An Act to prevent the holding of Markets on the Sabbath-day, and appointing Thursdays and Saturdays to be public Market-days.

WHEREAS by the second clause of an Act, intituled, “An Act to establish regular Markets in the different towns of this island, to fix the prices of fresh provisions and other commodities brought to such markets for sale, empowering the Captain-General or Commander-in-Chief to appoint clerks of such markets, who are at the same time to be keepers and inspectors of the public cages, empowering them to receive and confine therein, for a limited time, disorderly persons committed by justices of the peace; also to apprehend and confine negroes or other slaves coming from the country without tickets, appointing the mode of stamping and regulating all weights and measures in the said towns and parishes, and appointing the mode of altering the prices of provisions as occasion may require,” it is amongst other things enacted, that the opening of the markets in the town of Saint George shall be by the ringing of a bell by the clerk of the market, which on Saturday shall be at five o’clock in the afternoon, and on that and every other day in the week at six o’clock in the morning, and not sooner; and in all the other towns on the days and at the times which shall hereafter be appointed by justices in their sessions, after which time the market shall be adjudged open and public: And whereas by the third clause of the said Act it is amongst other things enacted, that the clerk of the market for the town of Saint George shall attend the market for the said town every morning (Sundays excepted) from the opening thereof until nine o’clock, and every Sunday morning from six o’clock until eleven in the morning, and every Saturday evening until six o’clock; and the clerks of the markets for the other towns on the days and at the times which for that purpose shall be appointed: And whereas by the forty-sixth clause of an Act, intituled, “An Act to consolidate all the Laws now in force relating to the Slave Population, for making more effectual provision for their maintenance and protection, and for the admissibility of their testimony in certain cases,” it is enacted, that no shop or store in any of the towns in this island shall be kept open on Sundays under a penalty of ten pounds for every offence: And whereas the provisions of the said clause of the said last-mentioned Act have been found inadequate to the purposes thereby intended; and it is expedient that more effectual enactments should be made for preventing the holding such markets on Sundays, and to prevent the sale of goods in any shop or other place on those days:

[Clause 1.] Be it therefore enacted by his Excellency the Governor, the Council and Assembly of the Island of Grenada and its dependencies, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by authority of the same, that from and after the first day of January next, so much and such parts of the said in part recited first and second clauses of the said first-mentioned Act as relate to the days and times of holding markets in any towns or places within these islands, and the forty-sixth clause of the said last-mentioned Act, shall be and the same are hereby repealed.

[Clause 2.] And be it also enacted, that from and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, all and every free person and persons whomsoever, who upon the Sabbath-day shall publicly expose for sale any goods, wares, merchandize or other articles whatsoever, save as is hereinafter excepted, or shall expose for sale in any shop, house, stall or place whatsoever, or shall buy or sell any such goods, wares, merchandize or other articles whatsoever upon the Sabbath-day, save as is hereinafter excepted, shall upon conviction, by the oath of any one or more credible witness or witnesses, before any justice or justices of the peace, forfeit and pay for each and every such offence the sum of five pounds currency, to be paid and applied as follows: that is to say, one half part thereof to the person or persons upon whose oath such conviction shall take place, and the other half part to the public treasurer for the uses of the colony; and in case of refusal to pay such penalty, such justice or justices is and are hereby authorized, by warrant under his or their hands and seals, to commit such offender to the common gaol or other public place of confinement for the term of five days; and all and every slave and slaves who upon the Sabbath-day shall publicly expose for sale any goods, wares, merchandize or other articles whatsoever, save as is hereinafter excepted, or shall expose for sale in any shop, house, stall or place whatsoever, or shall buy or sell any such goods, wares, merchandize or other articles whatsoever, save as is herein­after excepted, upon the Sabbath-day, such slave or slaves shall upon conviction, upon the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before any magistrate or justice of the peace, forfeit such goods, wares and merchandize or other articles so exposed for sale as aforesaid; and such goods, wares and merchandize so exposed to sale as aforesaid, shall and may be seized by the clerk of the market, or by any constable or other free person, and shall be taken by the person so seizing the same on the following day, or if such goods, wares and merchandize or other articles so exposed to sale as aforesaid be of a perishable nature, on the same day, before any justice or justices of the peace, who upon view thereof shall order the same to be sold forthwith; and the monies arising therefrom, or the articles in kind, shall be distributed and applied as follows; that is to say, one half part thereof to the informer, and the remainder to such pious or charitable purposes as such justice or justices shall in his or their discretion direct: Provided always, that nothing in this Act shall extend to prevent the buying and selling of bread, meat, poultry, fish and milk at any time before the hour of nine o'clock, nor shall prevent the sale of bread, or any article of actual necessity, or the dressing and selling of victuals in inns, cook’s-shops or victualling-houses at any time.

[Clause 3.] And be it further enacted, that the markets throughout these islands on Sunday shall hereafter, and they are hereby, from and after the first day of January next, totally prohibited and declared illegal, and Thursday and Saturday in each and every week in the year shall and the same are hereby declared to be public market days; and all the said several markets throughout these islands shall and may be kept open on such days from sunrise until sunset.

Passed the Assembly this, 20th day of November 1828.

(signed) Ch. Ker, Clerk of Assembly.

Passed the Council, this 21st day of November 1828.

(signed) W. A. Horne, Acting Clerk of Council.

Dated at the town of Saint George, in the island of Grenada, this 24th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1828, and of His Majesty’s reign the ninth.

(signed) Dan. Gibbs, Speaker.

Assented to by His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, this 24th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1828, and the ninth year of His Majesty’s reign.

(signed) W. A. Horne, Acting Clerk of Council.

Duly published in the town of Saint George, in the said island of Grenada, this 24th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1828, and the ninth year of His Majesty’s reign.

(signed) John Douglas. Acting P. M. G.

(signed)            JAMES (L.M.S) CAMPBELL.