Stamp Act, 1815

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STAMP ACT 1815

CHAPTER CLXXXIV.

An Act for repealing the Stamp Duties on Deeds, Law Proceedings, and other written or printed Instruments, and the Duties on Fire Insurances, and on Legacies and Successions to Personal Estate upon Intestacies, now payable in Great Britain, and for granting other Duties in lieu thereof.[¹] [11th July 1815.]

[Preamble.]

[S. 1 (reciting 48 Geo. 3. c. 149) rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 59.]

Duties specified in schedule annexed to be levied.

2.[²] There shall be raised, levied, and paid unto and for the use of his Majesty, in and throughout the whole of Great Britain, for and in respect of the several instruments, matters, and things mentioned and described in the schedule hereunto annexed (except those standing under the head of exemptions), or for or in respect of the vellum, parchment, or paper upon which such instruments, matters, and things, or any of them, shall be written or printed, the several duties or sums of money set down in figures against the same respectively, or otherwise specified and set forth in the same schedule; and the said schedule, and all the provisions, regulations, and directions therein contained with respect to the said duties and the instruments, matters, and. things charged therewith, shall be deemed and taken to be part of this Act, and shall be read and construed as if the same had been inserted herein at this place, and shall be applied, observed, and put in execution accordingly.

[S. 3 (providing that the duties granted by this Act shall be under the management of the commissioners of stamps), and ss. 4–20 rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.]

Bank of England to pay a composition for the duties on their bills and notes.

21. The said governor and company [³] shall deliver to the said commissioners of stamps on the first day of May in every year whilst the present stamp duties shall remain in force, a just and true account, verified by the oath of their chief accountant, of the amount or value of all their promissory notes and bank post bills in circulation on some given day in every week, for the space of three years preceding the sixth day of April in the year in which the account shall be delivered, together with the average amount or value thereof according to such account; and the said governor and company shall pay into the hands of the receiver general of the stamp duties in Great Britain, as a composition for the duties which would otherwise have been payable for their promissory notes and bank post bills issued within the year, reckoning from the fifth day of April preceding the delivery of the said account, the sum of three thousand five hundred pounds for every million, and after that rate for half a million but not for a less sum than half a million, of the said average amount or value of their said notes and bank post bills in circulation; and one half part of the sum so to be ascertained as aforesaid for each year's composition shall be paid on the first day of October, and the other half on the first day of April next after the delivery of such account aforesaid.

A new composition to be made when the Bank resume cash payments.

22. Provided always, that upon the said governor and company resuming their payments in cash a new arrangement for the composition for the stamp duties payable on their promissory notes and bank post bills shall be submitted to Parliament.

[S. 23 rep. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 35 (S.L.R.)]

Re-issuable notes not to be issued by bankers or others, without a licence.

Regulations respecting licences.

24. It shall not be lawful for any banker or bankers or other person or persons (except the Sank of England) to issue any promissory notes for money payable to the bearer on demand, hereby charged with a duty and allowed to be re-issued as aforesaid, without taking out a licence yearly for that purpose; which licence shall be granted by two or more of the said commissioners of stamps for the time being, or by some person authorized in that behalf by the said commissioners or the major part of them, on payment of the duty charged thereon in the schedule hereunto annexed; and a separate and distinct licence shall be taken out for or in respect of every town or place where any such promissory notes shall be issued by, or by any agent or agents for or on account of, any banker or bankers or other person or persons; and every such licence shall specify the proper name or names and place or places of abode of the person or persons or the proper name and description of any body corporate to whom the same shall be granted, and also the name of the town or place where, and the name of the bank, as well as the partnership or other name, style, or firm, under which such notes are to be issued; and where any such licence shall be granted to persons in partnership, the same shall specify and set forth the names and places of abode of all the persons concerned in the partnership, whether all their names shall appear on the promissory notes to be issued by them or not, and in default thereof such licence shall be absolutely void; and every such licence which shall be granted between the tenth day of October and the eleventh day of November in any year shall be dated on the eleventh day of October, and every such licence which shall be granted at any other time shall be dated on the day on which the same shall be granted; and every such licence respectively shall have effect and continue in force from the day of the date thereof until the tenth day of October following, both inclusive.

[Ss. 25, 26, rep. 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91. (S.L.R.)]

Persons applying for licences to deliver specimens of their notes.

Penalty for issuing notes without licence, 100l.

27. The banker or bankers or other person or persons applying for any such licence as aforesaid shall produce and leave with the proper officer a specimen of the promissory notes proposed to be issued by him or them, to the intent that, the licence may be framed accordingly; and if any banker or bankers or other person or persons (except the Bank of England) shall issue, or cause to be issued by any agent, any promissory note for money payable to the bearer on demand, hereby charged with a duty and allowed to be re-issued as aforesaid, without being licensed so to do in the manner aforesaid, or at any other town or place, or under any other name, style, or firm, than shall be specified in his or their licence, the banker or bankers or other person or persons so offending shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.

Licences to continue in force notwithstanding alteration in partnerships.

28. Where any such licence as aforesaid shall be granted to any persons in partnership the same shall continue in force for the issuing of promissory notes duly stamped under the name, style, or firm therein specified, until the tenth day of October inclusive following the date thereof, notwithstanding any alteration in the partnership.

[Ss. 29–31 rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.; ss. 32–36 rep. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 14. s. 12.]

Penalty for administering effects of a deceased person without proving the will or taking out letters of administration within a given time.

37. If any person shall take possession of and in any manner administer any part of the personal estate and effects of any person deceased without obtaining probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased within six calendar months after his or her decease or within two calendar months after the termination of any suit or dispute respecting the will or the right to letters of administration, if there shall be any such which shall not be ended within four calendar months after the death of the deceased, every person so offending shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, and also a further sum at and after the rate of ten pounds per centum on the amount of the stamp duty payable on the probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased.

Ecclesiastical courts not to grant probates or letters of administration, without affidavit as to value of effects.

38. No ecclesiastical court or person shall grant probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of any person deceased without first requiring and receiving from the person or persons applying for the probate or letters of administration or from some other competent person or persons an affidavit, or solemn affirmation in the case of Quakers, that the estate and effects of the deceased for or in respect of which the probate or letters of administration is or are to be granted, exclusive of what the deceased shall have been possessed of or entitled to as a trustee for any other person or persons, and not beneficially, but including the leasehold estates for years of the deceased, whether absolute or determinable on lives, if any, and without deducting anything on account of the debts due and owing from the deceased, are under the value of a certain sum to be therein specified to the best of the deponent's or affirmant's knowledge, information, and belief, in order that the proper and full stamp duty may be paid on such probate or letters of administration; which affidavit or affirmation shall be made before the surrogate or other person who shall administer the usual oath for the due administration of the estate and effects of the deceased.

[Ss. 39–41 rep. 53 & 54 Vict. c. 33. (S.L.R.); but as to ss. 40, 41, see terms of repeal.]

Security to be given in cases where too little duty was paid on letters of administration.

Transmission of accounts of probates, &c. on which stamps have been rectified.

42. Provided always, that in cases of letters of administration on which too little stamp duty shall have been paid at first, the said commissioners of stamps shall not cause the same to be duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, until the administrator shall have given such security to the ecclesiastical court or ordinary by whom the letters of administration shall have been granted as ought by law to have been given on the granting thereof in case the full value of the estate and effects of the deceased had been then ascertained; and also that the said commissioners of stamps shall yearly or oftener transmit an account of the probates and letters of administration upon which the stamps shall have been rectified in pursuance of this Act to the several ecclesiastical courts by which the same shall have been granted, together with the value of the estate and effects of the deceased upon which such rectification shall have proceeded.

Penalty on executors, &c. not paying the full duty on probates, &c. within a given time after discovery of too little having been paid at first.

43. Where too little duty shall have been paid on any probate or letters of administration, in consequence of any mistake or misapprehension, or of its not being known at the time that some particular part of the estate and effects belonged to the deceased, if any executor or administrator acting under such probate or letters of administration shall not within six calendar months after the passing of this Act, or after the discovery of the mistake or misapprehension or of any estate or effects not known at the time to have belonged to the deceased, apply to the said commissioners of stamps, and pay what shall be wanting to make up the duty which ought to have been paid at first on such probate or letters of administration, he or she shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, and also a further sum at and after the rate of ten pounds per centum on the amount of the sum wanting to make up the proper duty.

Ecclesiastical courts not to take surrenders of probates, &c. on the ground only of wrong duty having been paid thereon.

44. It shall not be lawful for any ecclesiastical court or person to call in and revoke or to accept the surrender of any probate or letters of administration, on the ground only of too high or too low a stamp duty having been paid thereon as heretofore hath been practised; and if any ecclesiastical court or person shall so do, the commissioners of stamps shall not make any allowance whatever for the stamp duty on the probate or letters of administration which shall be so annulled.

Commissioners of stamps in certain cases may give credit for the duty on probates, &c.

Security to be given.

45. And whereas it has happened in the case of letters of administration on which the proper stamp duty hath not been paid at first, that certain debts, chattels real or other effects due or belonging to the deceased have been found to be of such great value that the administrator hath not been possessed of money sufficient, either of his own or of the deceased, to pay the requisite stamp duty, in order to render such letters of administration available for the recovery thereof by law: And whereas the like may occur again, and it may also happen that executors or persons entitled to take out letters of administration may, before obtaining probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased, find some considerable part or parts of the estate and effects of the deceased so circumstanced as not to be immediately got possession of, and may not have money sufficient, either of their own or of the deceased, to pay the stamp duty on the probate or letters of administration which it shall be necessary to obtain: Be it therefore further enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said commissioners of stamps, on satisfactory proof of the facts by affidavit or solemn affirmation in any such case as aforesaid which may appear to them to require relief, to cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped for denoting the duty payable or which ought originally to have been paid thereon,, and to give credit for the duty, either upon payment of the before-mentioned penalty, or without, in cases of probates or letters of administration already obtained, and upon which too little duty shall have been paid, and either with or without allowance of the stamp duty already paid thereon, as the case may require, under the provisions of this Act; provided in all such cases of credit that security be first given by the executors or administrators, together with two or more sufficient sureties to be approved of by the said commissioners, by a bond to his Majesty, in double the amount of the duty, for the due and full payment of the sum for which credit shall be given within six calendar months or any less period, and of the interest for the same at the rate of ten pounds per centum per annum from the expiration of such period until payment thereof, in case of any default of payment at the time appointed; and such probate or letters of administration, being duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, shall be as valid and available as if the proper duty had been at first paid thereon and the same had been stamped accordingly.

Commissioners may extend the credit, if necessary.

46. Provided always, that if at the expiration of the time to be allowed for the payment of the duty on such probate or letters of administration it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said commissioners that the executor or administrator to whom such credit shall be given as aforesaid shall not have recovered effects of the deceased to an amount sufficient for the payment of the duty, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to give such further time for the payment thereof, and upon such terms and conditions, as they shall think expedient.

Probate or letters of administration stamped on credit shall he deposited with the commissioners till payment of duty.

47. Provided also, that the probate or letters of administration so to be stamped on credit as aforesaid shall be deposited with the said commissioners of stamps, and shall not be delivered up to the executor or administrator, until payment of the duty, together with such interest as aforesaid, if any shall become due; but the same shall nevertheless be produced in evidence by some officer of the commissioners of stamps at the expense of the executor or administrator, as occasion shall require.

Duty for which credit is given shall be a debt to the crown, and be paid before other debts.

48. The duty for which credit shall be given as aforesaid shall be a debt to his Majesty, from the personal estate of the deceased and shall be paid in preference to and before any other debt whatsoever due from the same estate; and if any executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased shall pay any other debt in preference thereto, he or she shall not only be charged with and be liable to pay the duty out of his or her own estate, but shall also forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds.

Provision for the case of letters of administration de bonis non being taken out before payment of the duty for which credit is given.

49. If before payment of the duty for which credit shall be given in any such case as aforesaid it shall become necessary to take out letters of administration de bonis non of the deceased, it shall also be lawful for the said commissioners to cause such letters of administration de bonis non to be duly stamped with the particular stamp provided to be used on letters of administration of that kind for denoting the payment of the duty in respect of the effects of the deceased on some prior probate or letters of administration of the same effects, in such and the same manner as if the duty had been actually paid upon having the letters of administration de bonis non deposited with the said commissioners, and upon having such further security for the payment of the duty as they shall think expedient; and such letters of administration shall be as valid and available as if the duty for which credit shall be given had been paid.

Provision as to affidavits relating to trust property under 48 Geo. 3. c. 149. ss. 35, 37, by executors, &c. residing out of England.

50. In regard to probate of wills and letters of administration, where any part of the personal estate which the deceased was possessed of or entitled to shall be alleged to have been trust property, if the person or persons who shall be required to make any affidavit or affirmation relating thereto, conformably to the provisions of the said Act of the forty-eighth year of his Majesty's reign, shall reside out of England, such affidavit or affirmation shall and may be made before any person duly commissioned to take affidavits by the Court of Session or Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or before one of his Majesty's justices of the peace in Scotland, or before a master in Chancery, ordinary or extraordinary, in Ireland, or before any judge or civil magistrate of any other country or place where the party or parties shall happen to reside; and every such affidavit or affirmation shall be as effectual as if the same had been made before a master in Chancery in England, pursuant to the directions of the said last-mentioned Act.

Where effects of deceased are reduced by payment of debts, the difference in the duty may be returned within a given time.

51. Provided always, that where it shall be proved by oath or proper vouchers to the satisfaction of the said commissioners of stamps that an executor or administrator hath paid debts due and owing from the deceased, and payable by law out of his or her personal or movable estate, to such an amount as being deducted from the amount or value of the estate and effects of the deceased for or in respect of which a probate or letters of administration, or a compensation of a testament, testamentary or dative, shall have been granted after the thirty-first day of August one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, or which shall be included in any inventory exhibited and recorded in a commissary court in Scotland as the law requires after that day, shall reduce the same to a sum which if it had been the whole gross amount or value of such estate and effects would have occasioned a less stamp duty to be paid on such probate or letters of administration, or confirmation or inventory, than shall have been actually paid thereon under and by virtue of this Act, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to return the difference; provided the same shall be claimed within three years after the date of such probate or letters of administration or confirmation, or the recording of such confirmation as aforesaid; but where by reason of any proceeding at law or in equity the debts due from the deceased shall not have been ascertained and paid, or the effects of the deceased shall not have been recovered and made available, and in consequence thereof the executor or administrator shall be prevented from claiming such return of duty as aforesaid within the said term of three years, it shall be lawful for the Treasury to allow such further time for making the claim as may appear to them to be reasonable under the circumstances of the case.

Affidavits relating to stamp duties, where not otherwise provided for, shall be made before commissioners of stamps, &c.

52. All affidavits and solemn affirmations in the case of Quakers required by this or any former or future Act of Parliament, or which shall be required by the said commissioners of stamps to be made, for the satisfaction of the said commissioners, of and concerning any facts or circumstances upon which they are to execute the powers vested in them by this or any other Act, or for the verification of any accounts of or concerning the duties under their management, or for any other purpose relating to such duties, shall, in all cases not otherwise expressly provided for, be made before the said commissioners or any one or more of them, or before a master in Chancery, ordinary or [Rep. 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91. (S.L.R.)] extraordinary, in England, or before any person duly commissioned to take affidavits by the Court of Session or the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or before one of his Majesty's justices of the peace in Scotland.

Power to administer oaths, &c. and penalty for making false oath, &c. under Stamp Duty Acts.

53. All and every person and persons before whom any affidavit or solemn affirmation is or shall be required or directed to be made by this or any former or future Act of Parliament relating to any stamp duties shall be and they are hereby authorised to take the same, and administer the proper oath or affirmation for that purpose; and if any person making any such affidavit or affirmation shall knowingly and wilfully make a false oath or affirmation of or concerning any of the matters to be therein specified and set forth, every person so offending and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be subject and liable to such pains and penalties as by any law now in force persons convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury are subject and liable to.

Exemption of ginger, &c. lozenges and other confectionery from stamp duty, &c. unless avowedly sold as medicines.

54. Provided always, that nothing contained in this or any other Act shall extend or be construed to extend to charge with any stamp duties ginger and peppermint lozenges, or any other article of confectionery, unless the person vending the same shall vend the same as medicines, or as beneficial for the prevention, cure, or relief of any distemper, malady, ailment, or disorder incident to or in anywise affecting the human body, nor to compel the. person or persons vending the same to take out the licence required by persons vending medicines.

[S. 55 rep., 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91. (S.L.R.)]

The SCHEDULE to which this Act refers.

Schedule.

Part the First.

Containing the Duties on Admissions to Offices, &c., on Instruments of Conveyance, Contract, Obligation, and Security for Money, on Deeds in general, and on other Instruments, Matters, and Things not falling under either of the following Heads.

[Part the Second rep., 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.]

Part the Third.

Containing the Duties on Probates of Wills and Letters of Administration, on Confirmations of Testaments, testamentary and dative, on Inventories to be exhibited in the Commissary Courts of Scotland, on Legacies out of Real or Personal, Heritable or Moveable Estate, and on Successions to Personal or Moveable Estates upon Intestacy.

Schedule.

Part the Third.[¹]

Containing the Duties on Probates of Wills and Letters of Administration, on Confirmations of Testaments, testamentary and dative, on Inventories to be exhibited in the Commissary Courts in Scotland, and on Legacies out of Real or Personal, Heritable or Moveable Estate, and on Successions to Personal or Moveable Estates upon Intestacy.

[¹ The whole Act is rep., so far as relates to licences to pawnbrokers, 35 & 36 Vict. c. 93. s. 4.]

[² Section 2 is rep., except so far as it relates to the duties contained in the third part of the schedule, and to licences to bankers, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.]

[³ i.e. The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.]

[¹ Part III. rep., except as to exemptions from all stamp duties, and as to duties on legacies and successions, and except as to grants of probate and letters of administration made before April 1, 1880, 53 & 54 Vict. c. 33. (S.L.R.); see 44 & 45 Vict. c. 12. s. 27 &c., as to duties now paabyle.]