Penal Servitude Act 1864

Penal Servitude Act 1864 ^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the Penal Servitude Acts.
Citation	27 & 28 Vict. c. 47
Territorial extent	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	25 July 1864
Other legislation
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1875 Penal Servitude Act 1891

The Penal Servitude Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 47) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act amended the Penal Servitude Act 1853 and the Penal Servitude Act 1857. The act received royal assent on 25 July 1864. ^[2]

Provisions

The provisions of the act include:

• Amending the former acts to make the minimum sentence of penal servitude five years instead of three. ^{[2] [3]}
  • If one had already committed a felony, this was lengthened to seven years minimum sentence. ^{[2] [4]}
• Gave the Secretary of State the power to order two or more justices of the peace to sentence offenders serving penal sentences to corporal punishment for offences they commit while in prison. ^[2]
• Allowed convicts to be freed by the issuing of a license. Such licenses were forfeited if the convict was found guilty of another offence within the time period of their original sentence. ^[5]
• Making it an offence to not produce a license when asked by a judge, justice of the peace, sheriff, sheriff-substitute or magistrate or to break the terms of the license which by itself would not be a crime. ^[5]
  • Making the sentence for such offences three months imprisonment, with or without hard labour. ^[5]
• Allowing a police officer to arrest without warrant any license holder who may be reasonably be suspected of committing a crime or of violating the terms of their License and detain them until they can be put before a magistrate and "dealt with according to the law. ^{[5] [6]}
• Allowing two or more justices in England or Ireland to rule on offences in this act, in manners directed in Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848 (for England) and Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 (in Ireland). ^[5]
• Allowing any sheriff, sheriff-substitute, magistrate or any two justices in Scotland to rule on offences in this act. ^[5]
• Making it the responsibility of whoever convicts the prisoner to notify the Secretary of State if the conviction is in England or Scotland or the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. ^[5]
• Making prisoners whose licenses have been revoked carry out the remainder of the term exempted by the license while serving any other sentence they might be subject to. ^{[7] [8]}
• Gave the Crown, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Governor of Ireland the powers to give and revoke licenses with amended terms "at pleasure". ^[7]

Timeline

The act had its second reading on 4 March 1864 and gained royal assent on 25 July 1864. ^[9]

Repeal

Sections 2 and 6 of the Act (giving corporal punishments and arrest without warrant) were repealed by the Penal Servitude Act 1891. ^{[10] [11]}

References

• United Kingdom portal
• Law portal

1. Section 1 of this Act provides that it may be cited as the Penal Servitude Act of the year in which it was passed.
2. A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Being the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 1864. p. 197.
3. D. A. Thomas (1978). "The Penal Equation: Derivations of the penalty structure of English criminal law" (PDF). University of Cambridge. p. 44. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
4. Michael W. Melling (September 1983). "Cleaning House in a Suddenly Closed Society: TheGenesis, Brief Life and Untimely Death of the Habitual Criminals Act, 1869". Osgoode Hall Law Journal . 21 (2): 323. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
5. A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Being the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 1864. p. 198.
6. M. Heather Tomlinson (2015). Bailey, Victor (ed.). Policing and Punishment in Nineteenth Century Britain. Routledge. p. 170. ISBN   9781317374893.
7. A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Being the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 1864. p. 199.
8. Justice Committee. "Prisoners (Control of Release) (Scotland) Bill Supplementary written submission from the Law Society of Scotland" (PDF). Scottish Parliament . p. 2.
9. "SECOND READING. HC Deb 04 March 1864 vol 173 cc1496-525". Hansard . Retrieved 20 February 2020.
10. "Penal Servitude Act 1891 - Amendment of law as to term of penal servitude and as to sentences of imprisonment". Legislation.gov.uk . Retrieved 20 February 2020.
11. "Penal Servitude Act 1891 - Amendment of law as to apprehension of licensees and supervisees". Legislation.gov.uk . Retrieved 20 February 2020.