property situate in any parish, township, or places omitted shall be taken at the principal place of election for the county, or riding, parts, or division of the county, as the case may be.

LXXI. That from and after the end of this present parliament all booths erected for the convenience of taking polls shall be erected at the joint and equal expense of the several candidates, and the same shall be erected by contract with the candidates, if they shall think fit to make such contract, or if they shall not make such contract, then the same shall be erected by the sheriff or other returning officer at the expense of the several candidates as aforesaid, subject to such limitation as is hereinafter next mentioned; (that is to say,) that the expense to be incurred for the booth or booths to be erected at the principal place of election or at any of the polling places so to be appointed as aforesaid, shall not exceed the sum of 40 £ in respect of any one such principal place of election or any one such polling place; and that the expense to be incurred for any booth or booths to be erected for any parish, district, or part of any city or borough shall not exceed the sum of 25 £ in respect of any one such parish, district, or part; and that all deputies appointed by the sheriff or other returning officer shall be paid each two guineas by the day, and all clerks employed in taking the poll shall be paid each one guinea by the day, at the expense of the candidates at such election: provided always, that if any person shall be proposed without his consent, then the person so proposing him shall be liable to defray his share of the said expenses in like manner as if he had been a candidate; provided also, that the sheriff or other returning officer may, if he shall think fit, instead of erecting such booth or booths as aforesaid, procure or hire and use any houses or other buildings for the purpose of taking the poll therein, subject always to the same regulations, provisions, liabilities, and limitations of expense as are hereinbefore mentioned with regard to booths for taking the poll.

LXXVIII. Provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall extend to or in any wise affect the election of members to serve in parliament for the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or shall entitle any person to vote in the election of members to serve in parliament for the city of Oxford or town of Cambridge in respect of the occupation of any chamber or premises in any of the colleges or halls of the universities of Oxford or Cambridge.

264. Abolition of Negro Slavery

WHERE

(1833, August 28. 3 & 4 William IV. c. 73.)

HEREAS divers Persons are holden in Slavery within divers of His Majesty's Colonies, and it is just and expedient that all such Persons should be manumitted and set free, and that a reasonable Compensation should be made to the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves for the Loss which they will incur by being deprived of their Right to such Services: And whereas it is also expedient that Provision should be made for promoting the Industry and securing the good Conduct of the Persons so to be manumitted, for a limited Period after such their Manumission: And whereas it is necessary that the Laws now in force in the said several Colonies should forthwith be adapted to the new State and Relations of Society therein which will follow upon such general Manumission as aforesaid of the said Slaves; and that, in order to afford the necessary Time for such Adaptation of the said Laws, a short Interval should elapse before such Manumission should take effect: Be it therefore enacted by the King'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 from and after the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four all Persons who in conformity with the Laws now in force in the said Colonies respectively shall on or before the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four have been duly registered as Slaves in any such Colony, and who on the said First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four shall be actually within any such Colony, and who shall by such Registries appear to be on the said First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four of the full Age of Six Years or upwards, shall by force and virtue of this Act, and without the previous Execution of any Indenture of Apprenticeship, or other Deed or Instrument for that Purpose, become and be apprenticed Labourers; provided that, for the Purposes aforesaid, every Slave engaged in his ordinary Occupation on the Seas shall be deemed and taken to be within the Colony to which such Slave shall belong.

II. And be it further enacted, That during the Continuance of the Apprenticeship of any such apprenticed Labourer such Person or Persons shall be entitled to the Services of such ap

prenticed Labourer as would for the Time being have been entitled to his or her Services as a Slave if this Act had not been made.

III. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That all Slaves who may at any Time previous to the passing of this Act have been brought with the Consent of their Possessors, and all apprenticed Labourers who may hereafter with the like Consent be brought, into any Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall from and after the passing of this Act be absolutely and entirely free to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever.

XXIV. And whereas, towards compensating the Persons at present entitled to the Services of the Slaves to be manumitted and set free by virtue of this Act for the Loss of such Services, His Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled have resolved to give and grant to His Majesty the Sum of Twenty Millions Pounds Sterling; be it enacted, That the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland may raise such Sum or Sums of Money as shall be required from Time to Time under the Provisions of this Act, and may grant as the Consideration for such Sum or Sums of Money Redeemable Perpetual Annuities or Annuities for Terms of Years.

XXXIII. And for the Distribution of the said Compensation Fund, and the Apportionment thereof amongst the several Persons who may prefer Claims thereon, be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for His Majesty from Time to Time, by a Commission under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to constitute and appoint such Persons, not being less than Five, as to His Majesty shall seem meet, to be Commissioners of Arbitration for inquiring into and deciding upon the Claims to Compensation which may be preferred to them under this Act.

XLV. And be it further enacted, That the said Commissioners shall proceed to apportion the said Sum into Nineteen different Shares, which shall be respectively assigned to the several British Colonies or Possessions hereinafter mentioned; (that is to say,) the Bermuda Islands, the Bahama Islands, Jamaica, Honduras,

the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, Saint Christopher's, Dominica, Barbadoes, Grenada, Saint Vincent's, Tobago, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, British Guiana, the Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius; and in making such Apportionment of the said Funds between the said several Colonies the said Commissioners shall and are hereby required to have regard to the Number of Slaves belonging to or settled in each of such Colonies as the same may appear and are stated according to the latest Returns made in the Office of the Registrar of Slaves in England, appointed in pursuance and under the Authority of an Act passed in the Fifty-ninth Year of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act for establishing a Registry of Colonial Slaves in Great Britain, and for making further Provision with respect to the Removal of Slaves from British Colonies; and the said Commissioners shall and they are hereby further required, in making such Apportionment as aforesaid, to have regard to the Prices for which, on an Average of Eight Years ending on the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and thirty, Slaves have been sold in each of the Colonies aforesaid respectively, excluding from Consideration any such Sales in which they shall have sufficient Reason to suppose that such Slaves were sold or purchased under any Reservation, or subject to any express or tacit Condition affecting the Price thereof; and the said Commissioners shall then proceed to ascertain, in reference to each Colony, what Amount of Sterling Money will represent the average Value of a Slave therein for the said Period of Eight Years; and the total Number of the Slaves in each Colony being multiplied into the Amount of Sterling Money so representing such average Value as aforesaid of a Slave therein, the Product of such Multiplication shall be ascertained for each such Colony separately; and the said Twenty Millions of Pounds Sterling shall then be assigned to and apportioned amongst the said several Colonies rateably and in proportion to the Product so ascertained for each respectively.

265. Affirmation allowed instead of Oath

WHERE

(1833, August 28. 3 & 4 William IV. c. 82.)

WHEREAS there are in various Places in Ireland, and in some Parts of England, and elsewhere, certain Dissenters from the United Church of England and Ireland, and from the Church of Scotland, commonly called Separatists, the Members of which Class or Sect of Dissenters, from conscientious Scruples, refuse to take an Oath in Courts of Justice and other Places, and in consequence thereof are exposed to great Losses and Inconveniences in their Trades and Concerns, and are subject to Fines and to Imprisonment for Contempt of Court, and the Community at large are deprived of the Benefit of their Testimony: And whereas it is therefore expedient that the said Sect called Separatists should be relieved in manner hereinafter mentioned; be it enacted by the King'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 every Person for the Time being belonging to the said Sect called Separatists, who shall be required upon any lawful Occasion to take an Oath in any Case where by Law an Oath is or may be required, shall, instead of the usual Form, be permitted to make his or her solemn Affirmation or Declaration in these Words following; videlicet,

'I A. B. do, in the Presence of Almighty God, solemnly, sincerely, and truly affirm and declare that I am a Member of the Religious Sect called Separatists, and that the taking of any Oath is contrary to my Religious Belief, as well as essentially opposed to the Tenets of that Sect; and I do also in the same solemn Manner affirm and declare'

Which said solemn Affirmation or Declaration shall be adjudged and taken, and is hereby enacted and declared to be of the same Force and Effect, to all Intents and Purposes, in all Courts of Justice and other Places whatsoever where by Law an Oath is or may be required, as if such Separatists had taken an Oath in the usual Form.

II. And be it further enacted, That if any Person making such solemn Affirmation or Declaration shall in fact not be one of the People commonly called Separatists, or shall wilfully, falsely, and corruptly affirm or declare any other Matter or Thing which if the same had been sworn in the usual Form would have amounted to