Stamps Act 1710
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1710 c. 23 |
| Year | 1710 |
(9 Ann.) C A P. XXIII. (16)
M A Y it please your most Excellent Majesty; We your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Subjects, the Commons ofGreat Britain , in Parliament assembled, being desirous to raise the necessary Supplies for enabling your Majesty to carry on the present War, and for other your Majesty's frequent Occasions, have therefore given and granted, and do by this Actgive and grant unto your Majesty the several Revenues, Rates, Duties, and Sums of Money herein after mentioned, and do beseech your Majesty, that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the Queen'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 it shall and may be lawful to and for her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, under the GreatSeal ofGreat Britain , from time to time, to nominate, authorize, and appoint, any Person or Persons, not exceeding five in Number, at any one Time, to be Commissioners for regulating and licensing, from time to time, all Hackney Coaches, which from and after the four and twentieth Day of June in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, at any Time or Times within or during the Term of thirty-two Years from thence next and immediately ensuing, shall be permitted to be driven for Hire, or kept, within the Cities of London and Westminster , and the Suburbs thereof, and within all and every the Parishes and Places comprized within the Weekly Bills of Mortality, in such Manner as is herein after directed; which said Commissioners to be appointed, as aforesaid, shall, from time to time, put in Execution the several Powers and Authorities herein after mentioned by such Commissioners to be done, executed, or performed.
II Commissioners to license 800 such Coaches, from 24 June 1715. for 32 Years; made perpetual by 3 Geo. 1. c. 7. ∥. 1.
II. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioners which shall be so appointed, shall have Power and Authority, and are hereby impowered and required, under their Hands and Seals, or under the Hands and Seals of the major Part of them, from time to time, to license all such Persons, who from and after the said four and twentieth Day ofJune one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, at any Time or Times within or during the said Term of thirty-two Years, shall drive or keep any Hackney Coach or Coach Horses within the Cities of London and Westminster , or the Suburbs of the same, or within the Parishes comprized within the Weekly Bills of Mortality; and the Number of all Hackney Coaches so to be licensed, shall not, at any one Time, within or during the said Term, exceed eight hundred; and upon every of the said Licences, there shall be reserved and made payable unto her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, the Weekly Sumof five Shillings of lawful Money ofGreat Britain , to be paid monthly from the Commencement of every such Licence, during the Continuance thereof respectively without any Deduction or Abatement for any Matter, Cause, or Thing whatsoever, with such Covenants, Conditions, and Provisoes therein to be inserted, for the more effectual Payment thereof, as the said Commissioners, in their Discretions, shall think fit.
III And 200 Hackney Chairs; made perpetual by 3 Geo. 1. c. 7. ∥. 1.
III. And it is hereby enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Commissioners for licensing and regulating Hackney Coaches now being, and the Commissioners for licensing and regulating Hackney Coaches for the time being, or the major Part of them, shall have Power and Authority, and are hereby impowered and required, under their Hands and Seals, or the Hands and Seals of the major Part of them, to license all such HackneyChairs, which from and after the four and twentieth Day ofJune one thousand seven hundred and eleven, at any Time or Times within or during the Term of thirty-two Years from thence next and immediately ensuing, shall be kept and used for Hire, within the said Cities of London and Westminster , and the Suburbs thereof, and within all and every the Parishes and Places comprized within the Weekly Bills of Mortality; and that the Number of all such Chairs so to be licensed, shall not at any one Time, within or during the Term last-mentioned, exceed two hundred; and upon every one of the said Licences, so to be granted, for keeping and using for Hire an Hackney Chair, there shall be reserved and payable to her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, the annual Sum of ten Shillings of lawful Money of , to be paid quarterly, at the four most usual Feasts in the Year, by equal Portions, during the Continuance of every such Licence for a Chair, with such Covenants, Provisoes, and Conditions, for the more effectual Paymentthereof, as the said Commissioners, in their Discretions, shall think fit and reasonable; the first of the said quarterly Payments to begin and to be made at such of the said Feast Days as shall next happen after the granting of every such Licencefor a Chair respectively.
IV. And be it further enacted, That from and after the said four and twentieth Day ofJune which shall be in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifteen, during the said Term of two and thirty Yearsfrom thence next ensuing, no Person or Persons shall presume to drive, or lett to Hire, by the Hour or Day, or otherwise, any Hackney Coach, or Coach Horses, within the Cities ofLondon or Westminster , or Suburbs of the same, or within the Parishes or Places comprized within the Bills of Mortality, without such Leave or Licence first obtained from the said Commissioners, as aforesaid; upon Pain to forfeit, for every such Offence, the Sum of five Pounds; and that from and after the said four and twentieth Day ofJune one thousand seven hundred and eleven, during the said Term of thirty-two Years from thence next ensuing, no Person or Persons shall presume to carry for Hire, in any Hackney or common Chair, any Person or Persons whatsoever, within the Cities of London or Westminster , or the Suburbs of the same, or within any of the Parishes or Places comprized within the Weekly Bills of Mortality, without such Licence to be first obtained for so doing from the said Commissioners, as aforesaid, upon Pain to forfeit, for every such Offence, the Sum of forty Shillings; and that no Horse, Gelding, or Mare, to be used with any Hackney Coach, shall be under the Size of fourteen Hands high, according to the Standard; and that every Coach and Chair respectively, so licensed, shall have a Mark of Distinction, by Figure or otherwise, as the said Commissionersshall think fit, and the said Mark shall be placed on each Side of every such Coach and Chair respectively, in the most convenient Manner to be taken Notice of, to the end that they may be known, if any Complaints shall be made of them; and that if any Person shall be licensed to keep more than one Hackney Coach, or more than one Hackney Chair at the same Time, every one of them shall have several Figures or Marks of Distinction, in the same Manner as if they did belong to several Persons; and that no Person shall put the same Figure or Mark of Distinction upon his Coach or Chair that is appointed for any other Coach or Chair, or shall blot out, obliterate, alter, or deface the Figure or Mark of Distinction appointed by the said Commissioners for his Coach or Chair, under the Forfeiture of five Pounds for every of the Offences last-mentioned; one Moiety whereof shall be to the Informer, and the other Moietyto the Use of her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors; and the said Commissioners for regulating and licensing Coaches and Chairs, are hereby required, in the first Place, to license all such Persons as have been ancient Coachmen, or ancient Chairmen, or the Widows of any of them, unless they shall neglect or refuse to take such Licences upon the respective Terms hereby allowed, within a reasonable Time to be limited by the said Commissioners, not less than twenty Days.
V Commissioners not to license above 800 Coaches, and 200 Chairs.
V. And be it further enacted, That if any Commissioner so appointed, shall grant Licences for more than the Number of eight hundred Hackney Coaches, or two hundred Chairs, to be in being at any one and the same Time, he shall forfeit, for every such Offence, one hundred Pounds, to be prosecuted and recovered by any Person who will sue for the same, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of her Majesty's Courts of Record atWestminster , in which no Essoin, Protection, Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlance shall be granted or allowed.
VI Rates of Hackney Coaches.
VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Hackney Coachman so to be licensed in pursuance of this Act, nor the Driver of such Coach, shall presume to take for his Hire, in and about the Cities ofLondon and Westminster , or within ten Miles thereof, above the Rates of ten Shillings for a Day...
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