The Counterfeiting Coin Act 1797 ( 37 Geo. 3. c. 126) was an Act of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

which made it

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

copper coins. The

Counterfeiting Coin Act 1741 The Counterfeiting Coin Act 1741 (15 Geo. 2 c. 28) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which made it high treason to counterfeit silver, copper or brass coins, where previously the crime of counterfeiting such coins had been a misdeme ...

had already made it treason to counterfeit some copper coins, namely halfpennies and farthings, but counterfeiting other copper coins was only a

misdemeanour A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

. On 19 July 1797 Parliament extended the scope of that Act to cover all coins made of copper. The Acts are now repealed. The

long title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...

of the 1797 Act was "An act to prevent the counterfeiting any copper coin in this realm made, or to be made, current by proclamation, or any foreign gold or silver coin; and to prevent the bringing into this realm, or uttering, any counterfeit foreign gold or silver coin."

Provisions

Offences

Section 1 extended to all copper coins the provisions of the 1741 Act which applied to halfpennies and farthings. (That Act had made it high treason to file, alter, wash or colour halfpennies or farthings, or to make such coins look like a shilling or sixpence.) The same section also extended another Act, 11 Geo. 3. c. 40 (1771), to cover all copper coins (which had made it a felony to export or counterfeit halfpennies and farthings). The Act did not only deal with copper coins. Section 2 made it a felony to counterfeit the gold or silver coins of foreign countries, and section 3 made it a felony to import such counterfeits into Great Britain. These offences were punished with

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

for 7 years. The Act also punished the tendering of counterfeit coins in payment, and the possession of them.

Procedure

Section 8 stated that no proceedings for offences under the Act could be "quashed for want of form," and there could be no appeal by ''

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of a prerogative writ in England, issued by a superior court to direct that the recor ...

'' to the king's courts of record in Westminster. Section 9 required that offences under the Act had to be prosecuted within 3 months, or else the defendant must be acquitted and paid treble his costs by the prosecutor.

References

*''Statutes at Large'' vol. XLI, Cambridge University, 1797, pp. 461–465 {{UK legislation Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1797 Currency law in the United Kingdom

Provisions

Offences

Procedure

See also

References