Offences Against Customs or Excise Act 1745
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1745 c. 34 |
| Year | 1745 |
(19 Geo. 2) C A P. XXXIV.
'WHEREAS divers dissolute Persons have associated themselves, and entered into Confederacies to support one another, and have appeared in great Gangs in several Parts of this Kingdom, carrying Fire-arms, or other offensive Weapons; and when so assembled, have been aiding and assisting in running, landing or carrying away prohibited or uncustomed Goods, or Goods liable to Dutiesof Excise, or in the illegal relanding of any Goods or Merchandizes, which have been shipped or exported upon Debenture or Certificate, or in rescuing the same after Seizure, or in obstructing the Officers of the Revenue in the Execution of their Office, to the great Discouragement of the fair Trader, and the Loss of the Publick Revenue: And whereas several Officers of the Customs and Excise, and their Assistants, have been wounded, maimed, and some of them killed, when in the Excutionof their Officeor otherwise, by the said dissolute Persons, so associated and assembled as aforesaid, to the great Terror of his Majesty's peaceable Subjects, in Defiance of the Laws, and to the utter Subversionof all Civil Authority and Power whatsoever:' For Remedy of which many and great Inconveniencies,be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the LordsSpiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That if any Persons, to the Number of Three or more, armed with Fire-armsor other offensive Weapons, shall, from and after the twenty-fourth Day ofJuly in the Yearof our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-six, be assembled, in order to be aiding and assisting in the illegalExportation of Wooll or other Goods prohibited to be exported, or the carrying of Woollor other such Goods, in order to such Exportation, or in the running, landing or carrying away prohibited or uncustomed Goods, or Goods liable to pay any Duties, which have not been paid or secured; or in the illegal relanding of any Goods whatsoever, which have been shipped or exported upon Debentureor Certificate; or in rescuing or taking away the same, after Seizure, from any Officer or Officers of the Customs or Excise, or other his Majesty's Revenue, or other Person or Persons employed by him or them, or assisting him or them, or from the Place where they shall be lodged by him or them; or in rescuing any Person who shall be apprehended for any of the Offences made Felony by this or any other Act, relating to the Revenues of Customs or Excise; or in preventing the apprehending any Personwho shall be guilt of any such Offence; or in case any Persons, to the Number of three or more, so armed as aforesaid, shall, after the said twenty-fourth Day ofJuly , be so aiding or assisting, or if any Person shall, from and after the said twenty-fourth Day of July aforesaid, have his Face blacked, or wear any Vizard, Mask or other Disguise when passing with such Goods, or shall forcibly hinder, obstruct, assault, oppose or resist any of the Officers of the Customs or Excise, or other his Majesty's Revenue, in the seizing or securing any such Goods; or if any Person or Persons, from and after the said twenty-fourth Day of July in the Year aforesaid, shall maim or dangerously wound any Officer of the Customs or Excise, or any other his Majesty's Revenue, in his attempting to go on Board any Ship or Vessel within the Limits of any of the Ports of this Kingdom, or shoot at, maim or dangerously wound him when on Board such Ship or Vessel, and in the due Execution of his Office or Duty, then every Person so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of Felony, and shall suffer Death as in Cases of Felony without Benefit of Clergy; and that all and every Person and Persons, who shall at any Time be convicted of any the Offences aforementioned, within that PartofGreat Britain called Scotland , shall, for every such Offence, incur and suffer the Pains of Death and Confiscation of Moveables.
II Persons charged upon Oath with Offences against this Act,
II. And, for the more easy and speedy bringing the Offenders against this Act to Justice, Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person or Persons shall be charged with being guilty of any of the Offences aforesaid, before any one or more of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, or before one of his Majesty's Justices of the Court ofKing's Bench , if the Offence be committed in England ; or before the Lord Justice General, or one of the Lords of Justiciary, or any one or more of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in Scotland , if the Offence be committed in Scotland ; by Information of one or more credible Person or Persons upon Oath, by him or them to be subscribed, such Justiceof the Peace, or Justice of theKing's Bench , or Lord Justice General, Lord Justice Clerk, or Lord of Justiciary respectively, before whom such Information shall be made as aforesaid, shall forthwith certify under his Hand and Seal, and return such Information to one of the Principal Secretaries of State of his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, who is hereby required to lay the same, as soon as conveniently may be, before his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, in his or their Privy Council; whereupon it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, to make his or their Order, in his or their said Privy Council, thereby requiring and commanding such Offenderor Offenders to surrender him or themselves within the Space of forty Days after the first Publication thereof in theLondon Gazette , to the Lord Chief Justice, or any other of his Majesty's Justices of the Court of King's Bench , or to any one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, if the Offence be committed in England ; or to any of the Lords of Justiciary, or to any one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in Scotland , if the Offence be committed in Scotland ; who is hereby required, upon such Offender or Offenders surrendering him or themselves, to commit him or them, without Bailor Mainprize, to the County Gaol, or to the Gaol or Prison of the Place, where he or they shall so surrender, to the end that he or they may be forth-coming to answer the Offence or Offences wherewith he or they shall stand charged according to due Course of Law; which Orderthe Clerks of his Majesty's Privy Council shall cause to be forthwith printed and published in the two successiveLondon Gazettes , and to be forthwith transmitted to the Sheriff of the County where the Offence shall be committed, who shall, within fourteen Days after the Receipt thereof, cause the same to be proclaimed between the Hours of ten in the Morning, and two in the Afternoon, in the Market-places, upon the respective Market-days of two Market Towns in the same County, near to the Place where such Offence shall have been committed; and a true Copy of such Order shall be affixed upon some publick Place in such Market-towns: And in case such Offenderor Offenders shall not surrender him or themselves, pursuant to such Order of his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, to be made in Council as aforesaid, he or they so neglecting or refusing to surrender him or themselves as aforesaid, or escaping after such Surrender, shall, from the Day appointed for his or their Surrender as aforesaid, be adjudged, deemed and taken to be convicted and attainted of Felony, and shall suffer Pains of Death, as in Cases of a Person convicted and attainted by Verdictand Judgment of Felony, without Benefit of Clergy, if the Offence be charged to have been committed inEngland ; and shall be adjudged, deemed and taken to be convicted of a Capital Crime, and shall suffer the Pains of Death, and Confiscation of Moveables, as in Caseof a Person found guilty of a Capital Crime, and under Sentence for the same, if the Offence be charged to have been committed inScotland ; and that it shall be lawful to and for the Court of King's Bench , or the Justices of Oyer and Terminer , or General Gaol Delivery for the County or Place where such Person shall be, to award Execution against such Offender and Offenders, in such Manner as if he or they had been convicted and attainted in the said Court of King's Bench , or before such Justices of Oyer and Terminer , or General Gaol Delivery respectively, if the Offence be charged to have been committed in England ; and that it shall be lawful for the Court of Justiciary, or the Lords of Justiciary, in their Circuits, to award Execution against such Offender and Offenders, in such Manner as if he or they had been found guilty and condemned in the said Court of Justiciary, or in the Circuit respectively.
III Persons harbouring, &c. Offenders after the Time appointed for their Surrender.
III. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Person and Persons...
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