III. And for the better Reformation of divers Enormities happening to the Commonwealth, by the evil using and undue Administration of Physick, and for the enlarging of further Articles for the better Execution of the things contained in the said Grant enacted;
IV. Be it therefore now enacted, That whensoever the President of the College, or Communalty of the Faculty of Physick of London, for the time being, or such as the said President and College shall yearly, according to the Tenor and Meaning of the said Act, authorise to search, examine, correct and punish all Offenders and Transgressors in the said Faculty, within the same City and Precinct in the said Act expressed, shall send or commit any such Offender or Offenders for his or their Offences or Disobedience, contrary to any Article or Clause contained in the said Grant or Act, to any Ward, Gaol or Prison, within the same City and Precinct (the Tower of London, except) That then from time to time, the Warden, Gaoler or Keeper, Wardens, Gaolers, or Keepers of the Wards, Gaols and Prisons within the City or Precinct aforesaid, (except before excepted) shall receive into his or their Prisons all and every such Person and Persons so offending, as shall be so sent or committed, to him or them, as is aforesaid; and there shall safely keep the person or persons so committed, in any of their Prisons, at the proper Costs and Charges of the said Person or Persons so committed, without Bail or Mainprise, until such time as such Offender or Offenders or Disobedient be discharged of the said Imprisonment by the said President, and such Persons as by the said College shall be thereto authorised; upon Pain that all and every such Warden, Gaoler and Keeper, doing the contrary, shall lose and forfeit double of such Fine and Amerciament as such Offender and Offenders or Disobedients, shall be assessed to pay, by such as the said President and College shall authorise as aforesaid, so that the same Fine and Amerciament be not at any one time above the sum of xx li. the Moiety thereof to be employed to the use of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, her Heirs and Successors, the other Moiety unto the said President and College: all which forfeitures to be recovered by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of the Queen’s, her Heirs and Successor’s Courts of Record, against any such Warden, Gaoler or Keeper so offending; in which Suit no Essoin, Wager of Law, nor Protection shall be allowed nor admitted for the Defendant.
V. And further, be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, for the better Execution of the Search and view of Poticary Wares, Drugs and Compositions, according to the Tenor of a Statute made in the xxxii Year of the Reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth, That it shall be lawful for the Wardens of the Grocers, or one of them, to go with the said Physicians in their View and Search, that if the said Warden or Wardens do refuse his or their coming thereunto, forthwith and immediately, when the said President or four of his College elect, as aforesaid, do call upon him or them, that then the said Physicians may and shall execute that Search and View, and the due Punishment of the Poticaries for any their evil and faulty Stuff, according to the Statute last before mentioned, without the Assistance of any of the said Wardens; any Clause in the aforenamed Statute to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. And every such Person or Persons as will or shall resist such Search, shall forfeit for every such resistance Ten Pound; the same Penalty to be recovered in Form aforesaid, without any of the delays aforesaid, to be had in suit thereof.
VI. And further, be it enacted, That all Justices, Mayors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, Constables, and other Ministers and Officers, within the City and Precincts above written, upon Request to them made, shall help and assist the President of the said College, and all Persons by them from time to time authorised for the due Execution of the said Acts or Statutes, upon Pain for not giving of such Aid, Help, and Assistance, to run in Contempt of the Queen’s Majesty, her Heirs and Successors.
6th & 7th Will. 3. c. 4.
An Act for exempting Apothecaries from serving the Offices of Constable, Scavenger, and other Parish and Ward Offices, and from serving upon Juries.
‘Whereas the Act of the Apothecary is of great and general Use and Benefit, by reason of their constant and necessary Assistance of his Majesty’s Subjects, which should oblige them solely to attend the Duty of their Professions; yet by reason that they are compelled to serve several Parish, Ward, and Leet Offices, in the Places where they live, and are frequently summoned to serve on Juries and Inquests, which take up great Part of their Time, they cannot perform the Trusts reposed in them as they ought, nor attend the Sick with such Diligence as is required: And whereas, King James the First, by His Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England, did incorporate the Apothecaries exercising that Art within London, and seven Miles Compass, by the Name of The Master, Wardens, and Society of the Art and Mystery of the Apothecaries of the City of London:’
II. 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 all and every Person and Persons, using and exercising, or that hereafter shall use and exercise, the Art of an Apothecary within the said City of London, and seven Miles thereof, being Free of the said Society, and who already have been, or hereafter shall be duly examined of his Skill in the said Mystery, and shall be approved of for the same, and every of them, for so long as he or they shall use and exercise the said Art, and no longer, shall and may at all Times hereafter be freed and exempted from the several Offices of Constable, Scavenger, Overseer of the Poor, and all other Parish, Ward, and Leet Offices, and of and from the being put into or serving upon Juries or Inquests; and if at any Time hereafter any such Person or Persons using the said Art, and being qualified as aforesaid, shall be chosen or elected into any of the said Offices, or returned, required, or appointed to serve in any Jury, Leet, or Inquest, or be disquieted or disturbed by reason thereof, that then such Person or Persons, producing a Testimonial under the common Seal of the said Corporation, of such his Examination, Approbation, and Freedom, to the Person or Persons by whom he shall be so elected or appointed, or by or before whom he shall be so summoned, returned, or required to serve or hold any of the said Offices or Duties, shall be absolutely discharged from the same, and such Nomination, Election, Return, and Appointment, shall be utterly void, and of none Effect; any Order, Custom, Law, or Statute, to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Persons using and exercising, or that hereafter shall use and exercise the said Art of an Apothecary, within any other Parts of this Kingdom, Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and who have been brought up and served, or hereafter shall be brought up and serve in the said Art as an Apprentice, by the Space of seven years, according to the Statute of the fifth of Queen Elizabeth, shall likewise from henceforth be freed and exempted from all and singular the Offices and Duties aforesaid, within the several Counties, Cities, and Places, where they live and inhabit, for so long as he or they shall use and exercise the said Art, and no longer; and if any Person or Persons so qualified shall be elected or chosen into any of the said Offices, or returned to serve in any Jury, Leet, or Inquest, such Nomination, Election, Return, and Appointment, shall be void, unless such Person or Persons shall voluntarily consent and agree to hold such Office, or serve upon such Jury, Leet, or Inquest. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt or excuse any Apothecary that is or shall, before the commencement of this Act, be elected or appointed to Serve any of the said Offices, from serving in the said Offices for the usual Time, for which he was so elected and appointed. Provided always, That this Act shall continue for the Space of seven Years, and from thence to the End of the next Session of Parliament, and no longer.
Continued by 1 Ann. st. 1. c. 11.
Made perpetual by 9 Geo. 1. c. 8. § 1.