§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
LORD THURLOW, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that it was brought in in accordance with the recommendations of the Select Joint Committee of both Houses, which sat last year on the Stationery Office, and which had since been confirmed by Resolutions of both Houses of Parliament. In order to secure some guarantee for the genuineness of documents to be produced in Courts of Justice, the law, in several instances, had defined by whom such documents were to be printed. But in the Acts containing these definitions, which were passed at different times, there were variations of wording which might open the door to considerable inconvenience. In some the "Government printer" was mentioned; in others the "Queen's printer," or "the printer to Her Majesty," and there were several other varieties. The present Bill was intended to remove these inconsistencies and doubts, and to make admissible in Courts of Law all documents purporting 816 to be printed under the authority of the Stationery Office, which was the Department now held responsible under the Treasury for Government printing. The Bill contained suitable penalties for forgery—that was to say, in cases of documents falsely purporting to be printed under the constituted authority. It had been passed by the other House of Parliament, and he now asked their Lordships to give it a second reading.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Lord Thurlow.)
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Friday next.