No person shall take above £5. per cent. interest. All bonds, &c. for securing a shall be void. Years been much neglected, and at this time there is a great abatement in the Value of the Merchandizes, Wares, and Commodities of this Kingdom, both at home and in foreign Parts whither they are transported; and for the redress of these Mischiefs, and preventing the increase of the same, it is absolutely necessary to reduce the high rate of Interest of Six Pounds in the Hundred Pounds for a Year, to a nearer proportion with the Interest allowed for Money in foreign States: be it therefore enacted, that no person or persons whatsoever, from and after 29 Sept. 1714, upon any Contract which shall be made after the same Day, take, directly or indirectly, for Loan of any Monies, Wares, Merchandize, or other Commodities whatsoever, above the value of Five Pounds for the forbearance of One hundred Pounds for a Year, and so after that rate for a greater or lesser Sum, or for a longer or shorter Time; and that all Bonds, Congreater interest tracts, and Assurances whatsoever, made after the Time aforesaid, for Payment of any Principal or Money to be lent or covenanted to be performed upon or for any Usury, whereupon or whereby there shall be reserved or taken above the rate of Five Pounds in the Hundred, as aforesaid, shall be utterly void; and that all and every person or persons whatsoever which shall, after the Time aforesaid, upon any Contract to be made after the same Day, take, accept, and receive by way or means of any corrupt Bargain, Loan, Exchange, Chevisance, Shift, or Interest of any Wares, Merchandize, or any thing or things whatsoever, or by any deceitful way or means, or by any Covin, Engine, or deceitful Conveyance for the forbearing or giving Day of Persons taking Payment for One whole Year of and for their Money or other thing, above the Sum of Five Pounds for the forbearing of One hundred Pounds for a Year, and so after that rate for a greater or lesser Sum, or for a longer or shorter Term, shall forfeit and lose for every such Offence the Treble Value of the Monies, Wares, Merchandizes, and other things so lent, bargained, exchanged, or shifted. 12 Ann. st. 2. c. 16. 2 Burr. 716. Dougl. 223.708. a higher rate of interest shall forfeit treble the value of the thing lent, &c. Scriveners fees for procuring loans, &c. All and every Scrivener and Scriveners, Broker and Brokers, Solicitor and Solicitors, Driver and Drivers of Bargains for Contracts, who shall, after the same Day, take or receive, directly or indirectly, any Sum or Sums of Money, or other Reward or Thing, for brokage, soliciting, driving, or procuring the Loan or forbearing of any Sum or Sums of Morrey, oyer and above the rate or value of Five Shillings for the Loan or forbearing of any One hundred Pounds for a Year, and so rateably, or above Twelve Pence over and above the Stamp Duties for making or renewing of the Bond or Bill, for Loan or forbearing thereof, or for any Counterbond or Bill concerning the same, for acting con shall forfeit for every such Offence Twenty Pounds, with Costs Penalty on themof Suit, and suffer Imprisonment for Half a Year, one Moiety trary thereto. of the Forfeiture to the Queen, her Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to the Party suing for the same, by Action of Debt, &c. s. 2. Uagrants. (And see Title GAMING.) The Statute 9 G. 2. c. 5. (s. 1, 2.) repeals the Statute 1 Jac. 1. c. 12. except so much as repeals the Statute 5 Eliz. c. 15. and the Act of Scotland, 9 Mary, (Anentis Witchcrafts), and then by s. 1. enacts, that from and after the 24th June then next, no Suit or Proceeding shall be commenced or carried on against any person or persons for Witchcraft, Sorcery, Enchantment, or Conjuration, or for charging another with any such Offence in any Court whatsoever in Great Britain. No prosecution shall hereafter be had for witchcraft, &c. The punishment of such persons as pretend P. 436. And for the more effectual preventing and punishing any Pretences to such Arts or Powers as are before mentioned, whereby ignorant Persons are frequently deluded and defrauded; be thereto.. it further enacted, that if any person shall, from and after the 24th Day of June next, pretend to exercise or use any kind of Bl. Com. vol. 4. Witchcraft, Sorcery, Enchantment, or Conjuration, or undertake to tell Fortunes, or pretend from his or their Skill or Knowledge in any occult or crafty Science, to discover where or in what manner any Goods or Chattels supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found; every person so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted on Indictment or Information in that part of Great Britain called England, or on Indictment or Libel in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall for every such Offence suffer Imprisonment by the space of One whole Year, without Bail or Mainprize, [and once in every Quarter of the said Year, in some Market Town of the proper County, upon the Market Day, there stand openly on the Pillory (1) by the space of One Hour]; and also shall (if the Court by which such Judgment shall be given shall think fit) be obliged to give Securities for his or her good Behaviour, in such Sum and for such Time as the said Court shall judge proper, according to the (1) This part of the Punishment is repealed by the general Words: of the Statute 56 G. 3. c. 138. See title PILLORY. 27 G. 3. c. I. S. 3. offences herein described, declared idle and disorderly per sons. Circumstances of the Offence, and in such case shall be further imprisoned until such Sureties be given. (1) [Many of the Offences described in the above Act are comprehended within the larger Provisions of the Statute 17 G. 2. c. 5. which also prescribes a more summary mode of convicting and punishing such Offenders.] The Statute 17 G. 2. c. 5. which is intituled "An Act to amend and make more effectual the Laws relating to Rogues, Vagabonds, and other idle and disorderly Persons, and to Houses of Correction," recites that "whereas the Number of Rogues, Vagabonds, Beggars, and other idle and disorderly Persons, daily increases, to the great Scandal, Loss, and AnnoyPersons guilty of ance of the Kingdom;" and then "for Remedy thereof," enacts, that all persons who threaten to run away and leave their Wives or Children to the Parish; and all persons who shall unlawfully return to such Parish or Place from whence they have been legally removed by Order of Two Justices of the Peace, without bringing a Certificate from the Parish or Place whereunto they belong; and also all persons who, not having wherewith to maintain themselves, live idle without Employment, and refuse to work for the usual and common Wages given to other Labourers in the like Work, in the Parishes or Places where they then are; and also all persons going about from Door to Door, or placing themselves in Streets, Highways, or Passages, to beg or gather Alms in the Parishes or Places where they dwell, shall be deemed idle and disorderly persons; and it shall and may be lawful for any Justice of the Peace to commit such Offenders (being thereof convicted before him, by his own View, or by their own Confession, or by the Oath of one or more credible Witness or Witnesses) to the House of Correction, there to be kept to hard Labour for any Time not exceeding One Month: And it shall and may be lawful for any person to apprehend, and Any person may apprehend beggars. (1) The Statute 10 G. 2. c. 19. s. 1. enables the Chancellor or Vice Chancellor of either of the Two Universities of Cambridge or Oxford to commit to the House of Correction, within either of those Places, to hard Labour, or to the Common Gaol of the City or County of Oxford, or the Town or County of Cambridge, all Persons who shall, for gain, in any Playhouse, Booth, or otherwise, exhibit any Stage Play, Interlude, Shew, Opera, or other theatrical or dramatical Performance, or act any Part, or assist therein, within the Precincts of either of the said Universities, or within Five Miles of the City of Oxford or Town of Cambridge, and such Persons shall be deemed Rogues and Vagabonds. reward for carry before a Justice of the Peace, any such persons going about from Door to Door, or placing themselves in Streets, Highways, or Passages, to beg or gather Alms in the Parishes or Places where they dwell; and if they shall resist, or escape from the person apprehending them, they shall be subject to the same Punishment as Rogues and Vagabonds are made liable to by this Act: And it shall and may be lawful for the said Justice, Five shillings by Warrant under his Hand and Seal, to order any Overseer of apprehending the Poor of the Parish or Place where such Offender shall be offenders. apprehended, to pay the Sum of Five Shillings to any person or persons in any such Parish or Place so apprehending them, for every Offender so apprehended; which Sum shall be allowed to such Overseer in his Account, he producing the Justice's Order, and a Receipt under the Hand of the person or persons to whom such Sum was paid; but if such Overseer shall neglect or refuse to pay the said Sum, the said Justice, on Oath thereof made, may, by Warrant under his Hand and Seal, order the same to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods of such Overseer; and the Overplus (if any) after the Charges of such Distress satisfied, shall be returned to such Overseer, who in such case shall not be allowed the Sum so levied in his Account. s. 1. Penalty on over seer not paying the reward. Persons guilty of herein specified, other offences rogues and. All Persons going about as Patent-gathers, or Gatherers of Alms, under Pretences of Loss by Fire, or other Casualty; or going about as Collectors for Prisons, Gaols, or Hospitals; all Fencers, and declared to be Bearwards; all common Players of Interludes, and all Persons vagabonds. who shall for Hire, Gain, or Reward, act, represent, or perform, or cause to be acted, represented, or performed, any Interlude, Tragedy, Comedy, Opera, Play, Farce, or other Entertainment of the Stage, or any Part or Parts therein, not being authorized by Law; all Minstrels, Jugglers; all Persons pretending to be Gypsies, or wandering in the Habit or Form of Egyptians, or pretending to have Skill in Physiognomy, Palmestry, or like crafty Science, or pretending to tell Fortunes, or using any subtil Craft to deceive and impose on any of his Majesty's Subjects, or playing or betting at any unlawful Games or Plays; and all Persons who run away and leave their Wives or Children, whereby they become chargeable to any Parish or Place; and all Petty Chapmen and Pedlars wandering abroad, not being duly licensed, or otherwise authorized by Law; and all Persons wandering abroad, and lodging in Alehouses, Barns, Outhouses, or in the open Air, not giving a good Account of themselves; and all Persons wandering abroad and begging, pretending to Act not to extend to certain soldiers and mariners. be Soldiers, Mariners, Seafaring-men, or pretending to go to work in Harvest: and all other Persons wandering abroad and begging, shall be deemed Rogues and Vagabonds within the true intent and meaning of this Act. 17 G. 2. c. 5. s. 2. Provided always, that this Act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend or be construed to extend to Soldiers wanting Subsistence, having lawful Certificates from their Officers or the Secretary at War, or to Mariners or Seafaring-men licensed by some Testimonial or Writing under the Hand and Seal of some Justice of the Peace, setting down the Time and Place of their Landing or Discharge, and the Place to which such Soldiers or Mariners are to pass, and the Names of the chief Towns or Places through which they are to pass, and limiting the Time of such their Passage, while they continue in the direct Way to the Place to which they are to pass, and during the Time so limited; or to any Person or Persons going abroad to work at any lawful Work in the Time of Harvest, so as he, she, or they carry with him, her, or them a Certificate in Writing, signed by the Minister and one of the Churchwardens or Chapelwardens, or one of the Overseers of the Poor for the Time being, of the Parish, Chapelry, or Place where they shall respectively inha-. bit, declaring that he, she, or they hath or have a Dwelling House or Place there, in which he, she, or they inhabit. s. 3. All End-gatherers offending against an Act made in the Thirteenth Year of his late Majesty King George the First, to be incorrigible [13 Geo. 1. c. 23.] being convicted of such Offence; and all Persons apprehended as Rogues and Vagabonds, and escaped from the Persons apprehending them, or refusing to go before a Justice or Justices of the Peace, or to be examined upon Oath before such Justice or Justices, or refusing to be conveyed by any such Pass as is herein-after directed, or knowingly giving a false Account of themselves on such Examination, after warning given them of their Punishment; and all Rogues or Vagabonds who shall break or escape out of any House of Correction, before the Expiration of the Term for which they were committed or ordered to be confined by virtue of this Act; and all Persons who after having been punished as Rogues and Vagabonds, and discharged, shall again commit any of the said Offences, shall be deemed Incorrigible Rogues within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act. s. 4. Persons guilty of certain other offences, declared rogues and vagabonds. Any person may apprehend offenders against this act. If any Person shall be found offending against this Act, it shall and may be lawful for any Person whatsoever to apprehend the Person so offending, and to convey or cause to be conveyed to |
