ANNO TRICESIMO
GEORGII III. Regis.
CAP. LXXVI.
An Act for forming and keeping in Repair the Streets, and other publick Passages and Places, within a certain District in the Parish of Saint Luke Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, called Hans Town, and for otherwise improving the same.
Preamble.
Whereas Henry Holland of the Parish of Saint Luke in Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, is intitled to a certain large Piece of Ground in the said Parish, which he holds for a long Term of Years, under the Right Honourable Charles Sloane, Lord Cadogan, the Right Honourable Welbore Ellis, and Christopher D’Oyley Esquire; which said Ground lies on the South Side of the Town or Village of Knightsbridge, and it fronting or pointing towards the North, partly on the High Road leading through Knightsbridge aforesaid, partly on or near to the Yard and Stables belonging to the Swan Inn in Knightsbridge, and Land of William Brown Esquire; and towards the South, on a certain Street called White Lion Street, and Messuages and Lands belonging to James Lawrance, Joseph Newsham, and others; and bounded in Part on the East by a Rivulet or Water Creek, encompassing great Part of the said Ground on the East Side thereof, and in other Part by the Lands belonging to Charles Lowndes Esquire, and others; and towards the West on lands belonging to William Bushnell, and others, and contains by Estimation Eighty-nine Acres, or thereabouts; and the said Henry Holland hath caused a commodious Carnage Way or Street, called Sloane Street, to be made from Knightsbridge aforesaid, over or across the said Ground, and several other Streets, publick Passages, and Places, have been and may hereafter be set out and made upon the said Piece of Ground: And whereas it would contribute to the Benefit and Safety of all Persons who now do or may hereafter inhabit the said several Streets and other publick Passages and Places, and to all Persons having Occasion to pass along the same, if Provision was made for forming and paving, or otherwise repairing and keeping in Repair, the same, and also for cleansing, lighting, watching, and watering the said Streets and other publick Passages and Places, and keeping the same free from all Nuisances, Annoyances, and Incroachments; but the several Purposes aforesaid cannot be effected without the Aid and Authority of Parliament: May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it 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 every Person who now is, and from Time to Time hereafter shall become, either in his own Right or in the Right of his Wife, in the actual Possession and Enjoyment of Receipt of the Rents and Profits of Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, situate within the Limits of this Act, of the clear yearly Value of Thirty Pounds, and also every Person who now is, and from Time to Time hereafter shall be, a Lessee of a House, Tenement, or Land within the Limits aforesaid, rated or liable to be rated, by virtue or for the Purposes of this Act, at Thirty Pounds per Annum at the least, and also every Person who now is, and from Time to time hereafter shall be resident within the Limits of this Act, and Occupier of a House, Tenement, or Land, rated or liable to be rated as aforesaid, and possessed of a Personal Estate of the Amount or Value of Two thousand Pounds, shall be and are hereby appointed Commissioners for putting this Act in Execution.
Qualification of Commissioners.
II. Provided always, That no Person shall be capable of acting as a Commissioner in the Execution of this Act, except in administering the Oath herein-after mentioned (which Oath any One of the said Commissioners is hereby empowered to administer), unless at the Time of his acting he shall be qualified in Manner herein-before mentioned, and until such Person shall have taken and subscribed an Oath to the Effect following; (that is to say),
The Oath.
‘I A. B. do swear, That I truly am in my own Right, or in the Right of my Wife, in the actual Possession and Enjoyment, or Receipt of the Rents and Profits, of Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments, of the clear yearly Value of Thirty Pounds [or that I am Lessee (or Occupier) of a House, Tenement, or Land, rated or liable to be rated at Thirty Pounds per Annum at the least, by virtue or for the Purposes and] within the Limits of an Act of Parliament, made in the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, intituled, [Set forth the Title of the Act]; and [in the Case of such Occupier as aforesaid] that I am resident within the Limits aforesaid, and am possessed of a Personal Estate of the Amount or Value of Two thousand Pounds.
‘So help me GOD.’
And if my Person, not being qualified as aforesaid, shall act as a Commissioner in the Execution of this Act, he shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of Twenty Pounds to any Person who shall sue for the same in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record, by Action of Debt or on the Case; and the Person so prosecuted shall prove that he is qualified as aforesaid, or otherwise shall pay the said Penalty, without any other Proof or Evidence being given on the Part of the Plaintiff, than that such Person hath acted as a Commissioner in the Execution of this Act.