from such pains and penalties, as any person who shall have taken the oaths and made the declaration is exempts: but every such Preacher or Teacher shall, when required by a Justice of the Peace, take and subscribe the oath and declaration mentioned in stat. 19 Geo. 3. c. 44. (the preceding statute,) and if he shall refuse, he shall not be permitted to teach or preach under a penalty; but no person shall be required to go more than five miles from his place of residence for that purpose ".

A Protestant subject may require a Justice to administer the oaths, and tender the declaration, upon which certain regulations, to be observed by the Justice, are prescribed × ; and the Justice is to give the person thereon a certificate that he has complied with the Act, whereon certain fees are allowed y.

Every person employing himself solely in the duties of a Teacher or Preacher, except that of a Schoolmaster, and producing the certificate, shall be exempted from the civil offices specified in stat. 1 Will. and Mary2, and from serving in the militia a: the production of a false certificate is subjected to a penalty b.

с

If any person shall wilfully disturb any congregation, or molest any Preacher or person officiating therein, or any person there assembled, such person shall be bound by recognisance in the sum of 50l. to answer such offence, and in default of sureties be committed, and, upon conviction at the Sessions, shall suffer a penalty of 401. The Act then provides, that the jurisdiction of the Church of England shall not be affected; that the Act shall not extend to Quakers; for the recovery and application of penalties and forfeitures gives an appeal to the Sessions; and limits prosecutions and actions under the Act d.

PART II. CLASS IV.

Stat. 4 Jac. I. Cap. 5.

Statutes coercive of Alehouses and Drunkenness. EVERY person who shall be drunk, and be thereof lawfully convicted, shall for every offence forfeit five shillings, to be paid, within a week after conviction, to the use of the poor of the parish, to be levied by distress on nonpayment; or on nonability to pay, the offender to be set in the stocks. Any Constable, or other inferior Officer, who neglects to do his duty under the Act, is subjected to a penalty f.

Any person continuing to tipple in any inn or alehouse, being in the same place wherein the person dwells, and the same being seen by any Mayor or other head Officer, &c. or proved as therein mentioned, shall be subject to a penalty, to be levied by distress, or, if not able to pay it, shall be set in the stocks 5.

All such offences shall be inquired of and presented, and proceedings had thereon as prescribed by the Act h.

A person convicted a second time of drunkenness shall be bound with two sureties, in a recognisance in the sum of 10l. to be of good behaviour. The Act then directs that all Constables, Church-wardens, &c. in their several oaths of office, be charged to present offences contrary to the Act: saves ecclesiastical jurisdiction, provides that there shall be only one punishment for the same offence; saves also the liberties of the Universities, and limits punishments and impeachments under the Act *.

Stat. 21 Jac. I. Cap. 7.

The proof of one witness shall be sufficient to convict of tippling and drunkenness, and the voluntary confession (before such persons as are authorized to minister the oath) of a person offending shall convict the offender; and, after confession, the oath of the party confessing shall be a sufficient proof against another offending at the same time'.

es. 1. p. 387. one witness is sufficient by stat. 21 Jac. 1. c. 7. p. 390. fs. 2. p. 388. s. 4. ib. the penalty for tippling is extended to the offence wherever the offender resides, stat. 21 Jac. 1. c. 7. p. 391. hs. 5. p. 389. i s. 6. ib. k 1 s. 7-11. p. 390. s. 1. p. 391.

No. 1.

No. 2.

No. 3.

If any other person, wheresoever his residence is, shall be found on view, or his own confession, or proof of one witness, to be tippling in any inn, &c. such person shall be adjudged to be within the statutes; and the voluntary confession of the offender before such as are authorized to minister the oath, shall convict, and after confession, the oath of the party confessing shall be proof against another offender at the same time m.

Any Justice of the Peace, &c. within his limits may upon view, confession, or proof of one witness convict a person of drunkenness, whereby he shall incur the forfeiture of five shillings, and for the second offence he shall be bound to good behaviour n

Stat. 30 GEO. II. Cap. 24. Gaming by If any journeyman, labourer, apprentice, or servant, shall sons in an game in any house, &c. wherein any liquors are sold, and alehouse. complaint be made on oath before any Justice of the Peace,

certain per

No. 4.

the Justice may issue his warrant to some Constable, &c. to carry the offender before a Justice; and upon conviction the offender shall be subject to a penalty for each offence, to be applied as mentioned by the Act, and, in default of payment, he may be committed to hard labour for one month".

The next section prescribes the mode in which the Justice is to proceed in summoning and compelling the attendance of witnesses in support of the complaint P.

Stat. 3 GEO. IV. Cap. 77.

No licence (to keep alehouses or victualling houses, or to sell ale, &c. by retail) shall be granted to any person not licensed the year preceding, unless such person shall produce at the annual meeting of Magistrates, to be held for that purpose, a certificate under the hands of the Parson, Vicar, or Curate, or of the major part of the Churchwardens, Chapel-wardens, and Overseers, and of four reputable and substantial householders, and inhabitants of

m s. 2. p. 391. "s. 3. p. 392. By stat. 3 Geo. 4. c. 77. the clauses of the several statutes inflicting a penalty on innkeepers, &c. permitting drunkenness and tippling, are repealed, and a mode of coercion by recognisance is prescribed. • s. 15. p. 393. Ps. 16. p. 394.

the place where the applicant shall have last inhabited, or dwelt for the space of six months: the certificate is to contain certain particulars enumerated, and it shall be mentioned in every licence granted to a person so licensed, at the last licensing day, that such certificate was produced; and in case such certificate be not produced, or the licence to be granted in such last mentioned case omit to state that such certificate was produced, the licence shall be void: such certificate is to be annexed to the recognisance, to be entered into by the person obtaining the licence, and to be returned to the Clerk of the Peace. The forging a certificate, or taking or receiving any money for procuring signatures to the certificate, is made a misdemeanour 9.

PART II. CLASS V.

Stat. 3 JAC. I. Cap. 21.

Statutes relating to Players, and Persons coming under the

description of Vagrants.

No. 1.

IF any persons shall in any stage play, interlude, &c. Players. profanely use the name of God, or of Christ Jesus, or of the Holy Ghost, or of the Trinity, they shall forfeit for every offence 107. one moiety to the King, and the other moiety to him who shall sue for the same '.

Stat. 28 GEO. III. Cap. 30.

The Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions may grant a licence to any persons making application for the same by petition, for the performance of such tragedies, comedies, &c. as are or shall be acted at either of the patent or licensed theatres, in Westminster, or as shall be submitted to the inspection of the Lord Chamberlain, at any place within their jurisdictions, or within any city, town, or place, within the limits of the same, for any number of days not exceeding sixty, to commence within the next six months, and to be within the space of such four months as shall be spe

No. 3.

No. 3. Vagrants.

cified in the said licence, so as there be only one licence in use at the same time, and so as such place be not within twenty miles of London, Westminster, or Edinburgh, or eight miles of any patent or licensed theatre, or ten miles of the residence of his Majesty, or within fourteen miles of either of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or within two miles of the limits of any city or town having peculiar jurisdiction, and so as no licence shall have been exercised at the same place within eight months next precedings: no licence shall be granted by the Justices to be exercised within any city, town, or place, having peculiar jurisdiction, unless proof shall be made that the majority of the Justices acting for such jurisdiction have at a public meeting signed their consent to the application, or unless a condition shall be inserted, that the same shall not be valid until it shall have been approved by the majority of the Justices of such jurisdiction, at a meeting held for the purpose; and no licence shall be granted within any city, town, or place, unless three weeks notice shall have been given to the Mayor, Bailiff, or other chief civil officer, of the intention to apply for a licence ".

Stat. 5 GEO. IV. Cap. 83.

The two first sections repeal the former statutes upon the subject; the third section enacts, that the several persons therein minutely specified shall be deemed idle and disorderly persons within the meaning of the Act; and that any Justice of the Peace may commit the offender, being convicted by his own view, or upon confession, or the oath of one or more witnesses, to hard labour for a month *.

The fourth section enacts, that every person committing the offences mentioned in the former section, after having been convicted as idle and disorderly persons, and numerous other persons guilty of the offences or practices therein specified, shall be deemed rogues and vagabonds within the Act, and may upon proof be committed to hard labour for three months y.

The fifth section enacts, that the several persons guilty x * p. 400.

s. 1.

8. 2. u s. 3.

p. 401.