1797: 37 George 3 c.126: An Act to prevent the counterfeiting any Copper Coin in this Realm made, or to be made, current by Proclamation, or any Foreign Gold or Silver Coin; and to prevent the bringing into this Realm, or uttering, any counterfeit Foreign Gold or Silver Coin.
[19th July 1797.]
‘WHEREAS the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, by their unanimous Address to his Majesty, have requested that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to give Directions that Measures might be taken for procuring an immediate Supply of such Copper Coinage as might be best adapted to the Payment of the laborious Poor; and it is necessary that so much of the Provisions contained in an Act passed in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second,
[15 Geo. 2. c. 28. and]
intituled, An Act for the more effectual preventing the counterfeiting of the Current Coin of this Kingdom, and the uttering or paying false or counterfeit Coin, as relates to the Copper Monies of this Realm commonly called An Halfpenny and A Farthing; and also the Provisions contained in an Act, passed in the eleventh Year of his present Majesty’s Reign,
[11 Geo. 3. c 40. recited.]
intituled, An Act for the more effectually preventing the counterfeiting the Copper Coin of this Realm; and all other Provisions made by Law concerning the Copper Monies of this Realm commonly called An Halfpenny and A Farthing, should be extended to such Copper Money as may be coined and issued in pursuance of such Address, and all other Copper Monies of this Realm, which may be hereafter coined and issued by his Majesty’s Authority:’ 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,
[So much of first recited Act, as relates to Halfpence and Farthings, and the last recited Act, and all others relating to Copper Money of this Realm, to extend to all Copper Money ordered by Proclamation to be taken as Current Money.]
That, from and after the passing of this Act, so much of the said Act passed in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled, An Act for the more effectual preventing the counterfeiting of the Current Coin of this Kingdom, and the uttering or paying false or counterfeit Coin, as relates to the Copper Monies of this Realm commonly called An Halfpenny and A Farthing; and also the said Act of the eleventh Year of his Majesty’s Reign, intituled, An Act for the more effectually preventing the counterfeiting the Copper Coin of this Realm; and all and every other Acts and Act of Parliament concerning the Copper Monies of this Realm commonly called An Halfpenny and A Farthing, or any other Copper Money of this Realm, shall extend, and be construed, deemed, and taken to extend, to all such Pieces of Copper Money as shall be coined and issued by Order of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and as shall, by his or their Royal Proclamation,-be ordered to be deemed and taken as Current Money of this Realm; and that all and every the Provisions in such Acts, or any of them contained, shall extend, and be construed, deemed, and taken to extend, to all such other Pieces of Copper Money as aforesaid, in such and the same Manner as if such Pieces had been particularly mentioned and described in such Acts respectively.
[Persons counterfeiting Foreign Gold or Silver Coin guilty of Felony; punishable by seven Years’ Transportation.]
II. ‘And whereas the Practice of counterfeiting Foreign Gold and Silver Coin, and the bringing into this Realm, and uttering within the same, false and counterfeit Foreign Gold and Silver Coin, and particularly Pieces of Gold Coin commonly called Louis d’Or, and Pieces of Silver Coin commonly called Dollars, hath of late greatly increased; and it is expedient that Provision should be made more effectually to prevent the same;’ be it enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall, from and after the passing of this Act, make, coin, or counterfeit, any Kind of Coin not the proper Coin of this Realm, nor permitted to be current within the same, but resembling, or made with Intent to resemble or look like, any Gold or Silver Coin of any Foreign Prince, State, or Country, or to pass as such Foreign Coin, such Person or Persons offending therein, shall be deemed and adjudged to be guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding seven Years.
[as also Persons bringing it into the Realm, or passing it.]
III. And be it further enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall, from and after the passing of this Act, bring into this Realm any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, resembling, or made with Intent to resemble or look like, any Gold or Silver Coin of any Foreign Prince, State, or Country, or to pass as such Foreign Coin, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, to the Intent to utter the same within this Realm, or within any Dominions of the same, all and every such Person or Persons shall be deemed and adjudged to be guilty of Felony, and may be transported for any Term of Years not exceeding seven Years.
[Penalty for tendering in Payment such counterfeit Coin; first Offence 6 Months’ Imprisonment; second Offence a Years; third Offence Felony without Benefit of Clergy.]
IV. And be it further enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall, from and after the passing of this Act, utter or tender in Payment, or give in Exchange, or pay or put off to any Person or Persons, any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, resembling, or made with Intent to resemble or look like, any Gold or Silver Coin of any Foreign Prince, State, or Country, or to pass as such Foreign Coin, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, and shall be thereof convicted, every Person so offending shall suffer six Months Imprisonment, and find Sureties for his or her good Behaviour for six Months more, to be computed from the End of the said first six Months; and if the same Person shall afterwards be convicted a second Time for the like Offence of uttering, or tendering in Payment, or giving in Exchange, or paying, or putting off, any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, such Persom shall, for such second Offence, suffer two Years’ Imprisonment, and find Sureties for his or her good Behaviour for two Years more, to be computed from the End of the said first two Years; and if the same Person shall afterwards offend a third Time, in uttering or tendering in Payment, or giving in Exchange, or paying, or putting off, any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, and shall be convicted of such third Offence, he or she shall be adjudged to be guilty of Felony, without Benefit of Clergy-.
[Clerk of the Assize or of the Peace to certify the Conviction of any Person for uttering counterfeit Coin.]
V. And be it further enacted, That if any Person shall be convicted of uttering or tendering any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, and shall afterwards be guilty of the like Offence in any other County, City, or Place, the Clerk of the Assize or Clerk of the Peace for the County, City, or Place, where such former Conviction shall have been had, shall, at the Request of the Prosecutor, or any other on his Majesty’s Behalf, certify the same by a Transcript, in few Words, containing the Effect and Tenor of such Conviction; for which Certificate two Shillings and Sixpence, and no more, shall be paid; and such Certificate, being produced in Court, shall be sufficient Proof of such former Conviction.
[Penalty on Persons having more than five Pieces of counterfeit Foreign Coin; from 5l. to 40s. each Piece; or 3 Months’ Imprisonment.]
VI. And be it further enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall have in his, her, or their Custody, without lawful Excuse, any greater Number of Pieces than five Pieces, of false or counterfeit Coin, of any Kind or Kinds, resembling, or made with Intent to resemble or look like, any Gold or Silver Coin or Coins of any Foreign Prince, State, or Country, or to pals as such Foreign Coin, every such Person, being thereof convicted upon the Oath of one or more credible Witness or Witnesses, before one of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, shall forfeit and lose all such false and counterfeit Coin, which shall be cut in Pieces, and destroyed, by Order of such Justice, and shall, for every such Offence, forfeit and pay any Sum of Money not exceeding five Pounds nor less than forty Shillings, for every such Piece of false or counterfeit Coin which shall be found in the Custody of such Person, one Moiety to the Informer of Informers, and the other Moiety to the Poor of the Parish where such Offence shall be committed; and in case any such Penalty shall not be forthwith paid, it shall be lawful for such Justice to commit the Person who shall be adjudged to pay the same to the Common Gaol, or House of Correction, there to be kept to hard Labour, for the Space of three Calendar Months, or until such Penalty shall be paid.
[Justices may grant Warrant for searching suspected Places for counterfeit Foreign Coin.]
VII. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for any one Justice of the Peace, on Complaint made before him, upon the Oath of one credible Person, that there is just Cause to suspect that any one or more Person or Persons is or are, or hath or have been, concerned in making or counterfeiting any such false or counterfeit Coin as aforesaid, resembling, or made with Intent to resemble or look like, any Gold or Silver Coin of any Foreign Prince, State, or Country, or to pass as such Foreign Coin, by Warrant under the Hand of such Justice, to cause the Dwelling House, Room, Workshop, Outhouse, or Other Building, Yard, Garden, or other Place, belonging to such suspected Person or Persons, or where any such Person or Persons shall be suspected to carry on any such making or counterfeiting, to be searched for any such false or counterfeit Coin, or for Tools or Implements for coining such Life or counterfeit Coin, or for Materials for making or coining the same;
[Such counterfeit Coin, and Tools and Materials, may be seized and carried before a Justice, who shall secure the same as Evidence, and to be afterwards destroyed.]
and if any such false or counterfeit Coin, or any such Tools or instruments, or any such Materials for making any such false or counterfeit Coin, shall be found in any Place so searched, or if any such Tools, Implements, or Materials, shall be found in the Custody or Possession of any Person or Persons whomsoever, not having the same by some lawful Authority, it shall and may be lawful to and for any Person or Persons whatsoever, discovering the same, to seize, and he and they are hereby authorized and required to seize, such false or counterfeit Coin, Tools Implements, and Materials, and to carry the same forthwith to a Justice of the Peace of the County, City, or Place, where the same shall be seized, who shall cause the same to be secured and, produced in Evidence against any Person or Persons who shall or may be prosecuted for any of the Offences aforesaid, in some Court of Justice proper for the Determination thereof; and after such Time as any such false or counterfeit Coin, or any such Tools, Implements, or Materials, shall have been produced in Evidence as aforesaid, as well so much and such Parts thereof as shall have been so produced, as every other Part thereof so seized, and not made use of in Evidence, shall forthwith, by Order of the Court where such Offender or Offenders shall be tried, or by Order of some Justice of the Peace, in case there shall be no such Trial, be defaced or destroyed, or otherwise disposed of, as such Court or such Justice shall direct.
[No Proceedings before a Justice to be quashed for Want of Form, &c.]
VIII. And be it further enacted, That no Proceedings to be had touching the Conviction of any Offender against this Act before any Justice of the Peace, shall be quashed for Want of Form, or be removed by Writ of Certiorari, or any other Writ or Process whatsoever, into any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster.
[Limitation of Actions.]
IX. And be it further enacted, That if any Action or Suit shall be brought or commenced against any Person or Persons for any Thing done in pursuance of this Act, then and in every such Case the said Action or Suit shall be commenced within three Calendar Months after the Fact committed, and not afterwards, and shall be brought in the County or Place where the Cause of Action shall arise, and not elsewhere;
[General Issue.]
and the Defendant or Defendants in such Action or Suit so to be brought may plead the General Issue, and give this Act and the Special Matter in Evidence, at any Trial to be had thereupon, and that the same was done in pursuance and by the Authority of this Act; and if it shall appear to be so done, or if any such Action or Suit shall be brought after the Time before limited for bringing the same, or shall be brought in any other County or Place as aforesaid, then and in every such Case the Jury shall find for the Defendant or Defendants, and if upon the Trial a Verdict shall pass for the Defendant or Defendants, or if the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs shall become nonsuit, or discontinue his, her, or their Action, or if upon Demurrer Judgment shall be given against the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs,
[Treble Costs.]
the Defendant or Defendants shall and may recover Treble Costs, and have the like Remedy for the same as any Defendant or Defendants hath or have for Costs of Suit in other Cases by Law.
Source: Ruffhead, Statutes at Large, vol. 17.
Further reading: Wikipedia.