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EXCHEQUER BILLS AND BONDS ACT 1866
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CHAPTER XXV.
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An Act to consolidate and amend the several Laws regulating the Preparation, Issue, and Payment of Exchequer Bills and Bonds.[1]
[18th May 1866.]
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[Preamble.]
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[Ss. 1, 2 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 14. (S.L.R.)]
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Mode of preparing Exchequer bills.
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3. All Exchequer bills which shall be made out and issued under the authority of any Act or Acts of Parliament shall be prepared and made out at the Bank of England, in such method and form, with coupons for the interest becoming due from time to time thereon for any term not exceeding five years from the date thereof, and under such regulations, as the Treasury shall think most safe and convenient; and it shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time, by warrant under their hands, countersigned by the Comptroller and Auditor General, to cause or direct such Exchequer bills to be prepared and made out, either of one common sum, or different sums, for the principal moneys therein contained, and to be respectively numbered arithmetically;: Provided always, that all acts relating to Exchequer bills directed by this Act to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General shall, in the event of his illness or absence from his office, be done by the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor
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Counterfoils.
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4. All the said Exchequer bills shall be prepared and made out with such counterfoils as shall be directed by the Treasury; and, unless otherwise directed by the Treasury, two counterfoils shall be made to every such Exchequer bill; one of such counterfoils shall remain in the custody of the Bank of England for their use, to prevent their being imposed upon by counterfeit or forged bills; and when the Exchequer bills shall have been paid off, cancelled, and discharged, and the account thereof shall have been audited and allowed, it shall be lawful for the Treasury to authorize and direct the Bank of England to burn or otherwise destroy the said counterfoils, as being of no further use to the public service; the second of such counterfoils shall, unless by special direction of the Treasury, be delivered to and remain in the custody of the Comptroller and Auditor General, subject to such directions as shall be given by the Treasury from time to time for keeping, or burning, or otherwise destroying the same.
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Date and rate of interest on Exchequer bills.
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5. All such Exchequer bills shall bear date on such days and shall bear interest at such rate as may from time to time be fixed by the Treasury, such interest not to exceed the rate of five pounds and ten shillings per centum per annum upon and in respect of the principal moneys respectively contained therein, and to be payable half-yearly at the Bank of England, under such regulations as shall be prescribed in that respect by the Treasury.
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Mode of issue of Exchequer bills.
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6.1 It shall be lawful for the Treasury, by warrant under their hands, countersigned by the Comptroller and Auditor General, to authorize and direct the Bank of England from time to time to issue and deliver such amount and number of Exchequer bills as shall be prepared in pursuance of any Act of Parliament to such person or officer as may be named in such warrant, and such person or officer shall thereafter become chargeable and be charged with such amount of Exchequer bills as may be delivered to him, subject to such directions as may be issued to him by the Treasury for the sale and application of the proceeds of such Exchequer bills, or for delivering such bills in exchange for other bills, as herein-after enacted; and such person or officer shall be discharged from all account in respect of such Exchequer bills on proving to the satisfaction of the Comptroller and Auditor General that he has duly obeyed the directions of the Treasury: Provided always, that the Treasury shall not be so authorized to direct the issue of such Exchequer bills to such person or officer except for the purpose of raising money to be paid to the account of Her Majesty's Exchequer at the Bank of England, and carried to the account of the Consolidated Fund, or to be exchanged for other Exchequer bills to be cancelled.
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Exchequer bills to be charged on the Consolidated Fund.
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7. The principal moneys contained in all such Exchequer bills, and all interest due thereupon from time to time, shall be charged upon and be payable out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or out of the growing produce thereof.
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Exchequer bills to be advertised for payment annually.
Bills to continue to have legal currency until paid off or exchanged for new ones.
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8. The Treasury shall, on some day not later than ten days prior to the expiration of each twelve months from the respective dates of such Exchequer bills, during their legal currency, give notice in the London Gazette of the day or days on which, if claimed, payment will be made to the holders of such bills of the principal moneys therein contained, and of the day or days on which such claim must be made, by delivery of the said bills for examination; and such payment shall be made to such holders at the Bank of England, under such regulations as the Treasury shall prescribe; and if payment of such principal moneys shall not be so claimed, then the Exchequer bills not so paid off shall continue to have legal currency for the next following twelve months, and so on from year to year, until such principal moneys shall be claimed by and paid to such holders, or until such Exchequer bill, the coupons of which shall be exhausted, shall be exchanged for new bills, as herein-after provided; but such holders shall have no title to claim payment of such principal moneys at any interval of time between the times fixed by such yearly notices, except as provided in section nine of this Act.
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Exchequer bills to be received in payment of duties payable to Her Majesty.
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9. At any time in the last six months of every year from the day of the date thereof in which Exchequer bills shall have currency by law such Exchequer bills shall be received and taken, and shall pass and be current for the principal moneys contained therein, to all the receivers and collectors in the United Kingdom of the Customs, Excise, or any duties or revenue whatsoever, already granted, due, or payable, or which shall hereafter be granted, due, or payable to Her Majesty, and also at the Bank of England on account of the Exchequer, from the said receivers or collectors, or from any other person or persons, bodies politic or corporate whatsoever, making any payment there to Her Majesty, according to the purport and true meaning of this Act, and so on from year to year during the last six months of every year in which such Exchequer bills shall have currency by law, as provided in section eight of this Act; but such Exchequer bills shall not be receivable for duties granted to Her Majesty at any time or times except during such last six months of every such year: Provided always, that all such Exchequer bills as shall be tendered in payment of duties by virtue of this Act shall be transmitted by the receivers thereof to the Bank of England for examination; and no such Exchequer bills shall be finally accepted in payment of such duties until they shall have been so examined and verified by the said Bank of England.
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Interest due on Exchequer bills paid for revenue to be allowed to persons paying the same.
Future interest on such bills to cease.
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10. The interest which shall from time to time be due upon any Exchequer bill or bills which may be payable in part of any duties granted to Her Majesty shall be allowed to all persons, bodies politic and corporate, paying the same to any receiver or collector of any duties granted to Her Majesty, to the respective days upon which such bill or bills shall be so paid: Provided always, that all interest upon or for any such bill or bills so paid into the hands of any of the said receivers or collectors, or into the Bank of England on account of the Exchequer, shall cease on and from the day of such payment.
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When such bills are so paid for duties, the parties paying shall write their names and the date of payment thereon.
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11. And to the end it may be known for what time such bills bearing interest shall from time to time remain in the hands of such receivers or collectors, or in the Bank of England on account of the Exchequer, as aforesaid, the person or persons who shall pay any such bill or bills so bearing interest to any receiver or collector of any duties granted to Her Majesty, or into the Bank of England on account of the Exchequer, shall at the time of making such payment write upon each such bill his, her, or their name or names, and the day of the month, in words at length, and the year in which such bill or bills bearing interest shall be so paid, all which the said receivers and collectors respectively, and also the proper officers of the Bank of England, shall take care to see done and performed accordingly; to which respective days the said receivers and collectors shall be allowed again the interest which he or they shall have allowed or paid upon such respective bill or bills, upon his or their paying the same into the Bank of England on account of the Exchequer.
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[S. 12 (authorizing the Treasury to issue bills in lieu of bills paid off in money or paid in for duties) rep. 40 & 41 Vict. c. 2. s. 6.]
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Power to Treasury to issue new Exchequer bills, to replace bills with exhausted coupons.
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13. Whenever any such Exchequer bills issued under the authority of any Act or Acts shall remain outstanding and undischarged, all the coupons of which issued therewith for the interest due thereon shall have become payable, it shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time to order the preparation and issue of a like amount of Exchequer bills, with coupons for the half-yearly interest becoming due from time to time thereon for any term not exceeding five years from the date thereof, in exchange for and to replace such Exchequer bills with exhausted coupons; and the Treasury shall, on some day not later than twenty-one days prior to the day on which the last half-yearly coupons for interest on such bills shall become due, give notice in the London Gazette of the days on which such Exchequer bills with exhausted coupons may be brought in to be exchanged for new bills with coupons for the half-yearly interest becoming due thereon, and of the day or days on which such new bills will be delivered in exchange: Provided, that if such bills advertised for exchange shall not be brought in for exchange within the period stated in the notice (or for payment as herein-before provided), the interest on such bills shall cease on the day of exchange, and the principal moneys of such bills, when thereafter presented for payment, shall be paid off in money.
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Exchequer bills defaced to be exchanged for new bills.
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14. In case any of such Exchequer bills shall by any accident be defaced, it shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time to cause a new bill or new bills to be made out in lieu of the bill or bills which shall be so defaced, which bill or bills so defaced shall be cancelled; and such bill or bills so to be made out in lieu thereof shall have a like currency, and shall in all respects be subject to the same rules and continuance, as the bills or bills so defaced, and shall bear the same numbers, dates, and principal sums, and carry the like interest, as was borne and carried by the bill or bills so cancelled respectively.
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Forgery of Exchequer bills.
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15. If any person or persons shall forge or counterfeit any such Exchequer bill or coupon for interest, or any indorsement or writing thereupon or therein, or tender in payment any such forged or counterfeited bill, or any Exchequer bill with such counterfeit indorsement or writing thereon, or shall demand to have such counterfeit bill, or any Exchequer bill with such counterfeit indorsement or writing thereupon or therein, exchanged for ready money or for another Exchequer bill, by any person or persons, body or bodies public or corporate, who shall be obliged or required to exchange the same, or by any other person or persons whatsoever, knowing the bill so tendered in payment, or demanded to be exchanged, or the indorsement or writing thereupon or therein, to be forged or counterfeited, and with intent to defraud Her Majesty or the persons to be appointed to pay off the same, or any of them, or to pay any interest thereupon, or the person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, who shall contract or circulate or exchange the same, or any of them, or any other person or persons, body or bodies politic or corporate, then every such person or persons so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer accordingly.
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Provision for payment of sums due on Exchequer bills proved to have been accidentally lost or destroyed.
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16. In case proof shall be made on the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before the barons of Her Majesty's Court of Exchequer, or any of them, that any such Exchequer bill has, by casualty or mischance, been lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed, before the same shall have been paid off and discharged, and if by such oath or oaths the numbers and sums of such bill or bills shall be ascertained, and the said barons, or any of them, before whom such oath or oaths shall be made shall certify that he or they are satisfied with such proof, then and in every such case the Treasury are hereby authorized to cause the money due upon such bill or bills so lost, burnt, or destroyed to be paid in like manner as if the original bill or bills were brought in to be paid off; provided that the person or persons so receiving the money do give security to the Queen, to the good liking of the person or persons appointed or who shall be appointed as aforesaid to pay off and take in the said bills, to pay in to the receipt of the Exchequer, for the use of the public, so much money as shall be paid upon such certificate or certificates, if the bill or bills so certified to be lost, burnt, or destroyed shall be thereafter produced.
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Fractions of a penny for interest not payable.
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17. As often as any interest upon any such Exchequer bill or bills shall be demanded to be paid, the persons charged with the payment of the same shall not be obliged to pay for such interest any less sum than one penny upon such bill, in case a single bill be produced, or for the total of the interest of such bills, where two or more shall be offered at one time by the same person.
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Manufacture of paper for Exchequer bills.
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18. The Bank of England, or such person or persons as the Treasury shall direct, shall cause to be provided such paper and such machinery as may be necessary for the making of paper to be used as such Exchequer bills, and to receive the impression of the dies, plates, or other instruments which have been or shall be provided, made, or used, under the direction of the Treasury, for Exchequer bills, which paper shall have such distinguishing marks in the substance of the same as the Treasury shall from time to time order; and it shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time, as they shall see fit, to direct the alteration of any such distinguishing marks, either by the removal of any of them, and the substitution of other distinguishing marks, or by any change in the position or arrangement thereof; and all such machinery shall be provided, and all such paper shall be made, under such regulations and by such person or persons as the said Bank of England or other person or persons directed by the Treasury shall from time to time appoint for that purpose; and all the said machinery shall be kept by such officer or officers or other person as the said Bank of England or other person or persons directed by the Treasury shall appoint; and all the paper so made shall, as the same is required, be delivered over to the Bank of England, or to such officer or warehouse keeper as they shall direct to receive and take charge of the same.
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Paper already or hereafter made and supplied to be subject to the provisions of this Act.
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19. And whereas certain quantities of paper have been made and manufactured, under the superintendence of officers of the Inland Revenue, by directions of the Comptroller General of the Exchequer and the Treasury, and have been supplied to the said Comptroller General, with certain lines or threads appearing in the substance of such paper, according to the samples thereof which were delivered to and kept in the office of the Comptroller General: Be it enacted, that all the paper so made and supplied, or which hereafter shall be made or supplied, shall be subject to all the enactments of this Act, in the same manner as if the same had been made and supplied under the enactments herein contained.
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Making or using paper, plates, &c., intended to imitate those used for Exchequer bills.
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20. Every person who shall make, or cause or procure to be made, or shall aid or assist in making, or shall knowingly have in his possession, not being legally authorized by the Treasury, and without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the person accused), any instrument having therein any distinguishing marks peculiar to and appearing in the substance of any paper provided or to be provided or used for Exchequer bills, or any machinery for working such distinguishing marks into the substance of any paper, and intended to imitate such distinguishing marks, or any plate peculiarly employed for printing Exchequer bills, or any die peculiarly used for preparing any such plate, or for sealing such Exchequer bills, or any plate or die intended to imitate such plates or dies respectively; and also every person, except as before excepted, who shall make or cause or procure to be made, or aid or assist in making, any paper in the substance of which shall appear any distinguishing marks peculiar to and appearing in the substance of any paper provided or to be provided or used for Exchequer bills, or any part of such distinguishing marks, and intended to imitate the same; and also every person, except as before excepted, who shall knowingly have in his possession, without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the person accused), any paper whatever, in the substance whereof shall appear any such distinguishing marks, or any part of such distinguishing marks, and intended to imitate the same; and also every person, except as before excepted, who shall cause or assist in causing any such distinguishing marks, or any part of such distinguishing marks, and intended to imitate the same, to appear in the substance of any paper whatever, or who shall take or assist in taking any impression of any such plate or die as aforesaid, shall be guilty of felony.
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Persons unlawfully in possession of such paper, plates, &c. guilty of misdemeanor.
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21. Every person not lawfully authorized, and without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the person accused), who shall purchase, or receive, or take, and have in his custody, any paper manufactured and provided by or under the direction of the Treasury for the purpose of being used as Exchequer bills, before such paper shall have been duly stamped, signed, and issued for public use, or any such plate or die as aforesaid, shall for every such offence be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall, at the discretion of the court before whom he shall be tried, be imprisoned for any period not more than three years nor less than six calendar months.
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Payment of principal and interest of bills.
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22. It shall be lawful for the Treasury at any time or times to give directions for paying off and discharging the principal of any Exchequer bills which may be issued in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, and the interest thereon due and payable, at the Bank of England, at such time and in such manner as to them shall seem most convenient and beneficial to the public service.
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Exchequer bills discharged to be cancelled.
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23. All Exchequer bills which from time to time shall be discharged and paid off shall be cancelled and made void at the Bank of England, by such person or persons who shall be appointed to pay off and discharge the same.
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Old outstanding Exchequer bills charged on Consolidated Fund.
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24. All Exchequer bills formerly charged by any Act or Acts on supplies granted or to be granted by Parliament, or upon the Consolidated Fund, and which shall be outstanding after the passing of this Act, and the interest thereon, shall be charged upon and be payable out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or out of the growing produce thereof.
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Provisions of sects. 8 to 23 to apply to all outstanding Exchequer bills.
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25. All the provisions and penalties of this Act contained in sections eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three, shall be applied and extended to such Exchequer bills made out and issued in pursuance of any former Act or Acts as shall remain outstanding after the commencement of this Act.
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Provisions of sects. 3 to 6, 14, and 16 to 24 to apply to all Exchequer bonds.
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26. The several sections three, four, five, six, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, and twenty-four of this Act, applicable to Exchequer bills, shall apply and be construed to and in relation to all Exchequer bonds to be made out and issued from and after the commencement of this Act, under the authority of any Act or Acts of Parliament, as well as to such Exchequer bonds made out and issued in pursuance of any former Act or Acts as shall remain outstanding after the commencement of this Act, so far as the same are applicable, in like manner, and as fully and effectually, to all intents and purposes, as if such several sections had heen particularly repeated and enacted in this Act in relation to such Exchequer bonds: Provided always, that such Exchequer bonds may be made out and issued from and after the commencement of this Act with coupons for the interest becoming due thereon from time to time for any term not exceeding six years from the date thereof.
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Registration of Exchequer bonds, issue and transfer of certificates.
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27. It shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time, by warrant under their hands, to provide, if they shall see fit, for the registration of any such Exchequer bonds as may be delivered up by the holders thereof for that purpose, and for the delivery of certificates of such registration in lieu thereof, which shall be transferable by entries in a register which may be provided for that purpose, in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as the Treasury may see fit; and every such warrant shall from time to time be published in the London Gazette.
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16 & 17 Vict. cc. 23, 132.
Interest on Exchequer bonds issued under recited Acts to be paid until they are redeemed.
Issue of bonds to replace bonds with exhausted coupons.
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28. And whereas, in pursuance of the said recited Acts of the sixteenth year of Her Majesty, chapter twenty-three, and of the sixteenth and seventeenth years of Her Majesty, chapter one hundred and thirty-two, Exchequer bonds to the amount of four hundred and eighteen thousand three hundred pounds were made out and issued, and are still outstanding, with coupons for interest at the rate of two pounds ten shillings per centum per annum, payable half-yearly until and including the first day of September one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, and thereafter are subject to redemption on payment of the principal sum contained in each bond, at the option of the Treasury, so soon as Parliament shall have made due provision in respect thereof, and until such redemption such principal sums will continue to carry interest at the said rate of two pounds ten shillings per centum per annum: Be it therefore further enacted, that until Parliament shall have made such provision, and such Exchequer bonds shall be redeemed in exercise of such option as aforesaid, the interest thereon shall, after the said first day of September one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, continue to be payable out of the Consolidated Fund, at the said rate of two pounds ten shillings per centum per annum, on the same half-yearly days and in the same manner as before; and it shall be lawful for the Treasury to direct the preparation and issue of a like amount of Exchequer bonds, with coupons for the half-yearly interest due thereon, for any term not exceeding six years from the said first day of September one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, in exchange for and to replace such Exchequer bonds with exhausted coupons.
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[S. 29 rep. 55 & 56 Vict. c. 48. s. 8.]
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Bank of England may make advances on credit of Exchequer bills and bonds, notwithstanding 5 & 6 Will. & Mar. c. 20.
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30. It shall be lawful for the Bank of England to advance or lend to Her Majesty, upon the credit of the Exchequer bills or bonds made out and issued in pursuance of any former Act or Acts, or to be made out and issued in pursuance of this Act, any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole the principal sums contained in such Exchequer bills and bonds, anything contained in the Bank of England Act, 1694, or in any subsequent Act, to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.
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[S. 31 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 14. (S.L.R.)]
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[1 Short title, “The Exchequer Bills and Bonds Act, 1866.” See 55 & 56 Vict. c. 10.] |
