on giving security to the amount of the penalty to appear for trial. Persons detected in smuggling spirits not exceeding in amount a gallon, or tobacco not exceeding 6 lbs., may be summarily convicted by a single magistrate and subjected to a penalty not exceeding £5, and in default to imprisonment not exceeding a month.2

Search.-Officers of the customs, and officers in the army and navy employed in the preventive service, may go on board vessels, and, on presenting their commission (if it be required), search the vessel, and individuals on board; but an individual, before being searched, may require the officer to bring him before a justice, or a superior officer of the customs, at whose discretion the search is to proceed or be dropped. Any officer offending, in not conveying a person before a justice or superior officer when required, or making a search "not having reasonable grounds" of suspicion, forfeits £10.5 Any person on board a vessel where he has foreign goods concealed, denying their possession to an officer, forfeits for that offence treble the value. An officer of the customs having a writ of assistance from the Exchequer, may, attended by a constable or other public officer, search buildings for smuggled goods, and may, in case of resistance, break open doors and repositories.7

Seizures.-Officers of the customs are vested with the powers conferred by the excise acts on excise officers, for making arrests and seizures (see Chap. IV. Sect. 3.), and excise officers possess the same powers which are expressly conferred on custom-house officers. The right of officers of the customs to seize exciseable commodities, appears however only to extend to British spirits. The regulations as to conveying seized goods to warehouses, and as to seizures by police-officers, are similar to those of the excise acts.9

8

Assemblages and Violence.-Persons assembled to the number of three or more, for the purpose of smuggling spirits, or tobacco, or tea, or silk, worth more than £20; or who have employed others so to assemble, and persons interrupting officers in the performance of their duty, or attempting to rescue goods seized, or to prevent seizures, by destroying the goods or otherwise, are liable to be imprisoned with hard labour; for the first offence, for not less than six or more than nine months;

18 & 9 Vict. c. 87, § 52.- Ibid. § 57.-3 Ibid. § 36.- Ibid. § 37.-5 Ibid. § 38.6 Ibid. § 39.- Ibid. § 40.87 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 53, § 38.—9 8 & 9

Vict. c. 87, §§ 42, 43.

for the second, for not less than nine or more than twelve months; and for subsequent offences, for twelve months.1

Prosecutions.-Penalties may be pursued for before the Court of Exchequer (see Part I. Chap. IV. and this Part, Chap. IV. Sect. 4.) by the Lord Advocate, or before two justices by information.2 In the former case action must be brought within three years; in the latter within six months. A single justice of peace may order a person brought before him to be detained, or, on information, may summon a party for trial before two justices. In default of payment of penalties, parties are committed to prison till payment, the imprisonment, where the penalty does not exceed £100, terminating at the end of six calendar months.5 The justices may mitigate penalties, but only in the case of a first offence, and so that the award shall not be less than a fourth of the statutory penalty. Actions against officers must be brought within six months after the cause of action.7 The rules as to such actions, and as to the staying of prosecutions for penalties, and mitigating penalties, &c., are similar to those of the excise acts (see Chap. IV. Sects. 4 & 5). Offences involving violence will be discussed in the Chapter on Crimes.

CHAPTER VI.

STAMPS.

THE restrictive operation of the stamp-laws belongs to the law of Private Rights and Obligation. The principal miscellaneous regulations affecting the public are as follow:

SECT. 1.-Management and Distribution.

Since the year 1834, the administration of the stampduties has been under the charge of the Commissioners for Stamps and Taxes, appointed under the great seal. The commissioners appoint distributors of stamps, and they may grant licenses free of expense to any persons who, in their

18 & 9 Vict. c. 87, § 56.-2 Ibid. § 82-84.-3 Ibid. § 134.- Ibid. §§ 83, 84. 5 Ibid. §§ 84, 87.6 Ibid. § 86.-7 Ibid. § 121.-8 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 60, § 8.

discretion, they may deem fit to deal in stamps, each dealer finding security in £100, that he will vend no stamps but such as he receives from the head office, or the local distributor. Any person selling stamps without license, or hawking stamps (that is, selling them apart from a fixed place of business), whether he have a license or not, forfeits £20.2 Penalties do not extend to persons employed in engrossing deeds charging for the stamps.3 The paper for receiptstamps being granted gratis by the commissioners, venders making any charge for it (except where such stamps are bound up in a book, or there is but one stamp on a sheet), are liable to a penalty of £10.4

Postage stamps are under the management of the commissioners, but are to be kept in a separate account to be transferred to the post-office revenue.5 The stamp-duty on newspapers is considered along with the statutory regulations relating to the press.*

SECT. 2.-Spoiled Stamps.

The commissioners are empowered to give equivalents for spoiled stamps, under such regulations as they may issue from time to time. The circumstances in which stamps are held as spoiled are these: any unexecuted instrument rendered unfit for its purpose, for the stamp of which the person who has charge of the drawing has not been paid;7 any executed instrument found to be void in law from the beginning, or which, from mistake, is unfit for its intended purpose, or which is incomplete from the want of some material signature; and any instrument the purpose of which is frustrated by the refusal of any person to act under it, or by the non-acceptance of the office conferred by it, or which becomes void for want of registration, or becomes useless by reason of the object being effected by means of some other stamped instrument.8

The application must be made within six months of the date, except the deed becomes void from non-registration, in which case it must be made within six months of the time when it so became void. It would appear that in the cases of the deed being unexecuted, and being invalid through mistake, if the party lives beyond ten miles from Edinburgh,

13 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 97, § 1.-2 Ibid. § 3.-3 Ibid. § 4.-49 Geo. IV. c. 27, §§ 4, 5.5 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96, § 20.- See Part VI. Chap. II. Sect. 2. -65 Geo. III. c. 46, § 39. 44 Geo. III. c. 98, § 17.-7 5 Geo. III. c. 46, § 39.8 53 Geo. III. c. 108, § 11.— Ibid.

H

the period is extended to a year. The above provisions do not refer to stamps for policies of insurance, the minute separate regulations as to which will be found in the act, 54th Geo. III. c. 133. Bill-stamps are allowed as spoiled when signed only by the drawer, and neither put in circulation nor tendered for acceptance.2 The commissioners may require affidavits on Oath (or, by 5th & 6th Wm. IV. c. 62, § 6, if so directed by the treasury, on Declaration) of all necessary facts and circumstances.3 Spoiled stamps must be delivered up to the commissioners to be cancelled. In the general case, the value is given in other stamps; but the commissioners were in 1833 empowered to give money in their discretion, and to return the money for any unused stamp within three calendar months from the time when it is purchased.5

CHAPTER VII.

POOR LAW.

SECT. 1.-Board of Supervision.

By the new Poor Law a board of supervision is appointed, of which one member, who receives a salary, must give regular attendance for the purpose of conducting the business of the board. They hold two stated general meetings annually-one on the first Wednesday of February, and the other on the first Wednesday of August. The board may hold other meetings from time to time, on due notice, and may depute their power to committees: and may, under the sanction of the Secretary of State, make rules for the transaction of their own business.6

It is the duty of the board "to inquire into the management of the poor in every parish or burgh in Scotland." To this end they may require parties to answer questions, or make returns on matters connected with the relief of the poor. By a summons signed by one member or the secretary,

153 Geo. III. c. 108, § 16. 5 Geo. III. c. 46, § 39. 50 Geo. III. c. 35, §14.-253 Geo. III. c. 108, § 14.- Ibid. § 17.- Ibid. § 11.-5 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 97, § 19.- 8 & 9 Vict. c. 83, § 3-7.

they may require the attendance of parties, and may examine them on oath or solemn declaration; and they may require the production, under like sanction, of books and documents. They may authorize one of their number to conduct any special inquiry, deputing to him the above powers, and to report to the board, limiting the period for which he is authorized so to act. They may, with assent of the Secretary of State or the Lord Advocate, appoint a commissioner not from their own number, to conduct an inquiry. Their choice is limited to the faculty of advocates, duly qualified medical practitioners, and architects or surveyors. The authority must not last beyond forty days.1 The pains of perjury apply to persons who give false evidence on any of these inquiries, and obedience to the statutory orders of the board or those authorized by them, in the giving evidence, the production of documents, &c., is sanctioned by the person convicted of disobedience being liable for the first offence to pay a penalty not more than £5, and for any subsequent offence a penalty not less than £5 and not more than £20.2 The board must keep minutes of their proceedings. They must make an annual report to the Home Office to be laid before parliament, containing, "in particular, a full statement as to the condition and management of the poor throughout Scotland, and the funds raised for their relief." Any member of the board, or the secretary, or a clerk or other officer of the board authorized under the hand of two members, may attend a meeting of a parochial board, and take part in the discussion, but without a vote.4

Combinations. It is by appointment of the board, on consideration of the utility of the project, that parochial boards may meet to consider a project for a combination. A resolution and declaration of the board is necessary to the establishment of a combination. The board have power, on the application of the board of any parish adjoining any combination, to declare that it shall form part of the combination.5

In assessed burghs or combinations, they from time to time fix the number of persons to be members of the parochial board, keeping in view the "population and other circumstances," and not exceeding the statutory limits of thirty. They have also to fix a day for the election and nomination of the members, and to make regulations for collecting and returning the votes. The board have autho

18 & 9 Vict. c. 83, § 9-11.-2 Ibid. § 13.-3 Ibid. § 8.- Ibid. § 15.— Ibid. § 16.- Ibid. § 17.—7 Ibid. § 18.— Ibid. § 19.