to transportation, shall and may order that such person or per- 26 G. 3, c. 24. sons be transported, either to any of his majesty's plantations or settlements in America, or to such other place or places not in Europe, as such judges or justices respectively shall order and direct; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

SECTION 6.

Libel.

abodes of the proprietors

given upon

butors of

23 & 24 Geo. 3, c. 28, s. 1.-Whereas, the liberty of the press hath been grossly abused, and may be very much endangered by the publication of many traitorous, seditious, false, and slanderous libels, to the great disturbance of the public peace, and to the injury of many private families and individuals; for remedy whereof, be it enacted, &c., that no person whatsoever No newsshall print or cause to be printed, publish or cause to be publish- paper, &c. to be printed ed, any newspaper, intelligencer, or occurrences, or any paper until the serving the purposes of a newspaper, intelligencer, or occurrences, names and before he, she, or they shall have first given in to the commissioners for managing his majesty's stamp duties, or their proper officers in shall be the respective towns, and at their respective offices where stamped oath to the paper shall be distributed, an affidavit setting forth his, her, or commissiontheir true name and names, and the true name and names of the ers or distri proprietor or proprietors of such newspaper, or other paper serving stamps. the purposes aforesaid, and of all and every person or persons receiving or sharing, or entitled to receive or share the profits thereof, together with the place or places of abode of every such printer, publisher, or other person as aforesaid; which affidavit or affidavits shall be signed and sworn by all and every such proprietor and proprietors, printers and publishers as aforesaid, and shall be deposited with the said commissioners, or their proper officers in their respective towns, and at their respective offices, where stamped paper shall be distributed; and shall remain with such commissioners or officer as aforesaid, for safe custody, and to be produced as occasion may require, at or before the trial of all such actions, suits, or prosecutions, as shall be had or commenced touching such newspaper or other paper as aforesaid, or any publication therein contained, and the several persons hereby required to sign and swear such affidavit or affidavits as aforesaid, being proprietors of such newspaper or other paper as aforesaid, or receiving or sharing, or entitled to receive or share the profits thereof, shall also set forth therein, that no other person, save the person or persons named therein, is a proprietor of, or has any share or profit in, or is entitled to any share or profit in such newspaper or other papers as aforesaid; which affidavit or affidavits, or an affidavit or affidavits of the like import, shall be made

C. 28.

23 & 24 G. 3, and given in like manner, so often as the property in any such newspaper or other paper as aforesaid shall be altered, transferred, or changed; and such affidavit shall be received and admitted in all courts of justice, as conclusive evidence of all such matters therein as are hereby required to be therein contained, against all and every the person and persons who shall have signed and sworn the same as aforesaid, upon the trial of any such action, suit, or prosecution as aforesaid.

Demanding or receiving a reward for printing a libel.

Officer not to sell stamps for newspapers, &c. until requisites performed.

Notice of transfer of

3. And be it declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any printer, publisher, or other person shall ask, demand, or receive any money or other reward, for printing or publishing, or for forbearing to print or publish any libel; every sach person so receiving or demanding such money or other reward as aforesaid, and all and every person who shall offer or pay, or promise to pay or secure, directly or indirectly, any money, gratuity, or other reward for printing or publishing any libel, shall, upon conviction by due course of law, be deemed and adjudged guilty of a high misdemeanor.

4. That no officer appointed for distributing stamped vellum, parchment, or paper, in this kingdom, shall sell or deliver any stamped paper for printing any public news, intelligence, or occurrences, to any person, until the requisites herein-before prescribed in that behalf shall have been first performed, upon pain of forfeiting such office as aforesaid; and that every printer, publisher, or person receiving, or being entitled to receive or property to be share the profits of any such newspaper or other paper, within given to proper officer twenty-four hours as aforesaid, shall, after he, she, or they shall transfer his, her, or their shares or property therein, or any part thereof, give notice in writing under his, ber, or their hands respectively, of such transfer, to the commissioners for managing his majesty's stamp duties, or their proper officers in the respective towns, and at the respective offices where such stamps are distributed, under a penalty of two hundred pounds, to be sued for, recovered, and applied in the manner herein-before directed.

Selling unstamped newspapers,

&c., or papers containing libels, imprisonment on summary conviction,

5. That in case any person or persons shall sell, hawk, carry about, utter, or expose to sale, any newspaper, or any book. pamphlet, or paper deemed or construed to be a newspaper, within the intent or meaning of any of the acts of parliament relating to the stamp duties now in force, or hereafter to be enacted, not being stamped or marked as in the said acts is or, shall be directed and appointed, or shall sell, hawk, carry about, utter, or expose to sale, any handbill, paragraph, advertisement, or other paper containing any libel, unless such handbill, paragraph, advertisement, or other paper, shall have been duly stamped as a newspaper; it shall and may be lawful, for any justice of the peace to commit every such offender, being thereof convicted before him, by his or her confession, or by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, or upon the view of such justice, to any common gaol within his jurisdiction for any

c. 28.

time not exceeding three months, nor less than one week, unless 23 & 24 G. 3, the person or persons so apprehended, shall discover upon oath the name and place of abode of the printer or printers, by whom such handbill, paragraph, advertisement, or other paper shall have been printed, published, or sold ; and it shall and may be lawful for any person to seize, apprehend, and carry before any justice of the peace of the county, city, or place where such offence shall be committed, any such person so offending as aforesaid.

Affidavit

of proprietorship when to be delivere..

55 Geo. 3, c. 80, s. 10.-That every printer, publisher, and proprietor of any newspaper in Ireland, whether for himself, or in trast for any bankrupt, lunatic, infant, feme covert, or person beyond the seas, or for any number of such persons, shall, before he shall print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, such newspaper, and as often afterwards as the said com. missioners of stamps, or any of them, shall, by notice in writing or otherwise, require the same, within ten days after being so required, give in to the said commissioners, at their office in Dublin, or to the proper officers in whose districts such newspaper shall be printed, at their respective offices where stamped paper shall be distributed, such affidavit, and of such import as printers, publishers, or proprietors of newspapers are or shall be, by any law or laws, directed to make; which affidavit or affidavits shall remain with such commissioners of stamps or officers, to be produced in manner hereinafter mentioned, as often as occasion may require: and every printer, publisher, or proprietor Penalty. of any newspaper in Ireland, whether for himself or in trust for any bankrupt, lunatic, or other person or persons, who shall print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, any newspaper, before he shall have given in to the commissioners of stamps such affidavit as aforesaid; or, when required thereto as aforesaid, shall neglect or omit to give in such affidavit, within the time and at the places aforesaid, shall, for every such offence, neglect, or omission, pay a penalty of forty pounds, and shall be disabled from receiving any stamps for printing such newspapers upon, and shall be deemed and taken as if he, she, or they never had been qualified to print or publish any newspaper, until he, she, or they shall make and deliver in such affidavit as aforesaid.

printer.

12. That such and every such affidavit shall be produced as Affidavit, occasion may require, at or before the trial of all such actions, evidence suits, prosecutions, informations, or indictments, as shall be had against or commenced, filed, or found, touching such newspapers or any publication therein contained; and such affidavit or affidavits shall, on every such trial, be received and admitted against all and every the person and persons who shall have so signed and sworn the same, as conclusive evidence of all such matters therein, as shall be by law required to be therein contained, and also of the continuance of all such matters in the same plight and condition to the time in question, on such trial, unless it shall be proved that, previous to such time, such person or

55 G. 3, c. 80. persons became !unatic, or served a notice in writing at the of fice where such affidavit shall have been sworn, of any of the said matters therein being changed; or unless it shall appear that, previous to such time, a new affidavit of the same or a similar nature repectively, was or were made concerning the same newspaper, in which the person or persons sought to be affected on such trials did not join; and whensoever any such affidavit shall be produced in evidence on any such trial, it shall be suf ficient to prove that the name of the person or persons then sought to be charged therewith, is of his, her, or their handwriting; and it shall not be necessary to produce the person who administered such oath, or to prove the swearing of such affidavit in any other manner.

Coples of newspapers lodged in

stamp office to be evi

proprietors.

13. That every printer, publisher, and proprietor of a news. paper printed or published in the county, or the county of the city of Dublin, which is, or from time to time shall be liable to any stamp duty, shall, on every day of publication thereof, or on dence against such day next following, which shall not be an holiday, between the hours of ten and three on each day, cause to be delivered to the person who shall be duly appointed for that purpose in the stamp office in the city of Dublin, one copy of the newspaper so printed or published, with the name of some printer, publisher, or proprietor thereof, written thereon after the same shall be printed, by his or her own proper hand-writing, in his or her accustomed manner of signing the same; and every printer, publisher, and proprietor of a newspaper, printed or published in any other place in Ireland, shall, on each day of the publication of such newspaper, or on such day next following, which shall not be an holiday, in like manner, between the hours of ten and three of the clock, cause to be delivered to the distributor of stamps in whose district such newspaper shall be printed or published, two copies of every such newspaper so printed or pub lished, with the name of some printer, publisher, or proprietor thereof, written thereon after the same shall be printed, by his or her proper hand, in his or her accustomed manner of signing the same; for which several copies so delivered, the respective printers, publishers, and proprietors thereof, or the person or persons so delivering the same, shall be paid the usual and current prices of such copies; which said several copies so delivered as aforesaid, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be evidence against the several proprietors, publishers, and printers of such newspapers respectively, in all complaints, suits, actions, indictments, informations, prosecutions, and proceedings, to be commenced and carried on, as well touching such newspapers respectively, as every matter and thing therein contained, and touching any other newspaper, and any or every matter or thing therein contained, which shall be of the same title, purport or effect with such impression or copy so delivered as aforesaid, although the same should vary in some instances or particulars, either as to title, purport, or effect; and the printers, publishers,

and proprietors of the copies so delivered as aforesaid, shall, to all intents and purposes, be deemed printers, publishers, or proprietors respectively, of all newspapers which shall be of the same title, purport, or effect, with such copies or impressions so delivered as aforesaid, notwithstanding such variance as aforesaid; unless such printers, publishers, or proprietors respectively, shall prove that such newspapers respectively were not printed or published by them respectively, or by or with their knowledge, privity or direction; and every printer, proprietor, or publisher of such newspaper or newspapers, who shall neglect or omit to deliver or cause to be delivered such copies or copy signed as aforesaid, as hereinbefore directed, shall, for every such omission, pay a penalty of one hundred pounds.

14. That no newspaper so delivered shall be deemed a sufficient copy, so as to protect any such printer, publisher, or propri etor from the said penalty of one hundred pounds, unless the title thereof shall be the same as that for which such person shall have been registered at the stamp-office in Dublin, as the punter, publisher, or proprietor thereof; but if any such news. paper so delivered, shall have a title sufficient to denote that such newspaper is the same for which such printer, publisher, or proprietor is so registered, of which the court is in all cases o judge, every such newspaper so delivered as aforesaid at the stamp-office in Dublin, or to any distributor, as the case may be, shall be evidence, in all cases, against all and every the printers, publishers, and proprietors so registered, as fully and effectually, to all intents and purposes, as if such newspapers, so delivered, bore the same title as that for which such person shall have been so registered.

to

15. [The commissioners, upon the petition of any printer, pub- › lisher, or proprietor of a newspaper not printed in the county or city of Dublin, may order that the copies shall be delivered to any other distributor of stamps, than to the distributor of the district in which the paper is published; and thenceforward, until further order, such newspaper shall be deemed to be published in the district of such latter distributor.]

16. And whereas doubts may be entertained as to what shall be the days of publication of any such newspaper; be it enacted, that on whatever day or days of the week, any such newspaper shall have been published in the week next immediately preceding the e commencement of this aet, such day or days shall, as against any registered printer, proprietor, or publisher thereof, be deemed the days of publication thereof; and every printer, publisher, and proprietor thereof shall be deemed and taken to have published the same on the said days in any future week, until notice of a change in that respect shall have been duly served at the stamp-office in Dublin, by some registered printer, proprietor, or publisher thereof, unless it shall be expressly proved that such newspaper was not so published on the particular day or days. in question, and that in all affidavits which shall hereafter be

Days of publication, how ascertained.