East India Company Act 1697

LIX. No Company or particular Person to trade before he has given Security to Commissioners of Customs that the Goods to be laden by or for them in the Indies, shall be brought to England without breaking Bulk (the Danger of the Seas, &c. excepted.);

Disputes in Acceptance of Security, determined by Baron of the Exchequer; Goods imported to be sold by Inch of Candle; Penalty.

Provided always and it is hereby enucted That no Company or particular Person or Persons who shall have a Right in pursuance of this Act to trade to the East Indies or other the Parts within the Limits aforesaid shall be allowed to trade thither until sufficient Security shall be first given (which the Commissioners of the Customs in England or any Three or more of them for the time being are hereby authorized and required to take in the Name and to the Use of His Majesty His Heirs and Sucessors) That such Company or particular Persons shall cause all the Goods Wares Merchandizes and Commodities which shall at any time or times [X1 hereafter] during the Continuance of this Act be laden by or for them or any of them or for their or any of their Accounts in any Ship or Shipps whatsoever bound from the said East Indies or Parts within the Limits aforesaid shall be brought (without breaking Bulk) to some Port of England or Wales and there be unladen and put on Land (the Danger of the Seas Enemies Pirates Constraints of Princes and Rulers and Barratry of Seamen excepted) And in case there be any Difficulty or Dispute in the Acceptance of any such Security such Difficulty [X2 and] Dispute shall and may be determined by the Lord Chief Baron and other the Barons of the Coif of the Exchequer or any of them according to his or their best Judgment and Discretion And that all Goods and Merchandizes belonging to the Company to be erected as aforesaid or any other Traders to the East Indies and which shall be imported into England or Wales as aforesaid pursuant to this Act shall by them respectively be sold openly and publickly by Inch of Candle upon their respective Accounts and not otherwise upon Pain that the same or the Value thereof shall be forfeited and lost to wit One Moiety thereof to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors and the other Moiety thereof to any Person or Persons that will seize inform or sue for the same by Action of Debt or of the Case Bill Plaint or Information as aforesaid.

Editorial Information

X1 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: afterwards O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]

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