rolls or cakes of any sort or kind except to travellers or in cases of urgent necessity; or bake or deliver or permit or suffer to be baked or delivered any meat pudding pie tart or victuals at any time after half-past one of the clock in the afternoon of that day, or in any other manner exercise the trade or calling of a baker or be engaged or employed in the business or occupation thereof save and except as aforesaid, and also save and except so far as may be necessary in setting and superintending the sponge to prepare the bread or dough for the following day's baking; and that no meat pudding pie tart or victuals shall be brought to or taken from any bakehouse during the time of divine service in the church parish hamlet or place where the same is situate nor within one quarter of an hour of the time of commencement thereof; and every person offending against the foregoing regulations or any one or more of them, and being thereof convicted before any magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace of the city county or place where the offence shall be committed within two days from the commission thereof, either upon the view of such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace or on confession by the party or proof by one or more witness or witnesses upon oath or affirmation as aforesaid, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay and undergo the forfeiture penalty and punishment herein-after mentioned; (that is to say) for the first offence the penalty of five shillings, for the second offence the penalty of ten shillings, and for the third and every subsequent offence respectively the penalty of twenty shillings; and shall moreover on every such conviction bear and pay the costs and expences of the prosecution, such costs and expences to be assessed settled and ascertained by the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace convicting; and the amount thereof together with such part of the penalty as such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace shall think proper to the prosecutor or No. I. 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 50. No Miller or Baker may act as Justice in the Execution of this Act. All Offences may be heard in a summary way. prosecutors for loss of time in instituting and following up the prosecution at a rate not exceeding three shillings per diem, and be paid to the prosecutor or prosecutors for his and their own use and benefit; and the residue of such penalty to be paid to such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace within seven days after his or their receipt thereof to be transmitted by him or them to the churchwardens or overseers of the parish or parishes where the offence shall be committed, to be applied for the benefit of the poor thereof; and in case the whole amount of the penalty and of the costs and expences as aforesaid be not paid within three days after the conviction of the offender or offenders, such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices of the peace shall and may by warrant under their respective hands and seals or hand and seal direct the same to be levied and raised by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the offender or offenders, rendering the overplus if any; or in default or insufficiency of such distress to commit the offender or offenders to the house of correction on a first offence for any time not exceeding fourteen days, and on the second or any subsequent offence for any time not exceeding twenty-one days, unless the whole of the penalty costs and expences be sooner paid and discharged. XII. Provided always and be it further enacted, That no person who shall be concerned in the business of a miller mealman or baker corn merchant or dealer in corn or flour shall be capable of acting or shall be allowed to act as a magistrate or justice of the peace under this Act or in putting in execution any of the powers in or by this Act granted; and if any miller mealman or baker shall presume so to do he or they so offending in the premises shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of fifty pounds to any person or persons who shall inform or sue for the same, to be recovered in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster by action of debt bill plaint or information wherein no essoign wager of law or more than one imparlance shall be allowed. XIII. And for the better and more easy recovery of the several against this Act penalties and forfeitures to be incurred under this Act and the powers herein contained, be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the mayor or any alderman of any city and to and for any other of his Majesty's justices of the peace or any of them within their respective counties divisions cities towns corporate liberties or jurisdictions beyond the city of London and the liberties thereof, and beyond the weekly bills of mortality and ten miles of the Royal Exchange, to hear and determine in a summary way all offences committed against the true intent and meaning of this Act, and for that purpose to summon before them or any of them within their respective jurisdictions any party or parties accused of being an offender or offenders against the true intent and meaning of this Act; and in case the party accused shall not appear on such summons or offer some reasonable excuse for his default, then upon oath or affirmation as aforesaid by any credible witness or witnesses of any offence committed contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, any such magistrate or justice shall issue his warrant or warrants for apprehending the offender or offenders within the jurisdiction of any such magistrate or justice; and upon the appearance of any party or parties accused, or in case he she or they shall not appear on notice being given to or left for him her or them at his her or their usual place of abode, or if he she or they cannot be apprehended on a warrant granted against him her or them as is herein-before directed, then and in every such case any such magistrate or justice is and are hereby authorised and required to proceed to make inquiry touching the matters complained of, and to examine any witnesss or witnesses who shall be offered on either side on oath or affirmation as aforesaid, and which oath and affirmation every such magistrate and justice is and are hereby authorised and required to administer; and after hearing the parties who shall appear and the witnesses who shall be offered on either side, such magistrate or justice shall convict or acquit the party or parties accused; and if the penalty or money forfeited on any such conviction shall not be paid within the space of twenty-four hours after any such conviction, every such magistrate or No..I. 1 & 2 Geo. IV. Sale. c. 50. justice shall thereupon issue a warrant or warrants under his hand and seal directed to any peace officer or officers within their respective jurisdictions, and thereby require him or them to make distress of the goods or chattels of the offender or offenders within such their respective jurisdictions to satisfy such penalty or money forfeited and the costs of the prosecution and distress; and if any offender should convey away his goods out of the jurisdiction of any such magistrate or justice before whom he or she was convicted or so much thereof that the penalty or money forfeited cannot be levied, then some magistrate or justice within whose jurisdiction the offender shall have removed his goods shall back the warrant granted by any such magistrate or justice as aforesaid, and thereupon the penalty forfeited shall be levied on the offender's goods and chattels by distress and sale; and if within five days from the distress Penalties levied being taken the penalty or money forfeited and costs shall not be paid, the by Distress and goods seized shall be appraised and sold, rendering the overplus (if any) after deducting the penalty or forfeitures and the costs and charges of the prosecution distress and sale to the owner or owners thereof, which charges shall be ascertained by the magistrate or magistrates justice or justices before whom any such offender or offenders shall have been so convicted, or by the magistrate or justice who backed the warrant if then alive, and if not by some other magistrate or justice of the city county division or place in which the offender shall have been convicted, on application for that purpose to be made to any such magistrate or justice; and for want of such distress then every such magistrate or justice, within whose respective jurisdiction any such offender or offenders shall reside or be, shall on the application of any prosecutor or prosecutors and proof. on oath or affirmation as aforesaid made of the conviction and nonpayment of the penalty and charges, by warrant under his hand and seal commit every such offender or offenders to the common gaol or house of correction of the city county division or place where such offender or offenders shall be found, there to remain for the space of two calendar months from the time of such commitment, unless after such commitment payment shall be made of the said penalty or forfeiture and costs and charges before the expiration of the said two calendar months; and all such penalties and forfeitures when recovered shall be paid one Application of half to the informer and the other half shall be paid to the magistrate Penalties. or magistrates justice or justices of the peace, and within seven days after his or their receipt thereof to be transmitted by him or them to the churchwardens or overseers of the parish or parishes where the offence shall be committed, there to be applied for the benefit of the poor thereof. XIV. And be it further enacted, That if it shall be made out by the Power to sumoath (or affirmation as aforesaid) of any credible person or persons to the mon Witnesses. satisfaction of any magistrate or magistrates justice or justices that any person or persons within the jurisdiction of any such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices is or are likely to give or offer material evidence on behalf of the prosecutor of any offender or offenders against the true intent and meaning of this Act, or on behalf of the person or persons accused, and will not voluntarily appear before such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices to be examined and give his her or their evidence upon oath or affirmation as aforesaid concerning the premises, every such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices is and are hereby authorised and required to issue his or their summons to convene every such witness and witnesses before any such magistrate or magistrates justice or justices at such seasonable time or times as in such summons shall be fixed; and if any person or persons so summoned shall neglect or refuse to appear (after having been paid or tendered a reasonable sum for his her or their costs charges and expences) at the time by such summons appointed, and no just excuse shall be offered for such neglect or refusal, then after proof upon oath or affirmation as aforesaid of such summons having been duly served upon the party or parties so summoned, every such magistrate and magistrates justice and justices is and are hereby authorised and required to issue his or their warrant or warrants under VOL. VII. II |