of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, to be laid before his Majesty in council, an authenticated copy of the proceedings in every such case, together with his reasons for causing the same to be stayed, and such documents, (properly verified) as he may judge necessary for the information of his Majesty. XLVII. And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons shall Punishing perfalsely make oath to any of the matters herein before required to be so sons making verified, such person or persons shall suffer the like pains and penalties false oath; as are incurred by persons committing wilful and corrupt perjury; and that if any person or persons shall counterfeit, erase, alter, or falsify any or falsifying certificate or other instrument in writing, required or directed to be ob- any document. tained, granted, or produced by this act, or shall knowingly or wilfully make use of any certificate or other instrument so counterfeited, erased, altered, or falsified, or shall wilfully grant such certificate, or other instrument in writing, knowing it to be false, such person or persons shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds. vered, XLVIII. And be it further enacted, that all the penalties and for- How penalties feitures inflicted and incurred by this act, shall and may be sued for, are to be recoprosecuted, and recovered in such courts, and be disposed of in such manner, and by such ways, means and methods, as any penalties or forfeitures inflicted, or which may be incurred for any offence committed against the laws of customs, may now legally be sued for, prosecuted, recovered, and disposed of; and that the officer or officers concerned in and officers' seizures or prosecutions under this act, shall be entitled to and receive shares. the same share of the produce arising from such seizures, as in the case of seizures for unlawful importation, and to such share of the produce arising from any pecuniary fine or penalty for any offence against this act, as any officer or officers is or are now by any law or regulation entitled to upon prosecutions for pecuniary penalties. XLIX. And be it further enacted, that this act may be altered, varied, or repealed by any act or acts to be passed in this session of par liament. Persons in whose names tiable securi No. VI. An Act for the better Protection of the Property of Merchants and others, who may hereafter enter into Contracts or Agreements in relation to Goods, Wares, or Merchandizes intrusted to Factors or Agents.-4 Geo. 4. c. 83. WHEREAS it has been found that the law, as it now stands, relating to goods shipped in the names of persons who are not the actual proprietors thereof, and to the deposit or pledge of goods, affords great facility to fraud, produces frequent litigation, and proves, in its effects, highly injurious to the interests of commerce in general; be it therefore enacted by the King'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 from and after the passing of this act, any person or persons intrusted, goods shall be for the purpose of sale, with any goods, wares, or merchandize, and shipped, shall by whom such goods, wares or merchandize, shall be shipped in his, be deemed to be the true her, or their own name or names, or in whose name or names any owners, so as goods, wares, or merchandize shall be shipped by any other person or to entitle conpersons, shall be deemed and taken to be the true owner or owners signees to a lien thereon in thereof, so far as to entitle the consignee or consignees of such goods, respect of their wares, and merchandize to a lien thereon, in respect of any money or neadvances, or of gotiable security or securities advanced or given by such consignee or money or nego- consignees to or for the use of the person or persons in whose name or names such goods, wares, or merchandize shall be shipped, or in respect of any money or negotiable security or securities received by him, her, or them to the use of such consignee or consignees, in the like manner to all intents and purposes as if such person or persons was or were the true owner or owners of such goods, wares, and merchandize: provided such consignee or consignees shall not have notice, by the bill of lading for the delivery of such goods, wares, or merchandize, or otherwise, at or before the time of any advance of such money or negotiable security, or of such receipt of money or negotiable security, in respect of which such lien is claimed, that such person or persons so shipping in his, her, or their own name or names, or in whose name or names any goods, wares, or merchandize shall be shipped by any person or persons, is or are not the actual and bona fide owner or owners, proprietor or proprietors of such goods, wares, and merchandize so shipped as aforesaid, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding: provided also, that the person or persons in whose name or names any such goods, wares, or merchandize are so shipped as aforesaid, shall be taken for the purposes of this act to have been intrusted therewith, unless the contrary thereof shall appear or be shewn in evidence by any person disputing such fact. ties received by the shippers to the use of the consignees, provided the consignees have no notice that the consignors are not the actual proprietors of such property. Anyperson may take goods or bill of lading in deposit from II. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful to and for any person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, to accept and take any goods, wares, or merchandize, or the bill or bills of lading for the deany consignee; livery thereof, in deposit or pledge, from any consignee or consignees thereof, but then and in that case such person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate shall acquire no further or other right, title, or interest, but such per son shall not acquire any sessed. in or upon or to the said goods, wares, or merchandize, or any bill of further right lading for the delivery thereof, than was possessed, or could or might have than the conbeen enforced by the said consignee or consignees at the time of such de- signee posposit or pledge as a security as aforesaid; but such person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, shall and may acquire, possess, and enforce such right, title, or interest, as was possessed, and might have been enforced, by such consignee or consignees, at the time of such deposit or pledge as aforesaid; any rule of law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. III. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed, construed, or taken to deprive or prevent the true owner or owners, proprietor or proprietors of such goods, wares, or merchandize, from demanding and recovering the same from his, her, or their factor or factors, agent or agents, before the same shall have been so deposited or pledged, or from the assignee or assignees of such factor or factors, agent or agents, in the event of his, her, or their bankruptcy; nor to prevent any such owner or owners, proprietor or proprietors, from demanding or recovering of and from any person or persons, or of or from the assignees of any person or persons in case of his or her bankruptcy, or of or from any body or bodies politic or corporate, such goods, wares or merchandize, so consigned, deposited, or pledged, upon repayment of the money, or on restoration of the negotiable security or securities, or on payment of a sum of money equal to the amount of such security or securities, for which money or negotiable security or securities such person or persons, his, her, or their assignee or assignees, or such body or bodies politic or corporate, may be entitled to any lien upon such goods, wares, or merchandize: nor to prevent the said owner or owners, proprietor or proprietors, from recovering of and from such person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, any balance or sum of money remaining in his, her, or their hands as the produce of the sale of such goods, wares, or merchandize, after deducting thereout the amount of the money or negotiable security or securities so advanced or given upon the security thereof as aforesaid provided always, that in case of the bankruptcy of such factor or agent, the owner of the goods so pledged and redeemed as aforesaid shall be held to have discharged pro tanto the debt due by him to the bankrupt's estate. Right of the true owner to followhis goods while in the hands of his agent, or of his assignees in case of bankruptcy,or to recover them from assignees, &c. upon paying his ad vances secured upon them, &c. APPENDIX OF FORMS. No. I. Form of a Bottomry Bond. KNOW all men by these presents, that I, A. B., commander and twothirds owner of the ship Exeter, for myself, and C. D., remaining third owner of the said ship, am held, and firmly bound unto E. F., in the penal sum of two thousand pounds sterling, for the payment of which well and truly to be made unto the said E. F., his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, I hereby bind myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, firmly by these presents. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 14th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1796. Whereas the above bound A. B. hath taken up and received of the said E. F. the full and just sum of one thousand pounds sterling, which sum is to run at respondentia on the block and freight of the ship Exeter, whereof the said A. B. is now master, from the port or road of Bombay on a voyage to the port of London, having permission to touch, stay at, and proceed to all ports and places within the limits of the voyage, at the rate or premium of twenty-five per cent. (25 per cent.) for the voyage. In consideration whereof usual risks of the seas, rivers, enemies, fires, pirates, &c. are to be on account of the said E. F. And for the further security of the said E. F., the said A. B. doth, by these presents, mortgage and assign over to the said E. F., his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, the said ship Exeter, and her freight, together with all her tackle, apparel, &c. And it is hereby declared, that the said ship Exeter, and her frieght, is thus assigned over for the security of the respondentia taken up by the said A. B., and shall be delivered to no other use or purpose whatever until payment of this bond is first made, with the premium that may become due thereon. Now the condition of this obligation is such, that if the above bound A. B., his heirs, executors, and administrators, shall and do well and truly pay, or cause to be paid unto the said E. F., or to his attornies in London legally authorised to receive the same, their executors, administrators, or assigns, the full and just sum of one thousand pounds sterling, being the principal of this bond, together with the premium which shall become due thereupon, at or before the expiration of ninety days after the safe arrival of the said ship Exeter at her moorings in the river Thames; or, in case of the loss of the said ship Exeter, such an average as by custom shall have become due on the salvage; then this obligation to be void and of no effect, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue. Having signed to three bonds of the same tenor and date, the one of which being accomplished, the other two to be void and of no effect. A. B. for self L. S. Form of a Bottomry Bill. To all men to whom these presents shall come I, A. B., of Bengal, mariner, part-owner and master of the ship called the Exeter, of the burthen of five hundred tons, and upwards, now riding at anchor in Table-Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, send greeting. Whereas, I, the said A. B., part-owner and master of the aforesaid ship called the Exeter, now in prosecution of a voyage from Bengal to the port of London, having put into Table-Bay for the purpose of procuring provision and other supplies necessary for the continuation and performance of the voyage aforesaid, am at this time necessitated to take up, upon the adventure of the said ship called the Exeter, the sum of one thousand pounds, sterling monies of Great Britain, for setting the said ship to sea, and furnishing her with provisions and necessaries for the said voyage; which sum C. D., of the Cape of Good Hope, master attendant, hath at my request lent unto me, and supplied me with at the rate of twelve hundred and twenty pounds sterling for the said one thousand pounds, being at the rate of one hundred and twenty-two pounds for every hundred pounds advances as aforesaid, during the voyage of the said ship from Table-Bay to London. Now know ye, that I, the said A. B., by these presents, do, for me, my executors and administrators, covenant and grant to and with the said C. D., that the said ship shall, with the first convoy which shall offer for England after, the date of these presents, sail and depart for the port of London, there to finish the voyage aforesaid. And I the said A. B., in consideration of the sum of one thousand pounds sterling to me in hand, paid by the said C. D., at and before the sealing and delivery of these presents, do hereby bind myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, my goods and chattels, and particularly the said ship, the tackle, and apparel of the same, and also the freight of the said ship, which is or shall become due for the aforesaid voyage from Bengal to the port of London, to pay unto the said C. D., his executors, administrators, or assigns, the sum of twelve hundred and |