Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 11.djvu/862

820 over, be liable to be sent to England, by such Order as aforesaid, unless he or they shall give sufficient Security to remove him or themselves within Twelve Months after such Conviction.

XXVIII. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prohibit or restrain any of his Majesty’s Subjects, or any Person or Persons whatsoever, (except such Persons as are by this Act prohibited and restrained from being concerned in Trade) from carrying on or exercising any Trade or Traffick within Fort William, and the Town of Calcutta.

XXIX. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prohibit or prevent any such Person or Persons who is, are, or shall be hereby restrained from carrying on any Trade, or being concerned in the buying or selling any Goods, Wares, Merchandises, or other Commodities whatsoever, by way of Traffick or Trade, as aforesaid, or from being any Way concerned in the Inland Trade in Salt, Beetlenut, Tobacco, or Rice, from collecting in their outstanding Debts, or from selling and disposing of the Goods, Wares, Merchandises, Effects, and Stock in Trade, of which such Person or Persons shall severally be possessed, at the Time when such Prohibition shall respectively take Place, so as each such Person or Persons who by this Act is, are or shall be so restrained, shall, and each and every of them respectively do, deliver in to such Governor-general and Council of the Provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa aforesaid, within Thirty Days from the Time when such Restriction and Prohibition shall take Place, as aforesaid, a full, true, and just Specification, upon Oath, of the Goods, Wares, Merchandises, Effects, and Stock in Trade, of which he or they shall be at that Time so respectively possessed; and so as such Person or Persons shall and do sell and dispose of such Goods, Wares, Merchandises, Effects, and Stock in Trade, within the Space of Nine Months after such Restriction and Prohibition, as aforesaid, shall commence and take Place; and so as no new Trade or Concern in Commerce or Merchandise be entered into, contracted for, or carried on, by such Person or Persons.

XXX. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Subject of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, in the East Indies, shall, upon any Contract which shall be made from and after the said First Day of August, One thousand seven hundred and Seventy-four, take, directly or indirectly, for Loan of any Monies, Wares, Merchandise, or other Commodities whatsoever, above the Value of Twelve Pounds for the Forbearance of One hundred Pounds for a Year; and so after that Rate for a greater or lesser Sum, or for a longer or shorter Time; and that all Bonds, Contracts, and Assurances whatsoever, made after the Time aforesaid, for Payment of any Principal or Money to be lent or covenanted to be performed upon, or for any Usury whereupon or whereby there shall be reserved or taken above the Rate of Twelve Pounds in the Hundred, as aforesaid, shall be utterly void: And all and every such Person or Persons whatsoever who shall, after the Time aforesaid, upon any Contract to be made after the said First Day of August, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, take, accept, and receive, by Way or Means of any corrupt Bargain, Loan, Exchange, Shift, or Interest of any Wares, Merchandises, or other Thing or Things whatsoever, or by any deceitful Way or Mean, or by any Covin, Engine, or deceitful Conveyance, for the forbearing or giving Day of Payment for One whole Year, of and for their Money or other Thing, above the Sum of Twelve Pounds for the forbearing of One hundred Pounds for a Year, and so after that Rate for a greater or lesser Sum, or for a longer or shorter Term, shall forfeit and lose, for every such Offence, Treble the Value of the Monies, Wares, Merchandises, and other Things so lent, bargained, exchanged, or shifted, with Costs of Suit, One Moiety whereof shall be to the said United Company, and the other Moiety to him or them who will sue for the same in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Calcutta, or in the Mayor’s Court in any other of the said United Company’s Settlements where such Offence shall have been committed, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in which no Essoin, Wager of Law, or Protection shall be allowed; and in case no such Action, Bill, Plaint, or Information, shall have been brought and prosecuted with Effect within Three Years, that then it shall and may be lawful to and for the Party aggrieved to sue and prosecute for Recovery of all Sums of Money paid over and above such Rate of Interest.

XXXI. And be it further enacted, That no Informer or Plaintiff shall or may compound or agree with any Person or Persons that shall offend, or shall be surmised to offend, against this Act, for any Offence committed, or pretended to be committed, before Answer made in the said Supreme Court, unto the Information or Suit in that Behalf exhibited or prosecuted, nor after Answer, but by the Order or Consent of the said Court, on Pain that if any Person or Persons shall offend in making of any Composition or Agreement, contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, or shall, by Colour or Pretence of Process, or without Process, upon Colour or Pretence of any Matter of Offence against this Act, make any Composition, or take any Money, Reward, or Promise of Reward, for himself, or to the Use of any other, without Order or Consent of the said Court; that then, he or they so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall, for every such Offence, be liable to be fined and imprisoned, at the Discretion of the said Court.

XXXII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the said First Day of August, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall not be lawful for any Person or Persons whatsoever, who shall have been dismissed from, or shall have voluntarily resigned, the Service of the said United Company, or for any free Merchant, free Mariner, or other Person, whose Covenants or Agreements with the said United Company for residing or trading in India shall be expired, from thenceforth to carry on or be in any-wise concerned in any Trade, Traffick, Merchandise, or Commerce whatsoever, in the East Indies, other than for the Disposal of his or their Stock in Hand, without the Licence of the said United Company, or the Governor-general and Council of the Presidency of Fort-