Probate and Legacy Duties Act 1808

XLVIIIFor securing to Scotland an Equivalent for additional Duties on Deeds, &c. used there, from which Scotland was exempt by the Act of Union.

And whereas by the Act for the Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland it was declared, that during the Continuance of the respective Duties on stamped Paper, Vellum, and Parchment, by the several Acts then in force in England, Scotland should not be charged therewith, and that Scotland should not be charged with any other Duties to be laid on by the Parliament of England before the Union : And whereas at the Time of passing the Act of Union the Stamp Duties in force in England were those granted by an Act of the Fifth and Sixth Years of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary, for a Term of Years, and continued by subsequent Acts till the First Day of August One thousand seven hundred and ten, and those granted by an Act of the Ninth Year of King William for ever ; and before the Union, the Duties granted by the Act of the Fifth and Sixth Years of King William and Queen Mary were continued for a further Term of Ninety-six Years, from the last Day of July One thousand seven hundred and ten, during which Period Scotland was entitled to an Exemption from the same : And whereas by an Act passed in the first Session of the Parliament of Great Britain, the said Duties granted by the Act of the Fifth and Sixth Years of King William and Queen Mary were continued for One Y ear more after the Expiration of the said Ninety-six Years, and were made payable throughout the whole Kingdom of Great Britain, and the same Duties were afterwards made perpetual by an Act of the First Year of the Reign of King George the First; so that those Duties would have been now payable in Scotland if all the existing Stamp Duties had not been repealed by the aforesaid Act of the Forty-fourth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, and other Duties granted in lieu thereof; in which Act Scotland is not charged equally with England, by reason of the Exemptions then in force: And whereas Scotland not being any longer entitled, under the Act of Union, to an Exemption from the Amount of the Stamp Duties granted by the said Act of the Fifth and Sixth Years of King William and Queen Mary, and it being more convenient and desirable that one uniform Rate of Stamp Duty should be payable in England and Scotland upon all Deeds and Instruments common to both, the Duties upon all such Deeds and Instruments are equalized in the Schedule hereunto annexed ; and it being reasonable that Scotland should have some other Exemption, by way of Equivalent for the Amount of the Duties granted by the said Act of the Ninth Year of King William, the Duties now payable in Scotland upon Charters of Resignation, Instruments of Seisin, and other Instruments in use there, for the completing or renovating of Titles to Lands and other heritable Subjects, are, in the said Schedule hereunto annexed, reduced from Fourteen Shillings to Seven Shillings : Now, in order to preserve and secure such Equivalent to Scotland, be it further enacted and declared, That the said Duties so reduced in Scotland shall not at any Time hereafter be added to or increased in any greater Degree than the Duties of Fifteen Shillings, charged in the said Schedule hereunto annexed, on Surrenders and other Instruments of or relating to Copyhold Lands in England; and that if the said last-mentioned Duties shall at any Time hereafter be reduced, the said Duties on Charters of Resignation, Instruments of Seisin, and other Instruments for the completing or renovating of Titles to Lands and heritable Subjects in Scotland, shall also be reduced in the same Degree.