39 & 40 G. 3, c. 99. from him, her, or them, and that there is just cause to suspect that any person or persons within the jurisdiction of any such justice or justices hath or have taken to pawn, or by way of pledge or in exchange, any goods or chattels of such owner or owners, and without the privity or authority of such owner or owners thereof, and shall make appear to the satisfaction of any such justice or justices probable grounds for such the suspicion of the owner or owners thereof, then and in any such case any justice or justices of the peace within his or their jurisdiction, may issue his or their warrant for searching within the hours of business, the house, warehouse, or other place of any such person or persons who shall be charged on oath or affirmation as aforesaid, as suspected to have received or taken in pawn, or by way of pledge or in exchange, any such goods or chattels, without the privity of or authority from the owner or owners thereof; and if the occupier or occupiers of any house, warehouse, or other place wherein any such goods or chattels shall, on oath or affirmation as aforesaid, be charged or suspected to be, shall, after the commencement of this act, on request made to him, her, or them, to open the same by any peace officer authorized to search there, by warrant from a justice or justices of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, liberty, town, or place, in which such house, warehouse, or other place, shall be situate, refuse to open the same and permit the same to be searched, it shall be lawful for any peace officer to break open any such house, warehouse, or other place, within the hours of business, and to search as he shall think fit therein, for the goods or chattels suspected to be there, doing no wilful damage; and no pawnbroker, or other person or persons, shall oppose or hinder any such search; and if, upon the search of the house, warehouse, or other place of any such suspected person or persons as aforesaid, any of the goods or chattels which shall have been so pawned, pledged, or exchanged, as aforesaid, shall be found, and the property of the owner or owners from whom the same shall have been unlawfully obtained or taken, shall be made out to the satisfaction of any such justice or justices, by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, or if any such witness or witnesses shall be of the people called Quakers, by solemn affirmation, or by the confession of the person or persons charged with any such offence, any such justice or justices shall thereupon cause the goods and chattels found on any such search, and pawned, pledged, or exchanged as aforesaid, to be forthwith restored to the owner or owners thereof." Penalty on pawn. broker who will not deliver up goods to pawner. Sect. 14. "If any goods or chattels shall be pawned or pledged for securing any money lent thereon, not exceeding in the whole the principal sum of ten pounds, and the profit thereof, and if within one year after the pawning or pledging thereof, (proof having been made on oath or affirmation as afore said (a) by one or more credible witness or witnesses, and by producing the note or memorandum directed to be given by this act as aforesaid, before any justice or justices, to the satisfaction of any such justice or justices, of the pawning or pledging of any such goods or chattels within the said space of one year, or one year and three months, as the case may be,) any such pawner or pawners who was or were the real owner or owners of such goods or chattels at the time of the pawning or pledging thereof, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, shall tender unto the person or persons who lent, on the security of the goods or chattels pawned, his executors, administrators, or assigns, the principal money borrowed thereon, and profit, according to the table of rates by this act established; and the person who took such goods or chattels in pawn, his or her executors, administrators, or assigns, shall thereupon, without showing (b) reasonable cause for so doing, 2 Stra. 1187 ; 3 Atk. 44, &c. ; Packer (a) The 5 & 6 Wil. IV. c. 62, substi- ness of pawnbrokers. See the enactment, post, 152, and title "Oaths," Vol. III. (b) A pawnee is bound to observe more than ordinary care over the thing bailed; and if goods be taken out of his possession through stealth or by want of due care, he will be liable, but not if the goods are forcibly taken out of his pos to the satisfaction of such justice or justices, neglect or refuse to deliver back 39 & 40 G. 3, c. 99. the goods or chattels so pawned, for any sum or sums of money not exceeding the said principal sum of 104, to the person or persons who borrowed the money thereon, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, then and in any such case, on oath or affirmation as aforesaid thereof, made by the pawner or pawners thereof, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, or some other credible person, any justice or justices of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, liberty, town, or place, where the person or persons who took such pawn as aforesaid, his executors, administrators, or assigns shall dwell, on the application of the borrower or borrowers, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, is and are hereby required to cause such person or persons who took such pawn, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, within the jurisdiction of the justice or justices, to come before such justice or justices; and such justice er justices is and are hereby authorized and required to examine, on oath er solemn affirmation, as the case may require, the parties themselves, and such other credible person or persons as shall appear before him or them teaching the premises; and if tender of the principal money due, and all profit thereon, as aforesaid, shall be proved by oath or affirmation as aforesaid to have been made (such principal money not exceeding the said sum of ten pounds) to the lender or lenders thereof, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, by the borrower or borrowers of such principal money, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, within the said space of one year, or one year aud three months, as the case may be, after the said pawning or pledging of the goods or chattels, then on payment by the borrower or borrowers, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, of such principal money, and the profit due thereon, as aforesaid, to the lender or lenders, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns; and in case the lender or lenders, his, her, or their executors, or administrators, or assigns, shall refuse to accept thereof, on tender thereof to him, her, or them, made by the borrower or borrowers thereof, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, before any such justice or justices, such justice or justices shall thereupon, by order under his or their hand or hands, direct the goods or chattels so pawned forthwith to be delivered up to the pawner or pawners thereof, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns; and if the person or persons who shall have lent any principal sum or sums of money, not exceeding in the whole the said sum of ten pounds, on any goods or chattels pawned, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, shall neglect or refuse to deliver up, or make satisfaction for the goods or chattels, which shall be so proved to the satisfaction of such justice or justices as aforesaid to have been so pawned, as any such justice or justices of the peace as aforesaid shall order and direct, then any such justice or justices shall, and is and are hereby authorized and required to commit (a) Imprisonment till the party or parties so refusing to deliver up or make satisfaction for the re-delivery of the same, to the house of correction, or some other public prison, for the county, goods, or satisfac riding, division, city, liberty, town, or place, wherein the offender or offenders tion made. shall reside or be convicted, there to remain without bail or mainprize, until he, she, or they shall deliver up the goods or chattels so pawned, and continuing redeemable as aforesaid, according to the order of such justice or justices as aforesaid, or make such satisfaction or compensation as such justice or justices shall adjudge reasonable for the value thereof, to the party or parties entitled to the redemption of such goods or chattels so pawned, and continuing redeemable as aforesaid." Sect. 15. To prevent any inconvenience to persons carrying on the trade Persons producing and business of a pawnbroker, from several different persons claiming a pro- notes or memoperty in the same goods or chattels, be it further enacted, that from and after randums deemed Bession, unless through his fault. (Sir incorporated with sec. 24th, post, 147, so the owners. 39 & 40 G. 3, c. 99. the commencement of this act, any person or persons who shall at any time produce any such note or memorandum as aforesaid, to the person or persons with whom the goods therein specified were pawned or pledged, as the owner thereof, or as authorized by the owner thereof, to redeem the same, and require a delivery of the goods or chattels mentioned therein, to him, her, or them, such person or persons shall be, and is and are hereby deemed and taken to be, so far as respects the person or persons having such goods and chattels in pledge, the real owner and owners, proprietor and proprietors, of such goods and chattels, and the person or persons so using the said trade and business of a pawnbroker shall be, and is and are hereby directed and required, after receiving satisfaction pursuant to the provisions of this act, respecting principal and profit, to deliver such goods and chattels to the person or persons who shall so produce the said note or memorandum to him, her, or them, and shall be, and is and are hereby indemnified for so doing, unless he, she, or they shall have had previous notice from the real owner or owners thereof not to deliver the same to the person or persons producing such note, or unless notice shall have been given to him, her, or them, that the goods and chattels pawned have been, or are suspected to have been, fraudulently or feloniously taken or obtained, and unless the real owner or owners thereof proceeds or proceed, in manner hereinafter provided and directed for the redeeming of goods and chattels pledged, where such note hath been lost, mislaid, destroyed, or fraudulently obtained from the owner or owners thereof." Where notes or memorandums lost, pawnbroker to deliver a copy. Sect. 16. "In case any pawnbroker shall have had such previous notice as aforesaid, or in case any such note or memorandum as aforesaid shall be lost, mislaid, destroyed, or fraudulently obtained from the owner or owners thereof, and the goods and chattels mentioned therein shall remain unredeemed, that then and in every such case the pawnbroker or pawnbrokers with whom the said goods and chattels were so pledged, shall, at the request and application of any person or persons who shall represent himself, herself, or themselves to the pawnbroker as the owner or owners of the goods and chattels in pledge as aforesaid, deliver to such person or persons so requesting and applying for the same, a copy of the note or memorandum so lost, mislaid, destroyed, or fraudulently obtained as aforesaid, with the form of an affidavit of the particular circumstances attending the case, printed or written, or in part printed and in part written, on the said copy, as the same shall be stated to him or her by the party applying as aforesaid, for which copy of such note or memorandum, and form of affidavit, in case the money lent shall not exceed the sum of five shillings, the pawnbroker shall receive the sum of one halfpenny; and in case the money lent shall exceed the sum of five shillings, and not exceed the sum of ten shillings, the pawnbroker shall receive the sum of one penny; and in case the money lent shall exceed the sum of ten shillings, the pawnbroker shall receive the like sum of money as he is entitled to receive and take on giving the original note or memorandum, such money to be paid by the party applying for the same at the time of making the said application; and the person or persons having so obtained such copy of the note or memorandum, and form of affidavit as aforesaid, shall thereupon prove his, her, or their property in, or right to, such goods and chattels, to the satisfaction of some justice of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, town, liberty, or place, where the said goods or chattels shall have been pledged, pawned, or exchanged, and shall also verify, on oath or affirmation, as the case may be, before the said justice, the truth of the particular circumstances attending the case mentioned in such affidavit or affirmation to be made as aforesaid, the caption of such oath or affirmation to be authenticated by the hand-writing thereto of the justice before whom the same shall be made, and who shall, and is hereby required, so to authenticate the same; whereupon the pawnbroker shall suffer the person or persons proving such property to the satisfaction of such justice as aforesaid, and making such affidavit or affirmation as aforesaid, on leaving such copy of the said note or memorandum, and the said affidavit or affirmation, with the said pawnbroker, to redeem such goods or chattels." deemed forfeited at the end of a year. tion (@). Sect. 17. " All goods and chattels which shall be pawned or pledged shall 39 & 40 G. 3, c. 99. be deemed forfeited, and may be sold, at the expiration of one whole year, exclusive of the day whereon the goods and chattels were so pawned as afore- Pawned goods said; and all goods and chattels so forfeited, on which any sum above ten shillings, and not exceeding ten pounds, shall have been lent, shall be sold by public auction, and not otherwise, by the order of the person having the Pledges above 10. same in pawn, at and after the expiration of the said year; but the person to be sold by aucemployed to sell such goods and chattels by auction shall, and he is hereby required to cause the same to be exposed to public view, and catalogues thereof to be published, containing the name and place of abode of the pawnbroker, and also the month such goods were received in pawn; and the number of every such pledge as entered in the book or books kept for that purpose, at the time the same were pawned, and an advertisement, giving notice of such sale, and containing the name or names and place of abode of the pawnbroker or pawnbrokers with whom the said goods or chattels were in pledge, and also the month such goods were received in pawn, to be inserted two several days in some public newspapers, two days at least before the first day of sale; and the goods and chattels pledged with every pawnbroker shall be inserted in every catalogue, separate and apart from each other, upon pain of forfeiting to the owner or owners of the said goods and chattels, for every offence in the premises, any sum not exceeding ten pounds, nor less than forty shillings." shall only be sold four times in a year, &c. Sect. 18. All pictures, prints, books, bronzes, statues, busts, carvings in Pictures, prints, ivory and marble, cameos, intagleos, musical, mathematical, and philoso- books, statues, &c. phical instruments, and china, which shall be sold by public auction as aforesaid, shall be sold by themselves, and without other goods being sold at such sale, four times only in every year (that is to say) on the first Monday in the raonths of January, April, July, and October, in every year, and on the following day and days, if the sale shall exceed one day, and at no other time; and the person who shall be employed to sell the same by auction shall, and he is hereby required to cause the same to be exposed to public view, and catalogues thereof to be published, and an advertisement giving notice of such sale, and containing the name or names of the pawnbroker or pawnbrokers with whom the said goods were in pledge, to be inserted two several days in some public newspaper, three days at the least before the first day of sale, upon pain of forfeiting to the owner or owners of the said goods, for every offence in the premises, any sum not exceeding five pounds nor less than forty shillings." months further Sect. 19. "In case any person or persons entitled to redeem goods or On notice from chattels in pledge, shall, before or upon the expiration of the said one year persons having from the time of pawning the same, give notice in writing, or in the presence goods in pledge of one witness, to the person or persons having the same in pledge, or leave not to sell, three the same at his, her, or their usual place of abode, not to sell the same at allowed beyond the end of the said one year, then, and in every such case, such goods or the year for rechattels shall not be sold or disposed of by the person or persons having the demption (a). same in pledge until after the expiration of three calendar months, to be computed from the expiration of the said year, during which said term of three calendar months the owner or owners of the said goods and chattels shall have liberty to redeem the same, upon the terms stipulated and provided by this act." of pledges above 10s. to be entered by the pawn Sect. 20. All and every person or persons with whom any goods or Account of sales chattels shall have been pawned or pledged, shall from time to time enter in a book or books, to be kept by him, her, or them for that purpose, a true and just account of the sale of all goods and chattels pawned with him, her, or them, for upwards of ten shillings (b), which shall be sold as aforesaid, (a) A pawnbroker has no right to sell aaredeemed pledges after the expiration of the year, if the original owner tender the principal and interest due before actual VOL. V. sale. (Walter v. Smith, 5 B. & Ald. (b) A very unfair advantage has brokers in a book; and overplus paid to owner of goods pawned or sold, &c. 39 & 40 G. 3. c. 99. expressing the day of the month when such goods were pledged, and the name of the person pledging the same, according to the entry made at the time of receiving the same in pawn; and also the day when, and the money for which, such goods or chattels pawned were sold, together with the name and place of abode of the auctioneer by whom the same were sold, according to the information thereof from the auctioneer; and in case any such goods or chattels shall be sold for more than the principal money and profit aforesaid due thereon at the time of such sale, the overplus shall, by every such pawnbroker, be paid, on demand, to the person by whom or on whose account such goods or chattels were pawned, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, in case such demand shall be made within three years after such sale, the necessary costs and charges of such sale being first deducted; and such person or persons who pawned or pledged such goods or chattels, or for whom such goods or chattels were so pawned or pledged, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, shall, for his, her, or their satisfaction in this matter, be permitted to inspect the entry to be made as aforesaid of every such sale, paying for such inspection the sum of one penny and no more; and in case any person or persons shall refuse to permit any such person or persons who pawned or pledged such goods or chattels, or who is or are entitled to such overplus money, to inspect such entry as aforesaid in any such book or books, (such person or persons, if an executor or executors, administrator or administrators, or assignee or assignees, at such time producing his, her, or their letters testamentary, letters of administration or assignment,) or in case the goods or chattels were sold for more than the sum entered in any such book or books, or if any such person or persons shall not make such entry as aforesaid, or shall not have bona fide, according to the directions of this act, sold the same, or shall refuse to pay such overplus, upon demand, to the pawner or pawners, owner or owners, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, (he, she, or they producing such their letters testamentary, letters of administration or assignment,) every such person or persons so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of ten pounds, and treble the sum such goods and chattels shall originally have been pawned for, to the person or persons by whom or on whose account such goods and chattels were pawned, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, to be levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods and chattels, by warrant under the hands and seals of any two justices of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, town, liberty, or place, where the offence shall be committed." on penalty of 101. and treble the sum lent on pawn. Pawnbroker shall not purchase custody. Sect. 21. No person or persons having any goods or chattels in pledge, shall, under any pretence whatsoever, either by himself or herself, or by any goods while in his other person for him or her, purchase any such goods or chattels so being in pledge with him or her, during the time the same shall remain in his or her custody as such pledge, save and except at such public auction as aforesaid, nor shall suffer the same to be redeemed with a view or intention to purchase the same; nor shall any such person taking or having any goods or chattels in pledge, make or cause to be made any contract or agreement with any person or persons offering to pledge or pledging the same, or with the owner or owners of the pledge, for the purchase, sale, or disposition of the said goods and chattels before the expiration of one whole year from the Pledges not to be time of pawning or pledging the same; nor shall any pawnbroker purchase or receive or take any goods or chattels in pledge of or from any person or persons who shall appear to be under the age of twelve years, or to be intoxicated with liquor; or purchase or take in pawn, pledge, or exchange the note or memorandum aforesaid of any other pawnbroker; nor buy any goods or chattels in the course of his, her, or their trade or business, before taken from per sons under twelve years of age or intoxicated. this distinction, where goods of conside- very commonly insisted upon. (Mr. Evans's Note in his Coll. Stat.: 1 Chit. Coll. Stat. 757.) |