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No. 9.

Notice to be given

porations, and of the Day and Time appointed in and by any such Writ or Writs of Mandamus for holding such Assembly, publick 11 Geo. I. c. 4. Notice in Writing shall, by such Person as the said Court shall appoint, be affixed in the Market-Place, or some other publick Place Six Days publick within such City, Borough or Town Corporate, by the Space of six of the Election. Days before the Day so appointed, and such Officer or other Person respectively shall preside in such Assembly, as ought to have presided at the Election of such Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers, or at the doing any other Act necessary to be done in order to such Election, in case the same had been made or done upon the Day herein before prescribed for that Purpose.

at a Court Leet,

ward no Court be

the Court Leet.

III. And whereas in certain Boroughs and Towns Corporate Where Mayors, within that Part of Great Britain called England, Wales, and &c are to be no 'Berwick upon Tweed, the Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief minated or sworn 'Officer or Officers, is or are to be nominated, elected or sworn at &c. and in Default 'a Court-Leet or View of Frank-Pledge, or some other Court, and of the Lord or Steby reason of the Contrivance or Default of the Lord or his Steward, held, King's Bench or such other Officer by or before whom such Court ought to be may award a Mau held, in not holding the same, or by some Accident, it hath happened damus for holding and may hereafter happen, that no due Nomination, Election or See 3 Bur. 1452. 'Swearing of such Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other Chief Officer 'or Officers, hath been or shall be had or made:' Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That in every such Case it shall and may be lawful to and for his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, upon Motion to be made in the said Court, to award a Writ of Mandamus, requiring the Lord or his Steward or other Officer, by or before whom such Court ought to be held, to hold or cause to be holden such Court-Leet or other Court, and to do every other Act necessary to be done by him in order to such Nomination, Election or Swearing, at sach Day and Time as shall be for that Purpose judged proper by the said Court of King's Bench, and shall be appointed in such Writ, or to signify to the said Court good Cause to the contrary, and thereupon to cause such Proceedings to be had and made, as in other Cases of Writs of Mandamus granted by the said Court, for holding of any Court, and of the Day and Time appointed in and by any such Writ of Mandamus for holding such Court, publick Notice in Writing shall, by such Person as the said Court of King's Bench shall appoint, be affixed in the Market-Place, or some other publick Place within such Borough or Town Corporate, by the Space of six Days before the Day so appointed: And where a Nomination of Persons in order to the Election of any such Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers, is to be made at such Court-Leet, or other Court, in every such Case, after such Nomination made, all and every other Act and Acts necessary to be done in order to such Election, shall be had, made and done at such Assembly, and in such Manner and Form. as the same ought to have been had, made and done, in case such Election had been made upon the Day next after the Expiration of the Time prescribed for such Election by the Charter or Usage of such Borough or Corporation, according to the Directions herein before mentioned.

IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That Mayors, etc. the Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers, who elected, shall take shall be elected pursuant to the Directions of this Act, shall take the the Oaths before the presiding OffOath or Oaths by Law required at the Time of his Admission into cer. such Office, before such Officer as shall preside at such Election, (6) See 4 Bar. 2139.

(6)_The presiding Officer at an Election, on the Day following the regular Day, may swear in the Officer elected, although the Custom is for the Office elected on the regular Day to be sworn at the following CourtLeet-Rex v. Nance, Selw. M. P. 959.

No. 9.

11 Geo. I. c. 4.

No such Election

present and con.

in pursuance of this Act, who is hereby authorized and required to administer such Oath or Oaths; and shall have the same Privileges, Precedence, Powers and Authorities in all Respects, as any Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers of the same City, Borough or Corporation, elected on the Days or Times fixed by Charter or Usage for that Purpose, ought to have or enjoy. (7)

V. Provided always, That no such Election, nor any Act done valid, unless as in order thereunto, shall be valid, unless as great a Number of Pergreat a Number be sons, having Right to he present at and vote therein, shall be present Gur, as required be at the Assembly holden for such Purpose, and concur therein, as Charter, etc. would respectively have been necessary to be present, and concur in such Election or Act, in case the same had been made or done upon the Day or within the Time appointed for that Purpose by the Charter or Usage of such City, Borough or Corporation, saving only, that the Presence of the Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers who ought to preside, shall not be necessary.

soument for six Months, etc.

Mayors absenting VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That themselves, etc if any Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers of shall suffer Impri- any City, Borough or Town Corporate, shall voluntarily absent himself or themselves from, or knowingly and designedly prevent or hinder the Election of any other Mayor, Bailiff or other chief Officer in the same City, Borough or Town Corporate, upon the Day or within the Time appointed by Charter or ancient Usage for such Election, the Person or Persons so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall for every such Offence suffer imprisonment for the Space of six Months without Bail or Mainprize, and shall be for ever disabled to take, hold or exercise any Office belonging to the same City, Borough or Corporation.

No Corporation dissolved or dise

VII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That bied by any Omis. no Corporation shall be deemed or adjudged to be dissolved or disabled ston already hap- from electing a Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or pened. Officers, by reason of any Omission or Default, which hath already happened in not nominating, electing or swearing a Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers of such Corporation, upon the Day or within the Time limited for such Nomination, Election or Swearing, by the Charter or Usage of such Corporation, or by reason of the Absence of the Mayor, Bailiff or Bailiffs, or other chief Officer or Officers who ought to have presided at the Assembly for such Nomination, Election or Swearing, or by reason of such Election having become void as aforesaid, but every such Corporation shall be adjudged, deemed and taken to be and to have been subsisting and capable of electing such Officer or Officers, to all Intents and Purposes; any such Omission, Absence, Default or Avoidance, or any Defect, Disability or Forfeiture arising therefrom, in any wise notwithstanding.

VIII. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to invalidate or make void any Charter heretofore granted to and accepted by any City, Borough or Town Corporate, or any Corporation within the same, or any of them, or any Elections or Acts had, made or done in pursuance of any such Charter; nor to make good the Election of any Officer or Member, or of any Person claiming to be an Officer or Member of any City, Borough or Corporation, against whom any Judgment of Ouster shall have been entered or given upon any Information in the Nature of a Quo Warranto, or whose Election shall have been avoided npon any Writ of Mandamus, on or before the last Day of Michaelmas Term in

(7) A Swearing two Years after the Election held good,--Rex v. Courtenay, 9 East, 246.

the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Twentyfour.

No. 9.

11 Geo. I. c 4.

IX. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That Return to be where any Writ of Mandamus shall issue out of the Court of King's made to the first Bench in any of the Cases aforesaid, the Person or Persons to whom Writ of Mandasuch Writ shall be directed, shall make his or their Return to the first Writ of Mandamus.

mus.

No. 10.

7 George III. c. 48.-An Act for regulating the Proceedings of certain Public Companies and Corporations carrying on Trade or Dealings with Joint Stocks, in Respect to the declaring of Dividends; and for further regulating the Qualification of Members for voting in their respective General Courts.

W Royal Charters founded thereupon, certain Public Compa

HEREAS by Virtue of divers Acts of Parliament, and of 7 Geo. III. c. 48.

nies or Corporations have been instituted for the Purpose of carrying 'on particular Trades or Dealings with Joint Stocks; and the Ma'nagement of the Affairs of such Companies has been vested in their 'General Courts, composed of the Members at large of such Compa'nies respectively; in which General Courts every Member of each respective Company, possessed of such Share in the Stock of the Company as in and by the said Acts of Parliament and Charters is limited 'with Regard to each of the said Companies respectively, is qualified and intitled to give a Vote or Votes: And whereas of late Years a most 'unfair and mischievous Practice has been introduced of splitting 'large Quantities of Stock, and making separate and temporary Conveyances of the Parts thereof, for the Purpose of multiplying or making occasional Votes immediately before the Time of declaring a 'Dividend, of chusing Directors, or of deciding any other important Question; which Practice is subversive of every Principle upon 'which the Establishment of such General Courts is founded, and, if 'suffered to become general, would leave the permanent Interest of 'such Companies liable at all Times to be sacrificed to the partial and 'interested Views of a few, and those perhaps temporary Proprietors.' 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 first Day of August, fed from voting One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-seven, no Member of any in a General Court of the said Publick Companies or Corporations, instituted for the who were not pos Parpose aforesaid, shall be deemed qualified to vote, or be admitted essed of Stock six to give any Vote or Votes, in any General Court of any such Com- &c. pany, in Respect of any Stock transferred to him, her, or them, after the said first Day of August, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-seven, until he, she, or they, shall have been possessed of such Stock six Calendar Months; unless such Stock shall have been acquired or shall have come by Bequest, or by Marriage, or by Succession to an Intestate's Estate, or by the Custom of the City of London, or by any Deed of Settlement after the Death of any Person who shall have been intitled for Life to the Dividends of such Stock.

II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the several and respective Oaths and Affirmations which are at present, either by Virtue of any Act of Parliament, or by any Charter of any

Members disqua

Months; except,

Oaths to be taken

of the said Companies, required to be administered to, or taken by the 7 Geo. III. c. 48. Members intitled to vote in the General Courts of the said Companies

.

No. 10.

respectively, at or before giving their Votes, shall, from and after the said first Day of August One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixtyseven, be altered in such Manner, as to extend to, and comprise the further Qualification required by this Act, in Respect of the Continuance of the Possession of such Stock as aforesaid; and that the said Oaths and Affirmations, so altered as aforesaid, shall, from and after the said first Day of August, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-seven, be severally and respectively administered to, and taken by the Members of such Companies, in the Place of those heretofore required to be administered and taken.

III. And forasmuch as no Part of the Business transacted by the General Courts of the said Companies can be of more Importance to the general and lasting Interest of the Companies themselves, or to the Preservation of Publick Credit, so closely connected with that Interest, than what concerns the fixing, from Time to Time, of the Dividends to be made out of the Profits and Produce of their Joint Stocks among the several Proprietors having Shares therein. And forasmuch as the Provisions hitherto made have not been found sufficient to prevent many great and dangerous Irregularities being practised in Relation to the making of sudden and unwarrantable Alterations in the Rates of such Dividends: Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the Tenth Day of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-seven, no Declaration of a Dividend shall be made by any General Court of any of the said Companies, other than one of the Half-yearly or Quarterly General Courts, at the Distance of five Calendar Months at the least from the last preceding Declaration of a Dividend; and that no Declaration of more at Half yearly or than one Half-yearly Dividend shall be made by one General Court; Quarterly General and that no Question upon any Proposition for increasing the Rate of Courts, at five the Dividend, shall be decided otherwise than by Ballot, to be taken at the Distance of three entire Days, at the least, from the Adjournment, or Breaking up of the General Court, in which such Question shall have been proposed.

No Declaration of a Dividend, but

Mouths' Distance,

&c.

Publick Act.

IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall be deemed and taken to be a Publick Act; of which Notice shall be judicially taken by all Judges, Justices, and other Persons whatsoever, without specially pleading the same.

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No. 11.

12 Geo. III. c. 21.-An Act for giving Relief in Proceedings upon Writs of Mandamus for the Admission of Freemen into Corporations; and for other purposes therein mentioned.

Cities,

HEREAS divers Persons, who have a Right to be admitted Corporate, Boroughs, Cinque Ports, and Places, within that Part of Great Britain called England and Wales, being refused to be admitted thereto, have, in many Cases, no other ordinary Remedy to procure_themselves to be admitted to the Franchises of being Citizens, Burgesses, or Freemen, than by Writs of Mandamus, the Proceedings on which are very dilatory and expensive; and, although any such Writ of Mandamus is obeyed, the Person applying is

No. 11.

fa e to admit, and

all Costs.

'nevertheless put to great and unnecessary Trouble, Delay, and Ex'pence: And whereas by the Laws now in being, in many Cases, 12 (co ll. c. 21. 'no Provision is made for giving Costs to the Party suing out any 'such Writ where the same is obeyed;' for Remedy whereof, be it 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 first Day of August, one thousand Person intitled to... seven hundred and seventy-two, where any Person shall be entitled to be admitted, and be admitted a Citizen, Burgess, or Freeman, of any such City, Town applying for that Purpose, giving Corporate, Borough, Cinque Port, or Place, and shall apply to the Notice, etc. Mayor, or other Person, Officer or Officers, in such City, Town if Mayor, etc. reCorporate, Borough, Cinque Port, or Place, who hath or have a Mandamus issue, Authority to admit Citizens, Burgesses, and Freemen therein, to be the Mayor to pay admitted a Citizen, Burgess or Freeman thereof; and shall give Notice, specifying the Nature of his Claim, to such Mayor, or other Officer or Officers, that if he or they shall not so admit such Person a Citizen, Burgess, or Freeman, within one Month from the Time of such Notice, the Court of King's Bench will be applied to, for a Writ of Mandamus, to compel such Admission; and if such Mayor, or other Officer or Officers, shall, after such Notice, refuse or neglect to admit sach Person, and a Writ of Mandamus shall afterwards issue to compel such Mayor, or other Officer or Officers, to make such Admission, and, in obedience to such Writ, such Persons shall be admitted by the said Mayor, or other Officer or Officers, a Citizen, Burgess, or Freeman of such City, Town Corporate, Borough, Cinque Port, or Place, then such Person shall (unless the Court shall see just Cause to the contrary) obtain and receive from the said Mayor, or other Officer or Officers, so neglecting or refusing as aforesaid, all the Costs to which he shall have been put in applying for obtaining and serving such Writ of Mandamus, and enforcing the same, by a Rule to be made by the Court out of which such Writ shall issue, for the Payment thereof, together with the Costs of applying for, obtaining, serving, and enforcing the said Rule; and if the Rule so to be made shall not be obeyed, then the same shall be enforced in such Manner as other Rules made by the said Court are or may be enforced by Law. II. And, in order that it may be known what Persons are, from 'Time to Time, admitted Freemen or Burgesses of any City, Corpo'ration, Borough, or Cinque Port,' be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Mayor, Bailiff, Town Clerk, or other Officer of any City, Corporation, Borough, or Cinque Port, having spect Entries of the Custody of, or Power over, the Records of the same, shall, upon the Demand of any two Freemen or Burgesses, permit such Freemen or Burgesses, and their Agent or Agents, at any Time whatsoever, between the Hours of Nine in the morning and Three in the Afternoon, to inspect the Entries of Admission of Freemen, Burgesses, or other inferior Corporations, and to take Copies or Extracts therefrom, paying for every such Inspection two Shillings and Sixpence; and for every such Copy or Extract, not exceeding seventy-two Words, the sum of four Pence; and so in Proportion for all such Copies or Extracts: And if any Mayor, Bailiff, Town Clerk, or other Officer, shall refuse or deny the Inspection of any such Entries, or to give Copies or Extracts thereof, as before directed; he or they shall, for every such Denial or Refusal, forfeit and pay the Sum of one hundred Pounds to any Person who shall sue for the same; to be recovered, with Full Costs of Suit, by Action of Debt, in any of his Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster; in which Action, it shall be sufficient for the Plaintiff to alledge in his Declaration, that the Defendant or the Defendants is or are indebted to the said Plaintiff in the Sum

Freemen to in Admission, etc.

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