Levy of Fines Act, 1823

LEVY OF FINES ACT 1823

CHAPTER XXXVII.

An Act to amend an Act for the more speedy Return and Levying of Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures, and Recognizances estreated. [27th June 1823.]

[Preamble.]

Justices in quartersessions to insert in rolls all such fines, &c. as have not been levied or accounted for by the sheriff, &c. or have not been discharged.

Sheriff, &c. to keep writs and rolls in his possession, which shall continue in force and be authority to act upon.

[1.] It shall be lawful for the justices assembled at any general or quarter sessions of the peace, and they are hereby authorized and required, at the following or any subsequent general or quarter sessions held after the return of the writ and roll issued from any preceding general or quarter sessions, at the opening of the court, to insert or cause to be inserted in any following roll all such fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them or any of them, which have not been duly levied or recovered or properly accounted for by the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer, or have not been discharged on appeal before the general or quarter sessions, or by sign manual, warrant, or authority of the Treasury, and so to continue such process from sessions to sessions, till it shall be duly ascertained, to the satisfaction of the Treasury, that the party in default has not any goods or chattels, . . . in the county, division, riding, city, town, or place, on which a levy can be made, nor in any other county, division, riding, city, town, or place in Great Britain, and that he is not to be found, or that his body cannot be lodged in any of his Majesty’s gaols: Provided always, that the said sheriff, bailiff, or other officer, to whom the writ of distringas and capias or fieri facias or other writ deemed necessary by the justices at any such general or quarter sessions to meet the exigency of the case shall be sent by order of the said court, shall keep and detain in his possession the writ or writs so directed to him and the roll or rolls attached to such writ or writs, delivering to the said court of general or quarter sessions a copy of such roll or rolls on the first day of the sitting of the said court, and, also a copy of any former roll or rolls where the fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them, or any of them, shall not have been delivered; and such original writ and roll or writs and rolls shall continue in force and effect, and shall be sufficient authority, without any further writ or roll; . . . the officer or officers entrusted with the execution of the process in any county, division, riding, city, town, or place, being first duly and diligently examined on oath by the court, at the delivery of the roll on the first day of each general or quarter sessions, and in case such examination should not then take place, then on the subsequent day; and every such examination shall be duly recorded by the clerk of the peace or town clerk or other proper officer, in order that such sheriff, bailiff, or other officer may be chargeable with all sums not satisfactorily accounted for on the final passing of his accounts.

[S. 2 rep. 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91. (S.L.R.)]

Where party subject to fines, &c. resides or has removed out of jurisdiction of sheriff, &c. the sheriff shall issue his warrant to the sheriff, &c acting for the place where the party is or where his goods are found, requiring him to execute the writ, &c.

3. In all cases where the party incurring or subject to any fine, issue, amerciament, forfeited recognizance, sum or sums of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them, or any of them, shall reside or shall have fled or removed from or out of the jurisdiction of the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer, in which any such fine, issue, amerciament, forfeited recognizance, sum or sums of money to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them, or any of them, shall have been incurred, imposed, or forfeited, or become due, it shall be lawful for such sheriff, bailiff, or other officer, and he is hereby authorized and required, to issue his warrant, together with a copy of the writ, directed to the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer acting for the county, riding, city, borough, or place in which such person shall then reside or be, or in which any goods or chattels or other property shall be found, requiring such sheriff, bailiff, or other officer to execute such writ; and every such last-mentioned sheriff, bailiff, or other officer is hereby authorized and required to act in all respects under such warrant, in the same manner as if the original writ had been delivered to him by order of the court of the general or quarter sessions of the county, riding, city, borough, or place for which such sheriff, bailiff, or other officer shall act; and the said sheriff, bailiff, or other officer is hereby required, within thirty days after the receipt of such warrant, to return to the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer, from whom he shall have received the same, what he shall have done in the execution of such process, and whether the party shall have given good and sufficient security to appeal at the ensuing general or quarter sessions to be held for the county, riding, city, borough, or place from which the writ issued, and, in case a levy shall have been made, to pay over all monies received in pursuance of the warrant to the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer from whom he shall have received the same.

[S. 4 rep. 50 & 51 Vict. c. 55. (Sheriffs).]

Clerks of the peace, &c. to send to the Treasury, within 20 days from the opening of the quarter sessions, copies of the rolls delivered by sheriffs, &c.

5. Every clerk of the peace and town clerk or other proper officer is hereby required, within twenty days from the opening of the court of general or quarter sessions, to send to the Treasury a copy or an extract of the roll or rolls delivered by the sheriff, bailiff, or other officer on the first day of the opening of such court of general or quarter sessions, in such form as shall be required by the Treasury, also the causes of discharge in case any person shall have been relieved on appeal to the said court of general or quarter sessions, and the answer given by any sheriff, bailiff, or other officer to such court, where any fine, issue, amerciament, forfeited recognizance, sum or sums of money paid or to be paid in lieu or satisfaction of them, or any of them, has not been received by such sheriff, bailiff, or other officer duly authorized to received the same.