CHEESE, BUTTER AND butter be lawfully salted with great salt but only with fine salt, nor any more be mixed with butter; penalty 5 (1). It is also required, that every cheesemonger, dealer in butter, or other person who shall sell any tub, firkin, or half firkin, shall deliver therein the full quantity aforesaid, and in default shall be liable to make satisfaction for what is wanting, to be recovered in an action on the case with costs (2). And if any change, alteration, fraud, or deceit shall be used or practised either in the vessel wherein butter is packed for sale as aforesaid, or in the butter itself, whether in quantity, quality, weight, or otherwise, or in any such brands or marks as aforesaid, or in the staves whereon the same shall be placed, or in any other manner howsoever after the packing thereof for sale as aforesaid, every person concerned therein shall forfeit 30 for every such offence (3). And no cheesemonger, dealer, or other person shall repack for sale any butter in any such vessel as aforesaid, on pain of forfeiting £5 for every tub, firkin, or half firkin so repacked (4). But no person is liable to penalties for using any such vessel (after the British butter packed therein has been taken out), for the repacking for sale any foreign butter, who shall first entirely cut out or efface the names of the original dairyman, farmer, or seller of butter, leaving the name and tare of the cooper, and the tare of the original dairyman, farmer, or seller thereon, and shall afterwards, with an iron, brand his name in words at length, and the words "foreign butter" in permanent and legible letters upon the bouge or body of of every such vessel, across two staves at the least, to denote that such butter is foreign butter (5). A penalty of £40 is imposed on counterfeiting or forging the names or marks above alluded to of the owners or farmers, or dairymen (6). All penalties above £5 are to be recovered in the courts at Westminster, and all offences against the act, the mode of determining which is not therein-before prescribed, and where the penalties do not exceed 5, are to be heard and determined by one justice of the county, &c. or place where the offences are committed, who, on proof upon oath by one witness, may levy such penalties by distress and sale of the offender's goods, returning the overplus, after deducting the costs, to be applied to the use of the informer; and for want of such distress, or if any penalty be not forthwith paid, the offender shall be (1) 36 Geo. 3. c. 86. s. 4. (4) Id. s. 7. (5) 36 Geo. 3. c. 86. s. 8. CHEESE. committed to the gaol or house of correction without bail for BUTTER AND not exceeding three calendar months nor less than twentyeight days, unless such penalty and all reasonable charges be sooner paid (1). A form of conviction is given, which is to be transmitted to the sessions; an appeal also lies to the sessions. The conviction is not to be quashed for want of form, nor is it removable by certiorari; the prosecution must be commenced within four months (2). In a case which occurred a. D. 1777, it was holden that an information qui tam, upon the old stat. 8 Geo. 1. c. 27., for a fraud in weighing and packing butter, exhibited in the sheriff's court at York, was removable into the King's Bench by writ of habeas corpus cum causa (3). With regard to the shipping of butter and cheese for London, it is provided, that every warehouseman, weigher, searcher, or shipper of butter and cheese, shall receive all butter and cheese brought to him for the London cheesemongers, and ship the same without undue preference, and shall have for his pains 2s. 6d. for every load; and if he make default, he shall, on conviction before one justice on oath of one witness, or confession, forfeit for every firkin of butter 10s., and for every weigh of cheese 5s., half to the churchwardens and overseers for the use of the poor, and half to the informer, to be levied by the constable by distress and sale (4); and he shall also keep a book of entry of receiving and shipping the goods, on pain of forfeiting 2s. 6d. for every firkin of butter and weigh of cheese, to be levied and applied in like manner, and for want of distress to be committed till paid (5). A master of a ship refusing to take in butter or cheese before he is fully laden (except it be a cheesemonger's own ship sent for his own goods), (6) shall forfeit for every firkin of butter refused 5s., and for every weigh of cheese 2s. 6d., to be levied and applied in like manner (7). Persons aggrieved by the determination of the justice, may appeal to the next sessions, giving £20 bond with one or more sureties, to the party to pay costs (within a month after), if he is not relieved on his appeal (8). But this act shall not extend to any warehouse in Cheshire or Lancashire. (9) (1) 36 Geo. 3. c. 86. s. 10, 14. 38 Geo. 3. c. 73. s. 4. (2) 36 Geo. 3. c. 86. s. 11, 12, 13. (3) Hartley v. Hooker, Cowp. (4) 4 W. & M. c. 7. s. 4. (6) Id. s. 8. (7) Id. s. 6. (8) Id. s. 10. BUTTONS. The statutes relative to the making of buttons relate either, 1st, to foreign buttons, or, 2dly, to such as are made of wood; Foreign Buttons, or, 3dly, to cloth buttons; or, 4thly, to metál buttons. and Penalties. Wooden 1. All foreign buttons are prohibited, and a penalty of £50, besides the forfeiture of the goods, is incurred by offering them to sale; and the importer of them forfeits £100, besides the goods themselves; half to the king, and half to the informer (1). And the statute provides, that on complaint and information given to a justice of the peace, at reasonable times, he shall issue his warrant to the constable to enter and search for such manufactures in the shops, being open, or warehouses or dwelling-houses of persons suspected to have any such foreign goods, and to seize the same (2). 2. No person shall make, sell, or set on any buttons made of wood only, and turned in imitation of other buttons, on pain of forfeiting 40s. a dozen; half to the king, and half to him who shall sue in any court of record. An information having been exhibited against a defendant for making wooden buttons contrary to the statute, a special verdict was found, that all the button was of wood, but that there was in it a shank of wire; and, after argument, judgment was given for the king, namely, that this was a button of wood, notwithstanding the shank, which is no essential part of the button; for buttons of Buttons of Serge silk and hair have no shanks (3). 3. By the 8 Ann. c. 6. it is further provided, that no person shall make, sell, set on, or use, on any clothes, any buttons or button-holes made of or bound with serge, drugget, frize, camlet, or any other stuffs of which clothes are usually made, on pain of forfeiting £5 for every dozen; half to the king, and half to him who shall sue in any court of record; or, on complaint to two justices where the matter arises, they may summon witnesses, and levy the penalty, returning the overplus; and persons aggrieved by their judgment or order may appeal to the next general quarter sessions (4). So by the 4 Geo. 1. c. 7. it is enacted, that no person shall make, sell, set on, use, or bind, on any clothes (except those made of velvet) (5), any buttons or button-holes made of or used or bound with cloth, serge, drugget, frize, camlet, or or other Stuff. (1) 13 & 14 C. 2. c. 13. s. 2. 4 W. & M. c. 10. s. 2. (2) 13 & 14 C. 2. c. 13. s. 3. 4 W. & M. c. 10. s. 3. (3) R. v. Roberts, 1 Ld. Raym. 712. (4) 8 Ann. c. 6.; and see the stat. 10 W. & M. c. 2. Penalty 40s. a dozen, half to the king, and half to prosecutor, in court of record. (5) 4G. 1. c. 7. s. 2. BUTTONS. any stuffs that clothes are usually made of, on pain of 40s. for every dozen of such buttons and button-holes, or in proportion for any less quantity (1), to be determined by one justice, where the offence shall be discovered or the offender shall inhabit, on oath of one witness, in three months after the offence committed (2), and to be distributed (charges of conviction first deducted) half to the informer, and half to the poor of the parish or place where the offence shall be discovered; if not paid (being lawfully demanded) in fourteen days after conviction, the justice shall issue his warrant to the constable where the offender dwells or can be found, to levy it by distress and sale; and where no sufficient distress can be found, he shall be committed to the common gaol of the county or place where he shall be found, to be kept to hard labour for three calendar months (3). Clothes exposed to sale with such buttons and button-holes may be seized, and recovered and disposed of as other forfeitures under the statute (4). And the statute declares, although rather unnecessarily, that the same provisions shall extend to persons being in a gaol or house of correction, or who shall dwell within the rules or liberties thereof, or in any other privileged place (5). Tailors or other persons causing their apprentices or servants to make such clothes, subject themselves to the penalties of this act (6). And persons sued for acting under its provisions may plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence; and if the plaintiff be nonsuited, or discontinue, or a verdict pass against him, the defendant is to recover treble costs (7). The statutes also require that no person shall use or wear, on Using or wearing any clothes (velvet excepted) (8), any such buttons or button- Cloth Buttons. holes, on pain of forfeiting 40s. for every dozen of such buttons or button-holes, or in the like proportion for every less quantity (9); and any justice of the peace where the offence shall be committed, or the offender shall inhabit, shall, on complaint or information on oath of any credible person (in one month after the offence committed) (10), summon the party accused, and, on his appearance or contempt, examine the matter, and on due proof, by confession or oath of one witness, convict the offender; and on refusal to pay when demanded, at the time appointed by the justice, cause the forfeiture to be levied, by his warrant, by (1) 4 Geo. 1. c. 7. s. 1. (2) Id. s. 4. (3) Id. s. 5. (4) Id. s. 8. (6) Id. s. 9. (7) Id. s. 7. (8) 7 Geo. 1. st. 1. c. 12. s.5. (9) Id. s. 1. BUTTONS. distress and sale, and the overplus to be returned, one moiety of the penalty to him on whose oath (1) the party shall be conMetal Buttons. victed, and the other moiety to the poor of the parish (2). An appeal lies to the sessions after eight days' notice given (3). 4. The first, and indeed the only act of parliament to regulate the manufacture of metal buttons, was passed in the year 1796 (4). All the other statutes that have been mentioned (5) were passed for employing and encouraging the consumption of raw silk and mohair yarn (6). At the time of passing the 39 Geo. 3., the manufacture and sale of metal buttons had been for many years a great branch of trade in this kingdom; but the increase of the manufacture had been greatly impeded by the fraudulent practice of marking buttons as "gilt" or "plated," which, in fact, were not so, to the great injury of the purchaser and of the fair trader. A statute was therefore passed to regulate the sale of metal buttons; it does not extend, however, to such as are made of gold, silver, tin, pewter, lead, or mixtures of tin and lead, or iron tinned, or of the mixed metals called Bath metal or white metal, or of either of those metals inlaid with steel, or buttons plated upon shell or shells (7). This statute enacts, that no person who shall order metal buttons from any manufacturer or maker thereof, shall direct the words "gilt" or "plated," or any other word, letter, figure, mark, or device, indicating the quality, to be marked on any part thereof; nor any word or device, whether the same do or do not indicate the quality, to be marked on the under side, without at the same time ordering such buttons to be gilt with gold, or plated with silver; and that no person shall procure or purchase metal buttons so falsely marked, knowing the same not to be gilt or plated, on pain of forfeiting the buttons; and also £5 for any quantity exceeding one dozen, and not exceeding twelve dozen; and if above, after the rate of £1 for every twelve dozen (8); and also, that no person shall make any such marks on buttons, unless they are bona fide plated with silver, or afterwards gilt with gold, or destroyed before being sold; nor place upon any such buttons having the word " gilt" or "plated," or any other mark indicating the quality, on any part thereof (nor on the under (1) This is rather an anomalous (2) 7 Geo. 1. st. 1. c. 12. s. 2. (4) 39 Geo. 3. c. 60. (5) 8 Anne, c. 6. 4 Geo. 1. c. 7. 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 10. 10 W.3. (6) See 7 Geo. 1. st. 1. c. 12. |