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The Statute of Anne, 1710 (3/6)

(transcription below image)

oned, without any Fee or Reward; and the Clerk of the said
Company of Stationers, shall, when and as often as thereunto
required, give a Certificate under his Hand of such Entry or En-
tries, and for every such Certificate, may take a Fee not exceed-
ing Six Pence.

Provided nevertheless, That if the Clerk of the said Com-
pany of Stationers, for the time being shall Refuse or Neglect to
Register, or make such Entry or Entries, or to give such Cer-
tificate, being thereunto Required by the Author or Proprietor of
such Copy or Copies, in the Presence of Two or more Credible
Witnesses, That then such Person and Persons so refusing, No-
tice being first duly given of such Refusal, by an Advertisement
in the Gazette, shall have the like Benefit, as if such Entry or
Entries, Certificate or Certificates had been duly made and gi-
ven; and that the Clerks so refusing, shall, for any such Offence,
Forfeit to the Proprietor of such Copy or Copies the Sum of
Twenty Pounds, to be Recovered in any of Her Majesties [sic]
Courts of Record at Westminster, by Action of Debt, Bill,
Plaint, or Information, in which no Wager of Law, Essoign,
Privilege or Protection, or more than one Imparlance shall
be allowed.

Provided nevertheless, and it is hereby further Enacted by
the Authority aforesaid, That if any Bookseller or Booksellers,
Printer or Printers, shall, after the said Five and twentieth
Day of March, One thousand seven hundred and ten, set a
Price upon, or Sell or Expose to Sale, any Book or Books
at such a Price or Rate as shall be Conceived by any Person
or Persons to be High and Unreasonable; It shall and may be
Lawful for any Person or Persons to make Complaint thereof
to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being; the
Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Great
Britain
for the time being; the Lord Bishop of London for the
time being; the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queens [sic]
Bench, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common
Pleas, the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, for
the time being; the Vice-Chancellors of the Two Universities
for the time being, in that part of Great Britain called England;
the Lord President of the Sessions for the time being; the Lord
Justice General for the time being; the Lord Chief Baron of
the Exchequer for the time being; the Rector of the College
of Edinburgh for the time being, in that part of Great Britain
called Scotland; who, or any one of them, shall and have hereby full
Power and Authority from time to time, to Send for, Sum-
mon, or Call before him or them such Bookseller or Book-
sellers, Printer or Printers, and to Examine and Enquire of
the reason of the Dearness and Inhauncement of the Price or Va-
lue of such Book or Books by him or them so Sold or Exposed to
Sale; and if upon such Enquiry and Examination it shall be
found, that the Price of such Book or Books is Inhaunced, or
any

 

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