Post Office Act 1807
(47 Geo 3 s.2 c.59, 13th August 1807)

An Act to amend an Act of the Forty-sixth Year of His Majesty, for the better Regulation of the Office of Receiver General of the Post Office in England.
[13th August 1807]

'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Forty-sixth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the better Regulation of the Office of Receiver General of the Post Office in England: And Whereas it is necessary to repeal and amend certain of the Provisions of the said Act;' 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 so much of the said recited Act as enacts that the Receipt of the Cashier or Cashiers of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England shall be a sufficient Discharge, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed; and in lieu and instead thereof the Entry of all Sums of Money, Bills, and Drafts, paid into the Bank of England, in a Book to be provided with the Approbation of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and sent for that Purpose by the Receiver General, shall be a sufficient Discharge, and which Book shall after the making of such Entries be returned [ *to ] the Cashier or Cashiers of the Bank of England, to the Person making any Payments from the said Receiver General.

II. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Person, duly authorized by the Receiver General, and approved of by the Post Master General for the Time being, to receive any Monies, or make any Payments, or sign any Drafts, or other Instruments or Writings, or do any Act, Matter, or Thing, relating to the Office of such Receiver General, to receive any such Monies, and make any such Payments, or sign any such Drafts or other Instruments or Writings, or do any such other Act, Matter, or Thing; and the same shall be deemed good, valid, and effectual, under the said Act, as if such Powers had been given in the said recited Act; any Thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

III. And be it further enacted, That if any Person or Persons shall knowingly and wilfully forge or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, or knowingly and wilfully act or assist in forging or counterfeiting the Name or Hand Writing of any Person or Persons duly authorized by the Receiver General of the Post Office, to draw any such Drafts, Instruments, or Writings as aforesaid, to any Draft, Instrument, or Writing whatsoever, for or in order to the receiving or obtaining any of the Money in the Hands or Custody of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, on account of the Receiver General of the Post Office, or shall forge or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, or knowingly and wilfully act or assist in the forging or counterfeiting, any Draft, Instrument or Writing, in Form of a Draft, made by any such Person, or shall utter or publish any such, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited, with an Intention to defraud any Person whomsoever, or any Corporation, every such Person or Persons so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be and is and are hereby declared and adjudged to be guilty of Felony, and shall suffer Death as in Cases of Felony, without Benefit of Clergy: Provided also, that nothing in the said Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to render the Bank of England accountable for or on account of any Omission or Mistake in relation to any Figure required by the said recited Act to be inserted in the Margin of any Draft drawn under the Provisions of the said Act.