British Calendar Act of 1751
For The Year 1752
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C A P. XXIII.
A.D. 1751. Anno vicesimo quarto GEORGII II.
An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year;
and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use.
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Amended by 25 Geo. 2. c. 30.'
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WHEREAS the legal Supputation of the Year of our Lord in that Part of Great
Britain called England, according to which the Year beginneth on the 25th Day of
March, hath been found by Experience to be attended with divers Inconveniencies,
not only as it differs from the Usage of neighbouring Nations, but also from the
legal Method of Computation in that Part of Great Britain called Scotlond, and
from the common Usage throughout the whole Kingdom, and thereby frequent
Mistakes are occasioned in the Dates of Deeds, and other Writings, and Disputes
arise therefrom: `And whereas the Calendar now in Use throughout all his
Majesty's British Dominions, commonly called The Julian Calendar, hath been
discovered to be erroneous, by means whereof the Vernal or Spring Equinox, which
at the Time of the General Council of Nice in the Year of our Lord 325, happened
on or about the 21st Day of March, now happens on the 9th or 10th Day of the
same Month; and the said Error is still increasing, and if not remedied, would,
in Process of Time, occasion the several Equinoxes and Solstices to fall at very
different Times in the Civil Year from what they formerly did, which might tend
to mislead Persons ignorant of the said Alteration: `And whereas a Method of
correcting the Calendar in such manner, as that the Equinoxes and Solstices may
for the future fall nearly on the same nominal Days, on which the same happened
at the Time of the said General Council, hath been received and established, and
is now generally practiced by almost all other Nations of Europe: `And whereas
it will be of general Convenience to Merchants, and other Persons corresponding
with other Nations and Countries, and tend to prevent Mistakes and Disputes in
or concerning the Dates of Letters, and Accounts, if the like Correction be
received and established in his Majesty's Dominions: '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,
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The old Supputation of the Year not to be made use of after Dec. 1751. Year to
commence, for the future, on 1 Jan.
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That in and throughout all his Majesty's Dominions and Countries in Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject to the Crown of Great Britain,
the said Supputation, according to which the Year of our Lord beginneth on the
25th Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last Day of
December 1751; and that the first Day of January next following the said last
Day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the first
Day of the Year of our Lord 1752; and the first Day of January, which shall
happen next after the said first Day of January 1752, shall be reckoned, taken,
deemed and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord 1753; and so
on, from Time to Time, the first Day of January in every Year, which shall
happen in Time to come, shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the
first Day of the Year; and that each new Year shall accordingly commence, and
begin to be reckoned, from the first Day of every such Month of January next
preceding the 25th Day of March, on which such Year would, according to the
present Supputation, have begun or commenced:
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The Days to be numbered as now until 2 Sept. 1752; and the Day following to be
accounted 14 Sept. omitting 11 Days.
And that from and after the said first Day of January 1752, the several Days of
each Month shall go on, and be reckoned and numbered in the same Order; and the
Feast of Easter, and other moveable Feasts thereon depending, shall be
ascertained according to the same Method, as they now are, until the 2nd Day of
September in the said Year 1752 inclusive; and that the natural Day next
immediately following the said 2nd Day of September, shall be called, reckoned
and accounted to be the 14th Day of September, omitting for that Time only the
11 intermediate nominal Days of the common Calendar; and that the several
natural Days, which shall follow and succeed next after the said 14th Day of
September, shall be respectively called, reckoned and numbered forwards in
numerical Order from the said 14th Day of September, according to the Order and
Succession of Days now used in the present Calendar; and that all Acts, Deeds,
Writings, Notes and other Instruments of what Nature or Kind soever, whether
Ecclesiastical or Civil, Publick or Private, which shall be made, executed or
signed, upon or after the said first Day of January 1752, shall bear Date
according to the said new Method of Supputation,
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Ref: http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-British.html
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