Spirit Duties, etc. Act 1741

Spirit Duties, etc. Act 1741
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An Act to impower the Importers or Proprietors of Rum or Spirits of the British Sugar Plantations to land the same before Payment of the Duties of Excise charged thereon, and to lodge the same in Warehouses at their own Expence; and for the Relief of Ralph Barrow, in respect to the Duty on some Rock Salt, lost by the overflowing of the Rivers Weaver and Dane.
Citation	15 Geo. 2. c. 25
Dates
Royal assent	15 July 1742
Commencement	29 September 1742
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Status: Repealed

Last updated November 04, 2024

The Act 15 Geo. 2. c. 25,^[1] sometimes called the Spirit Duties, etc. Act 1741,^[2] was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. It was passed in 1742, came into force from 29 September 1742, and was expressly repealed in 1867. It allowed rum brought from the colonies to be stored on shore before the excise duty was paid.

Aims

The Act aimed to simplify the importation of spirits. Previously, it was required to pay the excise duties on the entire shipment before it could be landed and sold. This meant that any delay in organising payment would require the ship carrying the spirits to remain in port until the cargo was cleared, both straining the capacity of the harbour and leaving the merchant with the additional costs of chartering the ship longer than anticipated. In order to avoid this, it was enacted that the cargo could be offloaded into specified secure warehouses on shore, at the importers' expense, if they gave their bond or security for the value of the duties. Duties would then be collected by the excise officers on the cargo as it was sold from the warehouses; if any remained unsold after six months from landing, the remaining duty was payable on it as a lump sum on that date.

Conditions

The remainder of the Act laid down the various conditions for the operations of these warehouses. Any spirits landed without warrant from the customs officials were to be forfeited, with half to the Crown and half to the informer. All spirits held were to be fully documented, and not sold in quantities under a twenty-gallon cask.

Period of operation

The Act was in force from 29 September 1742 to 29 September 1749, when it was continued by the Continuance of Laws Act 1749. It was expressly repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1867.

Section 11

Section 11 of the Act was not concerned with the importation of spirits, but instead served to discharge the liability on one Ralph Barrow of Northwich for the duties payable on seventeen tons of rock salt which had been lost to flooding in Cheshire in December 1740.

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References

Ruffhead and Runnington. The Statutes at Large. 1786. Volume 6. Pages 181 to 183.
John Raithby (ed). The Statutes at Large. 1811. Volume 9. Pages 766 to 770.
Danby Pickering. The Statutes at Large. 1765. Volume 18. Pages 38 to 43.
The Statutes at Large from the 15th to the 20th Year of King George III. Charles Bathurst. London. 1765. Volume XVIII.
Chronological Table of the Statutes. HMSO. London. 1993. ISBN 0-11-840331-1.
Journals of the House of Commons. 1803. Volume 24 (25 June 1741 to 19 September 1745). Pages 273, 276, 280, 281, 283, 288 and 334. Volume 51 (29 October 1795 to 19 May 1796). Page 747.
Report from the Committee upon Expired and Expiring Laws. For 47 Geo III. 1806. Page 12. For 48 Geo III. 1808. Page 12.
Statute Law Revision Bill (154). Ordered to be printed 12 June 1866. Page 159.
Remarks on several Acts of Parliament, relating more especially to the Colonies abroad, as also on diverse Acts of Assemblies there. Attributed to Jonathan Blenman or Richard Blenman. Printed for T Cooper. London. 1742. Arno Press. Reprinted 1972. Research Library of Colonial America. Chapter 4 ("On the Statute of 15 & 16 Geo II - To impower the Importers . . ."). Catalogue by Hanson. Catalogue by Sabin.
Timothy Cunningham and John, Viscount Dudley and Ward. The Law of a Justice of Peace and Parish Officer. 1769. Volume 2. Pages 62 and 63.
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John Wentworth. A Complete System of Pleading: Comprehending. Dublin. 1799. Volume 4. Page 511.
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William Addington. An Abridgment of Penal Statutes. Second Edition. London. 1782. Pages 530 and 539.
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↑ 15 Geo 2 is the session given in, for example, the Chronological Table. The Act is also cited as 15 & 16 Geo. 2. c. 25: see, for example, section 16 of the Act 42 Geo. 3. c. 93 (and, for example, the notes to it in Raithby's edition).
↑ Spirit Duties, etc. Act 1741". vLex.

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[1] 15 Geo 2 is the session given in, for example, the Chronological Table. The Act is also cited as 15 & 16 Geo. 2. c. 25: see, for example, section 16 of the Act 42 Geo. 3. c. 93 (and, for example, the notes to it in Raithby's edition).

[2] Spirit Duties, etc. Act 1741". vLex.

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