Witnesses, by Letters, Rewards, Promises, or by any other sinister,
unlawful
Labour or Means whatsoever, to commit any wilful and corrupt Perjury,
in any Matter or Cause whatsoever, now depending, or which hereafter shall
depend in Suit and Variance, by any Writ, Action, Bill, Complaint or Information,
in any wise touching or concerning any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments,
or any Goods, Chattels, Debts or Damages, in any of the Courts of
Record within this Province, or that shall unlawfully and corruptly procure
or suborn any Witness or Witnesses, from and after the Publication aforesaid,
to be sworn to testify in perpetuam Rei Memoriam; that then
every such Offender
or Offenders shall, for his or their said offence, being thereof lawfully
convicted or attainted, lose and forfeit the Sum of Forty Pounds Sterling.
And if it happen any such Offender or Offenders, so being convicted or
attained
as aforesaid, shall not have Goods, Chattels, Lands or Tenements, to
the Value of Forty Pounds as aforesaid, shall, for his or their said
Offence,
suffer Imprisonment, for and during the Space of one whole Year,
without Bail or Mainprize, and stand upon the Pillory one whole Hour, at
the Pillory next adjoining the Place where he, she or they, shall be convicted
as aforesaid.
III. And be
it further Enacted by the
Authority aforesaid, That no Person
or persons, being convict or attaint as aforesaid, shall be from thenceforth
received as a Witness, to be deposed and sworn in any Court of Record within
this Province, until such Time as the Judgment given against the said person
or persons be reversed, by Attaint or otherwise. And that, upon
every
such Reversal, the Parties grieved, to recover his, her or their Damages,
against
all and every such Person or Persons, as did procure the said Judgment
so reversed to be given again them, or any of them, by Action or actions
upon
his, her or their Case or Cases, according to the common Course of the
Laws of this Province.
IV. And
be it further Enacted by the
Authority aforesaid, That if any Person
or Persons , after the Publication hereof, either by Subornation, unlawful
Procurement, sinister Perswation, or Means of any other, or by their own
Act, Consent or Agreement, wilfully and corruptly, commit any Manner of
wilful Perjury, by their Deposition in any Court of Record in this Province,
as aforesaid, or being examined in perpetuam Rei memoriam; that
then every
Person and Persons so offending, and being thereof duly convicted or attainted
by the Laws of this Province, shall, for his or their said Offence, lose
and
forfeit Twenty Pounds Sterling, and suffer Imprisonment the Space of Six
Months, without Bail and Mainprize; and the Oath of such Person or Persons
so offending, from thenceforth not to be received within any Court of
Record within this Province, until such Time as the Judgment given against
the said Person or Persons shall
be reversed, by Attaint, or otherwise, as aforesaid;
and that, upon every such Reversal, the Parties grieved to recover
their Damages as aforesaid. And if it happen that the said Offender
or Offenders,
so offending, shall not have Goods and Chattels, to the Value of
Twenty Pounds, that then he, she
or they, be set on the Pillory next adjoining
to the Place where he, she or they shall be convict, as aforesaid, and
to
have both Ears nailed, and be from thenceforth to be discredited and disabled
for ever to be sworn in any of the Courts of Record aforesaid, until such
Time
the said Judgment be reversed; upon which he, she or they, shall recover
his,
her or their Damages, in Manner and Form as it is before mentioned; the
one
Moiety of all the said Fines and Forfeitures, to be to our Sovereign Lord
and
Lady, the King and Queen, for the Support of Government; and the other
Moiety to such person or persons, as shall be grieved, hindered, or molested
by Reason of any the Offence or Offences before mentioned, that will sue
for
the same, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint or Information, or otherwise,
in
any Court of Record within this Province, wherein no Essoyn, Protection,
or Wager of law, shall be allowed. |
CHAP.
XVI.
Persons
corrupting or
suborning
Witnesses,
forfeit 40 l.
Sterling.
or not having
Goods to the
Value, shall
be imprisoned
one year,
and stand one
hour on the
Pillory.
and rendered
incapable of
giving Evidence,
till
such Judgment
be reversed,
in which
Case they
may recover
Damages.
Persons convict
of Perjury
to forfeit
20 l. Sterling,
and suffer 6
Months
Imprisonment,
and their
Oath not to
be received
till Reversal
of Judgment,
Not having
Goods to the
Value of the
Fine, shall
be pillor'd
and their
Ears nailed.
Half of the
Fines to the
Support of
Government,
and Half to
the Party
grieved.
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