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TRUSTEES
New. ART.XII
SECT.1 Any 9, where it appears to them impracticable for Waggons
with the weights allowed in Sect. . ..Art . . . to be
drawn up a hill by the number of beasts allowed in
Art.. . . . of the same Section without manifest inconvenience
& hazard, may by written order, allow
any number not exceeding 6 horses (or what is equivalent +)
for narrow wheeled carriages, nor so for broad
wheeled; specifying in such order the limits both ways
within which such over-number may be used.
ART. XIII
Such order shall be certified, by them or their Clerk, to
the next Sessions for the District within which the
hill in question lies; & if there confirmed shall be forthwith
filed by the Clerk of the Peace among the Records
& from the time of such filing, shall be in force.
ART. XIV
The like number of Trustees may then order proper
stones or posts to be set up wherein the allocated limits
shall be described.
Observations
This long section of the original reflecting three perfectly
distinguishable transactions, I have thought it proper,
in easement of the reader's attention, to break into
as many Articles.
+ These words I have inserted as necessary to compleat
what I imagine to be the intention. To reason indeed upon the presumption of in it
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it otherwise; since, as it was but the Section before that the general term "Beasts of Draught" was subjoined to "Horses"
it can hardly be supposed to have been omitted the very next without a meaning. This however I cannot help
thinking to have been the case: I cannot suppose it to have been meant that man should be debarred (for no reason
that I can see) from using any other Beasts, precisely upon the occasion where there is the greatest demand,
for every thing that will draw, & the least choice. They may console themselves however pretty well for this,
since by a like omission, as we shall see hereafter, they are left at liberty ( to the manifest overthrow of the Act,)
as to the number of some kinds of Beasts, where there is no need at all
ART. XV
Any 5 Trustees, may, at the expense of the Road, to be
allow'd at some subsequent meeting, order prosecutions by
Indictment for nuisances thereon: but not unless the offence
have been confessed or evidence of it produced to them.
Observations
The motive of this proviso, one sees plainly enough to be a laudable anxiety
not to give birth to vexatious prosecutions: but the foundation of this anxiety
& the method taken to satisfy it, are not quite so easy to understand.
It is not very usual, I believe, for Grand Juries to find a Bill without
any evidence at all: & to say that no prosecution shall be commenced
without evidence that must eventually prove conclusive, is to say that
no person shall be put to a Trial but whereit is certain that he is guilty;
or in other words, where there is no occasion for it.
If it is meant that Trustees should not direct a prosecution, upon their
hearing foreign evidence, it might be said so if it means that no evidence of a Trustee should be received it might have said so: having said none
of these things, what is it that, it means, should or should not be done? amidst these difficulties I have given the best guess I could.
I know not where came the notion of there being anything in the Act to oppose the Idea that no man must play at Indictments but what is sure to win:
or sure enough to oppose in common sense, & in the nature of things, one sees enough to oppose it; but nothing in particular in this Act.
Nothing indeed is more common, tho' at the same time nothing is more fatal to the cause of perspicacity than these vague references, by which
the penner of a Statute sends a whole nation upon a wild-goose chase, to save himself the intolerable trouble of considering what he has done. One
who like the author of these remarks has been at the pains of reading the Act over & over; may be able with at some degree of confidence to assure the
reader that this is all there is in it about the matter: but who is there that deserves so ill, as to have it such a task imposed on him as a matter of necessity?
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Origin
SECT. XI
Where it shall be judged necessary, the Trustees may allow Waggons with Broad Wheels to be drawn up Hills by 10 Horses; and Narrow Wheeled Carriages by 6; Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it
it shall appear to the Trustees of any Turnpike Road
within this Kingdom, or any Nine of them, at any of
their Public Meetings, that it is impracticable for any
Waggon or other Four Wheel'd Carriage, with the
Weights of the same respectively allowed as aforesaid,
to be drawn up any hill or hills, lying in or upon such
Turnpike Road, by the Number of Horses herein before
respectively allowed, without manifest Inconvenience
// and hazard; in such Case it shall and may be lawful
to and for the said Trustees, or any Nine of them, to
allow such Number of Horses as they shall judge necessary,
not exceeding Six for such Wheels of less Breadth
than Nine Inches, to be used in such Waggon or
Four Wheel'd Carriage for the Purpose only of drawing the Length and extent of the Hills to be specified in the Order of Allowance
the same up such hill or hills as aforesaid; the Length
and Extent of such hill or hills to be specified in such
Order of Allowance, and the termination at each End
thereof to be marked by a Post or Stone to be erected at
such respective Boundaries; and the said Order of Allowance
shall be certified, by the said Trustees or their and certified to the General Quarter Sessions.
Clerk, to the next General Quarter Sessions of the
Peace of the County, Riding, Division, City, Corporation
Precinct or Liberty, within which such hill
or hills shall respectively be situated; and if the facts, Order, if by them approved of, is to be confirmed, and filed;
upon which the same is founded, shall, at the said Quarter
Sessions, be proved upon the Oath of Two credible
Witnesses, to the Satisfaction of the Justices on the
Bench, or the major Part of them, the said Order of
Allowance shall be confirmed, and filed among the Records
of the Sessions by the Clerk of the Peace, or otherwise to be vacated
after such Confirmation and filing, no Person shall be
liable to any Penalty or Forfeiture for using such Number
of Horses, as shll be so allowed, in drawing any
Waggon or other Four Wheeled Carriage up such hill
or hills respectively.
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SECT. XXXVII
And whereas the Trustees of several Turnpike Roads
are not sufficiently impowered to punish Nuisances in the
several roads under their Care; be it therefore further
Nuisances on the Road may be prosecuted at the Expense of the Revenues of the Turnpike enacted, That the said trustees of the several Roads
respectively, or any five or more of them, at a General
Meeting, may, and they are hereby impowered if they
shall think fit, to direct Prosecutions by Indictment
against the Offender or Offenders for any Nuisance done,
committed, or continued, in or upon any of the Turnpike
Roads under their Care respectively, at the Expence
of the Revenues belonging to such Turnpike
Roads, to be allowed by such Trustees, or any five or
more of them, at some subsequent General Meeting:
Prosecutions restrained unless upon Offender's Confession, or Proof by Witness. Provided that nothing in this Act shall be construed to
impower the Trustees to prosecute, or cause to be prosecuted,
any Person for any such Offence, unless upon the
Confession of the Offender, or that One or more Witness
or Witnesses can be bad and produced to prove the
Commission of such Offence.
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