iv if this first principle in the govern ment of colnuinl possessions b not attend ed to we may well despair of every step that may he taken io their amelioration where prejudice aod interested viewsa thing unheard of do ooi go hand in hand with philosophy if therefore in humbly submittiog to your consideration a slight view of the deplorahle state of matters in this province and the mode in which in my opinion they can only becxtneated from their present jeopardy i shall he tempted to go somewhat into detail i trust you will forgive me and credit me wheu i say tharnothiugbut an ardent desire to see britain flourish in all her departments and dependencies could havo induced me to lead you into discussions wliich 1 fear willtoyouatleastbe far more tedious than profitable trusting to future opportunities and more ample leisure than i at present enjoy for the fulfillment of my promises on the sub- jecthere touched upou i must desist for the present and only add that i always am yours truly the watchman 7th march 1829 domiostjc provincial parliament upper canada bill to abolish imprisonment for debt house in committee of the whole mr rolph rose and said mr chairman although by no means indifferent to the re sult of this question yet after the debatos which have already taken place upou it i should he satisfied with simply moving for the adoption of the preamble had not the will aod pleasure of the people crowded into this assembly so many new represen tatives who are strangers to the past dis cussions the most effectual method of removing the first shock of repugnance felt at the proposition to nholish impiiimiont for debt will be to state the opinions of e greatest the wisest the most learned ud thebest of men in various ages and countries of the world the following ca talogue will be found in that valuable pa per the upper canada herald of the 9th march 1824 a paper which is a repertori- uin of useful political moral and miscella neous information the constitution says the body of the debtor shall he always free that he may serve the king in hi wars cultivate the ground and maintain his family mag na charts says neither the king nor his bailiffs nor the debtors sureties shall seize more than debtors goods and chatties lands and tenements not bis person the bill of rights with magna charta says no freeman shall be imprisoned but by the legal judgment of his peers or the law of the land that is the common law the great lord bacon says no man can be arrested for debt in england accor ding to the constitution 11 the common law with god on its side preserved the persons of englishmen as free as air until moderatively modern times introduced the judicial writ called capis d satisfacioudum lord coke says by the law of the land the body was not liable to execution for debt mr justice blackstone says m the com mon and civil law ended their process in taking all the debtors substance and looked upon all farther process as nuga tory burke says it is a miserable mistaken invention of artificial science operating to change a civil into a criminal judgment jocrir johnston jsnvs nfl olio cn think wise which when men are capa- tuat law ble of work obliges them to beg or just which exposes the liberty of one to the passions of another the arch duke leopold says it pre vents the necessity of probity for credit and probity can never be rendered too ne cessary in a state president montesquciu sas the liberty of one citizen is of greater importance to tbe public than the ease or superfluity of another marquis becanna says it is making tho end subservient to the means instead of the means to the eud a paralogism or contradiction in all sciences especially in polities sir william temple says the deten tion for debt is greatly injurious to a na tion 1 wish do such custom existed in this land oflibcrty lord chancellor talbot often said ac cording to the principles of real humanity and good policy the debtor sufficiently pays a debt of any sum by any imprison ment of three mouths the first of all prayers says our father which art in heaven forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors christian religion 6ays do unto all men as you would be done unto heathen morality says do not to ano ther what you would not should be done to you the patriotic sawbiidgesays i have long considered that imprisonment for debt 19 not only contrary to the spirit of this free constitution but absolutely against the letter ofthe law and lord eldon has said it is a per mission of acts of greater oppression and inhumanity than are to be met with in slavery itself a permission to tear the fa ther from his weeping children the hus band from his distracted wife and to hurry him to a dungeon to linger out a life of pain and misery white abolishing tho frican slave trade was to destroy the west india islands but redressing sucb grievances as those would not be attended with any fatal consequences- further reflection upon the law of im prisonment for debt has only increased my convictiouoflhe expediency of its abolition by repeated discussions upon this question 6ome progress has been made towards it for last year snfficient converts were made in this branch of the legislatureto trans mit to the house of lords a hill very simi lar to the oue now proposed for your adop tion and although we heard no further ti dings of it yet i am not without a hope that tbe future coufiict of opinions in that august assembly will in time elicit the truth and happily secure the emancipation of all pri- ioner incarcerated for debt the times were in england they were golden times when the body of the debtor could not be taken in execution for the debt and the reason assigned for i by our sturdy forefathers would weigh down the scale against the specious modern ro- fioements wrapt up in that convenient word expediency such barbarity was not only nonexistent among them but ex pressly interdicted for the noble reason that every man might he at liberty as well to follow his own affairs and business as also to serve his king and country iu those days men were comparatively scarce and therefore a wise policy was economi cal oftbeir services hut the lavish expen diture of a more populous age disregards the sacrifice of many a victim whose fate is uuhceded because his civil death is not perhaps sensibly felt beyond the circle of his own fire side but while those giants of politicians with their extended views can only embrace those vaster matters which may couvulse an empire it cannot ill bo- come us with humbler optics carefully to watch that the law shall not unnecessary carry iu its train the desolation of a single family however humble iu the sphere of life the noise of drums and the thunder of artillery may drown the groans of the wounded and the dying on the field of war but there is no reduction of the sum of hu man suffering and altho the incarcera tion of a few score debtors may be tost in the tumult of business and uot cause that perceptible abstraction from public wealth which might induce the sympathy of too mercenary a world yet the absolute suffer ings of the imprisoned are not on that ac count shortened in duration or lessened in intensity iu former discussions i was asked asked too in the language of triumph where is all the evil made the subject of so much complaint true sir the num bers are unknown their pain is secret unseen and unpitied while theirinnocence is left uoimpeached and therefore sir i say the system is the more odious and the call for its subversiou the more impe- i vimi i have availed myself of mauy opportu nities of conversation with those persons most likely to be fruitful of reasons and subtleties in favor of the present law i mean the merchants and never did i fail to be combated with the truly formidable allegation that commerce will be ruin ed and all credit stopt commerce will be ruined and all credit stopt was the pro position and the reason and tbe conclu sion but thesame motive which would justly make us pause to ruin merchants for the sake of debtors ought in all fairness of reasoning and consistency of conduct to make us pause to ruin debtors for tho sake of merchants it may be laid down as a maxim no more requiring demonstration than the postulata of euclid that one class of men ought not to be artificially oppressod to subserve the interests of another class that simple truth was atone sufficient to looscu shackles which had been ri vetted for ages the shackles of slavery aod it ought to be enough at once to mako the massy doors of the prison to grate upon their hinges aud open io every careworn prisoner the delights of liberty and the rap- lures of social life aud why shall we uot give a practical scope to that instinctive disposition to do so which every man feels tho he may be stoic enough to stille it because forsooth merchants say that debt ors must bo tho martyrs of their creditors wo do indeed sec in england a solitary exception to this rule io the interdiction ol tho free importation of corn as if it could be possibly expedient not to let any peo ple live as cheap as possible the manu facturing classes must however be occa sionally half starved to uphold the landed ccd upon the altar of commercial expedi ency but we shall perhaps all live to see the day when both errors will be exploded and the maxim will supremely prevail that one class of men shall not be artificially op pressed to subserve the interests of another class commorce will be ruined and alt cre dit will be stopt i did not fail to press the questions why and how to which i received an answer by other as sumptions no merchant would scf but for ready money and fraud would reign triumphant then i pressed these logi cians with couuterqnestionsas why would merchants under such a law refuse credit to a solvent honest man and why would fraud prevail more if punished by the pub lic magistrate after conviction than if pun ished by the creditor without convictiou and as i always found these mercantile sa ges too candid to pretend that they ever gave credit upon the speculation of impri soning the debtor and too modest to say that they wcro alone gifted with the in stinctive preception of guilt andinnoceuce and with m fallibility in selecting proper ob jects of puuishment and nicely apportion ing tbe quantity of it i therefore found them ever seeking refuge in one assump tion after another very much after the fashion of the indian philosopher who dri ven to his shifts rested the world upon a tortoise and the tortoise on a hare and the hare on i know not what in truth sir i believe this deeply rooted prejudice in favor of humanity has arisen fromthatdaogcrous ascendency sometimes acquired overopinion by the powerful as sociation of ideas imprisonment fordebt and commercial busiuess have for a long longtime been found in company and be cause they have thus been coexistent men have too hastily fallen into a fallacy that they must bear the relatiou of cause and effect commence has thrived thrived under the present law and therefore the present law has caused it it is uot sur prising that my opposition to such sound logic always brought down upon me iu past discussions of this question your im passioned eloquence dr leflerty for you sir and i have both for mauy years delieht- thor i and ihcrefo w mcn j told us in upper canada t lne provincial state canuol stftud witt lne same alliauce and io the same tvav a beneficial credit and imprisonment f d nave some mind been associ nm lnev arc fanci ed to be inseparable y j this but le gislative quakery i imprisonment for debt is set down as a specific remedy for that toporiu trado which it is merely surmised would follow the htss of the assumed spe cific we might will a much good sense de clare that the french who are great dan cers have for ages walked erect but were dancing unwisely prohibited the french would soon go oo m fours i found the most ingenious advocate of the present law in a lower canada mer chant who contonded that the very exis tence of the law hy its terrors deterred men from improperly seeking credit brought their hidden treasures to light io payment of their honest debts and afford ed a necessary punishment for fraud it is pleasant to find i hat a law at best a ne cessary evil can iu the ablest bauds he no otherwise defended than upon principles hy no means tenable the weakness ofa cause is often betrayed by the difficulty of maintaining it in taking it for granted that tho severity ofthe present law is best calculated to de ter ineo from improperly contracting debts or evading payment there is assumed a proposition which later experience has rendered more than doubtful viz that ihe severest laws are the most effectual for the prevention of crime in russia i speak from general recollection capital punish ments were at once abolished io the reign ofthe eupess catharine and crime in stantly diminished iustead of increasing from the change in an account ofthe in teresting stale of pennsylvania met with ed in the syllogism never to be question ed that the patient was sick took his pills and then got welt and therefore the pills did cure him it is only by such proof that the advocates of tho present law can prove the trade is indebted to prisons and dunge ons tor us flourishing condition british trade flourished in spite of the restrictive system and yet years elapsed before the enlightened iluskissoo could convince bri tish ministers that trado ould flourish the more without it cbawh and state have for centuries in england talked toge- the following statement formerly in pennsylvania death was the penalty for a great variety of ofliiices in 1791 a change in the penal code took place and with the excoptiou of premeditated murder every crime heretofore capital is now punished witn imprisonment aportion orwnftn is solitary the good fleets were marked by a diminution ofth number and attro- city of the crimes committed from ja nuary 1789 to june 1791 the number of crimes under the old system wee 592 of which 9 were murdeis from june 1791 to march 1795 the dumber was 243 a mong which there was not one case of murder mr peel kas pursued the sug gestions of the humane and illustrious ho mily with the happien success indeed i shall be justified by the history of every nation ancient and imdern in the asser tion that barbarous lews and punishments have added to the fencity and audacity of offenders instead of atiug as a moral and salutary restraint men become habitua ted to the fear of crud punishment in the same way that the sddier and the sailor become so familiar with danger as to experience little or no alarm from expo sure to it there are many illustrations which when duly considcrei will allay any un reasonable apprcheoson that offences will increase with the dimuutiou of severity a- gainst them under the roman aw the father had an absolute right over thi life of his offspring aud history records sime affecting cases in which the right ww exercised but the absence of that power in modern times has uot rendered domestic life a scene of an archy and confusion iu thesame way i apprehend the abolition of imprisonment fur debt will not especially when guard ed iu the way proposed destroy all good understanding and intercourse between merchants and their customers by a scythian law when a criminal was lb itn t thrfl m rp1tn flit- emu rr death with him and in japan at this day children and relatives are involved io the punishnieot of capital crimes had vou asked t e scythian or were you to ask the japanese legislator why he was so cruel he would tell you i am cruel to cri minals for the same reason that you are cruel to debtors tie more certainly to de ter evil doers but there is this differ ence between us we mercifully put them to death you wring the father from his children and the bushand from the wife to leave them destitute upon a suffering world we can as certainly dispense with cruelty against debtors as with scy thian and japanese cruelty against crimi nals in this refined and polished couotry all the goods and chattels lauds and tene ments of the felo de se become the pro perty ofthe king tho a widow and des titute childreu may need all that is left be hind in justification of this law it is said the prospect of the consequences will deter the suicide while living and as we cannot punish him when dead we must for the ends of public morality hold out to him the horrors of certain punish ment upon his iunocent survivors upon precisely the same principle we hold out punishment to debtors innocent or guilty to deter bad men from seeking credit fraudulently but in england this barbarous law against suiide has been a- bolished without any mischievous results without any threatcued depopulation of the couutry- and if the remission of that punishment has not multiplied suicides the remission of this cruelty against debt ors will not multiply frauds the severity of whipping was long beld and unmercifully inflicted as necessary to maintain tho discipline of the british ar my it would be unacceptable to the committee to detail the history and ef fects of this punishment o depicture the function of the executioner the fortitude of the sufferers the looks which lacerated the skin contused the very lashes and drew from many a veterans back streams of that blood which shoulil have been shed only on tho field yielding glory to hiscoun- try but it is enough to remind the com mittee that the almost eut abandonment of this mode of punishment has improved rather thau impaired the justly esteemed character of the british soldier aod it will be as certainly realied that tho abo lition of cruelly against debtors will not render them less prudent or less honora ble the reasonableness of his expectation is strengthened by the history ofthe law of horning in scotland- wherever a man was so unfortunate as become insol vent thore issued against bim letter of horning which were written in the king name ordering the debtor to pay lie debt uodor penalty of beiug horned mat is by blowing a horn after the fashion d a bellman or public crier of beiug pro claimed what do you suppose a re bel so predominate was the love ot mo- oey over every higher motive that it wa the fashion to introduce into the coudilion of the bond that the misfortune of insol vency should bo followed by letters of horning on a single charge that is a sin gle service commanding the debtor in stantly to make payment or be proclaim ed a rebel without the alternative ofgoin to gaol la this manner many an unfor tunate wight was horned rebel whose punishment of the guilty and the majesty of the law he extended for the protection of ihe innocent so much for this part of the subject the arbitarv power of the creditor may and i apprehend too often is abused by ap plying it to the discovery of property pre sumed to be concealed if no property is concealed if no fraud has been committed the imprisonment is most cruel and inhu man the debtors may be innocent and therefore some inquiry should assuredly precede the present summary method by the creditor of mere conjecture instant conviction and unmeasured punishment the favored creditor is still left all the aid of sheriff aud sheriffs halifts to detect pro perty and dispose of it for his own benefit only consolation was the dream of horn ing for the good of merchants and of trade surely this is power enough without super- thc severity of the law in this as in al adding as a further criterion experimental such cases deferated itself a distine tion was soou recognised between stater rebellion and civil rebellion it was es teemed disgraceful and oppressive to en force the penalties of the former iu thf latter case which therefore lost auusstlofi first in practice and now by statute but has trade gone to ruin 1 is all credit lost by no means well encourage torture upou the debtors body lam told that the jews who visited s america soon after its discovery were in dustrious in their search after gold it was assumed that the native indians know where were the inexhaustible mines and being put down as debtors of the discovery to the jews the matter was reduced to the and this experience maj simplicit of making them reveal for this to discard alt fake a- purpose some were imprisoned aud others larms in removing the inhumanity of the subjected to slavery but the native indi- an horn for freedom pined away and pe rished uuder the oppressors hand howe ver as they were debtors ofthe discovery prevailing system it as the law that by the breach of the condition of a bond the whole penalty was incurred kadthe opponents of the e good of trade and the wealth of oa- prescnt measure lived in an age socongeoial iens casuistry soon afforded proof that to their sentiments how fiue a scope would they ought to be subject to the discretion of they have enjoved for the exhibition of their their european creditors in bringing these policy commerce will be ruined and all hidde treasures to liht being proud of credit stopt the virtue of the bond con- 1 their painted faces and well set teeth the sistcd of theconsequencos of the nonper formance of the condition these conse quences were held by the creditor in terro- ram over the dcbtorthey were the chief in centives to a strict performance they stamped tho highest value upou such se jews enacted as a substitute for slavery and imprisonment the extraction of their teeth tooth after tooth was drawn form itss socket till the poor iodiau to save his grinders should pay the debt of tills disco very in vain did he protest his innoccoce w of uo such mines curities it might have been perhaps it j declared he knew of was urged that to repeal such coosequen- jt was as certain that he knew where ces would shaken the validity of such con tracts under seal render a breach ofthe couditiou by the obligor a matter ol sub ordinate importance and thereby impair the security of the oblige weaken his disposition to extend the iojuigence of cre dit and spread a panic among commercial men far sir be it frvm me to put forth pretensions to draw the gloomy pic ture of disasters haunting the imagination of the friends of penalties aod prisons all this terror has however by statute been done away ruin is no longer entailed upon the breach ofthe condition ofa bond it has so far been put upor a level with o- ther transactions and securities iu com mon life as to empower thf creditor to re cover only the damages assessed by a jury he can no longer exact ftoro tbe debtor the full penalty of the bold but have honds therefore vanished cut of fashion is commerce ruined ish credit stopt by no means obligees are protected io their reasonable rights which otdigors are taken out of their unreasonable rights which ob ligors are taken out of thef unreasonable power and the same harmless results will follow the abolition cf imprisonment fordebt if due protection is afforded the creditors by the puoishineif offraud while debtors are emancipated fom their credi tors iron grasp the argument is that fl terror of the law will preventthe commission offraud but a little reflection will oovince us that the present law is rather an incentive to fraud than a check upon it when a man contemplates a law which inflicts indis criminately tbe same pumkhment for a small as for a great often we might a priori expect that when pnee disposed to transgress he would deelp a matter of subordinate importance to what extcut he t rue onpnitmiiof such a policy on the mass of mankind is seen in a proverb which becauso it i of vulgar origin affords on that very account the more appropriate illustration it is asi well to bo hanged for a sheep us tor a lamb viewing it therefore as a moral question aud presuming mankind to he influenced by those considcraiious which experience has shown to he predominant wc might a priori expect that debtors gene rally who foresee the same punishment by imprisonment and the 6ame unrestrained and unwarrantable power of inflicting it for debts whether large or small and whe ther complicated with guilt or innocence would by the augmentation of the debt for which they were about to suffer or by the j wrong could he greater were these hiddeu treasures as that debtor knows where is his bidden proper ty 11 therefore he complained the an swer was we are praiseworthy who extract your teeth for it is your obstinacy rather to incur the loss thau reveal the treasures of gold for the good of mankind so the creditor declares that when the hidden pro perty is surrendered the debtor shall be re leased ask why jonah brown is in prison dur ing tbe 10th year of his incarceration and tb answer is incredible obstinacy iu the fellow let him give up his hiddeu property aod he can secure his emancipation al though it is obvious considering his situa tion in life that if at the commencement of his imprisonmont he had any properly it has ere this been consumed for his main- tainance aod supposing he had ever heen conv icted of any fraud to the full extent of the remnant of his debt it would require the identical tribunal which tried aud cou- victed the canadian freeman to inflict the punishment often years imprisonment and further imprisonment till the debt is paid but here the creditor plead as all men will plead for power we never abuse it indeed then you are sadly belied it is enough for the plain course of our du ty to know that your customer thinks o- therwise strange if they were the ouly persons in the world invested with power who never abuse it or who upou an appeal for mercy are uot invincible agaiusr ihe most powerful intercession for it anl after all what is our power we caunotkill or load with irons or source the body or banish the debtor ind od cannot kill you kilt bv inches leaving the prisoner to lament over the wasto of his enervated body and the decay of his sor- rnviryy mivrfuino fimlwmi iroovo irons are taken from the body only to bar thf prison door as an ampler defiance a- jiainst the profusion of nature in scattering her elements for the enjoyment of man cannot scorge the body cau there he severer scorge thau to be kept in arcta et salva custodia sine die- cannot banish who would not part for any other clime where punishment is dealt out by the mea sure of justice aud gladly exchange the sloth of protracted imprisonment for ihe enterprise of active life and the gloomy confines ofa cell for the canopy of heaven how dangerous is lhat fallacy from com parison by which men are too ofteu induc ed to think wrong is right becauso the coneeaynent ofthe meaus by which they could partially pay it make provision for their approaching necessities at the expense ofthe authors of them a roan who ex pect to bo like jonah brown 8 or 10 years in prison for debt would soon find the prospect of future exigency so weaken a finer sense of honesty as to think il howe ver erroneously an act of excusable policy to make provision for himself and his dependant family by only paying his cre ditor a few shillings in the pound the debtor has thus sometimes presented to him as an alternative ruio iu a gaol or such a wrong upon his creditor and al though undoubtedly you would chuse the alternative of ruio in a gaol yet you must uotexpect all ihe poople you represent to be equally heroic io their seutimruis and martyrlike io acting up to them a law- is palpably incompatible with sound policy and ill suited to humau nature which hy its operation provokes the very cvi it is in tended to prevent but it should be considered that i am meeting a difficulty to an extent not requir ed by the nature ol the case for upn doing away the fear of imprisoumeut by the cre ditor it is proposed to suhsiitutc the fear of punishment by the public magistrate sup posing therefore the present law to owe its salutary operation to tbe apprehension of consequences the proposed iaw has claims lo the very same advantage in deed the question seems to he thr which is the most just aud the most expedient to hold out to debtors the prospect of punish ment without auj legal conviction or after conviction to confirm it to the guilty or to extend it to the innocent to have the quantity of punishment aud tho ascertain ment of its proper objects io h disap pointed ud unrestrained credited r to vest it in a responsible judo duly guarded by the intervention of a jury i he an swer of every one surely must be fraud again creditors be put upon a level with other misdemeanors by which mp the shame cf inquiry will be superadded to the instead therefore of extorting the pay ment of a debtor the disclosure of properly by the extraction of teeth or the less refin ed method of imprisoning the whole body i propose to transfer the power of the cre ditor to a judge and jury and to class the oflence of fraud iu obtaioing credit or in evading payment with other misdemeanors the effect of such a law superadded to ihe operation of another cause never to be lost sight ofby any legislature the general dif fusion of education and of moral aod reli gious instruction will achieve far more than indiscriminate punishment particu larly as it often excites that commisserati- on under tbe influence of which the ceusurt- due totheoffeuce is lost in sympathy for the sufferers i do not so much call upon the house to try an experiment as to follow an example- among the ancieot egyptians payment was taken out of the debtor goods his bo dy could not be attached diodurus siculus mentions that solon established this law at alliens freeing all citizens from imprison ment for debt and he adds that some justly reprehended the grecian law ma kers who forbid axes ploughs and oiher implements of labor to be taken as pledg es and yet allowed tbe persons who used the implements to be themselves imprison ed from greece ihe law was borrowed by the romans and need we be fearful of commercial ruin wheu those great com mercial nations of antiquity flourished be yond any example of their age but take it for granted for the sako of argument that ihe proposed law would be restriction of credit and the province would perhaps profit by it suppose that hereafter many men upon asking credit should be answered 1 cannot trust you now for if you do not pay 1 canuol put you in to prison and is it not abvious that a man of such doubtful houesty and solvency ought not to bo trusted when by indus try he has earned the means he will buy and pay hni wore he to supply his wants without the present means ho might by the nonpayment ruin the creditor yon lo that event say put him into prisoi granted and where is the boastej good simply this that you ruin bath it is not therefore a reasonable objection to a law that it will prevent a hazardous credit being extended to those who do uot deserve it and thus savo from ruin both the buyer and the seller to be continued j whs mark age bill creas doubts have arisen respecting the legality of certain marriages heretofore contr cted and solemnized in this province and whereas the parties thereto and their is sue may be subject to disabilities unless surh marriages be confirmed by law in order therefore to afford relief to such persons and establish the legitimacy of their issue 1 be it c lhat ihe marriage or mairiag eg of all persons not being under aiy canoni cal disqualification to contract matrimony ihat have been publicly contracted in ttus province before any justice of tbe peace magistrate or commanding officer of a post or before any minister or clegyrnan before the passing of this act shall be and hereby are confirmed and shall be considered good and valid in law and the parties to such marriages and the issue thereof shall be en titled to all the rights and subject to all tbe obligations resulting from marriage and con- sangunity and law usage or custom to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding 2 and to enable any person who may fee desirous thereof to preserve the evidence of their marriage and ofthe birth of tir chil dren be it further enacted fyc that it shall and may be lawful at any time within six years after the passing f this act for any jus tice ofthe peace at the request of either of the parties to adrninisterthe following ofitq or affirmation as the case may be to the husband and wife or either of them i a b uj solemnly sware or affirm as the case may be- that i did publicly intermarry with g i at on ihe day of in ihe year of our lord and that there is now fem3tf btf ca8c m b born on the day of which form of attestation shall be subscribed by the party making the same and certified under the hand and seal of the justice ad ministering the said oath or affirmation who shall be entitled to receive therefor one shil ling and it shall be the d ity of the clerk of the peace upon payment of the sum of two shillings aid six pence to enter and record such attestation duly certified as aforesaid in a register or book to be by him kept for that purpose and such register or an attest ed copy thereof shall be considered sufficient evidence of such marriage and of the birth of the said children and the said clerk of ihej peace is hereby required to give such copy duly certified to any person demanding the same upon payment of two shillings pro vided always that nothing in this act con tained shall extend or be lend to mnke valid any i ioimnized when the parties to such marriage or either of them shall have subsequently contracted matrimony according to law 3 and be it further c that it shall and may be lawful for 2nycrgyman or minister of any church society congregation or reli gious community of persons professing to be members ofthe church of scotland luther ans presbvteri ins congrtfftationalists bap tists independents methodists menoufste tankers or moravians who shall be autho rised in manner hereinafter mentioned to solemnize the ceremony of marriage between any two persons neither of whom is under any legal disqualification to contract matri mony 4 provided nevertheless and be it further fc lhat no person shall bi- taken or deemed to be a clergyman or minister of euth church society congregation r religious c ttmnu- sv viitmvfjviiitn i j iio uftiihi act who shall not have been regularly or dained constituted or appointed according to the ritesandform of such church society congregation or religious community of which he profsses to be a clergyman or riin- iter and unless he shall be a subject of his majesty and shall appear before the justices ofthe district in which he sbill reide in general quarter sessions assembled and un less he shall produce proofs of his ordination constitution or appointment as such minis ter and shall then and there take the oath of allegiance to his majesty which oath the said court shall then and there administer and thereupon if it shall appear to a majori ty of the justices then present that he has been regularly ordained constituted or ap pointed as aforesaid they are hereby autho rised nd required to grant him a certificate u der ihe seal ofthe court and sigmdby the chair mar and the clerk of the peace for which the said clerk shall be entitled to re ceive the sum of five shillings certifying him lo be a minister or clergyman of mich church society congregatioic or religious community which certificate may be in the following form 5 b it remembered that at the general l larier sessions ofthe peace holden at in fcnd for district on the day of in the year of our lord before a b and others esquires justices of our sovereign lvd the kivg assigned to keep the peace construed to ex- arriase illegally m tnct came c dof who in ih- sd profess- tc be minister or clergyman of the church skt congregation or religious community s the case mav be and it ap peared to a majority of the justices that he the sid c d was duly ordained constitute ed or ppointed a the case may be a min ister or lergymr n of the said church society congregation or religious community ti oflhact e f chairman b provided lso imd be it further ac that no such minister or clergyman shall at any timi- ctflebrso v- ceremony of marriage be tween any ti prisons as aforesaid unless noticeh riittr ffbe intention of marriage between lu uiijp rties shall have been post ed up on some ntpicuous part of ihe church chapel meetinghouse or other place of pub lic worship of such congregation or religi ous community three several sundaysor un less such their intention of marriage shall have been declared apeilyml in an audiblo voice in the church chitpel meetinghouse or place f public wrship of such congrega tion or religious community on three seve ral sundays either in some intermediate part ofthe service or immediately bvfre it began or immediately fier it ended lojrc th er with the number of times ihe said dec ra tion shall have respectively been inadi or unless such minister or clirginan shall hive been duly wither is il by her it- under the ucoiillt hand and seil of tho ulven r governor or person adiiui r s bw o-