Taxation: Members of Parliament Act 1700

VII. [X1 VII. Commissioners to set down Number to act in each Division; to cause Proportions charged to be equally assessed; and to require Inhabitants, &c. by Precepts to appear,; and to charge them with Execution of Act.;

Persons to whom Precepts directed absenting, &c. without Excuse.; Penalty £5; Commissioners to appoint Assessors,; and a Day and Place for Assessors to bring in Assessments.; Assessors to assess the full Sum given them in charge; and to bring, at Time prefixed, a Certificate of Assessment, and to return Names of Persons fit to be Collectors; for whose Payment to Receiver General Parish to be answerable.; Every Assessor, before he acts, to take the Oaths of Stat. 1 W. & M. Sess. 1. c. 8.

And for the more effectuall Performance thereof Be it enacted and declared That the Commissioners at such Generall Meeting or the major Part [X2 of them] shall also agree and set down in Writing who and what Number of the said Commissioners shall act in each of the said Divisions or Hundreds and shall deliver true Copies of such Writings to the Reciever Generall to be appointed by His Majesty to the End there may be no Failure in any Part of the due Execution of the Service by this Act required And the Commissioners within the severall Hundreds Lathes Wapentakes Rapes Wards or other Divisions or any Two or more of them are hereby authorized and required to cause the severall Proportions charged on the respective Hundreds Lathes Wapentakes Rapes Wards or other Divisions for or towards the Aid hereby granted to be equally assessed and taxed within every such Hundred Lathe Wapentake Rape Ward or other Division and within every Parish and Place therein according to the best of their Judgments and Discretions and for that End and Purpose to direct their severall or joint Precept or Precepts to such Inhabitants High Constables Petty Constables Bailiffs or other Officers or Ministers and such Number of them as they in their Discretions shall think most convenient to be Presentors and Assessors requiring them to appear before the said Comissioners at such Time and Place not exceeding Six Days as they shall appoint And at such their Appearances the said Commissioners or such of them as shall be then present shall openly declare the Effect of their Charge to them and how and in what manner they should and ought to make their Assessments and how they ought to proceed in the Execution of this Act according to the true Meaning of the same And if any such Constable Petty Constable Bailiff Officer or Minister [X3 or] other Inhabitants to whom any Precept shall be directed shall absent themselves without lawfull Excuse to be made out by the Oath of Two credible Witnesses which Oaths the said Commissioners or any Two of them are hereby impowered to administer or if any Person appearing shall refuse to serve then every such Person so making default or refusing to serve shall for every such Default or Refusall forfeit and lose to His Majesty such Sums as the Commissioners or so many as shall be present or the major Part of them being present shall think fit not exceeding the Sume of Five Pounds And after such Charge given as aforesaid the said Comissioners shall take care that Warrants be issued forth and directed to Two at least of the most able and sufficient Inhabitants of each Parish Township or Place within the respective Divisions thereby appointing and requiring them to be Assessors of all and every the Rates and Sums of Money by this Act imposed And shall therein also appoint and prefix a certain Day and Place for the said Assessors to appear before them and to bring in their Assessments in Writing Which said Assessors are hereby [X2 strictly] enjoined and required with all Care and Diligence to assess the full Sum given them in charge respectively upon all ready Money Debts Personall Estates Offices Imployments Annuities and Pentions according to this Act and by an equall Pound Rate upon all Mannors Lands Tenements Rents Hereditaments and other the Premisses within the Limits Circuits and Bounds of the respective Parishes for which they shall be appointed Assessors as aforesaid And shall bring with them at the Time and Place so as aforesaid prefixed for their Appearance a Certificate in Writing of the said Assessment and shall then also return the Names of Two or more able and sufficient Persons living within the Limits and Bounds of those Parishes Townships Constablewicks or Places where they shall be chargeable respectively to be Collectors of the Moneys which shall be assessed as aforesaid and to be paid to His Majesty by this Act for whose paying in to the Reciever Generall or his Deputy in Manner hereafter mentioned such Moneys as they shall be charged withall the Parish or Place wherein they are so imployed shall be answerable And every Assessor appointed or to be appointed by vertue of this Act shall before he take upon him the Execution of the said Imployment take the Oaths mentioned and required to be taken by an Act made in the Parliament held in the First Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary entituled An Act for the abrogating the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and appointing other Oaths which [X4 Oaths] any Two or more of the said Commissioners in the County City or Place where the said Assessment is to be made have hereby Power and are required to administer]

Editorial Information

X1 interlined on the Roll.

X2 interlined on the Roll.

X3 O. omits.

X4 interlined on the Roll.