Exportation Act 1697

III.

Owners of Wool shorn or housed within 10 Miles of the Sea, in Kent and Sussex, to give an Account thereof to the nearest Port or Officer;and Notice of Removal; and to take a Certificate.; Penalty.; Officer to take Account gratis, and give Certificate; Fee to Officer.

And whereas it is a common Practice in Romney March and other Place adjacent for evil disposed Persons to sheer [X1 their] Sheep and lodge Wooll near the Sea Side and sometimes to bring Wooll out of the Country more remote and lodge it as aforesaid where by Fraud and Force in the Night Time the said Persons do cause the same to be transported to France to the Increase of the Trade of that Kingdom and the Destruction of the Trade of England To prevent these Practices for the future be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every Owner and Owners of Wooll shorn or housed laid upp or lodged within Ten Miles of the Sea Side within the Counties of Kent and Sussex shall be obliged to give an exact [X1 Account] in Writing within Three Days after the Sheering thereof of his her or their Number of Fleeces and where lodged or housed to the next adjacent Port or Officer of His Majesties Customs [X2 or] the like Notice before he she or they shall presume to remove any Part or Parcel thereof of the said Number of Fleeces and Weight and the Name X3 of the Person or Persons to whom it is disposed and the Place [X4 to] which it is intended to be carryed and take a Certificate from the Officer who first entred the same upon Penalty of forfeiting all such Wool as shall not be so entred or otherwise disposed of and the Owner or Owners also to be liable to the further Penalties of Three Shillings for every Pound Weight of all such Wooll as if the same had been actually transported which said Account the Officers respectively are hereby required to take gratis and to give such Certificate or Certificates without Delay to the Party or Parties demanding the same and shall therein specify the Name or Names of the Owners & Buyers thereof and limitt it to such Times and Places to be removed For which Duty and Service the said Officer or Officers shall take and demand the Sum of Six Pence and no more for each Certificate upon any Account or Pretence whatsoever.

Editorial Information

X1 interlined on the Roll.

X2 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: and O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]

X3 and abode O. and King's Printer's Copy.

X4 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: unto O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]