Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

and after having been produced in evidence on

the trial, shall be destroyed.

they is and are hereby authorized to seize the same, and to carry them forthwith to some Justice of Peace of the County, City, or Place where the same shall be so seized, and by him secured, to be produced in evidence against any person or persons, who shall or may be prosecuted for any such offence, in some Court of Justice proper for the determination thereof; and after such time as they or any of them shall have been produced in evidence, as well the same so produced as the other so seized and not made use of in evidence, and every of them, shall forthwith by order of that Court where such offender or offenders shall be tried, or by order and in the presence of such or some other Justice of the Peace, in case there be no such trial, be totally defaced and destroyed; and if any counterfeit or unlaw- Counterfeit fully diminished Money shall be produced in any Court of Justice, either in evidence against any person or persons for any offence relating to the counterfeiting or unlawfully diminishing of Money or otherwise, that then, or immediately after evidence given, the Judge or Judges of such Court shall cause such Monies to be cut in pieces in open Court, or in the presence of some Justice of the Peace, and then to be delivered to or for such person or persons to whom the same of right shall appertain. s. 5.

money shall be

cut in pieces,

after having been produced in evi

dence.

Attainder not to work corruption

of blood, or loss

of dower.

Attainder under this act shall not work Corruption of Blood or loss of Dower, and offenders shall be indicted, arraigned, tried, convicted, or attainted, as other offences may be, for counterfeiting the King's Money. s. 7. Prosecutions under this act shall be commenced within three Limitation of months after the offence committed. s. 9.

Prosecutions.

Extended to six

months by 7 Ann. c. 25. s. 2.

III. i. The offence of clipping, washing, rounding, filing, im-
pairing, lightening, diminishing, falsifying, scaling,

or melting the Coin of the Realm, or Foreign Coin
current by Proclamation.

Item, that no sterling halfpenny nor farthing be molten for to make vessel or any other thing, by goldsmiths nor other, upon forfeiture of the Money so molten; and that the goldsmith or other which hath so molten such Money, shail be committed to prison, there to remain till he hath yielded unto us the one half of that that he hath so molten, notwithstanding any Charter or Franchise granted or used to the contrary. 9 Ed. 3. st. 2. c. 3.

$ 1. The punishment

of melting down Copper Money.

K

Letters, Grainings, or other Marks or Figures resembling those on the edges of money coined in his Majesty's Mint, nor any Press for Coinage, nor any Cutting Engine for cutting round Blanks by force of a screw out of flatted bars of gold, silver, or other metal; nor shall knowingly buy or sell, hide or conceal, or without lawful authority or sufficient excuse for that purpose knowingly have in his, her, or their houses, custody or possession, any such Puncheon, Counter Puncheon, Matrix, Stamp, Dye, Edger, cutting Engine, or other Tool or Instrument before Offenders guilty mentioned: and if any smith, engraver, founder, or other perof High Treason. son or persons whatsoever (other than and except as aforesaid), shall offend in any the matters or things aforesaid, then all and every such offender and offenders, their Counsellors, Procurers, Aiders, and Abettors, shall be and is and are hereby adjudged to be guilty of High Treason, and being of the said offences or any of them convicted or attainted, according to the course of the Laws of this Realm, shall suffer Death as in case of High Treason. 8, 9 W. 3. c. 26. s. 1.

Persons conveying out of the

Mint any puncheon, press, dye,

&c. used for coining, guilty of High Treason.

This act is made perpetual by 7 Ann. c. 25. s. 1.

If

any person or persons whatsoever shall, without lawful authority for that purpose, wittingly or knowingly convey, or assist in the conveying out of his Majesty's Mint in the Tower of London, or out of any other of his Majesty's Mints, any Puncheon, Counter Puncheon, Matrix, Dye, Stamp, Edger, cutting Engine, Press, or other Tool, Engine, or Instrument used for or about the coining of Monies there, or any useful part of such tools or instruments, that then as well the said person and persons so offending, their Counsellors, Procurers, Aiders, or Abettors, as also all and every person and persons Knowingly Receiving, Hiding, or Concealing the same, shall be and is are hereby adjudged to be guilty of High Treason, and being of the said offences, or any of them convicted or attainted, according to the order and course of the Laws of this Realm, shall suffer Death as in cases of High Treason. 8 & 9 W. 3. c. 26. s. 2. If any Puncheon, Dye, Stamp, Edger, cutting Engine, Press, engine, press, &c. Flask, or other tool, instrument, or engine used or designed for found in the possession of anyper- coining or counterfeiting Gold or Silver Monies, or any Part of son (not authorized to have the such tool or engine, shall at any time be hid or concealed in any same), may be place, or found in the House, Custody, or Possession of any person or persons whatsoever, not then employed in the coining of Money in some of his Majesty's Mints, nor having the same by some lawful authority, that then it shall be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever, discovering the same, to seize, and he and

Puncheon, dye,

seized by any

person;

and after having been produced in evidence on

the trial, shall be

destroyed.

they is and are hereby authorized to seize the same, and to carry them forthwith to some Justice of Peace of the County, City, or Place where the same shall be so seized, and by him secured, to be produced in evidence against any person or persons, who shall or may be prosecuted for any such offence, in some Court of Justice proper for the determination thereof; and after such time as they or any of them shall have been produced in evidence, as well the same so produced as the other so seized and not made use of in evidence, and every of them, shall forthwith by order of that Court where such offender or offenders shall be tried, or by order and in the presence of such or some other Justice of the Peace, in case there be no such trial, be totally defaced and destroyed; and if any counterfeit or unlaw- Counterfeit fully diminished Money shall be produced in any Court of money shall be Justice, either in evidence against any person or persons for after having been any offence relating to the counterfeiting or unlawfully dimi- produced in evinishing of Money or otherwise, that then, or immediately after evidence given, the Judge or Judges of such Court shall cause such Monies to be cut in pieces in open Court, or in the presence of some Justice of the Peace, and then to be delivered to or for such person or persons to whom the same of right shall appertain. s. 5.

cut in pieces,

dence.

Attainder not to work corruption of blood, or loss

of dower.

Attainder under this act shall not work Corruption of Blood or loss of Dower, and offenders shall be indicted, arraigned, tried, convicted, or attainted, as other offences may be, for counterfeiting the King's Money. s. 7. Prosecutions under this act shall be commenced within three Limitation of months after the offence committed. s. 9.

Prosecutions.

Extended to six

months by 7 Ann. c. 25. s. 2.

III. i. The offence of clipping, washing, rounding, filing, im-
pairing, lightening, diminishing, falsifying, scaling,

or melting the Coin of the Realm, or Foreign Coin
current by Proclamation.

Item, that no sterling halfpenny nor farthing be molten for to make vessel or any other thing, by goldsmiths nor other, upon forfeiture of the Money so molten; and that the goldsmith or other which hath so molten such Money, shall be committed to prison, there to remain till he hath yielded unto us the one half of that that he hath so molten, notwithstanding any Charter or Franchise granted or used to the contrary. 9 Ed. 3.

st. 2. c. 3.

[blocks in formation]

K

Groat or half

groats shall not be molten.

The statute 9 Ed. 3. st. 2. c. 3. "shall be firmly holden and kept; and moreover it is ordained and assented, that no Groat nor half Groat shall be molten by any man, to make vessel or other thing thereof," upon the same pain contained in the said shall not be cur- statute. Foreign Coin shall not be current in the Realm. English Money shall not be exchanged for Scottish. 17 R. 2. c. 1.

Foreign Coin

rent in England.

The punishment for melting the current Silver

Money.

[ocr errors]

The clipping, washing, rounding, or filing of the Coin of this Realm, or Foreign Coin current here, shall be High Treason.

3 Inst. 17. Dyer, 230.

Extended to such as diminish, im

By statute 17 Ed. 4. c. 1. no person shall melt down any Money of Gold or Silver sufficient to run in payment, upon pain of forfeiture of the value.

No person shall wilfully melt or cause to be melted any of the current Silver Money of this Realm, upon pain, not only of forfeiture of the same, but also of the double value of the Coin melted, one half to the King, and the other half to the informer suing for the same; and the offender, if he be a freeman or privileged person of any City or Corporation within England, shall upon legal conviction for the same, be forthwith disfranchised, and made uncapable of exercising the trade of a goldsmith, or any other mystery, by virtue of the privileges of the City or Corporation of which he is a member; and if the person offending and convict as aforesaid shall not be a freeman or privileged person of any City or Corporation, then he shall suffer imprisonment, without bail or mainprize, for six months next ensuing his conviction. 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 31.

The statute 5 Eliz. c. 11. reciting that the statute 3 H. 5. c. 6., concerning the clipping, &c. of Coin, is repealed by the statute 1 M. st. 1. c. 1., and the mischiefs that happen thereby, enacts, that "clipping, washing, rounding, or filing, for lucre or gain sake, of any the proper Monies or Coins of this Realm or the Dominions thereof, or of the Monies or Coins of any other Realm allowed and suffered to be current within this Realm or the Dominions thereof, or that hereafter at any time shall be the lawful Monies or Coins of this Realm or the Dominions thereof, or of any other Realm, and by Proclamation allowed and suffered to be current here, shall be taken, deemed, and adjudged by virtue of this act to be Treason, and the offenders therein, their Counsellors, Consenters, and Aiders shall be taken, deemed, and adjudged as offenders in Treason, and being thereof lawfully convicted or attainted according to the order and course of the Laws of this Realm, shall suffer pains of Death, and forfeit all their goods and chattels, and also shall lose and forfeit all their lands and tenements during life. s. 2.

The statute 18 Eliz. c. 1. recites that the falsifying, impair, falsify, scale, pairing, diminishing, and lightening of such last mentioned

Coin.

I Hale, P. C.

Money, was not within the former statute of 5 Eliz., which or lighten such being a penal Law, ought to be taken strictly and not by the equity of it, and then enacts, that if any person shall for lucre 3 Inst. 17. or gains-sake, by any act, ways, or means whatsoever impair, 213. 217. diminish, falsify, scale, or lighten the proper Monies or Coins of this Realm or any the Dominions thereof, or the Monies or Coins of any other Realm, allowed and suffered to be current at the time of the offence committed within this Realm of England, or any the Dominions of the same, by Proclamation, the offenders, their counsellors, consenters, and aiders shall be adjudged offenders in Treason, and being thereof lawfully convicted or attainted, shall suffer Death and lose and forfeit [their goods and lands as enacted by 5 Eliz. c. 11.]

saved.

But there shall be no corruption of blood nor loss of dower, Blood and dower 5 Eliz. c. 11. s. 4. 18 Eliz. c. 1. s. 2. tried by their Peers, 5 Eliz. c. 11. s. 5.

And Peers shall be
18 Eliz. c. 1. s. 3.

prison discover

ing two others,

If any person, being out of prison, shall be guilty of clipping, § 2. coining, counterfeiting, washing, filing, or otherwise diminish- Offenders out of ing the Coin of this Realm, and afterwards discover two or more ing and convictpersons committing any such crimes, so as such persons be con- entitled to a parvicted of the same, such discoverer shall have and is hereby don. entitled to receive a pardon for all such crimes by him committed before such discovery made; and being an apprentice, shall be deemed a freeman, and may exercise his trade as if he had served his apprenticeship. 6 & 7 W. 3. c. 17. s. 12.

III. ii. Regulations for preventing any Gold Coin, current in the United Kingdom, being received, paid, or accepted, for any more or less than the lawful value which such Coin, by its denomination, does or shall import.

Coin shall not be

true value.

The Statute 51 G. 3. c. 127. which is intituled "An act for making more effectual provision for preventing the current Gold Coin of the Realm from being paid or accepted for a greater value than the current value of such Coin;" enacts, that from Current Gold and after the passing of this act, no person shall receive or pay received or paid for any Gold Coin lawfully current within the Realm, any more for more than the in Value, Benefit, Profit, or Advantage, than the true lawful value of such Coin, whether such value, benefit, profit, or advantage be paid, made, or taken in lawful Money, or in any Note or Notes, Bill or Bills of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, or in any Silver Token or Tokens issued by the said Governor and Company, or by any or all of the said means wholly or partly, or by any other means, Device, Shift, or Con

« AnteriorContinuar »