Stealing of Lead, etc. Act 1756
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1756 c. 30 |
| Year | 1756 |
(29 Geo. 2) C A P. XXX.
'W H E R E A S the pernicious Practice of stealing Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal and Solder fixed to, or lying or being in or upon Houses, Outhouses, Mills, Warehouses, Workshops and other Buildings, Areas, Vaults, Yards, Gardens, Orchards or other Places; and also the stealing of such Materials from Ships, Barges, Lighters, Boats and other Vessels and Craft, upon navigable Rivers, in Ports of Entry or Discharge, Creeks and Docks belonging thereto, and also from off Wharfs, Keys and other Places, is become a great and notorious Evil, by reason of the Difficulty in apprehending and convicting the Thieves, and the still greater Difficulty of discovering and convicting the Buyers or Receivers thereof; which Buyers or Receivers are the principal Cause of the Commission of such Thefts; and in regard that the said Offences are committed in such close and clandestine Manner, that there can be no Witness or Witnesses to the same, but such who is or are Partakers of the Offence: And whereas if the Buyers and Receivers of Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder, knowing or having reasonable Cause to suspect the same to be stolen or unlawfully come by, were made original Offenders, and punishable independent of the Apprehension and Conviction of the Thief; and if the apprehending, prosecuting and convicting the Offenders in both Kinds were rendered more easy and speedy, it might more effectually tend to the Discovery and Suppression of the said Offences:' For Remedy whereof, 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 Parliamentassembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the first Day ofOctober one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, every Person who shall buy or receive any Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder, knowing the same to be unlawfully come by, or shall privately buy or receive any stolen Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder, by suffering any Door, Window or Shutter to be left open or unfastened between Sun-setting and Sun-rising for that Purpose, or shall buy or receive the same, or any of them, at any Time in any clandestine Manner from any Person or Persons whatsoever, shall, being thereof convicted by due Course of Law, although the principal Felon or Felonshas not or have not been convicted of stealing the same, be transported for fourteen Years to any of his Majesty's Colonies or Plantations inAmerica , according to the Laws in Force for the Transportation of Felons.
II Where there is Cause of Suspicion, Justice to issue a Search Warrant, and the Materials, and the Party with whom the same are found, to be carried before two Justices, &c. Party not accounting satisfactorily, deemed guilty of a Misdemeanor.
II. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for any one Justice of the Peace, upon Complaint made to him upon Oath by any credible Persons, that there is cause to suspect stolen Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder is concealed in any Dwelling-house, Out-house, Yard, Garden or other Place or Places, by Warrant under his Hand and Seal, to cause every such Dwelling-house, Out-house, Yard, Garden and Place to be searched in the Day-time; and if any Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder, suspected to be stolen, shall be found therein, to cause the same, and the Person or Persons in whose House, Out-house, Yard, Garden or other Place the same shall be found, to be brought before any two or more Justices of the Peace for the same County, City, Riding, Division, Liberty or Place; and if the said Person or Persons shall not give an Account, to the Satisfaction of such Justices, how he, she or they came by the same; or shall not, within some convenient Time to be set by the said Justices, produce the Party or Parties of or from whom he, she or they bought or received such stolen Lead, Iron, Copper, Brass, Bell-metal or Solder, that then the said Person or Persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of a Misdemeanor.
III Suspected Persons, with any of the said Materials, in the Night-time, may be apprehended by the Parish Officers or Watchmen, and carried before two Justices, &c.
III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Constable, Headborough or Tithingman, in every County, City, Town Corporate or other Place where they shall be Officers, and every Beadle within his Ward, Parish or District, and every Watchman, during such Time only as he is on his Duty, shall and may apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, all and every Person or Persons who may reasonably be suspected of having or carrying, or any ways conveying, at any Time after Sun-setting, and before Sun-rising, any Lead, Iron...
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