1781: 21 George 3 c.1: Extending prevention of mischiefs after the Gordon Riots

1781: 21 George 3 c.1: An act to extend the provisions contained in an act, passed in the last session of parliament, (intituled, An act to prevent any mischief or inconvenience which may arise to sheriffs, gaolers, suitors, prisoners, or others, by the prisoners in several gaols in the counties of Middlesex and Surry, and the city of London, having been set at liberty during the late tumults and insurrections), to persons arrested and bailed since the destruction of the said gaols, and before the same shall be repaired, or other prisons substituted in lieu thereof.

WHEREAS by an act, passed in the last session of the last parliament, (intituled, An act to prevent any mischief or inconvenience which may arise to sheriffs, gaolers, suitors, prisoners, or others, by the prisoners in several gaols in the counties of Middlesex and Surry, and the city of London, having been set at liberty during the late tumults and insurrections), divers provisions were made for the purposes therein particularly mentioned end expressed, which were to be in force until the prisons of the King’s Bench and the Fleet should be repaired and made fit for the reception of prisoners, or other prison or prisons substituted in lieu thereof, and the same should be notified in the London Gazette by one of his Majesty’s principal secretaries of state: and whereas it has not yet been practicable to repair the said prisons of the King’s Bench and Fleet, so as to make the same fit for the reception of prisoners, and no other prisons have been substituted in lieu thereof; and doubts have arisen whether persons who have been arrested and given bail since the destruction of the said prisons, or who may hereafter be arrested and give bail before the said prisons are repaired, or other prisons substituted in lieu thereof, are within the intent and meaning of the provisions of the said act; 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 in Present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That in case any defendant in any action or information in London or Middlesex, hath, since the destruction of the said prisons, surrendered, or been surrendered; or before the said prisons of the King’s Bench and the Fleet respectively shall be repaired, or other prison or prisons be substituted in lieu thereof respectively, and notice thereof given in the London Gazette, as in the said act is mentioned, shall tender to surrender, or hath been, or shall be tendered to be surrendered in discharge of bail, or shall be taken in execution by virtue of any process issuing out of any of his Majesty’s courts of record at Westminster, such defendant shall be entitled to the same privileges, benefits, and advantages, and subject to the same penalties and disabilities, and with the same indemnity for the marshal of the King’s Bench, or warden of the Fleet respectively, as any defendant who was arrested before the destruction of the said prisons, and who has surrendered, or has been surrendered, in discharge of bail, would be by virtue of the said act.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That until the said prisons of the King’s Bench and the Fleet respectively, shall be repaired and made fit for the reception of prisoners, or other prison or prisons substituted in lieu thereof, and the same notified in the London Gazette by one of his majesty’s principal secretaries of state, no debtor shall be removed or turned over, by virtue of any writ of habeas corpus, from any gaol whatsoever to the custody of the marshal of the King’s Bench or warden of the Fleet; and the said marshal and warden respectively shall be indemnified with respect to all defendants removed or turned over, and such defendants shall be subject to all the regulations and provisions concerning defendants before expressed and contained, or referred unto, in and by this present act.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person, who, since the destruction of the said prisons, hath been arrested, or who, before the reparation thereof respectively, or substitution of some other prison or prisons in lieu thereof respectively, and notification of such repair or substitution in the London Gazette as aforesaid, shall be arrested in any county in this kingdom, except London and Middlesex, by virtue of any writ or process issuing out of any of his majesty’s courts at Westminster, shall surrender or be surrendered, in discharge of bail, before the said prisons respectively shall be repaired, or other prison or prisons substituted in lieu thereof, and such notification given in the London Gazette as aforesaid, every such person shall surrender him or herself, or be surrendered into the custody of the sheriff of the county in which such person was arrested, in the gaol or prison of such county, who shall thereupon confine such defendant or defendants, subject to all such regulations and provisions as county gaols are by law subject to; which surrender shall, to all intents and purposes, be as effectual and available in the law as a surrender and commitment to the marshal or warden of the Fleet would have been before the destruction of the said prisons of the King’s Bench and the Fleet; and every such prisoner, so surrendering or surrendered as aforesaid, shall be, and shall be deemed to be ipso facto on such surrender, without any commitment by any judge, a prisoner in the custody of such sheriff, in like manner, and to every intent and purpose, as if such prisoner never had been bailed.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the under sheriff, and also the gaoler of every prison, into whose custody such debtors shall surrender, or be surrendered, as aforesaid, shall make entries of all such surrenders in a book to be kept by them respectively for that purpose; which book shall be open to the inspection of all persons requiring to examine the same; and if any under sheriff or gaoler shall make default therein, he shall be adjudged guilty of a contempt of the court out of which the process issued upon which such debtor or debtors was or were arrested; and shall and may be punished as in other cases of contempts of court.

V. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the under sheriff of every county for the time being, from time to time, shall certify unto the master of the court of king’s bench, and unto the prothonotaries of the court of common pleas, and unto the remembrancer of the court of exchequer, on the last day of every term, true copies of all such surrenders which shall have been made in the county for which he shall be under sheriff; which respective officers shall file the same of record in the said courts respectively.

Source: Pickering, Statutes at Large, volume 33.