That if the driver of any cart, car, dray, or waggon, shall ride upon any such carriage in any street or highway, not having some other person on foot or on horseback, to guide the same, (such carriages as are conducted by some person holding the reins of the horse or horses drawing the same excepted;)-Or if the driver of any carriage whatsoever, on any part of any street or highway shall, by negligence or wilful misbehaviour, cause any hurt or damage to any person or carriage passing or being upon such street or highway;-Or shall quit the highway, and go on the other side the hedge or fence inclosing the same, or wilfully be at such distance from such carriage, whilst it shall be passing upon such highway, that he cannot have the direction and government of the horses or cattle drawing the same ;-Or shall, by negligence or wilful misbehaviour, prevent, hinder, or interrupt the free passage of any other carriage, or of his Majesty's subjects, on the said highways;-Or if the driver of any empty or unloaded waggon, cart, or other carriage, shall refuse or neglect to turn aside and make way for any coach, chariot, chaise, loaded waggon, cart, or other loaded carriage; -Or if any person shall drive, or act as the driver of any such coach, post-chaise, or other carriage, let for hire, or waggon, wain, or cart, not having the owner's name as before required (a), painted thereon, or shall refuse to discover the true christian and surname of the owner of such respective carriages, Every such driver so offending in any of the cases aforesaid, and being convicted of any such offence, either by his own confession, the view of a justice of peace, or by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before any justice of the peace for the limit where such offence shall be committed, shall, for every such offence, forfeit (a) any sum not exceeding 10s., in case such driver shall not be the owner of such carriage; and in case the offender be owner of such carriage, then any sum not exceeding 20s.; and in either of the said cases shall, in default of payment, be committed to the house of correction for any time not exceeding one month, unless the same shall be sooner paid :-And every such driver, offending in either of the said cases, shall and may, by authority of this Act, with or without any warrant (6), be apprehended by any person or persons who shall see such offence committed, and shall be immediately conveyed or delivered to a constable or other peace officer, in order to be conveyed before some justice of the peace, to be dealt with according to law:-And if any such driver, in any of the cases aforesaid, shall refuse to discover his name, it shall be lawful for the justice of the peace before whom he shall be taken, or to whom any such complaint shall be made, to commit him to the house of correction for any time not exceeding three months, or to proceed against him for the penalty aforesaid, by a description of his person and the offence, and expressing in such proceedings that he refused to discover his name (c). Names of owners to be painted on waggons, &c. By Stat. 13 Geo. 3. c. 78. s. 59, For the better discovery of offenders, it is enacted, That the owner of every waggon, wain, or cart, and also of every coach, post-chaise, or other carriage, let to hire, shall paint or cause to be painted, upon some conspicuous part of his waggon, wain, or cart, and upon the pannels of the doors of all such coaches, post-chaises, or other carriages, before the same shall be used upon any public highway, his or her christian and surname, and the place of his or her abode, in large legible letters, and continue the same thereupon so long as such waggon, cart, coach, post-chaise, or other carriage shall be used upon any such highway:-And the owner of every common stage waggon or cart, employed as travelling stages from town to town, shall, over and above his or her christian and surname, paint or cause to be painted, on the part and in the manner aforesaid, the following words, common stage waggon or cart, as the case may be :-And every person using any such carriage as aforesaid upon any highway, without the names and descriptions painted thereon respectively as aforesaid, or who shall paint or cause to be painted any false or fictitious name or place of abode on such waggon, wain, cart, coach, post-chaise, or other carriage, shall forfeit for every such offence, a sum not exceeding £5 nor less than 20s. (a) See Form, Appendix, No. LIII. (b) See Form, Appendix, No. LII. (c) Various enactments are in coaches, for which see Burn's Justice, vol. v. tit. "Stage Coaches." See also stat. 1 Geo. 4. c. 4, as to the punishment of persons occasioning accidents by furious driv General penalty on persons resisting the execution of this Act.-By Stat. 13 Geo. 3. c. 78. s. 71, In case any person or persons shall resist, or make forcible opposition against any person or persons employed in the due execution of this Act, or make any rescue of the cattle or other goods distrained by virtue of this Act; -Or if any constable, headborough, or tythingman, shall refuse or neglect to execute or obey any warrant or precept granted by any justice of the peace, pursuant to the directions of this Act;-Every such person offending therein, and being convicted thereof by a justice of the peace shall, for every such offence, forfeit any sum not exceeding £10 nor less than 40s., at the discretion of the justice before whom he or she shall be so convicted; to be paid to the surveyor of the ways for the parish, township, or place, where the offence was committed, to be laid out in the repair of the highways:-And in case he or she do not forthwith pay, or secure to be paid, the said forfeiture after such conviction, then it shall be lawful for such justice of the peace to commit such person or persons to the common gaol or house of correction of the limit where such offence shall be committed, there to remain for any time not exceeding three months, unless the said forfeiture shall be sooner paid. SECONDLY: As to the removal of nuisances and annoyances, and the punishment of the offenders, under the Highway Acts. Surveyor's duty to take a view of the highways and cause all nuisances, &c. to be removed. -By Stat. 13G. 3. c. 78. s. 12, It is enacted, That the surveyors of the highways to be appointed by virtue of this Act shall, at all such times and seasons as they shall judge proper, view all the common highways, trunks, tunnels, plats, hedges, ditches, banks, bridges, causeways, and pavements within the parish, township, or place for which they shall be appointed surveyors (a); and in case they shall observe any nuisances, encroachments, obstructions, or annoyances made, committed, or permitted in, upon, or to the prejudice of them or any of them, contrary to the directions of this Act, they shall from time to time, as soon as conveniently may be, give or cause to be given to any person or persons doing, committing, or permitting the same, personal notice, or notices in writing (a), to be left at his, her, or their usual place or places of abode, specifying the particulars wherein such nuisances, defaults, obstructions, or annoyances consist:-And if such nuisances, obstructions, or annoyances shall not be removed, and the ditches, drains, gutters, and water-courses aforesaid effectually made, scoured, cleansed, and opened, and such trunks, tunnels, plats, and bridges made and laid, and such hedges properly cut and pruned within twenty days after such notice of the same respectively given as aforesaid, then the said surveyors shall be, and they are hereby fully authorized and empowered forthwith to remove such nuisances, obstructions, or annoyances, and open, cleanse, and scour such ditches, gutters, and water-courses, and make or amend such trunks, tunnels, plats or bridges, and cut and prune such hedges for the benefit and improvement of the said highways, to the best of their skill and judgment, and according to the true intent and meaning of this Act (6):-And the person or persons so neglecting to make or open and cleanse such ditches, gutters, or water-courses, or cut or prune such hedges, during the time aforesaid, after such notice given, shall forfeit for every foot in length which shall be so neglected, the sum of one penny; and the said surveyors shall be re-imbursed what charges and expences they shall be at in removing such nuisances, obstructions, or annoyances, and making or opening, cleansing or scouring such ditches, gutters, (a) See Form, Appendix, No. XXXIII. (b) See Boyfield v. Porter, 13 East, 200, as to the liability of the surveyor for any consequential da mage. |