November 1643
[28 November, 1643.]
Additional Articles to the Ordinances of Excise.
The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, finding it
necessary to advance the Duty of Excise, and to remove such
Obstructions as may hinder the same, do Ordain and Declare,
and be it Ordained and Declared by the said Lords and Commons
in Parliament, That no Cocket, Bill of Entry, Ballast-bill, Bill of
Store, Transire, Port-cocket, Certificate, Bill of Sufferance, or
other Entry or Warrant whatsover, for any Ship or Vessel,
Victual, or Provision, Goods, or Merchandizes, going out or
coming in, exported or imported, into any the Ports, Havens, or
Creeks of this Realm and Dominion of Wales, be suffered to pass
by the Commissioners of the Customs, or their Deputies, or any
other of His Majesty's or their Under Officers, before such
Cocket, Bill of Entry, Ballast-bill, Bill, Bill of Store, Transire,
Port-cocket, Certificate, Bill of Sufferance, or other Entry or
Warrant whatsoever, be signed or subscribed by such Deputy, or
other Officer, as shall be appointed by the Commissioners of
Excise, or their Sub-commissioners within their respective
Bounds and Circuits, upon Pain of being proceeded against as
Contemners and Eluders of an Ordinance of Parliament; and all
such Commissioners of the Customs and Duties of Tonnage and
Poundage, their Deputies, and all other His Majesty's Under
Officers, in all Ports, Havens, and Creeks of this Kingdom, and
Dominion of Wales, are for the future required, from Time to Time
to concur with the said Commissioners of Excise, and their said
Sub-commissioners, in all Things which they shall reasonably propound and desire of them for the Advance of this Service; and
the said Commissioners for the Customs and Duties of Tonnage
and Poundage for the Ports of London are more particularly
required to provide and set out a convenient and capable Seat,
for the Surveyor appointed by the Commissioners of Excise, in
the Custom-house of the Port of London; that no unknown
Person, or others living beyond the Seas, Planters in the West
Indias, and Virginia, or others who have no certain Habitation
in the Town or Port where any Entry of Goods Inward shall be
made, be permitted to take up their Goods, or to receive any
Warrant from the Commissioners of Tonnage and Poundage, or
their Deputy Officers, till the Duty of Excise be first paid, or
sufficient Security given by Bond to the Commissioners of Excise
for the payment thereof at the Time when such Goods or
Merchandizes shall be first sold; that the said Commissioners
for Customs, Tonnage and Poundage, shall make no such
Warrants, till the Excise be paid or secured; and that no Shopkeepers or Retailers of Goods whosoever, entering their Goods as
Mechants, or in Names of other Merchants, be permitted to take
up his or their Goods before the Duty of Excise be first paid;
and that all Goods entered by Retailers or Shop-keepers
since the 11th of September last shall pay the Excise due for
the same within Ten Days after the Publication of this
Ordinance, upon Pain of Forfeiture of Double the Value of such
Goods, to be levied in such Manner as by the Ordinance of Excise
is appointed for other Penalties; that no Merchant, or Importer
of any Foreign Goods whatsoever, making First Entry thereof in
any Port Town and afterwards bringing the same by Land
Carriage to the City of London, be permitted to dispose of such
Goods from the Waggons, till first a Copy of the First Entry at
such Port Town be delivered to the Officer or Officers of Excise,
to the End the Duty of Excise may be paid or secured, upon the
like Penalty as aforesaid, and to be levied, in such Manner as
aforesaid: Provided and be it further Ordained, That no Fees
or Reward shall be taken or demanded, by any Person, for any
Entries to be made by force or virtue of this Ordinance, on Pain
of such Punishment as shall be inflicted upon the Offenders by
both Houses of Parliament, and Forfeiture of Treble the Value
of all such Fees or Rewards by them so taken or demanded, to
be levied as aforesaid.