[TRANSPORTATION] An Act for the effectual Transportation of Felons and other Offenders ; and to authorize the Removal of Prisoners in certain Cases ; and for other Purposes therein mentioned.

A$250 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[Drop-head title with coat of arms at head of text]. London : Printed by Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1784. Foolscap folio, 320 x 200 mm, disbound, pp 907-919, [1 blank], [1 colophon], [1 blank]; first leaf with toning to bottom margin, else a fine copy. The Transportation, etc. Act 1784 (24 Geo. 3 c. 56) was an important piece of legislation fundamental to the establishment of a penal colony in New South Wales, and, subsequently, Van Diemen s Land (governed by New South Wales, 1803-1825). The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) halted transportation to America. Parliament claimed that the transportation of convicts to his Majesty s colonies and plantations in America is found to be attended with various inconveniences, particularly by depriving this kingdom of many subjects whose labour might be useful to the community, and who, by proper care and correction, might be reclaimed from their evil course ; they then passed An act to authorize the punishment by hard labour of offenders who, for certain crimes, are or shall become liable to be transported to any of his Majesty s colonies and plantations. For the ensuing decade, men were instead sentenced to hard labour and women were imprisoned. Finding alternative locations to send convicts was not easy, and the act was extended twice by the Criminal Law Act 1778 (18 Geo. 3 c. 62) and the Criminal Law Act 1779 (19 Geo. 3, c. 54). This resulted in a 1779 inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee on the entire su

• Binding: Hardcover

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