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Post Office Act 1802
(42 Geo 3 c.81, 22nd June 1802)

An Act for amending so much of an Act, passed in the seventh Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, as relates to the secreting, embezzling, or destroying any Letter or Packet sent by the Post; and for the better Protection of such Letters and Packets; and for more effectually preventing Letters and Packets being sent otherwise than by the Post.
[22nd June 1802]

'WHEREAS by an Act, made in the seventh Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for amending certain Laws relating to the Revenue of the Post Office, and for granting Rates of Postage for the Conveyance of Letters and Packets between Great Britain and the Isle of Man, and within that Island, it was, among other Things enacted, that if any Deputy, Clerk, Agent, Letter Carrier, Post-boy or Rider, or any other Officer or Person whatsoever, employed, or to be thereafter employed, in receiving, stamping, sorting, charging, carrying, conveying, or delivering Letters or Packets, or in any other Business relating to the Post Office, should, from and after the first Day of November One thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, secrete, embezzle, or destroy any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, Bag or Mail of Letters, which he, she, or they should and might be respectively intrusted with, or which should have come to his, her, or their Hand or Possession, containing any Bank Note, Bank Post Bill, Bill of Exchange, Exchequer Bill, South Sea or East India Bond, Dividend Warrant of the Bank, South Sea, East India, or any other Company, Society, or Corporation, Navy or Victualling, or Transport Bill, Ordnance Debenture, Seaman's Ticket, State Lottery Ticket or Certificate, Bank Receipt for Payment on any Loan, Note of Assignment of Stock in the Funds, Letter of Attorney for receiving Annuities or Dividends, or for selling Stock in the Funds, or belonging to any Company, Society, or Corporation, American Provincial Bill of Credit, Goldsmith's or Banker's Letter of Credit, or Note for or relating to the Payment of Money, or other Bond or Warrant, Draught, Bill, or Promissory Note whatsoever for the Payment of Money, or should steal and take out of any Letter or Packet that should come to his, her, or their Hands or Possession any such Bank Note, Bank Post Bill, Bill of Exchange, Exchequer Bill, South Sea or East India Bond, Dividend Warrant of the Bank, South Sea, East India, or any other Company, Society, or Corporation, Navy or Victualling, or Transport Bill, Ordnance Debenture, Seaman's Ticket, State Lottery Ticket or Certificate, Bank Receipt for Payment on any Loan, Note of Assignment of Stock in the Funds, Letter of Attorney for receiving Annuities or Dividends, or for selling Stock in the Funds, or belonging to any Company, Society, or Corporation, American Provincial Bill of Credit, Goldsmith's or Banker's Letter of Credit, or Note for or relating to the Payment of Money, or other Bond or Warrant, Draught, Bill, or Promissory Note whatsoever, for the Payment of Money, every such Offender or Offenders being thereof convicted in due Form of Law, should be deemed guilty of Felony, and should suffer Death as a Felon without Benefit of Clergy: And whereas it is expedient to extend the Provisions of the said in Part recited Act, so as to protect the Conveyance by the Post of all and every Part or Parts of any such Securities or Instruments as aforesaid:' 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 if any Deputy, Clerk, Agent, Letter Carrier, Post-boy or Rider, or any other Officer or Person whatsoever, employed, or to be hereafter employed, in receiving, stamping, sorting, charging, carrying, conveying, or delivering Letters or Packets, or in any other Business relating to the Post Office, shall, from and after the passing of this Act, secrete, embezzle, or destroy any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, Bag or Mail of Letters, which he, she, or they shall and may be respectively intrusted with, or which shall have come to his, her, or their Hands or Possession, containing any Part or Parts of any such Security or Instrument as in the said recited Act are described or mentioned, or shall steal or take out of any Letter or Packet that shall come to his, her, or their Hands or Possession, any Part or Parts of any such Security or Instrument, every such Offender or Offenders, being thereof convicted in due Form of Law, shall be deemed guilty of Felony, and shall suffer Death as a Felon without Benefit of Clergy.

II. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the passing of this Act, if any Person whatsoever, whether employed in any Business relating to the Post Office or not, shall counsel, command, hire, persuade, procure, aid, or abet, any such Deputy, Clerk, Agent, Letter Carrier, Post-boy or Rider, or any other Officer or Person whatsoever, employed, or to be hereafter employed, in receiving, stamping, sorting, charging, carrying, conveying, or delivering Letters or Packets, or in any other Business relating to the Post Office, to commit any Felony or Offence, the said in Part recited Act, or in this Act before mentioned, or shall with a fraudulent Intention buy or receive the Whole or any Part or Parts of any such Security or Instrument as aforesaid, which at the Time of buying or receiving thereof he shall know to have been contained in any such Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, so by any Deputy, Clerk, Agent, Letter Carrier, Post-boy or Rider, or any other Officer or Person whatsoever, employed, or to be hereafter employed in receiving, stamping, sorting, charging, carrying, conveying, or delivering Letters or Packets, or in any other Business relating to the Post Office, secreted or embezzled, or stolen or taken out of any, Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, that shall come to his, her, or their Hands or Possession, or which he, she, or they at the Time of buying or receiving thereof, shall know to have been contained in, and stolen or unlawfully taken out of any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, stolen and taken by any Person or Persons whatsoever from or out of any Mail or Mails, Bag or Bags of Letters, sent and conveyed by the Post, or from or out of any Post Office, or House or Place for the Receipt or Delivery of Letters or Packets sent or to be sent by the Post, each and every Person so offending in any of the Ways last before mentioned, being thereof convicted, shall be deemed guilty of Felony, and shall suffer Death as a Felon without Benefit of Clergy, and shall and may be tried, convicted, and attainted of such Felony, as well before as after the Trial or Conviction of the principal Felon, and whether the said principal Felon shall have been apprehended, or shall be amenable to Justice or not.

III. 'And whereas by the said in Part recited Act, made in the seventh Year of the Reign of his present Majesty it was, among other Things, enacted, that, from and after the said first Day of November One thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, if any Person or Person whatsoever should rob any Mail or Mails in which Letters ate sent or conveyed by the Post, of any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, Bag or Mail of Letters, or should steal and take from or out of any such Mail or Mails, or from or out of any Bag or Bags of Letters sent or conveyed by the Post, any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, although such Robbery, stealing, or taking should not appear or be proved to proved a taking from the Person, or upon the King's Highway or to be a Robbery committed in any Dwelling House, or any Coach House, Stable, Barn, or any Out-House belonging to a Dwelling House, and although it should not appear that any Person or Persons were put in Fear by such Robbery, stealing, or taking, yet such Offender or Offenders, being thereof convicted as aforesaid, should nevertheless respectively be deemed guilty of Felony, and should suffer Death as a Felon without Benefit of Clergy: And whereas, by reason of the Difficulty and frequent Impossibility of discovering and proving the particular County, Stewartry, or Place within which the said last mentioned Offences have been committed, divers Persons have escaped the Pains and Punishments by the said in Part recited Act intended to be inflicted on such Offenders, and it is reasonable to make further Provisions for the Trial and due Punishment of such Offenders;' be it therefore further enacted, That all and every the said last mentioned Felonies and Offences, which shall be committed from and after the passing of this Act, shall and may be alleged and laid, prosecuted, inquired of, tried, and determined, if committed in that Part of Great Britain called England either in the County wherein such Felony or Offence shall be committed, or wherein such Offender or Offenders shall be apprehended; and if committed in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, either in the Justiciary Court of Edinburgh, or in the Court of the Circuit of that Part of the United Kingdom within which Circuit such Felony or Offence shall be committed, or such Offender or Offenders shall be apprehended.

IV. 'And whereas it frequently happens that Bags or Mails of Letters sent and conveyed by the Post, which may hare been stolen or accidentally lost and afterwards found or picked up, are wilfully detained by the Persons finding the same in the Expectation of Gain or Reward, to the great Inconvenience of divers of his Majesty's Subjects, and the Prejudice of Commerce;' to remedy therefore the said Evil, be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, if any Person or Persons shall wilfully secrete, keep, or detain, or being required to deliver up by any Deputy, Clerk, Agent, Letter Carrier, Post-boy, Rider, Driver, or Guard of any Mail Coach, or any other Officer or Person whatsoever employed or to be employed in any Business relating to the Post-Office, shall refuse or wilfully neglect to deliver up any Mail or Bag of Letters sent or conveyed, or made up in order to be sent or conveyed by the Post, or any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets sent or conveyed by the Post, or put for that Purpose into any Post-Office, or House or Place for the Receipt or Delivery of Letters or Packets sent or to be sent by the Post, and which Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets, Bag or Mail of Letters, shall have been found or picked up by the same or any other Person or Persons, or shall by or through Accident or Mistake have been left with or at the House of the same or any other Person or Persons, each and every Person and Persons so offending shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a Misdemeanor to be punished by Fine and Imprisonment.

V. 'And whereas, notwithstanding the Provisions made in an Act, passed in the ninth Year of the Reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all her Majesty's Dominions, and for settling a weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof for the Service of the War, and other her Majesty's Occasions, the Practice of sending and conveying by Stage Coaches, Carts, Waggons, Ships, Vessels, Boats, Barges, and other Conveyances, Letters and Packets, which, by virtue of the Laws relating to the Post-Office, ought to be sent by the Post, prevails to a considerable Extent, to the great Prejudice and Diminution of his Majesty's Revenue;' be it therefore enacted, That, from and after the passing of this Act, no Person or Persons whatsoever shall send or cause to be sent or conveyed, or tender or deliver in order to be sent or conveyed, otherwise than by the Post, or by and with the Authority and Consent of the Postmaster General, for the Time being, or his Deputy or Deputies, or to the nearest or most convenient Post Town, to be from thence forwarded by the Post, any Letter or Letters, Packet or Packets of Letters, on Pain of forfeiting, for every such Offence against the Tenor of this present Act, the Sum of five Pounds, to be recovered with full Costs of Suit by any Person who shall and will inform and sue for the same by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information in any of his Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster, wherein no Essoign, Protection, Privilege, or Wager of Law shall be admitted, one Moiety thereof to the Use of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to the Use of the Person who shall so inform and sue for the same.

VI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That this Act shall not extend to subject any Person to any such Penalty or Forfeiture as aforesaid, for sending or for causing to be sent or conveyed, or for tendering or delivering in order to be sent or conveyed, any Letter or Letters which shall respectively concern Goods sent by any common known Carrier of Goods, and shall be sent with and for the Purpose of being delivered with the Goods that such Letter or Letters do concern, without Hire or Reward, Profit or Advantage for the receiving or delivering the same, nor any Letter or Letters of Merchants, Owners of any Ships, Barks, or Vessels of Merchandise, or any the Cargo or Lading therein sent on board such Ships, Barks, or Vessels of Merchandise, whereof such Merchants or Masters are Owners as aforesaid, to be delivered by the Masters of such Ships, Barks, or Vessels of Merchandise, or by any other Person employed by them for the Carriage of such Letters according to their respective Directions, without paying or receiving any Hire or Reward, Advantage or Profit for the same in anywise, nor any Commission or Return thereof, Affidavits, Writs, Process, or Proceedings, or Return thereof, issuing out of any Court, nor any Letter or Letters to be sent by any private Friend or Friends in their Way of Journey or Travel, or by any Messenger sent on Purpose for or concerning the private Affair of any Person or Persons.