Slave Trade (Sherbro). Passengers, Slaves, and Cargo, for the Purpose of such Vessel being brought to Adjudication as herein-after mentioned. the Slave Trade. II. It shall be lawful for the High Court of Admiralty of Eng- As to the Trial land, and for all Courts of Vice-Admiralty in any Dominions of Her and CondemMajesty beyond the Seas, to take cognizance of and try any such nation of VesVessel or Boat, which shall be detained or captured for the Viola- sels engaged in tion of the said Engagements, and to condemn any such Vessel or Boat to Her Majesty, and adjudge as to the Slaves found therein, in like Manner and under such and the like Rules and Regulations as are contained in any Act or Acts of Parliament in force in relation to the Suppression of the Slave Trade by British-owned Ships, as fully as if all the Powers and Provisions contained in such Acts were re-enacted in this Act as to such High Court of Admiralty or Courts of Vice-Admiralty. III. Every Person who shall wilfully and corruptly give false Persons giving Evidence in any Examination or Deposition had or Affidavit false Evidence taken in any Proceeding under the said Engagement or this Act deemed guilty of Perjury. shall be deemed guilty of Perjury, and being thereof convicted shall be subject and liable to all the Punishments, Pains, and Penalties to which Persons convicted of wilful and corrupt Perjury are liable; and every such Person may be tried for any such Perjury, either in the Place where the Offence was committed, or in any Colony or Settlement of Her Majesty near thereto in which there is a Court of competent Jurisdiction to try any such Offence, or in Her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench in England; and that in case of any Prosecution for such Offence in Her Majesty's said Court of Queen's Bench the Venue may be laid in the County of Middlesex. In case of Prosecution in England, Venue may be laid in Middlesex. Pendency of Suits to be a Bar to any Proceedings instituted for the Recovery of the Vessels IV. The Pendency of any Suit or Proceeding instituted for the Condemnation or Restitution of any Vessel, Boat, or Cargo, or Slaves taken, seized, or detained by virtue of the said Agrecment, or the final Adjudication, Condemnation, or Judgment or Determination thereupon, may be pleaded in Bar or given in Evidence under the General Issue, and shall be deemed in any Court whatever to be a complete Bar in any Action, Suit, or Pro- detained. ceeding, whether instituted by any Person or Persons for the Recovery of any such Vessel, Boat, or Cargo, or of any Damage or for any Injury sustained thereby or by the Persons on board the same, in consequence of any Capture, Seizure, or Detention, or anything done under or in pursuance of the Provisions of the said Agreement. V. Any Vessel or Boat which shall be condemned as aforesaid Vessels conmay be taken into Her Majesty's Service, upon Payment of such demned to be Sum as the Lord High Admiral or the Lords Commissioners of sold for Her the Admiralty shall deem a proper Price for the same, or if not so vice or broken Majesty's Sertaken shall be broken up and demolished, and the Materials thereof up. shall be publicly sold in separate Parts, and the Proceeds thereof shall be paid to such Person or Persons as the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury may appoint to receive the same. VI. Where any Ship or Vessel employed or engaged in such Captors entitled illicit Traffic in Slaves, in violation of the said Engagements, shall to the Proceeds be seized by any Ship or Vessel belonging to Her Majesty, and belonging to Her Majesty. Y 4 afterwards Slave Trade (Sherbro). Payment of Additional Bounty on Tonnage of Slave Ships captured and demolished. Where no Slaves are on board a Ship seized and conditional Bounty on Tonnage to be paid. demned, an ad Money for Bounties to be provided by Parliament. Proof of Tonnage. afterwards condemned, there shall be paid to the Captors the net Proceeds to which Her Majesty is entitled, the same to be distributed in the Manner herein-after directed for the Distribution of Bounties on Slaves taken on board the said Vessels. VII. There shall be paid to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships a Bounty of Five Pounds for every Man, Woman, and Child Slave seized and found on board any Vessel or Boat taken and condemned in pursuance of the Provisions of the said Agreement and of this Act, such Bounty to be issued and paid by Order from the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and to be distributed to and amongst the Captors aforesaid in such Manner and Proportions as Her Majesty shall think fit to order, by any Order in Council, made or to be made, or by any Proclamation for that Purpose. VIII. Where any Vessel or Boat which shall have been seized and condemned under the Provisions of the said Engagements shall have been or shall be demolished, and the Materials thereof publicly sold in separate Parts, as well as her Cargo, there shall be paid to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships, in addition to the Amount of the Proceeds of such Sale, as herein-before mentioned, a further Bounty on the Tonnage of such Vessel or Boat at the Rate of Thirty Shillings for every Ton of such Tonnage. IX. Where any Vessel or Boat, having no Slaves on board, shall have been seized and condemned under the Provisions of the said Engagements, there shall be paid to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships an additional Bounty upon the Tonnage of such Ship or Vessel at the Rate of Four Pounds for every Ton; and the Tonnage of all such Vessels shall be ascertained according to the Mode of ascertaining the Admeasurement of British Vessels, either by the Principal Officer of the Customs at the Port where the Vessel may be at the Time of Condemnation, or in default thereof by the best Evidence which can be obtained: Provided always, that in every Case in which any Vessel or Boat shall be seized with Slaves on board in which the Bounty calculated upon the Number of Slaves shall be less than the Bounty calculated upon the Tonnage, the Commanders of Her Majesty's Ships making the Seizure may elect to take the Bounty calculated according to Tonnage, instead of the Bounty which would be payable upon the Number of Slaves on board. X. All Bounties payable under this Act shall be paid out of such Monies as may be provided by Parliament to the Commanders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships, and such Bounties shall be issued and paid by Order from the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. XI. In order to entitle the Captors to receive the said Bounty Money, the Tonnage of the Vessel or Boat so seized and condemned shall be proved to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by producing a Copy duly certified of the Sentence or Decree of Condemnation, or by such documentary or other Evidence as they may deem satisfactory. XII. In Slave Trade (Sherbro). One Moiety of XII. In order to entitle the Captors to receive the said Bounty Copy of SenMoney on Slaves, the Number of Men, Women, and Children so tence of Contaken, delivered over, and condemned shall be proved to the demnation to be Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by producing a Copy, Treasury. produced to the duly certified, of the Sentence or Decree of Condemnation, and also a Certificate under the Hand of the proper Officer or Officers, Military or Civil, who may be appointed to receive such Slaves. XIII. Where any Slaves or Persons treated as Slaves shall be seized on board any Vessel or Boat taken and condemned in pursuance of the said Agreement and of this Act, but who shall not have been delivered over in consequence of Death, Sickness, or other inevitable Circumstance, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, if to their Discretion it shall seem meet, to direct Payment of One Moiety of the Bounty which would have been due in each Case respectively if the said Slaves had been delivered over. the Bounty only to be paid in certain Cases. Court of Ad miralty. XIV. Any Party or Parties claiming any Benefit by way of Parties claimBounty under the Provisions of this Act, or of any Share of the ing Benefit unProceeds of any Vessel confiscated in pursuance of the Provisions der this Act of the aforesaid Agreement, may resort to the High Court of may resort to Admiralty for the Purpose of obtaining the Judgment of the said Court in that Behalf, and that it shall be lawful for the Judge of the said High Court of Admiralty to determine thereon, and also to hear and determine any Question of joint Capture which may arise upon any Seizure made in pursuance of this Act, and also to enforce any Decrees or Sentences of the said ViceAdmiralty Courts relating to any such Seizure. Agents Accounts extended under this Act. to Bounties, &c. XV. All the Provisions, Rules, Regulations, Forfeitures, and Regulations, Penalties respecting the Delivery by Prize Agents of Accounts &c. respecting for Examination, and the Distribution of Prize Money, and the accounting for and paying over the Proceeds of Prize, and the Per-centage due thereon to Greenwich Hospital, shall be extended to all Bounties and Proceeds to be distributed under the Provisions of this Act to the Officers and Crews of any of Her Majesty's Ships and Vessels of War. Power to order for Vessels de- condemned. XVI. Where any Vessel or Boat belonging in whole or in part to either of the before-mentioned Chiefs, or his Subjects or Dependants, shall have been detained and brought to Adjudication under the Provisions of this Act, and the said Ship shall be restored by Sentence of the Court, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, by Warrant, to direct Payment to be made out of such Monies as may be provided by Parliament of any Costs or Damages which may be duly awarded: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall exempt such Officer from his Liability to make good the Payment so made, when lawfully called upon, either by the Parties interested therein or by Order of the said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. XVII. When any Seizure shall be made by any of the Com- Treasury may manders, Officers, and Crews of Her Majesty's Ships, and Judg- repay to Seizor ment shall be given against the Seizor, or when such Seizure of any Vessel shall be relinquished by him, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, if to their Discretion it not condemned the Expenses incurred by shall him. Slave Trade (Sherbro). Religious Worship. 1 W. & M. Sess. 1. c. 18. 52 G. 3. c. 155. No Prosecution to be maintainable for assembling for Religious Worship in a Place of Meeting not certified. shall seem meet, by Warrant to direct Payment to be made out of such Monies as may be provided by Parliament of such Costs and Expenses as the Seizor may have incurred in respect of such Seizure, or any proportional Part thereof. C. A P. LXXXVI. An Act for securing the Liberty of Religious Worship. WHEREAS it is expedient that the Laws affecting Assemblies for Religious Worship should be amended: And 'whereas by an Act passed in the First Year of King William and Queen Mary, intituled An Act for exempting Their Majesties 'Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from 'the Penalties of certain Laws, it is enacted that no Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship shall be permitted or allowed until the Place of such Meeting shall be certified and registered or recorded as described in such Act: And whereas by an Act passed in the Fifty-second Year of King George the Third, Chapter One hundred and fifty-five, intituled An Act to repeal certain Acts, and to amend other Acts, relating to Religious Worship and Assemblies, and Persons teaching or preaching therein, it is enacted that no Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship of Protestants (at which there shall be present more than Twenty Persons, besides the immediate Family and 'Servants of the Person in whose House or upon whose Pre'mises such Meeting, Congregation, or Assembly shall be had,) shall be permitted or allowed unless the Place of such Meeting ' is certified as described in such Act, and that every Person who shall knowingly permit or suffer any such Congregation or Assembly as aforesaid to meet in any Place occupied by him, ' until the same shall have been so certified, shall forfeit for every Time any such Congregation or Assembly shall meet a Sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds nor less than Twenty Shillings, at the Discretion of the Justices who shall convict for such Offence: Be it enacted by the Queen'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, as follows: I. From and after the passing of this Act, nothing contained in the above-mentioned Acts, or in an Act passed in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, shall apply to the Congregations or Assemblies hereinafter mentioned, or any of them; that is to say, (1.) To any Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship held in any Parish or any Ecclesiastical District, and conducted by the Incumbent, or in case the Incumbent is not resident, by the Curate of such Parish or District, or by any Person authorized by them respectively: (2.) To any Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship meeting in a private Dwelling House or on the Premises belonging thereto : (3.) To (3.) To any Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship meeting occasionally in any Building or Buildings not usually appropriated to Purposes of Religious Worship: And no Person permitting any such Congregation to meet as herein mentioned in any Place occupied by him shall be liable to any Penalty for so doing. c. 115. and II. So much of an Act passed in the Second and Third Years Construction of of King William the Fourth, Chapter One hundred and fifteen, certain Parts of as enacts that Her Majesty's Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion, in respect to their Places for Religious Worship, 9 & 10 Vict. shall be subject to the same Laws as the Protestant Dissenters c. 59. as to are subject to, and so much of an Act passed in the Ninth and Places of WorTenth Year of Her present Majesty, Chapter Fifty-nine, as ship of Roman enacts that Her Majesty's Subjects professing the Jewish Religion, in respect to their Places for Religious Worship, shall be subject to the same Laws as Protestant Dissenters are subject to, shall be respectively read as applicable to the Laws to which Protestant Dissenters in England are subject for the Time being after the passing of this Act. An Act to amend the Act for the better Care and Reformation of Youthful Offenders, and the Act to render Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Scotland more available. for the Benefit of Vagrant Children. [14th August 1855.] Catholics and Jews. WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Act of the last better Care and Reformation of Youthful Offenders in Great c. 86. ss. 5. & 6. re- Maintenance of I. Sections Five and Six of the said Act shall be repealed. II. In every Case in which any Juvenile Offender shall be detained in a Reformatory School under the said Act, the Parent or Step-Parent, if of sufficient Ability, shall be liable to contribute to his Support and Maintenance a Sum not exceeding Five Shillings a Week; and it shall be lawful in England and Wales for any Two Justices of the Peace, upon the Complaint fenders in Reof any Person authorized by One of Her Majesty's Principal formatory Secretaries of State to take Proceedings in that Behalf, to summon Schools. the Parent or Step-Parent, as the Case may be, and examine into his or her Ability, and (if on Consideration of all the Circumstances of the Case they think fit) to make an Order upon him or her for such weekly Payment, not exceeding Five Shillings per Week, as they shall think reasonable, during the whole or any Part of the Detention of such Juvenile Offender in such Reformatory School, such Payment to be made at such Times as by |
