Embezzlement of Public Stores Act 1800
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1800 c. 89 |
(39 & 40 Geo. 3) C A P. LXXXIX.
[28th July 1800]
'WHEREAS by an Actof Parliament made and passed in the twenty-second Year of the Reign of KingCharles the Second, intituled, An Act for taking away the Benefit of Clergy from such as steal Cloth from the Rack, and from such as shall steal or embezzle his Majesty's Ammunition and Stores , it is amongst other Things enacted, That no Person or Persons who shall feloniously steal or embezzle any of his Majesty's Sails, Cordage, or any other of his Majesty's Naval Stores, to the Value of twenty Shillings, and be thereupon found guilty in Manner therein mentioned, shall be admitted to have the Benefit of his or their Clergy, but utterly be excluded thereof, and shall suffer Death in such Manner and Form as they should if they were no Clerks: And whereas by an Act of Parliament made and passed in the ninth and tenth Years of the Reign of King William the Third, intituled, An Act for the better preventing the Embezzlement of his Majesty's Stores of War, and preventing Cheats, Frauds, and Abuses in paying Seamen's Wages, a Penalty of two hundred Pounds, with Costs of Prosecution, is inflicted upon Persons in whole Custody, Possession, or Keeping, shall be found, or who shall conceal contrary to the said Act any Warlike, Naval, or Ordnance Stores, marked in such Manner as therein mentioned: And whereas by another Act of Parliament made and passed in the ninth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the First, intituled, An Act for continuing same Laws and reviving others therein mentioned, for exempting Apothecaries from serving Parish and Ward Offices and upon Juries, and relating to Jurors, and to the Payment of Seamen's Wages, and the Preservation of Naval Stores and Stores of War, and concerning the Militia and Trophy Money, and against clandestine Running of Uncustomed Goods, and for the more effectual preventing Frauds relating to the Customs, and Frauds in mixing Silks with Stuffs to be exported, it is enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall be lawfully convicted of having in his, her, or their Custody, or of concealing, any Timber, Thick Stuff, or Plank, marked with the Broad Arrow, by Stamp, Brand, or otherwise, every such Person shall suffer, forfeit, and pay as for having, keeping, or concealing any other Warlike, Naval, or Ordnance Stores, contrary to the said Act of the ninth and tenth Years of KingWilliam the Third; and by the said last recited Act Power is given to the Judge, Justice or Justices before whom any Offender shall be convicted of any of the Crimes or Offences before recited, to mitigate the Penalty for the same as he or they shall see Cause, or to punish such Offence corporally, by causing him, her, or them to be publickly whipt or committed to some Publick Workhouse, there to be kept to hard Labour for the Space of six Months, or a less Time, as to such Judge, Justice or Justices, in his or their Discretion shall seem meet: And whereas by another Act of Parliament, made and passed in the seventeenth Year of the Reign of King George the Second, intituled, An Act to continue the several Laws therein mentioned, for preventing Theft and Rapine on the Northern Borders of England, for the more effectual punishing wicked and evil-disposed Persons going armed in Disguise, and doing Injuries and Violences to the Persons and Properties of his Majesty's Subjects, and for the more speedy bringing the Offenders to Justice; for continuing two Clauses to prevent the cutting or breaking down the Bank of any River or Sea Bank; and to prevent the malicious cutting of Hop Binds, and for the more effectual Punishment of Persons maliciously setting on Fire any Mine, Pit, or Delph of Coal or Cannel Coal; and of Persons unlawfully bunting, or taking any Red or Fallow Deer in Forests or Chaces, or beating or wounding the Keepers or other Officers in Forests, Chaces, or Parks; and for granting a Liberty to carry Sugars of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any of his Majesty's Sugar Colonies in America, from the said Colonies directly to foreign Parts in Ships built in Great Britain, and navigated according to Law; and to explain two Acts relating to the Prosecution of Offenders for embezzling Naval Stares or Stores of War; and to prevent the retailing of Wine within either of the Universities in that Part of Great Britain called England, without Licence; it is amongst other Things declared and enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Judge, Justice or Justices at the Assizes, or Justices of the Peace at General Quarter Sessions to be holden as therein mentioned, to hear, try, and determine, by Indictment or otherwise, all or any of the Crimes or Offences mentioned in the therein and herein recited Acts of the ninth and tenth Years of the Reign of KingWilliam the Third, and the ninth Year of the Reign of King George the First; and that the said Judge, Justice or Justices of Assize, or Justices of the Peace, may impose any Fine not exceeding the Sum of two hundred Pounds on such Offender or Offenders, and may mitigate the said Penalty and Forfeitures inflicted by the said recited Acts or either of them, or in lieu thereof punish such Offender or Offenders in the Premises corporally, by causing him, her, or them to be publickly whipt and committed to some House of Correction or publick Workhouse, there to be kept to hard Labour for the Space of three Months, or less Time, as to such Judge, Justice or Justices of Assize, or Justices of the Peace, shall in his or their Discretion seem meet: And whereas notwithstanding the Penalties and Punishments inflicted by the said recited Acts, the Stealers, Embezzlers, and Receivers of his Majesty's Warlike and Naval Ordnance and Victualling Stores have greatly increased, so that it has become necessary to make some further and mere effectual Provision for preventing their wicked Practices in future:' Be it therefore 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 passing of this Act, every Person or Persons (such Person or Persons not being a Contractor or Contractors, or employed as in the said recited Act of the ninth and tenth Years of the Reign of KingWilliam the Third is mentioned,) who shall willingly or knowingly sell or deliver, or cause or procure to be sold or delivered, to any Person or Persons whomsoever, or who shall willingly or knowingly receive or have in his, her, or their Custody, Possession, or Keeping, any Stores of War, or Naval, Ordnance, or Victualling Stores, or any Goods whatsoever marked as in the said recited Acts are expressed, or any Canvas marked either with a blue Streak in the Middle, or with a blue Streak in a serpentine Form, or any Bewper, otherwise called Buntin , wrought with one or more Streaks of raised Tape (the said Stores of War, or Naval, Ordnance, or Victualling Stores or Goods above mentioned, or any of them, being in a raw or unconverted State, or being new or not more than one third worn), and such Person or Persons who shall conceal such Stores or Goods, or any of them, marked as aforesaid, shall be deemed Receivers of Stolen Goods knowing them to have been stolen, and shall, on being convicted thereof in due Form of Law, be transported beyond the Seas for the Term of fourteen Years, in like Manner as other Receivers of Stolen Goods are directed to be transported by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, unless such Person or Persons shall upon his, her, or their Trial, produce a Certificate under the Hands of three or more of his Majesty's Principal Officers or Commissioners of the Navy, Ordnance, or Victualling, expressing the Numbers, Quantities, or Weights of such Stores or Goods, as he, she, or they shall then be indicted for, and the Occasion and Reason of such Stores or Goods coming to his, her, or their Hands or Possession.
II Persons in whose Custody shall be found Canvas or Buntin marked as herein mentioned \(not being charged to be new, or not more than one third worn), and Persons who shall be convicted of any Offence contrary to so much of the recited Act of 9 & 10 Gul. 3. as relates to warlike Stores, shall, besides the Forfeiture thereby imposed, suffer corporal Punishment. Penalty of 200 l. may be mitigated.
II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That such Person or Persons (not being a Contractor or Contractors, or employed as aforesaid), in whose Custody, Possession, or Keeping any of the said Stores calledCanvas , marked with a blue Streak in a serpentine Form, or Bewper, otherwise called Buntin , wrought as above-mentioned, shall be found, (such Canvas or Bewper, otherwise called Buntin , not being charged to be new, or not more than one-third worn,) and all and every Person and Persons who shall be convicted of any Offence contrary to so much of the said recited Act of the ninth and tenth Years of the Reign of King William the Third, as relates to the making, or the having in Possession or concealing any of his Majesty's Warlike, or Naval, or Ordnance Stores, marked as therein specified, shall, besides forfeiting such Stores, and the Sum of two hundred Pounds, together with Costs of Suit as therein mentioned, be corporally punished by Pillory, Whipping, and Imprisonment, or by any or either...
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