PART II.

THE LEGISLATION, STATISTICS, PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, AND CHRONICLE OF 1851.

VIII. ABSTRACTS OF IMPORTANT PUBLIC ACTS

PASSED IN THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE FIFTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

PASSENGERS' ACT AMENDMENT.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 1.-April 1, 1851.]

An Act to amend the Passengers' Act, 1849.

The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners are empowered to alter the lengths of time estimated as the duration of a voyage in the former Act, and to appoint different times for steam vessels and sailing vessels; their power is also extended in ordering a dietary, so that other articles of nutritious food may be either added to or substituted for those directed to be supplied in the former Act. Similar powers are given to governors of colonies and to the Governor-General of India. It is likewise enacted that a bond is to be given by the owner or charterer for 1,000l. guaranteeing the sea-worthiness of the vessel, and that the requirements of the Act shall be fulfilled. Act and the Passengers' Act, 1849, to be considered as one Act.

COMMONS INCLOSURE.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 2.-April 1, 1851.]

This

An Act to authorise the Inclosure of certain Lands in pursuance of the Sixth Annual Report of the Inclosure Commissioners.

In this, the first general Inclosure Act of the session, the following twenty-five places are included ;

Caermarthenshire-Aber

Berkshire-Shinfield Greens; Whitley. gwilly. Cambridgeshire - Newton. Cardiganshire - Blaenpenal; Cellan Mountain. Cornwall-Towednack. Cumberland-Scaleby Moss. Devonshire-Ipplepen; Smallridge. Dorsetshire-Compton Abbas; Stourpaine and Ash. Gloucestershire-Bromsberrow Heath; Marshfield. Hampshire-Droxford; Owslebury; Twyford Down. Herefordshire-Kington. Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire-Meppershall. Monmouthshire-Roggiet and Minutes Common. Shropshire— Lurkenhope Common. Surrey-Ash. Warwickshire-Tanworth. Westmorland Colby Moor. Wiltshire-Ludgershall.

DESIGNS ACT EXTENSION.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 8.—April 11, 1851.]

An Act to extend the Provisions of the Designs Act, 1850, and to give Protection from Piracy to Persons exhibiting new Inventions in the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in 1851.

By § 1 proprietors of new inventions are to be allowed to exhibit them in 1851 without prejudice to letters patent to be granted

thereafter; provided that such invention, previously to such public exhibition, shall be provisionally registered, and not otherwise exhibited or used before letters patent are granted, but this exception is not to extend to the sale or transfer of the right to or benefit of such invention; nor shall the publication or description invalidate the right; nor (§ 2) shall the public trial of agricultural or horticultural instruments under the direction of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 prejudice the right to letters patent. A certificate of invention (§ 3) is to be granted for provisional registration by the Attorney General, or such person or persons as he may appoint. The certificate (§ 4) is to be provisionally registered, and is to continue in force for one year from the time of registry; the description is to be registered (§ 5), and the invention marked with the word "provisionally registered," and such provisional registration (§ 6, shall confer the same benefits as are given under the Designs Act, 1850. Letters patent (§ 7) thereafter granted are to be as valid as if the invention had not been registered or exhibited, but the date of the patent is to be from the date of the registration. The proprietors of new designs (§ 8) are to be entitled to the benefit of the Designs Acts, although the designs may have been published elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, provided it has not been previously publicly sold or exposed for sale. This Act (§ 9) and the Designs Act, 1850, are to be construed as one Act, and the short title of the present Act (§ 10) is to be "The Protection of Inventions Act, 1851."

APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 11.-May 20, 1851.]

An Act for the better Protection of Persons under the care and control of others, as Apprentices or Servants; and to enable the Guardians and Overseers of the Poor to institute and conduct Prosecutions in certain

Any master or mistress (§ 1) legally liable to provide for any person as an apprentice or servant necessary food, clothing, or lodging, who shall wilfully and without lawful excuse refuse or neglect to provide the same, or who shall unlawfully and maliciously assault such person, whereby the life of such person shall be endangered, or the health of such person shall have been or shall be likely to be permanently injured, are declared guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable on conviction by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years; the costs of prosecution (§ 2) to be allowed and paid as provided for by the Act 7 Geo. III. c. 64. The guardians of every union (§ 3) are to keep a register in a prescribed form of every young person under sixteen who may be hired or taken as servant from the workhouse, but this is not to supersede the register for apprentices prescribed by the Acts 42 Geo. III., c. 46, and 7 & 8 Vict., c. 101. Young persons (§ 4) hired or taken from a workhouse as servants, or bound out as pauper apprentices, are to be visited, if within five miles of any part of the union or parish, at least twice in every year by an officer authorised for the purpose by the guardians or overseers, who shall report in writing whether he has found reason to believe that such young person is not supplied with necessary food, or is subjected to cruel or illegal treatment in any respect; and if residing at a greater distance than five

miles, then (§ 5) a written notice is to be sent to the guardians or overseers of the union or parish in which the master or mistress resides, who shall cause the same to be registered in their books, and have such person visited by their officer, in all respects as if hired or taken from their own workhouse. By § 6, where any complaint is made of an offence against this Act, or of any bodily injury inflicted upon any poor person, for which the party committing it is liable to be indicted, and the circumstances of which offence amount in law to a felony or an attempt to commit a felony, if two justices on hearing the complaint shall give a certificate that public justice requires that it be prosecuted by the overseers or guardians, the clerk of such guardians shall conduct such prosecution, and the costs shall be defrayed out of the common fund of the union or parish; the justices (§ 7) binding over such officer of the guardians to prosecute. The interpretation of terms (§ 8) is to be the same as in the Act 5 Will. IV., c. 76. The Act (§ 9) is limited to England and Wales.

PROPERTY TAX.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 12.-June 5, 1851.]

An Act to continue the Duties on Profits arising from Property, Professions, Trades, and Offices, and to amend thejAct imposing the same.

The preamble to this Act continues this tax; which (by § 1) is limited to one year from April 5, 1851, and until all assessments due are levied and paid, the powers of all previous Acts (§ 2) continuing in force until the expiration of the said term. By § 3 power is given to the commissioners to make abatements from the assessments on tenant-farmers whose profits shall be proved to their satisfaction to have fallen below the amount of such assessments; appeal is to be made by notice in writing to the surveyor of taxes for the district within three months after the expiration of the year.

§ 1 enacts that all persons selling arsenic shall keep a book in a form prescribed, stating the date of sale, the name, the place of abode, and the condition or occupation of the purchaser, the quantity sold, and the purpose for which it is required; to every such entry the signatures of the purchaser, his referee, and the seller, are to be affixed; and no arsenic is to be sold to any person unknown to the seller, except in the presence of some witness known to the seller, and who knows the purchaser, nor is arsenic to be sold to any person under age. Provision is made by § 3 that before the sale of any arsenic it shall be mixed with soot or indigo in the proportion of one ounce of soot or half an ounce of indigo at least to one pound of arsenic, except in cases where, according to the representation of the purchaser, such mixture would render it unfit for his purpose, when it may be sold without mixture in quantities of not less than ten pounds. By § 4 selling without an entry, or without obtaining the proper signatures, or giving false information to the questions of the seller, or signing as a witness for a person unknown, incur penalties not ex

ceeding 201. for each offence, to be levied by two justices on summary conviction. The Act (§ 5) does not extend to the sale of arsenic used in medicine by a legally qualified practitioner, or to the sales by wholesale to retail dealers upon orders in writing. Arsenic (§ 6) includes arsenious and arsenic acids, and all other colourless poisonous preparations of arsenic.

COMPOUND HOUSEHOLDERS.;

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 14.—July 3, 1851.]

An Act to amend the Law for the Registration of certain Persons commonly known as Compound Householders,' and to facilitate the Exercise by such Persons of their Right to vote in the Election of Borough Members to serve in Parliament.

The only alterations in previous Acts are- -(§ 1) all persons having once claimed to be rated to the relief of the poor for the premises occupied by them, and having paid, or tendered the payment of, all rates due on Jan. 5, on or before July 20 in the same year, are not required to renew their claims; but (§ 2) the liability of the claimant to pay such rates is to continue so long as he occupies the same premises, and continues on the register. Where (§ 3) by composition with the landlord a less amount than the full rate has been payable, the occupier claiming to be rated is not to be called upon to pay more than the amount payable under such composition.

PREVENTION OF OFFENCES.

[14 Victoriæ, cap. 19.-July 3, 1851.]

An Act for the better Prevention of Offences.

§ 1. Any person found by night armed with any dangerous or offensive weapon or instrument with intent to break into any dwellinghouse or other building, or having in his possession picklock keys or other instruments of house-breaking, or having his face blackened or disguised, or found in any dwelling-house or other building with intent to commit a felony, is declared guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable on conviction by imprisonment with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three years; and after a previous conviction, (§ 2) either for felony or a similar misdemeanour, by transportation for a term not less than seven years nor more than ten years, or by imprisonment as above. §3. Any person who shall unlawfully apply or administer, or attempt to apply or administer, to any other person any chloroform, laudanum, or other stupifying drug or thing, with intent to commit a felony, is declared guilty of felony, and is punishable on conviction by transportation for life, or for any term not less than seven years, or by imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three years. § 4. All persons inflicting unlawfully and maliciously grievous bodily harm, with or without any instrument, are declared guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable on conviction by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years, but this section is not to repeal § 29 of 10 Geo. IV., cap. 34. § 5. On the trial of any indictment for feloniously cutting or wounding, the jury may acquit of the felony, and convict of unlawfully cutting or wounding, the offender to be

thereupon punishable as if indicted for the misdemeanour only. § 6. Any person who shall wilfully and maliciously put, cast, or throw, upon or across any railway any wood, stone, or other matter; or shall remove or displace any rail, sleeper, or other matter belonging to the railway; or shall turn or divert any points or other machinery; or shall make or show, hide or remove, any signal or light upon or near a railway; or shall do or cause to be done any matter or thing to obstruct, upset, injure, or destroy any engine, tender, or carriage, or endanger the safety of any person travelling on such railway, is declared guilty of felony, and shall upon conviction be liable to transportation for life or for any term not less than seven years, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years; and the like penalty is imposed by § 7 on any person casting or throwing any matter or thing on any engine, tender, or carriage, with intent to endanger the safety of any person therein or thereon. § 8. Any person who shall wilfully and maliciously set fire to any station or other building appertaining to any railway, dock, canal, or other navigation, to be deemed guilty of felony, punishable on conviction by the like penalties as in §§ 6 and 7. By 9 it is enacted that upon the trial of persons for offences under this Act and that of 12 and 13 Vic., cap. 11, the fact of any previous conviction shall not be stated to the jury or given in evidence until after a verdict of guilty on the subsequent offence shall have been delivered, unless the defendant shall have produced evidence of good character, in which case the evidence of the previous conviction is to be admitted before the verdict is given. Any person (§ 10) may apprehend such as are found committing offences against this Act, and convey them as soon as possible to a justice of the peace; or if in the night (§ 11) to a constable or other peace-officer in order to their being so conveyed; and any person liable to be so apprehended (§ 12) committing an assault or offering any violence to the person apprehending is declared guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable on conviction by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years. § 13 defines that night' in this Act shall be considered to commence and conclude as in burglary; § 14 relates to costs of prosecution; § 15 enacts that this Act is to repeal no part of 5 Geo. IV., cap. 83 (for the punishment of vagabonds, &c.); and § 16 exempts Scotland from the provisions of this Act.

LANDLORD AND TENANT.

[14 and 15 Victoria, cap. 25.-July 24, 1851.]

An Act to improve the Law of Landlord and Tenant in relation to Emblements, to growing Crops seized in Execution, and to Agricultural Tenants' Fixtures.

Where a lease or tenancy of any farm or lands (held under a person having a life interest only) shall determine by the death of the landlord, the tenant (§ 1), instead of claims to emblements, shall continue to hold the same until the expiration of the current year, and shall then quit, on the terms of his lease or holding, without notice being given or required by either party: a fair proportion of the rent for the year being paid to each landlord or his representative. Growing crops (2) seized and sold under a writ of execution, are declared liable to the landlord for rent accruing and becoming due after such seizure and sale. Any tenant (§ 3) who has erected at his own cost,