Revenue Act, 1867

REVENUE ACT 1867

CHAPTER XC.

An Act to alter certain Duties and to amend the Laws relating to the Inland Revenue.[1] [12th August 1867.]

As to Excise.

Alteration of Excise duties on licences to deal in gold and silver plate.

1. . . . there shall be charged and paid the following Excise duties on licences to deal in plate to be taken out yearly in the United Kingdom by the persons herein-after mentioned; (that is to say,)

By every person who shall trade in or sell any article composed wholly or in part of gold or silver, in respect of every house, shop, or other place in which his trade or business shall be carried on–

Where the gold shall be above two pennyweights and under two ounces in weight, or the silver above five pennyweights and under thirty ounces in weight, the sum of two pounds six shillings :

Where the gold shall be of the weight of two ounces or upwards, or the silver of the weight of thirty ounces or upwards, the sum of five pounds fifteen shillings :

By every person [2 exercising or carrying on the trade or business of a hawker, pedlar, or petty chapman], who shall sell in the ordinary course of his trading as a hawker, pedlar, or petty chapman any article composed wholly or in part of gold or silver, the same duties as above mentioned, according to the weight of the gold or silver :

By every pawnbroker who shall trade in or sell any article composed wholly or in part of gold or silver, or who shall take in pawn, or deliver out of pawn, any such article, in respect of every house, shop, or other place in which his trade or business shall be carried on, the sum of five pounds fifteen shillings :

By every refiner of gold or silver, in respect of every house, shop, or other place as aforesaid, the sum of five pounds fifteen shillings.

Duties and licences to be Excise duties and licences, and provisions of all Excise Acts to apply thereto.

2. The duties granted by this Act on licences to deal in plate and the said licences shall be Excise duties and licences, and shall be under the management of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue; and all the powers, provisions, clauses, regulations, and directions contained in or imposed by any Act relating to Excise duties or licences, or to penalties under Excise Acts, and now or hereafter in force, shall respectively be of full force and effect with respect to the duties by this Act granted, and the licences relating thereto, and to the penalties hereby imposed, so far as the same are applicable, and shall be observed, applied, and enforced for and in the collecting, securing, and recovering of the said last-mentioned duties and penalties hereby granted and imposed respectively, and the granting and management of the said licences, and otherwise in relation to the said duties, penalties, and licences, so far as the same shall be consistent with and not superseded by the express provisions of this Act, as fully and effectually as if the same had been herein repeated and specially enacted with reference to the said last-mentioned duties, penalties, and licences respectively.

Penalty for dealing in plate without licence, 50l.

3. Every person who shall do any act or carry on any trade or business for which a licence to deal in plate is required by this Act, without having in force a proper licence authorizing him so to do, shall for every offence forfeit the sum of fifty pounds; and in any proceeding for the recovery of such penalty it shall be sufficient to allege that the defendant did deal in plate without a proper licence in that behalf, and it shall not be necessary further or otherwise to describe the offence.

Plate licence not necessary for the sale, &c. of lace, wire, &c.

4. No licence to deal in plate shall be necessary to enable any person to trade in, or sell, or to take in pawn, or deliver out of pawn, gold or silver lace, or gold or silver wire, thread, or fringe.

Goods sold, &c. for gold or silver to be deemed to be so.

5. All articles sold or offered for sale, or taken in pawn or delivered out of pawn, and alleged to be composed wholly or in part of gold or silver, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed and taken to be composed of gold and silver respectively as alleged; and if upon the hearing of any information for any offence against this Act any question shall arise touching the quantity of gold or silver contained in any article, the proof of such quantity shall lie upon the defendant.

Plate licences to expire on 5th July in each year.

6. Every licence to deal in plate taken out under this Act shall be dated the day on which the same shall be granted, and shall expire on the fifth day of July next after the granting of the same:

[S. 7 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

Repeal of enactments requiring entries to be made by coffee, tea, and tobacco dealers.

8. So much of any Act as requires a seller of or dealer in coffee, tea, cocoa nuts, or chocolate to make entry of any premises for the keeping or selling the same is hereby repealed, and so much of any Act as requires a dealer in and retailer of tobacco or snuff to make entry of any premises for storing, keeping, or selling of tobacco or snuff is also hereby repealed: Provided, that where a manufacturer of tobacco or snuff shall be a dealer therein or retailer thereof in any premises adjoining his manufactory, such premises shall be entered together with the manufactory.

Section 25 of 6 Geo. 4. c. 81. to continue in force with respect to tobacco dealers.

9. Notwithstanding the enactment contained in the preceding section, the provisions of section twenty-five of the Excise Licences Act, 1825, shall continue in force, and be deemed to apply to every person who shall have taken out a licence to deal in or sell tobacco or snuff; and in the construction of the said section twenty-five in relation to such person the expression “entered premises” shall be deemed to mean the premises wherein his trade or business is exercised or carried on.

Power to officers of Excise to enter premises of tobacco dealers and examine all tobacco there.

10. It shall be lawful for any officer of Excise at any time (but if between the hours of eleven at night and five in the morning, then in the presence of a constable or other lawful peace officer,) to enter into the premises of every person who shall sell or deal in or who shall have taken out a licence to sell or deal in tobacco or snuff, and to examine all tobacco or snuff in the premises of such person.

[S. 11 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

General entry book of division or ride.

4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 51. s. 5.

12. The Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall furnish the officer of Excise of every division or ride with a book, to be called the general entry book of such division or ride; and such officer, upon receiving any such entry as is mentioned in the said fifth section of the Excise Management Act, 1834, shall forthwith securely affix the same in such book; and such officer on his being removed from such division or ride, shall deliver over such book, together with the entries contained therein, to the officer succeeding him in such division or ride; and where upon the trial of any indictment, information, action, suit, or prosecution, or upon any other legal or judicial proceeding whatsoever, any question shall be made or shall arise whether any house, building, room or place, vessel or utensil, of which entry is required to be made under any Act of Parliament relating to the revenue of Excise, was entered by the person by whom the same shall have been used, it shall be deemed and taken to be sufficient proof of such entry if, upon the production by any officer of Excise of the said general entry book of the division or ride in which such house, building room or place, vessel or utensil shall have been used, such house, building, or place, vessel or utensil shall be found in any entry contained in such book purporting to have been made by any such person, without further evidence; and if upon the production of such book no such house, building, room or place, vessel or utensil shall be found in any entry contained therein, or if found shall appear to have been entered for another or different purpose than the purpose for which the same shall be charged or alleged to have been used by such person, every such house, building, room or place, vessel or utensil shall be deemed and taken to be unentered, unless by other evidence the contrary be made to appear: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to repeal or alter the provisions of any former Act relating to the proof of any such entry as aforesaid made before the passing of this Act.

[S. 13 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

14 & 15 Vict. c. 93.

Penalties for illicit distillation.

1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 55.

14. Whereas the twenty-second section of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, contains a provision that in every case of summary jurisdiction where the justices shall be authorized to award any penal or other sum they may order that the same shall be paid either forthwith or at such time as they shall see fit to fix: Be it enacted, that the said provision shall not extend to any penalty which shall be awarded for any offence committed against the provisions of the Illicit Distillation (Ireland) Act, 1831.

[Ss. 15, 16 rep. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 20. s. 49.]

Penalty upon unlicensed persons soliciting orders.

Service of notices, &c. where place of business of offender is not known, or is out of United Kingdom.

Exception in case of small quantities of foreign spirits or wine, and in favour of travellers of licensed persons.

17. If any person shall solicit, take, or receive any order for spirits, wine, or other article for the dealing in, retailing, or selling whereof an Excise licence is by law required, without having in force a proper Excise licence authorizing him so to do, he shall forfeit the penalty imposed by law upon a person dealing in, retailing, or selling such article without having an Excise licence in force authorizing him so to do; and in any case in which the place of business or residence of the offender shall not be known to the officer of Excise who shall exhibit any information for the recovery of such penalty as aforesaid, or, if known, shall be out of the United Kingdom, it shall be sufficient service of the notice and summons required to be given to a defendant by any law of Excise if the same be left at the house or place where the offender shall have solicited, taken, or received any such order as aforesaid, addressed to such offender: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to apply to the sale of any spirits or foreign wine while the same shall be and remain in the warehouse or warehouses in which the same shall have been deposited, lodged, or secured according to law, before payment of duty upon the importation thereof, where such spirits or foreign wine shall be sold in a quantity not less than one hundred gallons at one time, or to impose a penalty upon a bonâ fide traveller taking orders for goods which his employer is duly licensed to deal in or sell.

[S. 18 rep. 52 & 53 Vict. c. 42. s. 36.]

Lime and magnesia in snuff not to exceed certain proportions.

19. [Recital of 5 & 6 Vict. c. 93.] If any person being a manufacturer of, dealer in, or retailer of tobacco or snuff shall have in his custody or possession any snuff in which on examination thereof there shall be found to be any quantity of the oxides of calcium and magnesium, or of either of such oxides, exceeding by one per centum the proportion of the quantity of such oxides contained in the tobacco or tobacco stalks or returns of tobacco from which such snuff shall have been manufactured or shall be in course of manufacture, or if any such person shall have in his custody or possession any snuff in which on examination thereof there shall be found any quantity of the said oxides, or of either of them, exceeding the proportion of thirteen pounds weight of such oxides in every hundred pounds weight of such snuff, he shall forfeit two hundred pounds, and also the said snuff: Provided, that any sample of snuff, tobacco, or tobacco stalks or returns of tobacco which shall be examined for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of the said oxides contained therein shall first be dried at a temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees, as denoted by Fahrenheit's thermometer; and for the purposes of this section the term “snuff” shall include all snuff, and all tobacco, tobacco stalks, and returns of tobacco, which shall be in course of manufacture into snuff.

[Ss. 20–24 rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.]

Proof not required, in order to obtain exemption of trade premises from inhabited house duty, that the occupier resides in a separate house charged with the duty.

25. In order to entitle the occupier of any tenement or building, or part of a tenement or building, to exemption from inhabited house duties on the ground of such premises being occupied as a house for the purposes of trade only, or as a warehouse for the sole purpose of lodging goods, wares, or merchandise therein, or as a shop or counting-house, or being used as offices or counting-house, it shall not be necessary to prove, nor shall proof be required, that such occupier resides in a separate and distinct dwelling house or part of a dwelling house charged with the said duties.

[S. 26 rep. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 19. s. 4.]

[Sched. rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

[1 Short title, “The Revenue Act, 1867.” See 55 & 56 Vict. c. 10.]

[2 Words in brackets substituted for “duly licensed as a hawker, pedlar, or petty chapman,” by 51 & 52 Vict. c. 8. s. 9.]