such demand shall be made he shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds.

This provision is the more important, because by the first and second sections of the same act it is declared, that if it shall appear on examining the accounts for any particular city, borough, town, parish, ward or place, that more than the amount of the quota fixed upon such city, borough, &c. has been raised, the excess on the collection of any former years shall be applied in part payment and discharge of any assessment of the land tax made or to be made on such city, borough, town, parish, ward or place for any subsequent year or years.

(37)

CHAPTER III.

OF THE ACTS FOR REDEMPTION AND PURCHASE OF LAND TAX.

SECTION 1.

As to the Parties entitled to redeem and the Mode of effecting Redemptions.

THE principal of these acts, and that under which contracts for the redemption and purchase of land tax are now completed, is the 42 Geo. 3, c. 116, but as that act commences with a declaration that all powers, &c. in, and all rights acquired under, previous acts in relation to contracts before or on the 24th of June, 1802, where not varied or provided for by its enactments, shall continue in force, it has been considered desirable to set forth in the appendix such of the enactments in the 38 Geo. 3, c. 60, which was the first statute passed for redemption and sale of the land tax, as are not embodied in the act of 42 Geo. 3, c. 116.

The act 42 Geo. 3, c. 116, after declaring that it shall be lawful for the crown, by warrant under the sign manual, to appoint any commissioners appointed under the act of 38 Geo. 3, c. 5, for assessing the land tax to be commissioners for its sale, and after describing the oath to be taken and the powers to be vested in the commissioners so to be appointed, proceeds to declare that any two of such commissioners may contract for the redemption of the land tax according to the assessment made in pursuance of the 38 Geo. 3, c. 5, for the year the contract shall be entered into (s. 8).

The following persons are then declared entitled to exercise the right of redemption, viz.—

Corporations and trustees for public purposes (s. 9). All persons except tenants at rack-rent, or of crown lands (s. 10).

Any one or more of coparceners (s. 11).

Proprietors of canals and navigations (s. 12).

Proprietors of shares in waterworks, insurance offices, &c. (s. 13).

Committees and curators of lunatics and idiots, and guardians of infants (s. 14).

Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty (s. 15).

Trustees of property given for the benefit of poor clergy (s. 16).

Patrons of livings (s. 17).

As there are several enactments affecting each of these classes, it may be useful, after considering the general enactments applicable to all who avail themselves of the powers given by the redemption acts, to consider the special enactments applicable to each class.

Besides the enactments relating to the several classes above enumerated, there are also several which relate exclusively to the redemption of the tax on lands within the survey of the exchequer and in the duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster; and these, as well as the enactments relating to Scotland, will be found arranged and digested at the end of this Chapter.

First, It may be premised that a preference in redeeming was given to corporations, trustees and parties in possession until the 25th of December 1802, and to trustees, corporations and persons entitled in reversion until the 24th of June, 1803 (s. 19); and a similar right of preference is also reserved to those entitled in reversion to redeem at any time afterwards during a period of three months, if they shall give notice of their intention to redeem (s. 20).

The consideration to be given for the redemption of any land tax is so much stock in the three per cents. as will yield an annuity or dividend exceeding the amount of the land tax to be redeemed by one-tenth part thereof; and where the land tax to be redeemed in any place for which separate commissioners are appointed by the crown shall not exceed 251. per annum, the consideration may be paid in money, to be calculated in the manner described in the act (ss. 23, 24). The consideration, whether in money or stock, may also be paid by quarterly instalments, extending over a period of two years (ss. 25, 27), or the whole may be paid at once, but in the event of its being paid by instalments, interest must be added equal to the tax reedeemed (ss. 28, 29).

When the consideration is in money, the clerk to the commissioners, upon production of the necessary certificate or schedule, is to cause an account to be transmitted to the commissioners for the affairs of taxes, and to the receivergeneral (a) of the district, of the amount of the land tax proposed to be redeemed, and the day or days of payment on which the whole consideration or the different instalments thereof are proposed to be paid, and the commissioners of the treasury then direct sufficient money to be advanced to the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt for the purchase of so much stock as may be necessary for the completion of such contracts or any instalment thereof, the money so advanced being from time to time replaced out of the monies paid to the receivergeneral (a) in respect of any such contracts (s. 37). And

(a) By 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 18, s. 1, receivers-general are discontinued, except one for the London and Middlesex district, and inspectors are appointed instead. The London and Middlesex district includes the Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Holborn, Bloomsbury, Marylebone, the Inns of Court, Kensington Gore, Edgware, Edmondon, Hendon and Beaconsfield in Essex.

on payment of the consideration to the receiver-general (c), or his deputy or collector, a receipt is to be indorsed on the certificate of the contract in the form set forth in the schedule to the act (s. 38). But should the consideration be in stock, then, on production of the certificate of the contract at the Bank of England and transfer of the stock, the cashier of the Bank is to grant a receipt for the transfer, which is to be indorsed on the certificate in the form set forth in the schedule to the act (s. 38).

On transfer or payment of the consideration, the lands or other property comprised in the contract will be exonerated from land tax from the preceding quarter day, provided the certificate of the contract be duly registered, otherwise only from the quarter preceding the day of its being left for registry (s. 38).

Should the tax be proposed to be redeemed by persons having a right of preference (d), the course of proceeding is as follows: they must produce to any two of the commissioners acting for the hundred or division, &c., if in England, or, if in Scotland, to any two commissioners of supply of the county or stewartry, or the chief magistrate of the city or borough, a schedule or description of the lands or other property, the land tax upon which is proposed to be redeemed, with the names of the occupiers, and the parish or place where the same are situate, whereupon such commissioners will give a certificate of the land tax charged, and upon production of this to the commissioners acting under the royal sign-manual, such last-mentioned commissioners will examine, and, if necessary, amend the same, and enter into the proposed contract for redemption; and if the land tax proposed to be redeemed shall not exceed 251., and the consideration for the redemption is to be in money, will specify the same in writing, and in what manner

(c) Now to the inspector of taxes, see ante, p. 39. (d) See p. 38, ante.