shall be chargeable with the Duties due thereon, and shall not be permitted to be exported or delivered for that purpose before the Duties are paid, without the leave of the Commissioners of Customs, or three of them; and all Goods found on board any Vessel, of which no report hath been made by the Master, shall be forfeited.

Several Statutes have been passed for the security of the persons of the Revenue Officers, in the execution of the important and unpleasant duty which they are called upon to perform:

By Statute 9 Geo. II. c. 35. § 28, If any Officer of the Customs or Excise, being on board any Vessel within the limits of any Port, be forcibly hindered or beaten in the execution of his office, every person so forcibly hindering or beating the said Officers, and all such as shall act in their assistance, shall, by order of the Court, before whom such Offenders shall be convicted, be transported for such term as such Court shall think fit, not exceeding seven years; and if such Offenders shall return into Great Britain or Ireland, before the expiration of the term, they shall suffer as Felons, without benefit of clergy.

By 19 Geo. II. c. 34. § 1, continued by various Acts, If any person shall maim, or dangerously wound any Officer of the Revenue, in his attempting to go on board any Vessel within the limits of any Port, or shoot at, maim, or dangerously wound him when on board, and in the execution of his office, every per

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son so offending being convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer death.

By § 11 of the Statute 24 Geo. III. Statute 2. с. 47, If any person upon the shore, or on board any Ship, Vessel or Boat, shall maliciously shoot at any Ship, Vessel, or Boat, belonging to the Navy, or in the service of the Customs or Excise, within the limits of any Port of Great Britain, [or within four leagues from any part of the Coast thereof; or if any person being on shore, or on board any Ship, shall maliciously shoot at, maim, or dangerously wound any Officer of the Navy, or of the Customs or Excise, whether attempting to go on board, or being on board, or returning from on board any Ship, &c. or otherwise acting in the execution of his duty on shore, or within the limits of any Port of Great Britain, [or within four leagues of any part of the Coast thereof; or shall maliciously shoot at, maim, or wound any person aiding such Officer, every person so offending, and every person aiding therein shall be guilty of Felony without benefit of clergy.

By 19 Geo. III. cap. 48. § 10, &c., If any person whatsoever shall assault, resist, oppose, molest, obstruct, or hinder, any Officer of Customs or Excise in seizing or securing any Coffee, Tea, Cocoa-Nuts, Chocolate, Foreign Brandy, or other Foreign Spirituous Liquors, or any other Goods whatsoever, liable to be seized, or shall by force or violence rescue, or cause to be rescued, any of the said Goods, after they are seized, or shall attempt to do so; or, after such seizure, seizure, shall cut, stave, break, or otherwise destroy or damage any Casks, Vessels, Boxes, or Package, wherein the same shall be contained; it shall be lawful for the Officers, and for all persons acting in their aid, to stop and detain the person so offending, and carry him before one Justice; and the Justice shall, if he see cause, commit the person brought before him to the next County Gaol, until the next general Quarter Sessions, by whom he may be committed to the House of Correction, for not more than three years, nor less than one; or be sent to serve in the Army or Navy.

By Statute 34 Geo. III. cap. 50. §5, If any Officer or Officers of his Majesty's Navy, or in the service of the Customs or Excise, being on shore, or going on board, or being on board, or returning from on board any Ship, Boat or Vessel within the limits of any of the Ports of this Kingdom, or within four leagues from the Coasts thereof, [or within the limits prescribed against Vessels hovering on the Coasts] shall be hindered, opposed, obstructed or assaulted, in the execution of their office or duty, by any person or persons whatsoever, either in the day. time or night; or if any person or persons acting in the aid or assistance of such Officers shall be so obstructed, or assaulted, every offender, and also every per son aiding and assisting in such obstruction or assault, may be carried before a Justice of Peace, residing near the place where such offence shall be commit ted, and the Justice may commit such Offenders to the

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the next County Gaol, there to remain until the [next] Court of Oyer and Terminer, Great-session, or Gaol delivery, or until the Offender shall be delivered by due course of law; and, in case an indictment shall be found against such Offenders, or any of them, they shall plead thereto, without having time to traverse the same, as is usual in cases of Misdemeanors, and being duly convicted thereof, shall, by order of the Court, be sentenced to hard labour on the River Thames, or any other navigable River in England, for any term not exceeding three years, as under 19 Geo. III. c. 74. in cases of Grand Larceny; or the Court may order such Offender to be committed to the Common Gaol, or House of Correction, for any term not exceeding three years.

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By § 35 of the Statute 9 Geo. II. c. 35, If any per son passing with prohibited or uncustomed Goods, and armed with offensive weapons, shall hinder any Officer of the Customs or Excise, who, in the execution of his duty, shall offer to search or seize any prohibited or uncustomed Goods from any person passing with such Goods, and armed as aforesaid, by beating the Officers or other persons acting in their assistance;-it shall be lawful for all Officers of his Majesty's Customs or Excise, and all persons by them called to their assistance, who are so resisted, to oppose force to force, and by the same methods that are violently used against them, and by which their lives are endangered, to defend themselves and execute the duty of their office: and if any person so resisting, resisting the Officers shall be wounded or killed, and the Officers and their Assistants shall be prosecuted, such Officers and persons acting in their assistance may plead the general issue; and all Justices of Peace, before whom such Officers and other persons acting in their assistance, may be brought, on account of such wounding or killing, are required to admit such persons to bail.

By § 6 of the Statute 16 Geo. II. cap. 34, If any Officer of the Revenue, or other person employed in seizing or securing any Wool or other Goods forfeited, (either as being prohibited or uncustomed, or for the duties not having been paid or secured, or forfeitable by any Law to prevent the Exportation of Wool or other Goods) or in endeavouring to apprehend any Offender, shall be beaten, wounded, maimed, or killed, or the Goods seized shall be rescued by persons armed as aforesaid, the inhabitants of every Hundred, where such facts are committed in England, shall make satisfaction for the damages, and shall pay 100%. to the Executors or Administrators of each person so killed. And such Officers and other persons, and their Executors and Administrators, may sue for and recover their damages (so as the sum to be recovered for any beating, wounding, or maiming exceed not 401. nor for the loss of the Goods 2001.) against the inhabitants of the Hundred: and all the inhabitants of the said Hundred shall be proportionably assessed towards the payment of the damages and costs, and also of the expences in defending such Action;

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