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COMMONS ACT 1791
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CHAP. XXXVIII
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An Act to amend an Act, Entitled, An Act for preventing the Commission of Waste, on the several Commons of this Kingdom.
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Recital 29 Geo. 3.
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penalty for destroying the surface of any common not more than 5l. nor less than 5s. per square yard.
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WHEREAS an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of his present Majesty’s reign, entitled, An act for preventing the commission of waste, on the several commons of this kingdom, has been found ineffectual for the purposes for which it was intended, and divers encroachments have been made upon several commons of this kingdom, by which means they have become receptacles of idle and disorderly persons : be it enacted by the King’s 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 the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act, if any person shall skin or otherwise destroy the surface of any common, or part of common within this kingdom, contrary to the provisions of the said recited act, every person so offending shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds, nor less than five shillings, for every square yard of such common which he shall so skin or destroy, which said penalty shall be recovered and levied in like manner, and by such ways and means, as are prescribed and directed by the said recited act, in respect of the penalties thereby inflicted.
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Grand juries may present all encroachments made on commons within 10 years from passing this act;
or which shall hereafter be made.
nuisances to be prostrated.
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II. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful, to and for every grand jury which shall be duly impanelled at the assizes, or at any general quarter sessions to be held in any county, county of a city, or county of a town, within which any such common shall lie, upon information on oath made before any magistrate of such county, county of a city, or county of a town respectively, who is hereby impowered to administer the same being returned to such grand jury, of any encroachment which shall have been made within ten years, from the time of passing this act, or which shall hereafter be made upon any such common, whether by inclosing any part thereof, or building any house, hut or cabin upon the same, to present such encroachment by indictment or presentment as a public nuisance, which indictment or presentment if it shall not be defective on the face of it, shall be confirmed by the judge or justices before whom such grand jury shall be so impanelled; and upon such indictment or presentment being so confirmed, the sheriff of such county, county of a city, or county of a town, shall forthwith prostrate and ahate every such nuisance.
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Indictment may be traversed.
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III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for every person who shall be affected by such indictment or presentment, to put in his traverse to the same, at the assizes, or at any general quarter sessions, at which it shall be so found and presented, by pleading that such inclosure, house, hut, or cabin is not an encroachment upon such common, which traverse shall be forthwith tried, if there shall be time for trying the same, and if not then, at the next assizes or general quarter sessions ensuing, and the verdict to be found upon such traverse shall be final and conclusive, as to the matter of the same, saving to all persons, and to all bodies politic and corporate, their heirs and successors respectively, all rights of common to which they now are, or hereafter may be entitled.
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Grand jury may present for a road round else Curragh of Kildare, as herein.
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IV. And whereas a narrow road round the common, known by the name of the Curragh of Kildare, would not only prevent encroachments from being made thereon, but would also communicate to the several market towns adjacent thereto, to the great advantage of the neighbourhood, be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the grand jury of the county of Kildare, to raise by presentment any sum not exceeding twelve pence per perch, for making a road not less than eight feet wide, with gravel or small stones round the said common, the curragh of Kildare, the said sum to be levied and accounted for as the presentments for public roads are levied and accounted for, by an act passed in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of his present Majesty’s reign.
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