An Act for legalizing Art Unions.
[13th August 1846]
WHEREAS certain voluntary Associations have been and may hereafter be formed in various Parts of the United Kingdom, under the Name of Art Unions, for the Purchase of Paintings, Drawings, or other Works of Art, to be afterwards allotted and distributed, by Chance or otherwise, among the several Members, Subscribers, or Contributors forming Part of such Associations, or for raising Sums of Money by Subscription or Contribution to be allotted and distributed, by Chance or otherwise, as Prizes, amongst the Members, Subscribers, or Contributors forming Part of such Associations, on the Condition nevertheless that such Sums of Money so allotted and distributed be expended solely and entirely in the Purchase of Paintings, Drawings, or other Works of Art: And whereas such Allotment and Distribution of Paintings, Drawings, or other Works of. Art, or of Sums of Money for their Purchase, and the Proceedings taken to carry the same into effect, may be deemed and taken to come within the Provisions of the several Acts of Parliament passed for the Prevention of Lotteries, Littlegoes, and unlawful Games, whereby the Members, Subscribers, or Contributors of such Associations as aforesaid, or Persons acting under their Authority or on their Behalf, may be liable or subjected to certain Pains and Penalties imposed by Law on Persons concerned in Lotteries, Little goes, and unlawful Games : And whereas it is expedient that all Members of and Subscribers and Contributors to such voluntary Associations as aforesaid, and all Persons acting under their Authority or on their Behalf, so long only as their Proceedings are carried on in good Faith for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, shall be discharged and protected from any Pains and Penalties to which they may have rendered themselves liable, or may hereafter render themselves liable, by reason of any such their Proceedings as aforesaid:
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same,
That all such voluntary Associations as aforesaid, now constituted, or which may hereafter be constituted according to the Provisions herein-after contained, shall be deemed to be lawful Associations; and the Members of and Subscribers and Contributors to all such lawful Associations, and all Persons acting under their Authority or on their Behalf for the Purposes aforesaid, shall be freed and discharged from all Pains and Penalties, Suits, Prosecutions, and Liabilities, to which by Law they would be liable but for the passing of this Act, as being concerned in illegal Lotteries, Littlegoes, or unlawful Games, by reason of any thing done or which may be done by them or any of them in furtherance of the Allotment or Distribution, by Scheme or otherwise, of Paintings, Drawings, or other Works of Art, or of the Allotment or Distribution of Sums of Money as Prizes to be expended for their Purchase : Provided always, that a Royal Charter or Charters shall have been first obtained for the Incorporation of any such Association, or provided that the Deed of Partnership, or other Instrument or Instruments constituting such Association, and the Rules and Regulations relating to the Proceedings of such Association for such Purposes as aforesaid, shall have first been submitted to the Consideration and be approved of by a Committee of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and a Copy thereof deposited with such Committee ; and that it shall be expressed in every such Charter, Deed, or Instrument, that it shall be lawful for any Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council to whom the Consideration of Art Unions shall be referred by Her Majesty, whenever it shall appear to them that any such Association is perverted from the Purposes of this Act, to certify the Fact to Her Majesty, and thereupon it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to revoke or annul the Charter, Deed, or Instrument under which the Association so offending shall have been constituted ; and nothing in this Act contained shall be deemed to apply to any Association whose Charter, Deed of Partnership, or other Instrument constituting the same shall have been so revoked or annulled.
And whereas an Act was passed in the Seventh and Eighth Years of Her present Majesty's Reign, intituled An Act to indemnify Persons connected with Art Unions, and others, against certain Penalties, which Act was continued by another Act passed in the Eighth and Ninth Years of Her present Majesty's Reign, which Acts only apply to Acts done before the First Day of August last passed: And whereas it is expedient that the said Indemnity granted as aforesaid should be further continued; be it therefore enacted, That the Indemnity granted as aforesaid shall be extended to the First Day of November in the present Year, to the same Effect as if the said last-recited Act had in place of the Words " the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and forty-six" contained the Words "the First Day of November One thousand eight hundred and forty-six."
And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this Session of Parliament.