Moneylenders Act 1927
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1927 c. 21 |
| Year | 1927 |
Moneylenders Act, 1927
(17 & 18 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 21.
An Act to amend the Law with respect to persons carrying on business as Moneylenders.
[29th July 1927]
B E 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, as follows:—
1 Licences to be taken out by moneylenders.
(1) Every moneylender, whether carrying on business alone or as a partner in a firm, shall take out annually in respect of every address at which he carries on his business as such, an excise licence (in this Act referred to as ‘a moneylender's excise licence’), which shall expire on the thirty-first day of July in every year, and, subject as hereinafter provided, there shall be charged on every moneylender's excise licence an excise duty of fifteen pounds, or if the licence be taken out not more than six months before the expiration thereof, of ten pounds.
Provided that—
(a ) the duty charged on any moneylender's excise licence which will expire on the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, shall, notwithstanding that the licence may be taken out more than six months before the expiration thereof, be a duty of ten pounds; and
(b ) where moneylender's excise licences are taken out by two or more moneylenders in respect of any address or addresses at which they carry on their business as partners in a firm, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise shall remit, or if the duty has been paid repay, to the firm a sum equal to the aggregate of the duties charged on such number of the licences taken out as exceeds the number of the addresses in respect of which they are taken out; and
(c ) where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise that there is in force a licence for carrying on the business of a pawnbroker at any premises in respect of which a moneylender's excise licence is taken out by the person carrying on the business, the Commissioners shall remit, or if the duty has been paid repay, to that person such part of the duty charged on the moneylender's excise licence as is equal to the amount of the duty paid in respect of the licence for carrying on the business of a pawnbroker, or where in any such case moneylender's excise licences are taken out by partners in a firm in respect of the premises, the remission or repayment shall be made to the firm.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, moneylenders' excise licences shall be in such form as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may direct, and shall be granted on payment of the appropriate duty by any officer of Customs and Excise authorised by the Commissioners to grant them, and regulations made by the said Commissioners may make provision as to the procedure to be followed in making application for moneylenders' excise licences:
Provided that a moneylender's excise licence shall be taken out by a moneylender in his true name, and shall be void if it be taken out in any other name, but every moneylender's excise licence shall also show the moneylender's authorised name and authorised address.
(3) If any person—
(a ) takes out a moneylender's excise licence in any name other than his true name; or
(b ) carries on business as a moneylender without having in force a proper moneylender's excise licence authorising him so to do, or, being licensed as a moneylender, carries on business as such in any name other than his authorised name, or at any other place than his authorised address or addresses; or
(c ) enters into any agreement in the course of his business as a moneylender with respect to the advance or repayment of money, or takes any security for money, in the course of his business as a moneylender, otherwise than in his authorised name;
he shall be guilty of a contravention of the provisions of this Act and shall for each offence be liable to an excise penalty of one hundred pounds:
Provided that, on a second or subsequent conviction of any person (other than a company) for an offence under this subsection, the court may, in lieu of or in addition to ordering the offender to pay the penalty aforesaid, order him to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, and an offender being a company shall on a second or subsequent conviction be liable to an excise penalty of five hundred pounds.
2 Certificate required for grant of moneylender's excise licence.
(1) A moneylender's excise licence shall not be granted except to a person who holds a certificate granted in accordance with the provisions of this section authorising the grant of the licence to that person, and a separate certificate shall be required in respect of every separate licence. Any moneylender's excise licence granted in contravention of this section shall be void.
(2) Certificates under this section (in this Act referred to as ‘certificates’) shall be granted by the petty sessional court having jurisdiction in the petty sessional division in which the moneylender's business is to be carried on, so, however, that within any part of the metropolitan police district for which a police court is established, a certificate shall not be granted except by a police magistrate.
(3) Every certificate granted to a moneylender shall show his true name and the name under which, and the address at which, he is authorised by the certificate to carry on business as such, and a certificate shall not authorise a moneylender to carry on business at more than one address, or under more than one name, or under any name which includes the word ‘bank,’ or otherwise implies that he carries on banking business, and no certificate shall authorise a moneylender to carry on business under any name except—
(a ) his true name; or
(b ) the name of a firm in which he is a partner, not being a firm required by the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916 , to be registered; or
(c ) a business name, whether of an individual or of a firm in which he is a partner, under which he or the firm has, at the passing of this Act, been registered for not less than three years both as a moneylender under the Moneylenders Act, 1900 , and under the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916.
(4) A certificate shall come into force on the date specified therein, and shall expire on the next following thirty-first day of July.
(5) A Secretary of State shall make rules with respect to the procedure to be followed in making applications for certificates (including the notices to be given of intention to make such an application), and certificates shall be in such form as may be prescribed by rules so made.
(6) A certificate shall not be refused except on some one or more of the following grounds—
(a ) that satisfactory evidence has not been produced of the good character of the applicant, and in the case of a company of the persons responsible for the management thereof;
(b ) that satisfactory evidence has been produced that the applicant, or any person responsible or proposed to be responsible for the management of his business as a moneylender, is not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate;
(c ) that the applicant, or any person responsible or proposed to be responsible for the management of his business as a moneylender, is by order of a court disqualified for holding a certificate;
(d ) that the applicant has not complied with the provisions of any rules made under this section with respect to applications for certificates.
(7) Any person aggrieved by the refusal of a petty sessional court to grant a certificate may appeal to a court of quarter sessions in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts as if the refusal were an order of a court of summary jurisdiction.
3 Suspension and forfeiture of moneylenders' certificates.
(1) Where any person, being the holder of a certificate, is convicted of any offence under this Act or under section two or four of the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act, 1892 , or the Moneylenders Act, 1900, the court—
(a ) may order that any certificates held by that person, and in the case of a partner in a firm by any other partner in the firm, shall either be suspended for such time as the court thinks fit, or shall be forfeited, and may also, if the court thinks fit, declare any such person, or any person responsible for the management of the moneylending business carried on by the person convicted, to be disqualified for obtaining a certificate for such time as the court thinks fit; and
(b ) shall cause particulars of the conviction and of any order made by the court under this subsection to be endorsed on every certificate held by the person convicted or by any other person affected by the order, and shall cause copies of those particulars to be sent to the authority by whom any certificate so endorsed was granted, and to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise:
Provided that, where by order of a court a certificate held by any person is suspended or forfeited, or any person is disqualified for obtaining a certificate, he may, whether or not he is the person convicted, appeal against the order in the same manner as any person convicted may appeal against his conviction, and the court may, if it thinks fit, pending the appeal, defer the operation of the order.
(2) Any certificate required by a court for endorsement in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section shall be produced, in such manner and within such time as may be directed by the court, by the person by whom it is held, and any person who, without reasonable cause, makes default in producing any certificate so required...
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