Obtaining Money by False Pretences, etc. Act 1757
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1757 c. 24 |
| Year | 1757 |
(30 Geo. 2) C A P. XXIV.
'WHEREAS divers evil-disposed Persons, to support their profligate way of Life, have by various subtle Stratagems, Threats and Devices, fraudulently obtained divers Sums of Money, Goods, Wares and Merchandizes, to the great Injury of industrious Families, and to the manifest Prejudice of Trade and Credit;' Therefore for the punishing all such Offenders, 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 from and after the twenty-ninth Day ofSeptember one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, all Personwho knowingly and designedly, by false Pretence or Pretences, shall obtain from any Person or Persons, Money, Goods, Wares or Merchandizes, with Intent to cheat or defraud any Person or Persons of the same; or shall knowingly send or deliver any Letter or Writing, with or without a Name or Names subscribed thereto, or signed with a fictitious Name or Names, Letter or Letters, threatning to accuse any Person of any Crime punishable by Law with Death, Transportation, Pillory or any other infamous Punishment, with a View or Intent to extort or gain Money, Goods, Wares or Merchandizes from the Person or Persons so threatened to be accused, shall be deemed Offenders against Law and the Publick Peace; and the Court before whom such Offender or Offendersshall be tried, shall in case he, she or they shall be convicted of any of the said Offences, order such Offender or Offenders to be fined and imprisoned, or to be put in the Pillory, or publickly whipped, or to be transported, as soon as conveniently may be (according to the Laws made for Transportation of Felons) to some of his Majesty's Colonies or Plantations inAmerica , for the Term of seven Years, as the Court in which any such Offender or Offenders shall be convicted shall think fit and order.
II Where a Charge is made of any of the said Offences, Justice to enquire therein upon Oath,
II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That any Justice or Justices of the Peace of the County, Riding, Division, City, Liberty or Place, before whom any Person or Persons charged on Oath, by any credible Person or Persons, with having committed any of the Offences intended by this Act to be punished, shall be brought, shall examine by Oath (which Oath every such Justice or Justices is and are hereby impowered and required to administer) and such other lawful Means as to any such Justice or Justices shall seem meet, touching the Matters complained of, and deal with the Offender or Offenders according to Law; and if the Party or Parties charged as being the Offender or Offenders, shall be committed to Prison, or be admitted to Bail, to answer the Matters complained of at the next General or Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, or next Sessions ofOyer and Terminer , which shall be held for the County, Riding, Division, City, Liberty or Place wherein the Offence shall be charged on Oath to have been committed, then such Justice or Justices shall bind over the Prosecutor and Prosecutors of every such Offender and Offenders to appear at the next General or Quarter-Sessions of the Peace, or next Sessions of Oyer and Terminer which shall be held for the County, Riding, Division, City, Liberty or Place wherein the Offence shall be charged to have been committed, by Recognizance, in such reasonable Sum of Money as to such Justice or Justices shall seem requisite, to prosecute such Offender and Offenders with Effect; and if any Money, Goods, Wares or Merchandizesfraudulently obtained, shall appear to such Justice or Justices to exceed the Amount or Value of twenty Pounds, then the Recognizance to be taken in that Behalf from the Prosecutor or Prosecutors, shall be in not less than double the Amount or Value the same shall appear before any such Justice or Justices to be worth.
'III. And whereas divers of his Majesty's Subjects suffer great Inconveniences and frequent Losses, by Persons pawning or unlawfully disposing of the Goods and Chattels of others, and the Persons so pawning or unlawfully disposing of the Goods or Chattels of others, from the Meanness of their Circumstances, are seldom able to make Restitution or Recompence to the Parties injured, and the Laws now in Being are insufficient to punish such Offenders;' Be it therefore further enacted by the Authorityaforesaid, That from and after the said twenty-ninth Day ofSeptember one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, if any Person or Persons shall knowingly and designedly pawn or exchange, or unlawfully dispose of the Goods or Chattels of any other Person or Persons, not being employed or authorized by the Owner or Owners thereof so to do, and shall be thereof convicted by the Oath of any credible Witness or Witnesses, or by the Confession of the Person or Persons charged with such Offence, before any such Justice or Justices of the Peace as aforesaid (which Oath every such Justice as aforesaid is hereby impowered and required to administer) every such Offender shall, for every such Offence, forfeit the Sum of twenty Shillings; and in case the said Forfeiture shall not be forthwith paid, the Justice or Justices of the Peace as aforesaid, before whom such Conviction shall be had, shall commit the Party or Parties so convicted to the House of Correction, or some other publick Prison of the County, Riding, Division, City or Place wherein the Offender or Offenders shall reside or be convicted, there to remain and be kept to hard Labourfor the Space of fourteen Days, unless the said Forfeiture shall be sooner paid; and if within three Days before the Expiration of the said fourteen Days, the said Forfeiture shall not be paid, the said Justice or Justices is and are hereby required to order, upon the Application of the Prosecutor or Prosecutors, the Person or Persons so convicted to be publickly whipped in the House of Correction or Prison to which the Offender or Offenders shall be committed, or in some open publick Place of the City, Riding, Division, Town or Place wherein the Offence shall have been committed, as to such Justice or Justices shall seem proper; and the said respective Forfeitureswhen recovered, shall be applied towards making Satisfaction thereout to the Party or Parties injured, and defraying the Costs of the Prosecution, as shall be adjudged reasonable by the Justice or Justices before whom such Conviction shall be had; but if the Party or Parties injured shall decline to accept of such Satisfaction and Costs; or if there shall be any Overplus of the said respective Forfeitures, after making such Satisfaction, and paying such Costs as aforesaid, then such respective Forfeitures, or the Overplus thereof (as the Case shall happen) shall be paid and applied to and for the Use of the Poor of the Parish or Place where the Offence shall have been committed, and shall be paid to the Overseers of the Poor of such Parish for that Purpose.
IV Pawnbroker to make Entry of Goods pawned, pledged or exchanged,
IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Person and Persons who, from and after the twenty-ninth Day ofSeptember one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, shall take by way of Pawn, Pledge or Exchange, of or from any Person or Persons whomsoever, any Goods or Chattels, of what Kind soever the same shall be, shall forthwith enter or cause to be entered, in a fair or regular Manner, in a Book or Books to be kept for that Purpose, a Description of the Goods or Chattels which he, she or they shall receive in Pawn, Pledge, or Exchange; and also the Sum of Money advanced or paid thereon, with the Day of the Month and Year on which, and the Name and Place of Abode of the Person or Persons by whom such Goods or Chattels were so pawned, pledged or exchanged, and also the Name and Place of Abode of the Owner or Owners thereof, according to the Information of the Person pawning or pledging, or exchanging the same; and shall at the same Timegive a Duplicate or Copy thereof to the Person or Persons so pawning, pledging or exchanging the said Goods or Chattels, if required; for which the Person or Persons giving such Duplicate or Copy, shall be paid by the Person or Persons who shall so pawn, pledge or exchange such Goods or Chattels, the Sum of one Half-penny, on Goods and Chattels pawned for less than twenty Shillings; and one Penny on Goods or Chattels pawned for twenty Shillings, and not exceeding five Pounds; and for every such Duplicate upon Goods or Chattelspawned for any larger Sum, the Sum of two Pence and no more; and in Default of making such Entry, and giving such Duplicate or Copy, if required as aforesaid, he, she or they shall respectively for every Offence forfeit the Sum of five Pounds, to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Offender or Offenders, by Warrant under the Hand and Seal, or Hands and Seals of any Justice or Justices of the Peace of the County, Riding, Division, City, Liberty or Place where the Offence shall be committed; which respective Forfeitures when levied, shall be paid and applied to the Use of the Poor of the Parish or Place wherein the Offence shall be committed.
'V. And whereas it sometimes happens that the Goods or Chattels pledged and pawned as aforesaid, are spoiled and damaged, or...
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