Destruction of Property (Scotland) Act 1789

AN ACT for preventing the wilfully burning or destroying Ships, and the wilfully and maliciously destroying any Woollen, Silk, Linen or Cotton Goods, or any Implements prepared for or used in the Manufacture thereof, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland.

WHEREAS doubts have arisen whether an Act made in the fourth year of the reign of his Majesty King George the First, for inflicting the punishment of death on such as shall wilfully burn or destroy ships, and another Act made in the eleventh year of the reign of his said Majesty King George the First for explaining and amending the same, and an Act made in the twenty-second year of his present Majesty for punishing persons wilfully and maliciously destroying any woollen, silk, linen or cotton goods, or any implements prepared for or used in the manufacture thereof, do extend to that part of Great Britain called Scotland, or in what manner and to what extent persons guilty of the said crimes may be convicted and punished there: 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 owner of or captain, master, officer or mariner belonging to any ship or vessel shall after the first day of September in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine wilfully cast away, burn or otherwise destroy the ship or vessel of which he is owner or to which he belongeth, or in anywise direct or procure the same to be done, with intent or design to prejudice any person or persons that hath or shall underwrite any policy or policies of insurance thereon, or of any merchant or merchants that shall load goods therein, or of any owner or owners of such ship or vessel, the person or persons offending therein, being thereof lawfully convicted before any court competent to the trial of such crimes in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall suffer death as in other cases of capital crimes.

AND if any person or persons shall after the first day of September in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, by day or by night, break into any house or shop, or enter by force into any house or shop, with intent to cut or destroy any serge or other woollen goods in the loom or any tools employed in making thereof, or shall wilfully and maliciously cut or destroy any such serges or woollen goods in the loom or on the rack, or shall burn, cut or destroy any rack on which any such serges or other woollen goods are hanged in order to dry, or shall wilfully and maliciously break or destroy any tools used in the making any such serges or other woollen goods, not having the consent of the owner so to do, every such offender, being thereof lawfully convicted in that part of Great Britain called Scotland before the Court of Justiciary or any circuit court, shall suffer death as in other cases of capital crimes.

AND if any person or persons shall after the first day of September one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, by day or by night, break into any house or shop, or enter by force into any house or shop, with intent to cut or destroy any velvet, wrought silk or silk mixed with any other materials, or other silk manufacture in the loom, or any warp or shute, tools, tackle or utensils, or shall wilfully and maliciously cut or destroy any velvet, wrought silk or silk mixed with any other materials, or other silk manufacture in the loom, or any warp or shute, tools, tackle or utensils prepared or employed in or for the making thereof, or shall wilfully or maliciously break or destroy any tools, tackle or utensils used in or for the weaving or making of any such velvet, wrought silks, or silks mixed with any other materials, or other silk goods or silk manufacture, not having the consent of the owner so to do, every such offender, being thereof lawfully convicted as aforesaid in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall suffer death as in other cases of capital crimes.

AND if any person or persons shall, by day or by night, after the first day of September one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, break into any house or shop, or enter by force into any house or shop, with intent to cut and destroy any linen or cotton, or linen and cotton mixed with any other materials, or other linen or cotton manufactures in the loom, or any warp or shute, tools, tackle or utensils, or shall wilfully and maliciously cut or destroy any linen or cotton, or linen or cotton mixed with any other materials, or other linen and cotton manufacture in the loom, or any warp or shute, tools, tackle and utensils prepared for or employed in the making thereof, or shall wilfully and maliciously break and destroy any tools, tackle or utensils used in or for the carding, spinning, weaving, preparing or making in any way whatever any such linen or cotton, or linen or cotton mixed with any other materials, or other linen and cotton goods or linen and cotton manufactures whatsoever, not having the consent of the owner so to do, every such offender, being thereof lawfully convicted as aforesaid in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall suffer death as in other cases of capital crimes.