Militia Act 1796
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(37 Geo. 3) C A P. XXII.
[30th December 1796]
'WHEREAS it is expedient that an Act, passed in the present Session of Parliament, intituled, , should be explained and amended, in the Particulars after mentioned: 'May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and 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 the Justices of the Peace for any County, Riding, Division, or Place, within their respective Jurisdictions, shall have and are hereby vested with full Power and Authority, to carry the said Act into Execution in the like Manner and as fully and effectually as they are authorized to carry into Execution an Act passed in the twenty-sixth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled,An Act for amending and reducing into one Act of Parliament, the Laws relating to the Militia in that Part of Great Britain called England, or any other Act relating to the Militia; and that in all Cases where Deputy Lieutenants are empowered by the said Act passed in the present Session of Parliament, or this Act, to act in the Execution thereof at any Sub-division Meeting, any Justice of the Peace of the same County, Riding, or Place, together with one Deputy Lieutenant, may execute the several Matters and Things required to be done at such Meeting, as effectually as two or more Deputy Lieutenants of such County, Riding, or Place.
II Supplementary Militia Men not to be required to swear they are Protestants, and the Person administering the Oath to omit those Words.
II. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said Act of the present Session of Parliament as requires every Person, previously to his being enrolled, or permitted to serve, in the Supplementary Militia of any County, Riding, or Place, to swear that he is a Protestant, shall be and is hereby repealed; and that it shall be lawful for the Person or Persons authorized to administer the Oath prescribed by the said Act of the present Session of Parliament, and he and they is and are hereby required in every Case in administering the same, to omit the following Words,videlicet : 'And I do swear, that I am a Protestant.'
III Where 26 Geo. III. Cap 107, has not been put into Execution, because a Return of Men liable to be ballotted has not been made, or where Duplicates of such Lists have not been made out, the Powers of the Act of the present Session may be executed at any Meeting after passing this Act, in such Manner that the Supplementary Militia may be raised without Delay.
III. And be it further enacted, That if in any County, Riding, or Place, or in any Sub-division thereof, it shall have happened that the Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace, Constables, or other Peace Officers, have omitted to put the said Act of the twenty-sixth Year aforesaid, into Execution, by reason that a due Return of the Annual Lists of Men liable to be ballotted into the Militia raised by virtue of the said last mentioned Act was not made, or not ordered to be made, on the Day or in the Manner directed by the said last mentioned Act, so that the said Act, passed in the present Session of Parliament, cannot be duly executed for Want of such Returns; or if such Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, or Justices of the Peace respectively, have omitted to put the Act of the present Session into Execution, by neglecting to make out Duplicates of such Lists which have been returned to them, according to the said last mentioned Act, or have been prevented from making out the same; it shall and may be lawful for the Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, and Justices of the Peace respectively, to execute the Powers contained in the said Act passed the present Session of Parliament at any Meeting to be held after the passing of this Act, whether the Purposes to be executed at such Meeting shall have Relation to the Militia raised under the said Act of the twenty-sixth Year aforesaid, and to the said Supplementary Militia to be raised under the said Acts of the present Session, jointly, or to either of the said Acts separately, or to meet for that Purpose at any other Time or Times after the passing of this Act, and from Time or Time, as there shall be Occasion; and they are hereby respectively authorized and required, as soon as conveniently may be, to meet and to execute the Powers contained in the said Act passed in the present Session, in such Manner that the said Supplementary Militia may be raised without Delay: And it shall be lawful for such Deputy Lieutenants and Justices so met, to proceed to execute the said Act on the Returns already made for the Purpose aforesaid; or where no such Returnsshall have been made, or the same shall have been lost or destroyed, to order fresh Lists to be made out and returned, as there shall be Occasion; and where Lists have been returned, and any Exemption shall have been claimed, and erroneously, or contrary to this Act, allowed, it shall be lawful for the said Deputy Lieutenants and Justices respectively, and they are hereby required to amend the Duplicate of such Lists, according to the true Intent and Meaning of the said Act of the present Session of Parliament, and of this Act; and (where there shall be Occasion) to order and direct a fresh Ballot to be taken; and all Acts which might lawfully have been done at any Meeting held on the Days mentioned in the said Act of the twenty-sixth Year aforesaid, and which shall have been done at any other Meeting held under the said Act, shall be as valid and effectual as if the same Acts had been done on the Days and in the Manner directed by the said Acts, or either of them; and all such Meetings to be held after the passing of this Act, for the Purpose of carrying into Effect the Proceedings of former Meetings, or of supplying any Defect or Omission in such Proceedings, or of rectifying the same, or of further carrying the said Act of the present Session into Execution, and all Acts to be done at such Meetings to be held after the passing of this Act, pursuant in all Respects to the Directions of the said Acts, or either of them, (except as to the Time of doing the same,) shall be, and are hereby declared to be valid and effectual, notwithstanding any such former Defect, Omission, or Error as aforesaid; and all Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, and Justices of the Peace, who have omitted to carry, or have been hindered from carrying the said Act of the present Session into Execution, according to the Directions thereof, or shall have executed the same erroneously, by allowing any Exemption contrary to the Intent thereof, or of this Act, and who shall at any other Time or Times have met and executed the same, or who shall meet and execute the same according to the Directions of this Act, shall be and are hereby indemnified, freed, and discharged, from and against all Penalties and Damages, and against all Actions and Prosecutions whatsoever, incurred or to be incurred by reason of any Neglect, Omission, or Hindrance as aforesaid; and all Constables and other Officers are hereby also indemnified, freed, and discharged, from all Penalties and Damages, and against all Actions and Prosecutions incurred or to be incurred for any Act done or to be done by them in pursuance of any Order or Orders of the Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, or Justices of the Peace, made or to be made pursuant in all other Respects to the Directions of the said Acts, except as to the Time of making the same; and none of his or their Acts shall be questioned or avoided by reason of the same respectively.
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