Calendar Act, 1751

CALENDAR ACT 1751

CHAPTER XXX.

An Act to amend an Act made in the last Session of Parliament (intituled An Act for regulating the Commencement of the Year, and for correcting the Calendar now in use).

[S. 1 rep. 30 & 31 Vict. c. 59. (S.L.R.)]

After 2 Sept. 1752, the times for opening and inclosing grounds for common of pasture, and for payment of rent, &c., if the same depend on any moveable feast, are to take place according to the new calendar.

2. And whereas in divers parts of this kingdom, by custom, prescription, or usage, or by virtue of some law or contract, certain lands and grounds are to be opened and used for common of pasture or other purposes, and the same lands and grounds are again inclosed and shut up, and certain rents or other payments are due and payable, and some other matters and things may be to be done upon some of the moveable feasts, or upon certain days or times depending upon, or to be computed from the same: And whereas the said moveable feasts are hereafter to take place, and to be observed according to the new calendar by the said Act [1] directed to be used, whereby some doubts have already arisen, or may hereafter arise, about the time for opening and using, inclosing and shutting up, such lands and grounds, the paying of such rents or other payments, and the doing such other matters or things as aforesaid: For remedy thereof, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the said second day of September in the said year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty two, the respective times for opening, using, inclosing, and shutting up all such lands and grounds as aforesaid, for the paying of such rents or other payments, and for the doing of such other matters or things as aforesaid, if such times are depending on any moveable feast or feasts, shall be computed and take place according to the said new calendar, and the tables and rules in the said recited Act directed to be used, and not according to the method of supputation heretofore used, or to the tables heretofore commonly affixed to the Book of Common Prayer; and the temporary and distinct property and right of all persons, bodies politick and corporate, of, to, and in all such lands and grounds, shall commence and be enjoyed, and all such rents and payments shall become and be due and payable, and all such matters and things shall be transacted and done accordingly, any law, custom, prescription, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

The title to such lands, not altered by this Act.

3. Provided always, . . . that nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the abridging, enlarging, confirming, or altering the title of any person, body politick or corporate whatsoever, of, in, or to any such lands or grounds, but the same shall remain and continue the same in all respects (except as to the new computation of time when such respective right or the enjoyment thereof shall commence or be put in use).

Recital of clauses in the Style Act, 24 Geo. 2. c. 23.

and in the Act for the abbreviation of Michaelmas term, 24 Geo. 2. c. 48.

The annual admission and swearing of the mayor of London, to be on 8 Nov.

4. And whereas, within the city of London, the usual and accustomed time of the annual meeting and assembly of the citizens of the said city, for the admission and swearing of the mayor of the same city, in the guild-hall there, hath been on the feast day of Saint Simon and Jude, being the twenty eighth day of October, in every year; and the usual and accustomed solemnity of presenting and swearing the mayor of the same city, in the Court of Exchequer at Westminster, hath been on the day next following the said feast of Saint Simon and Jude, to wit, on the twenty ninth day of October in every year: And whereas by the said in part recited Act it was enacted, that all meetings and assemblies of any bodies politick or corporate, either for the election of any officers or members thereof, or for any such officers entering upon the execution of their respective offices, or for any other purpose whatsoever, which by any law, statute, charter, custom, or usage within this kingdom were to be holden and kept on any fixed or certain day of any month, should, from and after the second day of September one thousand seven hundred and fifty two now next ensuing, be holden and kept upon or according to the same respective nominal days and times whereon or according to which the same were at the time of making the said Act to be holden: And whereas by another Act of Parliament made in the same twenty fourth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled “An Act for the abbreviation of Michaelmas term,” it was enacted, that the said solemnity of presenting and swearing the mayors of the said city of London, before the King or Queen of England in their Court of Exchequer at Westminster, or before the barons of the said court, after every annual election into the said office, in the manner and form heretofore used, on the twenty ninth day of October, should, from and after the feast of Saint Michael, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty two, be kept and observed on the ninth day of November in every year: Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said annual admission and swearing of the mayor of the said city of London, at the guildhall there, shall not at any time hereafter be had and performed on the said twenty eighth day of October, but the same, and all annual meetings and assemblies for that purpose, shall, at all times hereafter, be had, done, and holden in the usual and accustomed manner on the eighth day of November in every year, being the day next preceding the said ninth day of November, whereon the said solemnity of presenting and swearing the mayor of the said city in the Court of Exchequer, is appointed for the future to be kept and observed as aforesaid, and not before, any thing in the said first recited Act of Parliament or any law, custom, or usage to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

[1 i.e., 24 Geo. 2. c. 23.]