Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 9.djvu/280

230 Which Oath the said Clerk or Clerks for the time being, his or their Deputy or Deputies, is or are hereby impowered and required to administer in open Court; .a Memorial whereof shall be entered in the Register of the said Court.

XII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the several Fees herein after limited, appointed, specified and expressed, and no other Fee or lees, in all or may be taken for the respective Services of the said Clerks, Officers, or Ministers of the said Court of Requests ; that is to say,

A Table of which Fees shall be hung up by the Clerk or Clerks of the said Court in some publick or most conspicuous Part or Room of the Town's Hall within the said Town of Kirkby in Kendal, or other Place where the said Commissioners shall meet for the Purposes aforesaid, to the End that all Persons may, at all Times, fee and read the same.

XIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if the said Clerk or Clerks, his or their Deputy or Deputies, or any other Officer, Person or Persons to be employed by virtue of this Act, shall take or demand any greater or other Fee or Fees than as above mentioned, that then and upon Complaint made to the said Commissioners, fitting in Court, of the said Offence or Offences, such Complaint being duly proved, upon the Oath of one or more credible Witness or Witnesses against him or them so offending as aforesaid, the said Commissioners, or a Majority of them, then fitting, shall proceed to punish such Person or Persons fo offending as aforefaid, by Fine, not exceeding the Sum of five Pounds for any Offence, to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and Chatties, by Warrant under the Hands and Seals of the said Commissioners, or any three or more of them, rendering to the Owner the Overplus, if any, after the Charges of the said Distress and Sale are deducted.

XIV. Provided always, That this Act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend to any Debt or Detinue for any Rent upon any Lease of any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments, or any other real Contract where the Freehold doth come in Question, nor to any Debt which shall arise by reason of any cause concerning Testaments or Matrimony, or any thing concerning or properly belonging to the Ecclesiastical Court, nor to any Matter, Cause or Thing within the Office, Cognizance or Commission of a Justice of the Peace ; albeit the Debt, Value or Damages, shall be under the Sum of forty Shillings ; any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding

XV. And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That if upon the Day of Return of &c. Commissioners may the Summons, or at any Continuation or Adjournment of the said Court, the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs shall not appear, or appearing shall not make Proof of his, her or their Demand, to the Satisfaction of the Court, but become nonsuited, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commissioners, or any three or more of them, being a Majority of the said Court, to award to the Defendant or Defendants reasonable Costs, and to order and oblige the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs to pay the same, by such Ways and Means as are herein provided for the Recovery of Debts ordered and decreed by the said Court.

XVI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if such Debtor or Debtors, who shall have been duly summoned as aforesaid, shall not appear before such Court at the Time and hear and determine the place mentioned in the said Summons, that then it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commissioners, or any three or more of them foaliembled, being a Majority of the said Court, after due Proof upon Oath made of the Service of the said Summons in Manner aforesaid, to hear the Cause on the Part of the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs only, and to make such Order, Decree, or Judgment, and to award reasonable Costs of Suit, as to them shall seem most agreeable to Equity and good Conscience, and to oblige the Debtor or Debtors, to pay the same, by such Ways and Means as are herein provided for the Recovery of Debts ordered and decreed by the said Court. {{right|XVII. And}