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Customs and Excise Act 1787
(27 Geo 3 c.13, 1787)

An Act for repealing the several Duties of Customs and Excise, and granting other Duties in lieu thereof, and for applying the said Duties, together with the other Duties composing the Publick Revenue; for permitting the Importation of certain Goods, Wares, and Merchandize, the Produce or Manufacture of the European Dominions of the French King, into this Kingdom; and for applying certain unclaimed Monies, remaining in the Exchequer for the Payment of Annuities on Lives, to the Reduction of the National Debt.

Note: this is a lengthy and important Act that revolutionised the collection of customs duties, abolishing old duties and substituting new ones – the first two clauses, which outline this, are included below. Otherwise, only the clauses related to revenue stamps and/or the Post Office have been included, omitting the long lists of duties payable on various types of goods.

'WHEREAS the present Mode of charging and computing the several Duties of Customs and Excises, and other Duties under the Management of the Commissioners of Excise in England and Scotland respectively, is in many Instances intricate and complicated, and productive of much Embarrassment to the Persons who are to pay the same, as well as of great Perplexity in the Accounts of the Publick Revenue: And whereas it is necessary, for simplifying the Collection of the Duties to be granted by this Act, that new Provisions should be made for the Payment of the several Charges to which different Branches of the said Duties are appropriated; and it will tend at all Times to strengthen the Publick Credit, that one general Fund should be established, comprehending all the different Branches of the Revenue, and liable to all Charges which are now payable out of the same;' be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, all and singular the Subsidies, Customs, Impositions, or Duties whatever (respecting the Revenue of Customs) payable to his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament now in force, upon the Importation of any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, into Great Britain; or upon the Exportation of any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, from Great Britain; or upon any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, being brought or carried Coastwise, or from Port to Port within the said Kingdom, and the several and respective Drawbacks allowed upon the Exportation of any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, from Great Britain; or on any other Account whatever, respecting the Duties of Customs; and also the additional Imposts or Duties charged upon the Product and Amount of the said several Duties of Customs, shall cease and determine, save and except in all Cases relating to the recovering, allowing, or paying any Arrears thereof respectively, which may, on the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, remain unpaid, or to any Fine, Penalty, or Forfeiture, Fines, Penalties, or Forfeitures, relating thereto respectively, which shall have been incurred at any Time before the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven: Provided always, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to repeal or anywise alter the Duties of Package, Scavage, Balliage, or Portage, or any other Duties, payable to the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, or to the Lord Mayor of the said City for the Time being, or to any other City or Town Corporate within the Kingdom of Great Britain; or to repeal or anywise alter the Prisage of Wines, the Duty called Butlerage, or the Duty of Twelvepence upon every Chaldron of Sea-coal exported from Newcastle upon Tyne, to any other Port or Ports of this Realm, or to any special Privilege or Exemption, to which any Person or Persons, Bodies Politick or Corporate, is or are now entitled by Law, but the same shall be continued as heretofore.

II. 'And whereas it is necessary that other Duties of Customs should be granted to your Majesty as aforesaid, we, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, have therefore given and granted to your Majesty the several Duties herein-after mentioned: And do humbly beseech your Majesty, that it may be enacted;' and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, in lieu and in stead thereof, there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, in ready Money (except as herein-after is provided), without any Discount whatever, upon the Importation of any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, into the Kingdom of Great Britain, from Parts beyond the Seas; or upon the Exportation of Goods, Wares, or Merchandize from the Kingdom of Great Britain, or upon Goods, Wares, or Merchandize brought or carried Coastwise, or from Port to Port within the Kingdom of Great Britain, the several Duties of Customs, as the same are respectively inserted, described, and set forth in Figures in the Schedule and Tables hereunto annexed, marked (A. B. C. D. E.); and that there shall be paid and allowed the several Drawbacks of the said Duties of Customs, as the same are also respectively inserted, described, and set forth in Figures in the said Schedule and Tables marked (A. B. C. D. E.); any Law, Custom, or Usage, to the contrary notwithstanding.

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XL. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Monies arising from Duties, either by Bond or otherwise, respecting the Revenues of Customs and Excise, raised, levied, collected, or paid, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, for or on account of any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize whatever, imported or brought into Great Britain, or brought or carried Coastwise, or from Port to Port within the said Kingdom, or made or manufactured therein, on or before the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven (although the Amount of the said Duties may have been computed, ascertained, and received, in the like Manner in which they have heretofore been usually computed, ascertained, and received), and also all the Duties of Excise, and other Duties under the Management of the Commissioners of Excise, which shall have been charged or become due on or before the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and which shall not be received till after that Day, shall and may, from and after the said tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, be appropriated and applied in one Sum or total Amount, in like Manner as the Duties of Customs and Excise, by this Act imposed, are herein-after directed to be appropriated and applied, instead of the several and respective Branches to which such Monies were applicable before the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven; and that all Monies (respecting the Revenues of Customs or Excise) paid or to be allowed, either upon Bond or otherwise, either by way of Drawback, Bounty, Certificate, Premium, or Allowance, or by any other legal Document whatever, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven (although the Amount of the same shall have been computed and ascertained in the like Manner in which they have heretofore been usually computed and ascertained), shall and may be paid or allowed, by the proper Officer or Officers of the Customs or Excise, in one Sum or total Amount, out of any Monies in their Hands arising from the Duties of Customs and Excise respectively.

'XLI. And whereas the several Rates and Duties under the Management and Care of the Commissioners for managing the Duties upon stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, are also appropriated and applicable to various Purposes, according to the Directions of the several Acts of Parliament granting the same; and the said Commissioners and other Officers employed in the Collection and Management of the said Rates and Duties are required to keep separate and distinct Accounts of the Monies arising from the several Rates and Duties, as they respectively are paid into the Hands of the said Officers, and likewise to provide and use different and distinct Dies or Stamps to denote each Rate and Duty;' be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, to prevent the Multiplication of Stamps upon such Pieces of Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, or other Instruments, Matters, or Things, on which several Rates and Duties are by several Acts of Parliament imposed, it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners for managing the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, instead of the distinct Stamps, Dies, or Marks, directed to be provided to denote the several Duties on the Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, or other Instrument, Matter, or Thing, charged therewith, to cause one new Stamp, Die, or Mark to be provided, to denote the said several Rates and Duties on every such Piece of Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, or other Instrument, Matter, or Thing, charged with the said several Rates or Duties, from Time to Time, as shall be by them thought needful, and to repair, renew, or alter the same, as there shall be Occasion; any former Act or Acts of Parliament to the contrary notwithstanding.

'XLII. And, in order that all the Monies which shall arise from the several Rates and Duties under the Management of the said Commissioners for managing the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, which are or shall be denoted by the same Die, Mark, or Stamp, may be brought into one Account;' be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That instead of the several Rates and Duties imposed by several Acts of Parliament upon the same Piece of Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, or other Matter or Thing charged with several Rates or Duties, being levied, collected, and received in several and distinct Sums, according to the several Proportions by which the same are imposed, it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners, and all and every the Officer and Officers who shall be concerned in the Management of the said Rates and Duties under the said Commissioners, to consolidate the Monies arising or to arise from the said several Rates and Duties into one Sum, to the Amount of all the said several Rates and Duties, and to levy, collect, and receive the same accordingly; and to keep at the Head Office of Stamps one distinct Account of the Monies arising from the said consolidated Duties, and to bring into the same Account all Rates and Duties under the Management of them the said Commissioners, which are and shall be, in pursuance of this or any former Act, denoted by the same Die, Mark, or Stamp, without any Separation of the several Parts or Members thereof, or Distinction taken or made as to the Uses or Purposes to which the same are, or are intended to be appropriated or applied, or the Act or Acts of Parliament granting, appropriating, or regulating the same; any former Law or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

XLIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, all Monies arising from the Rates and Duties under the Management of the Commissioners for managing the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, shall be paid into the Hands of the Receiver General for the Time being of the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, who shall keep one Account only of all the said Rates and Duties, and pay the same accordingly (the necessary Charges of raising, paying, and accounting for the same, being deducted) into the Receipt of the Exchequer, from Time to Time, weekly; (that is to say), on Wednesday in every Week, if the same be not an Holiday, and if the same be an Holiday, then on the next Day which shall not be an Holiday, for the Purposes herein-after declared and expressed; any former Act or Acts of Parliament, or any Clause, Matter, or Thing, in any former Act or Acts of Parliament contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

XLIV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Commissioners for managing the said Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, and all other Officers who shall be employed or entrusted by or under them, shall from Time to Time, in and for the better Execution of their several Places and Trusts, observe and perform such Rules and Orders as they respectively shall, from Time to Time, receive from the High Treasurer, or Commissioners of the Treasury, or any three or more of them, for the Time being.

XLV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Commissioners for managing the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, and their Officers, and all other the Officer and Officers concerned in the Management of any the said Rates and Duties, shall be subject to such Penalties and Forfeitures, for any Breach of the Trust in them reposed, or for diverting or misapplying the Money received in pursuance of this or any former Act or Acts of Parliament, contrary to the true Intent of this Act, as by any former Law relating to the Duties under the Management of the said Commissioners are inflicted; and that all Powers, Provisoes, Articles, Clauses, Penalties, Forfeitures, Distribution of Penalties and Forfeitures, and all other Matters and Things prescribed or appointed by any former Act or Acts of Parliament, relating to the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, or other the Duties under the Management and Case of the said Commissioners, and not hereby altered, shall be in force and effect, with relation to the Rates and Duties hereby consolidated, and shall be applied and put in execution, for the raising, levying, collecting, and securing the same, as fully, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been particularly repeated and re-enacted in this present Act.

XLVI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person shall counterfeit or forge, or procure to be counterfeited or forged, any Seal, Stamp, or Mark, to resemble any Seal, Stamp, or Mark directed to be allowed or used, or provided, made, or used in pursuance of this or any former Act or Acts of Parliament relating to the Duties under the Management of the said Commissioners for managing the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, for the Purpose of denoting the said Duties, or any of them; or shall counterfeit or resemble the Impression of the same, with Intent to defraud his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, of any of the said Duties; or shall utter, vend, or sell any Vellum, Parchment, or Paper, or other Matter or Thing, with such counterfeit Mark or Stamp thereupon, knowing the same to be counterfeit, or shall privately or fraudulently use any Seal, Stamp, or Mark, directed or allowed to be used by this or any former Act or Acts of Parliament, with Intent to defraud his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, of any of the said Duties; every Person so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged a Felon, and shall suffer Death as in Cases of Felony, without Benefit of Clergy.

XLVII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, the several Duties of Customs, Excise, and Stamps, granted or consolidated by this Act, together with the Duty on Hackney Coaches and Chairs, granted by the Acts of the ninth of Queen Anne, and eleventh of King George the Third; and on Hackney Coaches, by the twenty-fourth of King George the Third; the Duty on Hawkers and Pedlars, made perpetual by an Act of the first of King George the First; and the Duty on Hawkers and Pedlars, granted by the twenty-fifth of King George the Third; the Duty on Houses, Windows, and Lights, granted by the sixth of King George the Third; on inhabited Houses, by the nineteenth of King George the Third; and on Houses, by the twenty-fourth of King George the Third; the Arrears of the Duties on Male Servants, granted by the seventeenth and twenty-first of King George the Third; and on Male and Female Servants, by the twenty-fifth of King George the Third; the Duties on Salt, by the twenty-sixth of King George the Second, and the twentieth and twenty-second of King George the Third; the Sum of twelve thousand Pounds per Annum, payable half-yearly by the Bank, pursuant to the twenty-third of King George the Third; the Duty of Sixpence in the Pound on Pensions granted by the twelfth of King George the First, and the Duty of one Shilling in the Pound on Salaries and Pensions granted by the thirty-first of King George the Second; the Duties on Shops, on Coaches, and other Carriages, and Waggons and Carts, by the twenty-sixth of King George the Third; and on Horses, by the twenty-fifth of King George the Third, shall be carried to, and constitute a Fund, to be called The Consolidated Fund; and the same shall be issued and applied to the Uses and Purposes herein-after directed.

XLVIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, during the Life of his present Majesty, the following Branches of Revenue shall in like Manner be carried to, and made Part of the said Fund so by this Act created; (that is to say), the Revenue of the General Letter Office, or Post Office, or Office of Postmaster General; the Monies arising by Fines for Writs of Covenant and Writs of Entry, payable in the Alienation Office, after Payment of two thousand Pounds per Annum, by termly Payments of five hundred Pounds each, by the Receiver thereof, for the Charge of the Hanaper in the Court of Chancery; the Monies arising by Post Fines; the Monies arising by the new Duties on Licences to retail Wine; the Monies arising by Sheriffs Proffers and Compositions in the Exchequer, and Seizures of prohibited and uncustomed Goods; the Revenue arising to his Majesty by Rents of Lands, or for Fines of Leases of the same, or any of them: And that, from and after the Demise of his present Majesty(whom God long preserve), the Sum of seven thousand and two Pounds fourteen Shillings and three Pence, out of the Monies arising by the new Duties on Licences to retail Wine, reserved by an Act of the thirtieth Year of his late Majesty King George the Second, together with the other before-mentioned Revenues, except as herein-after excepted, shall be paid and accounted for to the Heirs and Successors of his Majesty, in like Manner as they were before the passing of an Act of the first Year of his present Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act for the Support of his Majesty's Houshold, and of the Honour and Dignity of the Crown of Great Britain.

XLIX. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That from and after the Demise of his present Majesty (whom God long preserve), the Sum of two thousand Pounds per Annum shall continue to be reserved and set apart, by termly Payments of five hundred Pounds each, by the Receiver of the Monies arising by Writs of Covenant and Writs of Entry, payable in the Alienation Office, for the Charge of the Hanaper Office in the Court of Chancery; and that the Surplus of the Monies arising by the new Duties on Wine Licences, above the annual Sum of seven thousand and two Pounds fourteen Shillings and three Pence (directed to be paid and accounted for to the Heirs and Successors of his Majesty as aforesaid), shall be carried to, and made Part of the said Fund, to be called The Consolidated Fund.

'L. And whereas by an Act of Parliament made in the ninth Year of the Reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all her Majesty's Dominions, and for settling a weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War, and other her Majesty's Occasions; it was enacted, That, from the first Day of June, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eleven, one third Part of the Surplus of the yearly Produce arising by the said Letter or Post Office, or Duties upon Postage of Letters and Packets by the said Act granted, over and above the Sum of one hundred and eleven thousand four hundred and sixty-one Pounds seventeen Shillings and ten Pence, which was the Amount of the gross Receipt of the Duties arising by virtue of former Acts of Parliament, then repealed, for one Year ending the twenty-ninth Day of September one thousand seven hundred and ten, and over and above the Sum of seven hundred Pounds a Week, should be reserved for the Disposition of Parliament: And whereas by another Act of Parliament, made in the twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled,An Act for granting to his Majesty certain additional Rates of Postage for Conveyance of Letters and Packets, by the Post, within the Kingdom of Great Britain; for preventing Frauds in the Revenue, carried on by the Conveyance of certain Goods in Letters and Packets; and for further preventing Frauds and Abuses in relation to the sending and receiving of Letter and Packets free from Postage; additional Rates of Postage were granted to his Majesty, and Regulations were provided for the further Augmentation of the Revenue of the General Letter Office, or Post Office; and by the said last-recited Act it was enacted, That the several Rates and Duties by the said Act granted shall be paid from Time to Time into the Hands of the Receiver General for the Time being of the Post Office, who shall pay, out of such Rates and Duties (the necessary Charges of collecting, paying, and accounting for the same, being first deducted), the full, clear, and entire weekly Sum of two thousand three hundred Pounds, of lawful Money of Great Britain, into the Receipt of the Exchequer, for the Purposes in the said Act mentioned, upon Tuesday in every Week, if it be not an Holiday, and if it be, then upon the next Day that is not an Holiday, as one Week shall successively and immediately follow and succeed another, the first of the said weekly Payments to begin and be made on Tuesday the thirtieth Day of November one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four; and in case the Rates and Duties thereby granted shall not be sufficient to answer the said weekly Payments thereby directed to be made, that then, and so often, the Deficiency and Deficiencies thereof shall be supplied and made good out of the whole Receipt of the Rates and Duties of Postage; and in case the Rates and Duties thereby granted shall be more than sufficient to answer the said weekly Payments, that then, and so often as it shall so happen, the Revenues shall be appropriated and applied to such and the same Uses as the present Rates and Duties of Postage are respectively now by Law made applicable: And whereas it appears that the Medium Produce of the Revenues of the said General Letter Office or Post Office, for two Years, ending on the fifth Day of January one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, amounted to the Sum of two hundred and seventy-eight thousand four hundred and eighty-two Pounds seventeen Shillings and four Pence Halfpenny; and the Medium Produce for two Years, ending on the fifth Day of January one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, to the Sum of one hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and thirty-one Pounds fourteen Shillings, which Increase was not sufficient to satisfy the Sum of two thousand three hundred Pounds a Week, so directed to be paid into the Exchequer, by the recited Act of the twenty-fourth Year of his present Majesty;' be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the Demise of his present Majesty, there shall be paid into the Exchequer, out of the Revenues of the said General Letter Office or Post Officer, at the End of each Quarter, ending on the fifth Day of January, the fifth Day of April, the fifth Day of July, and the tenth Day of October, in each Year, the Sum of thirty-eight thousand six hundred and twenty-six Pounds eighteen Shillings and ten Pence Farthing, being the quarterly Amount of the several Sums of seven hundred Pounds a Week, as directed by the said recited Act of the ninth Year of Queen Anne, of one hundred and eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-one Pounds three Shillings and four Pence Halfpenny, the annual Increase of the Post Office Revenue in consequence of the Act of the twenty-fourth Year of his present Majesty, and of the third Part of the Sum of eighteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine Pounds sixteen Shillings and two Pence, being the Excess of the Medium Produce of the said Revenue for two Years, ending the fifth Day of January one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, after deducting the before-mentioned Sums of seven hundred Pounds a Week, and one hundred and eleven thousand eight hundred fifty-one Pounds three Shillings and four Pence Halfpenny a Year; which quarterly Sums of thirty-eight thousand six hundred twenty-six Pounds eighteen Shillings and ten Pence Farthing, shall, after the Demise of his present Majesty, be carried to and made Part of the Fund to be called The Consolidated Fund.

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LII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all other Publick Monies, and all Arrears of any the Duties or Revenues repealed by this Act, and also all casual Revenues (except such Monies as shall be repaid by any Officer or Officers of his Majesty's Civil Government, as the Balance of such Officer's Account, or otherwise) which, after the tenth Day of May one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, shall arise and be paid into the Receipt of the Exchequer, not being particularly appropriated or appointed to any Use or Uses, by any Act or Acts of Parliament made or to be made, shall be carried to, and made Part of the said Fund to be called The Consolidated Fund.

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