Plate Duty Act, 1719
PLATE DUTY ACT 1719 | ||
CHAPTER XI. | ||
An Act for laying a Duty upon Wrought Plate . . . . . | ||
Preamble. | ||
8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 8. | ||
The old standard of 11 oz. 2 dwt. restored. | ||
May it please your most excellent Majesty Whereas by several laws and statutes of this realm now in force it is provided and enacted, that no goldsmith, silversmith, or other person whatsoever, shall work or make, or cause to be wrought or made, any silver vessel, plate, or manufacture of silver less in fineness than that of eleven ounces and ten peny weight of fine silver in every pound troy, nor put to sale, exchange, or sell any silver vessels, plate, or manufacture of silver (except as in the said statutes, or some of them, are severally excepted) until such time as such vessel, plate, or manufactured silver shall be touched, assayed, and marked at the respective cities or places in the said statutes mentioned, and by such corporations, officers, or persons as are thereby respectively entrusted for touching, assaying, and marking the same, under such pains, penalties, and forfeitures as in and by the same laws and statutes are prescribed, as by the said several laws and statutes (relation being thereunto severally had) may more plainly and fully appear: And whereas it is found by experience, that the silver vessels, plate, and manufactures of silver, which were made according to the old standard of eleven ounces and two peny weight of fine silver (which standard was altered by an Act made in the eighth year of the reign of your Majesties royal predecessor King William the Third, of glorious memory [intituled An Act for encouraging the bringing in wrought plate to be coined], are more serviceable and durable than the silver vessels, plate, and manufactures of silver which have been made according to the said standard of eleven ounces and ten peny weight of fine silver in every pound troy: Be it therefore enacted by the Kings 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 authority of the same, that the said old standard of eleven ounces and two peny weight of fine silver at least, to be contained in every pound weight troy of silver vessels, plate, or other manufactures of silver, made or to be made or wrought after the first day of June one thousand seven hundred and twenty, shall be restored, revived, and take place instead of the said new standard of eleven ounces and ten peny weight of fine silver at least in every such pound troy. |