1785: 25 George 3 c.35: An Act for the more easy and effectual Sale of Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments of Crown Debtors, or of their Sureties.
‘WHEREAS by an Act, made in the thirteenth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth
[13 Eliz. c. 4.]
(intituled, An Act to make the Lands, Tenements, Goods and Chattels, of Tellers, Receivers, etcetera, liable to the Payment of their Debts), for the better Security of the Queen’s Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, against such as should have the Receipt and Charge of the Money and Treasure of her Highness, her Heirs and Successors, it was declared and enacted, That all Lands, Tenements, Profits, Commodities, and Hereditaments, which certain Officers of the Crown, Farmers, and Persons therein named, particularly the, Treasurer or Receiver of any Sums of Money impressed, or otherwise, for the Use of the Queen’s Majesty, her Heirs or Successors, then had, or at any Time thereafter should have, within the Time he or they, or any of them, should remain accountable; should, for Payment and Satisfaction unto the Queen’s Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, of his or their Arrearages, at any Time thereafter to be lawfully, according to the Laws of the Realm, adjudged and determined upon his or their Account (all his due and reasonable Petitions being allowed), be liable to the Payment thereof, and be put in Execution for Payment of such Arrearages or Debts, in like and in as large and beneficial a Manner, as if the Person had, the Day he became Officer or Accountant, stood bound by Writing obligatory, having the Effect of a Statute of the Staple, to her Majesty, her Heirs or Successors; and reciting, that forasmuch as many Times it might come to pass, that the Queen’s Highness, her Heirs or Successors, might not be conveniently satisfied of the Debt to be determined or due upon any Account as aforesaid, by way of Extent, for that the yearly Value of the Lands extended would not satisfy her Highness, her Heirs or Successors, within the Compass of many Years, so as that great Loss might ensue to her Highness, her Heirs and Successors; for Remedy thereof it was enacted, That if any Treasurer, or other Person Accountant before mentioned, which should, from and after the Feast of Saint Michael then next ensuing, receive or be chargeable with any Money or Treasure of the Queen, her Heirs or Successors, and should, upon the determining of his or their Account, or by reason of any Farm as aforesaid, be found in Arrearages, and should not, within six Months next after his or their Accounts finished, or Debt known, pay all such Sums of Money as he or they should, upon Determination of his or their Account, or upon his or their Debt known, it should be lawful to the Queen’s Highness,her Heirs and Successors, at any Time, and from Time to Time, after the said six Months ended, to make Sale, by her or their Letters under the Great Seal of England, of so much of the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, of every such Accountant or Debtor, so being found in Arrearages or Debt, as might suffice the Queen, her Heirs or Successors, for Satisfaction, until her Majesty, her Heirs or Successors, should be by such Sale fully satisfied and paid off such Arrearages and Debt; and that if any Overplus should be received upon any such Sale, then the same should be paid to the Accountant or Farmer, or his Heirs, by the Officer that should receive the same Money upon any of the said Sales, without further Warrant in that Behalf:
[27 Eliz. c. 3.]
And whereas by an Act, made in the twenty-seventh Year of the same Queen, after reciting certain Doubts upon the said Act of the thirteenth Year of her Reign, it was declared and enacted, That the said recited Act, in every Part thereof touching the Power thereby given to her Highness, her Heirs and Successors, to make Sale of any the Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, by the same Act limited to be sold, should be expounded and intended, as well in case where the Sale is to be made after the Death of such Accountant or Debtor, as where it is to be made in his or their Life-time; and also as well in case where the Account is made, or the Debt known, within eight Years after the Death of such Accountant or Debtor, as where the same Account is made, or the Debt known, in the Life-time of the same Accountant or Debtor; but it was provided, That after the Death of such Accountant or Debtor, and before any the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, descended unto the Heir of such Accountant or Debtor as Heir, should be sold, a Scire facias should be awarded out of her Majesty’s Court of Exchequer unto the Sheriff of the County where any such Lands lie, to garnish the same Heir, to shew Cause why the same Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, should not be put to Sale for Satisfaction of the same Debts or Farms in the said Act mentioned, according the Tenor thereof; whereupon if the Heir should not, within a convenient Time upon a Garnishment or two Nichils returned, shew and prove unto the said Court that the Executors or Administrators of such Accountant or Debtor have sufficient, which ought to answer or be liable for the same Debt or Farm, then, after ten Months next after such two Nichils or Garnishment returned, the same Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, should be sold by her Majesty, her Heirs or Successors, and the Money thereof coming disposed according to the said former recited Act: And after various other enacting Clauses, there was a Proviso to prevent Sale of the Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments of any Heir, during the Time of his or her Nonage:
[39 Eliz. c. 7.]
And whereas by an Act, made in the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, the said recited explanatory Act of the twenty-seventh Year of Queen Elizabeth was repealed, and a new Exposition was made of the said recited Statute of the thirteenth of Elizabeth, with various new Provisions: but the said Act of the thirty-ninth Year of Elizabeth being only temporary, and having expired early in the Reign of James the First, the said explanatory Act of the twenty-seventh Year of Elizabeth became revived, and is now in force; And whereas it may tend greatly to facilitate and expedite the Payment of Debts to the Crowd, where the real Estates of its Accountants or Debtors, or of their Sureties, are seized into the King’s Hands under Writs of Extent, if a sufficient Part of such Estates was to be sold unto the Provisions of the said recited Acts of the thirteenth and twenty-seventh Years of Queen Elizabeth, but the said Acts have not been lately put in Use, and Inconvenience is likely to arise if the Mode of Sale therein directed should be pursued;’ be it therefore declared and 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,
[Court of Exchequer, on Application of the Attorny General, may order the Estate of any Debtor to his Majesty, &c. to be sold.]
That it shall and may be lawful to and for his Majesty’s Court of Exchequer, and the same Court is hereby authorised, on the Application of his Majesty’s Attorney General in a summary Way, by Motion to the same Court, to order that the Right, Title, Estate, and Interest of any Debtor to his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and the Right, Title, Estate, and Interest of the Heirs and Assigns of such Debtor, in any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments which have been, or shall hereafter be extended under and by virtue of any such Writ of Extent or Diem clausit extremum as aforesaid, or so much thereof as shall be sufficient to satisfy the Debt for which the same shall have been so extended, shall be sold in such Manner as the said Court shall direct; and that when a Purchaser or Purchasers shall be found, the Conveyance of the Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments so decreed to be sold, shall be made to the Purchaser or Purchasers by his Majesty’s Remembrancer in the said Court of Exchequer, or his Deputy, under the Direction of the said Court, by a Deed of Bargain and Sale, to be inrolled in the same Court; and that from and after the making of such Conveyance, and the Inrollment thereof as aforesaid, the Bargainee or Bargainees in such Conveyance, and his or their Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, shall have, hold, and enjoy the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments therein comprised, for his and their own respective Use and Benefit, not only against the Extent of the Crown, but also against such Debtor of the Crown, or the Surety or Sureties for such Debtor, and all Persons claiming under such Debtor, or the Surety or Sureties, unless by a Title paramount to, and available in Law against such Extent as aforesaid, and all Monies which shall become payable from any such Purchaser or Purchasers as aforesaid, shall be paid, accounted for, and applied towards Discharge of the Debt due to the Crown, and of all Costs and Expences which shall be incurred by the Crown in enforcing the Payment of such Debt, in such Manner as the said Court of Exchequer shall from Time to Time order and appoint:
[The Surplus, if any, after Payment of Debt and Costs, to be paid to the Persons intitled thereto.]
And if, after payment of the whole Debt to the Crown and of all Costs and Expences incurred in enforcing the Payment thereof, there shall be any Surplus of the Monies arising from any such Sale, the said Surplus shall belong to the same Person or Persons as would be intitled to the Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments sold, if there had not been a Sale thereof, and shall accordingly be paid to such Person or Persons under the Order and Direction of the said Court of Exchequer, upon Motion or Petition to the said Court, to be made upon such Notice to the Crown, and to be supported by such Affidavits or other Proofs, as to the said Court shall from Time to Time seem just and reasonable.
‘II. And whereas, from the Want of the Deeds and Writings relative to the Title of such Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, as the said Court of Exchequer may decree to be sold under this Act, Difficulties may arise in the Execution hereof,’ be it therefore further enacted,
[Court of Exchequer may make an Order for the Protection of Title Deeds.]
That it shall be lawful for the said Court of Exchequer, from Time to Time, to make such Order touching the Production, Delivery, and Custody of such Title Deeds and Writings as aforesaid, in the same Manner as if a Decree had been made by the said Court for a Sale of the Lands of a Crown Debtor, in Execution of a Trust created for Payment of Debts by such Crown Debtor himself.