FIRST STAMP ACT (1694). An Act for Granting to Their Majesties several Duties upon Velum, Parchment and Paper for Four Years, towards Carrying on the War against France.

NINE YEARS WAR. Great Britain. Parliament.

Verlag: London: Charles Bill and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, 1694

Beschreibung

Folio (11.5 inches). 5 & 6 William & Mary, Chapter 21. General title leaf + pages 383-415. Woodcut Royal coat of arms, headband, and decorative initial. Text in Black Letter. Neatly extracted from a bound volume and expertly mended. This was the FIRST STAMP ACT introduced in Great Britain and was designed to help raise money for the war against France through stamp duties. The new stamp duties were essentially taxes on documents accomplished on vellum, parchment, and paper, with payment of the tax being indicated by a stamp applied to document. The presence of the tax stamp validated the document and gave it official legal status. Legal documents that lacked the tax stamp were not valid and could attract a fine of up to five hundred pounds. The tax ranged from one penny to several shillings on a variety of legal documents, including insurance policies, court documents, land grants, letters of probate, university degrees, contracts, and other administrative documents. Blank paper could be submitted to the tax office for tax stamps to be applied and the prescribed duty amount paid, or pre-stamped paper could be purchased for use. Anyone caught counterfeiting tax stamps faced the death penalty. Tax stamps proved to be an effective way to raise money, and continued to be used into the future. Similar tax stamps were devised for use in America after the Seven Years War to raise money for British troops stationed in the colony for protection from Native attacks (as detailed in the infamous Stamp Act, 1765), but were soundly rejected as an unwarranted taxation method and the plan was repealed the following year. As is well known, the disastrous 1765 tax stamp experiment sowed the seeds of the American Revolution that came some ten years later. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 022

Bibliografische Details

Titel: FIRST STAMP ACT (1694). An Act for Granting ...

Verlag: London: Charles Bill and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb

Erscheinungsdatum: 1694

Einband: Soft cover

Zustand: Very Good

Auflage: 1st Edition