'and amended where Need shall require, and are as needful and meet to be surveyed, reformed and amended, from Noyance of the said River of Thames, by the Commissioners of Sewers, as those Rivers, Streams and Water-courses where the Water doth usually ebb or flow, (2) and where more usual Passage of Boats hath been, and yet are not under the Survey, Correction and Amendment of the Commission of Sewers, nor of the Statute made for Sewers in the three and twentieth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth[d 1], or of any other Statute made for Sewers, as the same should have been, if the Hurts, Noysances and Inconveniences now by daily Experience felt and found in those Places had been seen and considered of:'
[1]II. For Reformation whereof, be it enacted by our Sovereign Lord the King, and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same.[a 1][a 2][a 3][a 4][a 5][a 6][a 7][a 8]That the Walls, Ditches, Banks, Gutters, Sewers, Gates, Cawseys, Bridges, Streams and Water-courses, within the Limits of two Miles of and from the City of London, which- Waters have their Course, and fall into the River of Thames, shall from henceforth be to all Intents, Constructions and Purposes, as fully subject to the Commission of Sewers, and to all the Statutes made for Sewers, and to all Penalties in the same Statutes and in every of them contained, as if the fame Places near to the said City of London had been particularly named in the said Staute of Sewers, or that therein the Water had ebbed , and flowed, and therein free Passage with Boats and Barges to the Sea had been heretofore used; any Thing in the said Statutes, or else where, to the contrary in any wife notwithstanding.
CAP. XV.
An Act for the Recovering of small Debts, and for the Relieving of poor Debtors, in London.
[n 1]'WHEREAS by Virtue of divers Acts of Common Council made within the City of London, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the same City, for the Relief of poor Debtors dwelling within the said City, have accustomed monthly to align two Aldermen and twelve dscreet Commoners to be Commissioners, and sit in the Court of Requests, commonly called the Court of Conscience, in the Guildhall of the same City, there to hear and determine all Matters of Debt not amounting to the Sum of forty Shillings to be brought before them: (2) And whereas at the Sessions of Parliament holden at Westminster the nineteenth Day of March in the first Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty that now is, for the further Relief of such poor Debtors, and more perfect establishing of the said Court, there was made and provided an Act, intituled. An Act for Recovery of small Debts, and Relieving of poor Debtors in London[d 2]: (3) And whereas since the making of the said Adt, divers Persons intending to subvert the good and charitable Intent of the same, and taking hold of some doubtful and ambiguous Words therein, do wrest the same for their own Lucre and Gain, to the avoiding the Jurisdiction of the said Court, contrary to the godly Meaning of the said Act:'
II. For the Remedy whereof, and to the Intent that some more full and ample Provision may be made for the Relief of such poor Debtors, (2) be it enacted by Authority of this present Parliament, That every Citizen and Freeman of the City of London, and every other Person and Persons inhabiting or that shall inhabit within the said City or the Liberties thereof, being a Tradesman, Victualler or a labouring Man, which now have or hereafter shall have any Debt or Debts owing unto him or them, not amounting to forty Shillings, by any Citizen, or by any other Person or Persons being a Victualler, Tradesman or labouring Man, inhabiting or that shall inhabit within the said City or the Liberties thereof, shall or may cause such Debtor or Debtors to be warned or summoned by the Beadle or Officer of the said Court of Requests for the Time being, by Writing to be left at the Dwelling-house of such Debtor or Debtors, or by any other reasonable Warning or Notice to be given to the said Debtor or Debtors, to appear before the Commissioners of the said Court of Requests holden in the Guildhall of the said City: (3) And that the said Commissioners, or any three of them or more, shall have Power and Authority by Virtue of this Act, from Time to Time, to set down such Order or Orders between such Party or Parties Plaintiff, and his or their such Debtor or Debtors Defendants, touching such Debts not amounting to the Value of forty Shillings, in Question before them, as they shall find to stand with Equity and good Conscience: (4) All such their Order or Orders to be registred in a Book, as they have been accustomed, and as well the Party Plaintiff, as the Debtor or Defendant, to observe, perform and keep the same in all Points.
The Commissioners may minister an Oath to the Plaintiff, Defndeant or Witness.III. And that for the more due Proceeding herein, it shall be lawful for the same Commissioners, or any three or more of them, to minister an Oath to the Plaintiff or Defendant, and also to such Witnesses as shall be produced on each Party, if the same Commissioners, or any three of them or more, shall so think, it meet.
A creditor suing in another court shall pay Costs and recover none.IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforedaid. That if in any Action of Debt, or Action upon the Case upon an Assumpsit for the Recovery of any Debt, to be sued or prosecuted against any the Person or Persons aforesaid in any of the King's Courts at Westminster, or elsewhere, out of the said Court of Requests, it shall appear to the Judge or Judges of the Court where such Action shall be sued or prosecuted, that the Debt to be recovered by the Plaintiff in such Action doth not amount to the Sum of forty Shillings, and the Defendant in such Action shall duly prove, either by sufficient Testimony, or by his own Oath, to be allowed by any the Judge or Judges of the said Court where such Action shall depend, that at the Time of the commencing of such Action such Defendant was inhabiting and resiant in the City of London or the Liberties thereof, as above, that in such Case the said Judge or Judges shall not allow to the said Plaintiff any Costs of Suit, but shall award that the same Plaintiff shall pay so much ordinary Costs to the Party Defendant, as such Defendant shall justly prove before the said Judge or Judges, it hath truly cost him in Defence of the said Suit.
