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I. WHEREAS the legal Supputation of the Year of our
Lord in that Part of Great Britain called England, according
to which the Year beginneth on the Twenty-Fifth Day of March,
hath been found by Experience to be attended with divers Inconveniencies,
not only as it differs from the Usage of neighbouring Nations,
but also from the legal Method of Computation in that Part of
Great Britain called Scotlond [sic], and from the common Usage
throughout the whole Kingdom, and thereby frequent Mistakes
are occasioned in the Dates of Deeds, and other Writings, and
Disputes arise therefrom:
And whereas the Calendar now in Use throughout all
his Majesty's British Dominions, commonly called The Julian
Calendar, hath been discovered to be erroneous, by means whereof
the Vernal or Spring Equinox, which at the Time of the General
Council of Nice [i.e. Nicaea] in the Year of our Lord Three
Hundred and Twenty-Five, happened on or about the Twenty-First
Day of March, now happens on the Ninth or Tenth Day of the same
Month; and the said Error is still increasing, and if not remedied,
would, in Process of Time, occasion the several Equinoxes and
Solstices to fall at very different Times in the Civil Year
from what they formerly did, which might tend to mislead Persons
ignorant of the said Alteration:
And whereas a Method of correcting the Calendar in
such manner, as that the Equinoxes and Solstices may for the
future fall nearly on the same nominal Days, on which the same
happened at the Time of the said General Council, hath been
received and established, and is now generally practiced by
almost all other Nations of Europe:
And whereas it will be of general Convenience to Merchants,
and other Persons corresponding with other Nations and Countries,
and tend to prevent Mistakes and Disputes in or concerning the
Dates of Letters, and Accounts, if the like Correction be received
and established in his Majesty's Dominions:
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,
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The old Supputation of the
Year not to be made use of after Dec. 1751. Year to commence,
for the future, on 1 Jan.
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[1.1] That in and throughout all his Majesty's Dominions
and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging
or subject to the Crown of Great Britain, the said Supputation,
according to which the Year of our Lord beginneth on the Twenty-Fifth
Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last
Day of December One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One;
[1.2] and that the first Day of January next following
the said last Day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed
and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord One
Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two;
[1.3] and the first Day of January, which shall happen
next after the said first Day of January One Thousand Seven
Hundred and Fifty-Two, shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and
accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord One Thousand
Seven Hundred and Fifty-Three;
[1.4] and so on, from Time to Time, the first Day
of January in every Year, which shall happen in Time to come,
shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the first
Day of the Year;
[1.5] and that each new Year shall accordingly commence,
and begin to be reckoned, from the first Day of every such Month
of January next preceding the Twenty-Fifth Day of March, on
which such Year would, according to the present Supputation,
have begun or commenced:
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The Days to be numbered
as now until 2 Sept. 1752; and the Day following to be accounted
14 Sept. omitting 11 Days.
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[1.6] And that from and after the said first Day of
January One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two, the several
Days of each Month shall go on, and be reckoned and numbered
in the same Order; and the Feast of Easter, and other moveable
Feasts thereon depending, shall be ascertained according to
the same Method, as they now are, until the Second Day of September
in the said Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two inclusive;
[1.7] and that the natural Day next immediately following
the said Second Day of September, shall be called, reckoned
and accounted to be the Fourteenth Day of September, omitting
for that Time only the eleven intermediate nominal Days of the
common Calendar;
[1.8] and that the several natural Days, which shall follow
and succeed next after the said Fourteenth Day of September,
shall be respectively called, reckoned and numbered forwards
in numerical Order from the said Fourteenth Day of September,
according to the Order and Succession of Days now used in the
present Calendar;
[1.9] and that all Acts, Deeds, Writings, Notes and other
Instruments of what Nature or Kind soever, whether Ecclesiastical
or Civil, Publick or Private, which shall be made, executed
or signed, upon or after the said first Day of January One Thousand
Seven Hundred and Fifty-Two, shall bear Date according to the
said new Method of Supputation,
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Hilary and Michaelmas Terms,
and all Courts, to be held on the same nominal Days.
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• the two fixed Terms of St. Hilary and St. Michael,
in that Part of Great Britain called England,
• and the Courts of Great Sessions in the Counties
Palatine, and in Wales,
• and also the Courts of General Quarter-Sessions
and General Sessions of the Peace,
• and all other Courts of what Nature or Kind soever,
whether Civil, Criminal, or Ecclesiastical,
• and all Meetings and Assemblies of any Bodies Politick
or Corporate, either for the Election of any Officers or Members
thereof, or for any such Officers entering upon the Execution
of their respective Offices, or for any other Purpose whatsoever,
which by any Law, Statute, Charter, Custom or Usage within
this Kingdom, or within any other the Dominions or Countries
subject or belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, are to be
holden or kept on any fixed or certain Day of any Month, or
on any Day depending upon
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Courts held with Fairs or
Marts excepted.
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the Beginning, or any certain Day of any Month (except for
such Courts as are usually holden or kept with any Fairs or
Marts) shall, from Time to Time, from and after the said Second
Day of September, be holden and kept upon or according to the
same respective nominal Days and Times, whereon or according
to which the same are now to be holden, but which shall be computed
according to the said new Method of numbering and reckoning
the Days of the Calendar as aforesaid; that is to say, eleven
Days sooner than the respective Days whereon the same are now
holden and kept; any Law, Statute, Charter, Custom or Usage,
to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
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II. And for the continuing and preserving the Calendar
or Method of Reckoning, and computing the Days of the Year in
the same regular Course, as near as may be, in all Times coming;
Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid,
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Hundredth Years, except
every fourth hundred, to be common Years of 365 Days.
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[2.1] That the several Years of our Lord, One Thousand
Eight Hundred, One Thousand Nine Hundred, Two Thousand One Hundred,
Two Thousand Two Hundred, Two Thousand Three Hundred, or any
other hundredth Years of our Lord, which shall happen in Time
to come, except only every fourth hundredth [sic] Year of our
Lord, whereof the Year of our Lord 2000 shall be the first,
shall not be esteemed or taken to be Bissextile or Leap Years,
but shall be taken to be common Years, consisting of 365 Days,
and no more;
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Years Bissextile of 366
Days.
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[2.2] and that the Years of our Lord Two Thousand, Two Thousand
Four Hundred, Two Thousand Eight Hundred, and every other fourth
hundred Year of our Lord, from the said Year of our Lord Two
Thousand inclusive, and also all other Years of our Lord, which
by the present Supputation are esteemed to be Bissextile or
Leap Years, shall for the future, and in all Times to come,
be esteemed and taken to be Bissextile or Leap Years, consisting
of Three Hundred and Sixty-Six Days, in the same Sort and Manner
as is now used with respect to every fourth Year of our Lord.
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III. And whereas according to the Rule prefixed to
the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, Easter-day
is always the first Suaday [sic] after the first Full Moon which
happens next after the one and twentieth Day of March, and if
the Full Moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday
after; which Rule was made in Conformity to the Decree of the
said General Council of Nice [sic.], for the Celebration of
the said Feast of Easter:
And whereas the Method of computing the Full Moons
now used in the Church of England, and according to which the
Table to find Easter for ever, prefixed to the said Book of
Common Prayer, is formed, is by Process of Time become considerably
erroneous:
And whereas a Calendar, and also certain Tables and
Rules for the fixing the true Time of the Celebration of the
said Feast of Easter, and the finding the Times of the Full
Moons on which the same dependeth, so as the same shall agree
as nearly as may be with the Decree of the said General Council,
and also with the Practice of foreign Countries, have been prepared,
and are hereunto annexed;
Be it therefore further enacted by the Authority aforesaid,
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Easter and the other moveable
Feasts, to be observed according to the new Calendar, Tables
and Rules.
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[3.1] That the said Feast of Easter, or any of the moveable
Feasts thereon depending, shall, from and after the said Second
Day of September, be no longer kept or observed in that Part
of Great Britain called England, or in any other the Dominions
or Countries subject or belonging to the Crown of Great Britain,
according to the said Method of Supputation now used, or the
said Table prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer;
[3.2] and that the said Table, and also the Column of Golden
Numbers, as they are now prefixed to the respective Days of
the Month in the said Calendar, shall be left out in all future
editions of the said Book of Common Prayer;
[3.3] and that the said new Calendar, Tables and Rules, hereunto
annexed, shall be prefixed to all such future Editions of the
said Book, in the Room and stead thereof;
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Feasts and Fasts, &c.
to be according to the new Calendar.
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[3.4] and that from and after the said Second Day of September,
all and every the fixed Feast-days, Holy-days and Fast-days,
which are now kept and observed by the Church of England, and
also the several solemn Days of Thanksgiving, and of Fasting
and Humiliation, which by virtue of any Act of Parliament now
in being are, from Time to Time, to be kept and observed, shall
be kept and observed on the respective Days marked for the Celebration
of the same in the said new Calendar; that is to say, On the
same respective nominal Days on which the same are now kept
and observed; but which according to the Alteration by this
Act intended to be made as aforesaid, will happen eleven Days
sooner than the same now do;
[3.5] and that the said Feast of Easter, and all other moveable
Feasts thereon depending, shall, from Time to Time, be observed
and celebrated according to the said new Calendar, Tables and
Rules hereunto annexed, in that Part of Great Britain called
England, and in all the Dominions and Countries aforesaid, wherein
the Liturgy of the Church of England now is, or hereafter shall
be used;
[3.6] and that
• the two movable Terms of Easter and Trinity,
• and all Courts of what Nature or Kind soever,
• and all Meetings and Assemblies of any Bodies Politick
or Corporate,
• and all Markets, Fairs and Marts, and Courts thereunto
belonging,
which by any Law, Statute, Charter, Custom or Usage are appointed,
used or accustomed to be holden and kept at any moveable Time
or Times depending upon the Time of Easter, or any other such
moveable Feast as aforesaid, shall, from Time to Time, from
and after the said Second Day of September, be holden and kept
on such Days and Times whereon the same shall respectively happen
or fall, according to the happening or falling of the said Feast
of Easter, or such other moveable Feasts as aforesaid, to be
computed according to the said new Calendar, Tables and Rules.
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IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid,
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Courts of Session and Exchequer
in Scotland, and Markets, Fairs and Marts to be held upon the
same Natural days.
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[4.1] That
• the several Meetings of the Court of Session, and
Terms fixed for the Court of Exchequer in Scotland,
• the April Meeting of the Governor, Bailiffs and Commonalty
of the Company of Conservators of the great Level of the Fens,
• and the holding and keeping of all Markets, Fairs
and Marts, whether for the Sale of Goods or Cattle, or for the
hiring of Servants, or for any other Purpose, which are either
fixed to certain nominal Days of the Month, or depending upon
the Beginning, or any certain Day of any Month,
• and all Courts incident or belonging to, or usually
holden and kept with any such Fairs or Marts, fixed to certain
Times as aforesaid,
shall not, from and after the said Second Day of September,
be continued upon, or according to the nominal Days of the Month,
or the Time of the Beginning of any Month, to be computed according
to the said new Calendar, but that from and after the said Second
Day of September, the said Courts of Session and Exchequer,
the said April Meeting, and all such Markets, Fairs and Marts
as aforesaid, and all Courts incident or belonging thereto,
shall be holden and kept upon, or according to the same natural
Days, upon or according to which the same would have been so
kept or holden, in case this Act had not been made; that is
to say, eleven Days later than the same would have happened,
according to the nominal Days of the said new Supputation of
Time, by which the Commencement of each Month, and the nominal
days thereof, are anticipated or brought forward, by the Space
of eleven Days; any Thing in this Act contained to the contrary
thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
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V. And whereas, according to divers Customs, Prescriptions
and Usages, in certain Places within this Kingdom, certain Lands
and Grounds are, on particular nominal Days and Times in the
Year, to be opened for Common of Pasture, and other Purposes;
and at other Times, the Owners and Occupiers of such Lands and
Grounds have a Right to inclose or shut up the same, for their
own private Use; and there is, in many other Instances, a temporary
and distinct Property and Right vested in different Persons,
in and to many such Lands and Grounds, according to certain
nominal Days and Times in the Year:
And whereas the anticipating or bringing forward the
said nominal Days and Times, by the Space of eleven Days, according
to the said new Method of Supputation, might be attended with
many Inconveniencies;
Be it therefore further declared, provided and enacted
by the Authority aforesaid,
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The Times for opening and
inclosing of Commons, not altered.
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[5.1] That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or
be construed to extend, to accelerate or anticipate the Days
or Times for the opening, inclosing or shutting up any such
Lands or Grounds as aforesaid, or the Days or Times on which
any such temporary or distinct Property or Right in or to any
such Lands or Grounds as aforesaid is to commence; but that
all such Lands and Grounds as aforesaid shall from and after
the said Second Day of September be, from Time to Time, respectively
opened, inclosed, or shut up, and such temporary and distinct
Property and Right in and to such Lands and Grounds as aforesaid,
shall commence and begin upon the same natural Days and Times
on which the same should have been so respectively opened, inclosed
or shut up, or would have commenced or begun, in case this Act
had not been made; that is to say, eleven Days later than the
same would have happened, according to the said new Account
and Supputation of Time, so to begin on the said Fourteenth
Day of September as aforesaid.
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VI. Provided also, and it is hereby further declared and
enacted,
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Times of Payment of Rents,
Annuities, &c.
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[6.1] That nothing in this present Act contained shall
• extend, or be construed to extend, to accelerate
or anticipate the Time of Payment of any Rent or Rents, Annuity
or Annuities, or Sum or Sums of Money whatsoever, which shall
become payable by Virtue or in Consequence of any Custom, Usage,
Lease, Deed, Writing, Bond, Note, Contract or other Agreement
whatsoever, now subsisting, or which shall be made, signed,
sealed or entred into, at any Time before the said Fourteenth
Day of September, or which shall become payable by virtue of
any Act or Acts of Parliament now in Force, or which shall be
made before the Said Fourteenth Day of September, or the Time
of doing any Matter or Thing directed or required by any such
Act or Acts of Parliament to be done in relation thereto;
• or to accelerate the Payment of, or increase the
Interest of, any such Sum of Money which shall become payable
as aforesaid;
• or to accelerate the Time of the Delivery of any
Goods, Chattles, Wares, Merchandize or other Things whatsoever;
• or the Time of the Commencement, Expiration or Determination
of any Lease or Demise of any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments,
or of any other Contract or Agreement whatsoever; or of the
accepting, surrendring or delivering up the Possession of any
such Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments;
• or the Commencement, Expiration or Determination
of any Annuity or Rent; or of any Grant for any Term of Years,
of what Nature or Kind soever, by Virtue or in Consequence of
any such Deed, Writing, Contract or Agreement;
• or the Time of the attaining the Age of one and twenty
Years, or any other Age requisite by any Law, Custom or Usage,
Deed, Will or Writing whatsoever, for the Doing any Act, or
for any other Purpose whatsoever, by any Person or Persons now
born, or who shall be born before the said Fourteenth Day of
September;
• or the Time of the Expiration or Determination of
any Apprenticeship or other Service, by virtue of any Indenture,
or of any Articles under Seal, or by reason of any simple Contract
or Hiring whatsoever;
but that
• all and every such Rent and Rents, Annuity and Annuities,
Sum and Sums of Money, and the Interest thereof, shall remain
and continue to be due and payable;
• and the Delivery of such Goods and Chattles, Wares
and Merchandize, shall be made;
• and the said Leases and Demises of all such
Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, and the said Contracts and
Agreements, shall be deemed to commence, expire and determine;
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• and the said Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments
shall be accepted, surrendered and delivered up;
• and the said Rents and Annuities, and Grants for
any Term of Years, shall commence, cease and determine,
at and upon the same respective natural Days and Times, as
the same should and ought to have been payable or made, or would
have happened, in case this Act had not been made;
[6.2] and that no further or other Sum shall be paid or payable
for the Interest of any Sum of Money whatsoever, than such Interest
shall amount unto, for the true Number of natural Days for which
the principal Sum bearing such Interest shall continue due and
unpaid;
[6.3] and that no Person or Persons whatsoever shall be deemed
or taken to have attained the said Age of one and twenty Years,
or any other such Age as aforesaid, or to have completed the
Time of such Service as aforesaid, until the full Number of
Years and Days shall be elapsed on which such Person or Persons
respectively would have attained such Age, or would have completed
the Time of such Service as aforesaid, in case this Act had
not been made;
[6.4] any Thing herein before contained to the contrary thereof
in any wise notwithstanding.
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