Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 5.djvu/582

 ■do° Geheral Iffue, c. Anno undecimo G e or g i i Regis. Aft $Geo. I. fiot hereby al- tered to be m Force. c. 3 3.' Fublick Afts. Farther Prcvi- Jinns concerning Gunpowder, 4 Gio 24. Anno unciecimo vjeo,rgii i^egis. A-..D. 1724. V. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That if any Suit or Action (hall be com- menced or profecuted againft any Perfon or Perfons for any Thing done in Purfuance of this prefent Act, in every fuch Cafe fuch Perfon or Perfons fhall and may plead the General Iffue, and give this Aft and the Special Matter in Evidence at any Trial to be had thereupon, and that the fame was done in Purfu- ance or by the Authority of the faid Act; and if a Verdict fhall pafs for the Defendant or Defendants, or the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs fhall become nonfuit, or difcontinue his, her or their Suit or Action after [flue joined, or if upon Demurrer or otherwife, Judgment fhall be given againft the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs, the Defendant or Defendants fhall and may recover treble Cofts, and fhall have the like Remedy for the fame, as any Defendant or Defendants hath or have in other Cafes by Law. VI. And be it enacted, That the faid recited Act, and all Provifions, Claufes, Matters and Things therein contained, not hereby altered, fhall be of full Force, and fhall or may be obferved and put in Ex- ecution, for preventing the Mifchiefs aforefaid, notwithftanding the making of this Act, and that the faid Act and this prefent Act fhall be deemed and taken to be publick Acts, and fhall be judicially taken No- tice of as fuch in all Courts and Places by all Judges, Juftices and others, without fpecially Pleading the fame. 2. c. 29. X5 Geo. 2. c. 32. 22 Geo. 2. c. 38. 29 Geo. 2. c. 16. CAP. XXIV. An Aft for the better regulating the Manufacture of Cloth in the Weft-Riding of the County of York. 7 Anns, c. 13. 4 Ed. 4. c. 1. 7 EJ.4..C. 2 ©'3. 1 R. 3. c. 8. 3 H. 7. c. n. 3 H. 8. e. 7. 5 H. 8. c. 2. &H. 8. c. 8 3*9. 3&4EJ.6.c.%, + ($ 5P.&M. Broad- Cloth in the Weft-Riding of York afcer- taip.ed. Penalty on Clo- ' !• KT HEREAS an Act was made in the feventh Year of the Reign of her late Majefty Queen Vy Anne, intituled, An ASt for the better ascertaining the Lengths and Breadths of the Woollen Cloth ' mads in the Weft-Riding of the County of 'York, which notwithftanding the many good Provifions and Di- ' rections therein contained, hath neverthelefs been found by Experience not to be effectual for the pre- ' venting the Frauds, Abufes and Deceits which are frequently ufed and practifed in the Manufacture of ' Woollen Broad-Cloth, made within the Weft-Riding of the faid County of York, particularly in the ' deceitful working, and unreafonable ftretching and ftraining, and dreffing the faid Cloths, which ill ' Practices tend very much to the debafing, undervaluing and difcrediting of the faid Manufacture, both ' at home and in foreign Parts beyond the Seas, where a great Part thereof hath been ufually vended :* For Remedy whereof, and for encouraging the faid Manufacture, by preventing the faid Frauds, Deceits The Length and anc l Abufes, and every of them for the Future, Be it enacted by the King's moft Excellent Majefty, by K'nili :_ an d with the Advice and Confent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this prefent Parliament affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That from and after the twenty-fourth Day of June which fhall be in the Year of our Lord one thoufand feven hundred and twenty-five, every Woollen Broad-Cloth made within the Weft-Riding of the faid County of York, whether the fame fhall be called an End or Half-Cloth, or a Long or Whole-Cloth, being well fcoured and fully milled, fhall at the leaft be five Quarters and an Half, by the Standard Yard-Wand in Breadth within the Lifts in the Water, be- ing ful-ly wet, and every fuch Cloth called an End or Half-Cloth, fhall not exceed in Length twenty-four Yards, being fully wet, and every fuch Cloth called a Long or Whole-Cloth, fhall not exceed in Length forty-eight Yards, being fully wet. II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That if any of the Clothiers or Makers of thieis offending, Broad Woollen Cloth, fhall after the faid twenty-fourth Day of June make, offer or expofe to Sale, any for every Inch in f t ^ e aforefaid Cloths which fhall not be of the refpedtive Breadths, or fhall exceed the refpective Lengths Breadth, and herein beforementioned, directed and prefcribed, every fuch Perfon fo offending, being thereof lawfully ' convicted by the Oath of any one or more credible Witnefs or Witneffes, before any one or more Juftice or Juftices of the Peace for the Weft-Riding of the faid County of York or any Corporation within the fame, (provided fuch Juftice or Juftices be or are not a Merchant or Trader in the Woollen Manufacture) and which Oath the faid Juftice or Juftices is and are hereby impowered to adminifter, fhall for every Inch fuch Cloth fhall fall fhort of the Breadth before mentioned, and for every Yard the faid Broad-Cloth, called a Long or Whole Cloth, fhall exceed the faid Length of forty-eight Yards, and for every Yard the faid Broad-Cloth called an End or Half-Cloth, fhall exceed the Length of twenty-four Yards, fhall for- feit refpectively the Sum of twenty Shillings : Provided always, that if it fhall happen that any of the Cloths aforefaid, without any wilful Default of the Maker thereof, fhall in fome Parts thereof, (not ex- ceeding in the whole one fifth Part of the Length) fall fhort and want of the Breadth before directed, yet in cafe of fuch Accident, fuch Cloths may notwithftanding be fold without incurring any of the Penalties by this Act impofed on the Maker or Seller thereof. III. And be it enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That all Woollen Broad-Cloth to be made fhall be meafured at the Fulling-Mill, after the fame fhall be fully milled and fcoured, and thoroughly wet, by the Mafter, Owner or Occupier of every fuch Fulling-Mill, who fhall, and he is hereby obliged to take an Oath before fome Juftice of the Peace for the faid Riding, that he will well and truly perform fuch Meafuring, (which Oath fuch Juftice of the Peace is hereby authorized and required to adminifter, and to give fuch Mafter, Owner or Occupier of fuch Fulling-Mill, a Certificate of fuch Oaths having been adminiftred and taken) and every Mailer or Occupier of every fuch Fulling-Mill fhall affix or canfe to be Miltmin to affix affixed at each End of every fuch Cloth, before it fhall be carried from the Mill, a Seal of Lead, tobefur- di^ao°a)''" d '° A'lhed by the Clothier ; and the faid Mafter or Occupier of every fuch Fulling-Mill fhall rivet the fame s * ■ on 20 s. Broad Cloth to ■be meafured at theFulling-Mill Millman to be fwurn.
 * See iz Geo. 1