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32 1927

CURRENCY ACT, 1927

PART II.

Gold Coinage.

Coining of gold from bullion on request.

5. —(1) Whenever any person after the commencement of this section delivers not less at any one time than one hundred ounces of gold bullion at a place for the time being appointed in that behalf by the Minister under this section, the Minister shall cause such bullion to be assayed and coined into coins authorised by this Act to be issued thereunder and shall issue such coins to such person.

(2) Whenever the gold bullion delivered for coinage under this section is of the standard fineness the number of coins to be issued under this section in exchange for such bullion shall be calculated at the rate of one Saorstát pound for every 123.27447 grains of such bullion or one ten-shilling coin for every 61.63723 grains of such bullion and whenever such bullion is of a fineness superior or inferior to the standard fineness the said number of coins shall be calculated at such higher or lower (as the case may be) rate as is proportionate to such superiority or inferiority of fineness.

(3) The Minister may refuse to accept for coining under this section any gold bullion which is of such fineness that in the opinion of the Minister it cannot be brought to the standard fineness without refining some portion of it, and if he so accepts any such bullion he may impose such charge as he thinks proper for refining it.

(4) It shall be lawful for the Minister to impose such charge for the coinage of gold bullion under this section as he thinks proper not exceeding three half-pence for every ounce of such bullion of the standard fineness and so in proportion for bullion of a superior or an inferior fineness.

(5) No undue preference shall be shown to any person under this section and every person delivering in accordance with this section gold bullion for coining shall have the bullion so delivered by him coined in such priority as corresponds to the time of such delivery.

(6) The Minister may by order appoint such places as he thinks fit for the delivery under this section of gold bullion for coining and in the event of his so appointing an office of the Commission as a place for such delivery he may by the same or any subsequent order with the consent of the Commission authorise and require the Commission to exercise and perform in respect of all gold bullion delivered at such office such of the powers and duties conferred on the Minister by the foregoing provisions of this section as he thinks proper.

Every order made by the Minister under this sub-section shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.

(7) This section shall come into operation on such day as shall be appointed in that behalf by the Minister with the concurrence of the Commission by notice published in the Iris Oifigiúil.

(8) The notice under the foregoing sub-section appointing the day for the coming into operation of this section, shall, if the Commission so requires, declare that no person other than the Commission shall be entitled to deliver gold bullion for coining under this section, and if such notice so declares then no person other than the Commission shall be entitled to deliver gold bullion for coining under this section until such time as the Commission shall by notice published in the Iris Oifigiúil declare that every person shall be so entitled.

Denominations and other particulars of gold coins.

6. —(1) Every coin issued under this Act shall be of one or other of the denominations specified in the first column of the Second Schedule to this Act, and every such coin shall be of the standard weight and the standard fineness specified in respect thereof in the second and fourth columns respectively of the said Second Schedule, but there shall be allowed in respect of all such coins the remedy (or variation from the standard weight or the standard fineness) stated in respect thereof respectively in the fifth column of the said Second Schedule.

(2) The Minister may by order prescribe the dimensions and design of the several denominations of coins issued under this Act and every coin so issued shall be of the dimensions and design so prescribed in respect thereof.

(3) The Minister may by order prescribe the manner in which coins coined under this Act are to be tested for the purpose of ascertaining whether they do or do not comply with the provisions of this Act.

Calling in of coins issued under this Act.

7. —The Minister may by order call in coins of any particular date or denomination issued under this Act.

Prohibition of other gold coins or tokens.

8. —(1) Save and except coins issued under and in accordance with this Act, no piece of gold or ofany mined metal (whereof gold forms a part) of any value whatsoever shall be made or issued in Saorstát Eireann as a coin or token for money or as purporting that the holder thereof is entitled to demand any value denoted thereon.

(2) Every person who shall make or issue any piece of gold or of mined metal (whereof gold forms a part) in contravention of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Legal tender in gold coins.

9. —A tender of payment of money if made in gold coins issued under this Act which have not been called in under this Act and have not become diminished in weight by wear or otherwise, so as to be of less weight than the weight specified in respect thereof in the third column of the Second Schedule to this Act, shall be legal tender for a payment of any amount.

Currency in which contracts, etc., are to be made.

10. —Every contract, sale, payment, bill, note, instrument, and security for money, and every transaction, dealing, matter, and thing whatever relating to money or involving the payment or the liability to pay any money which is made, executed, entered into, done, or had on or after the day appointed under this Act for the commencement of the issue of legal tender notes shall be made, executed, entered into, done and had according to coins or notes which are for the time being legal tender under the Coinage Act, 1926 (No. 14 of 1926) or this Act and not otherwise, unless the same be made, executed, entered into, done or had according to the currency of some state or country other than Saorstát Eireann.

Application of certain enactments.

11. —(1) The Coinage Offences Act, 1861 shall apply to coins issued under this Act, and for the purpose of such application the references in section 1 of that Act to gold coin coined in any of Her Majesty's Mints or lawfully current by virtue of any proclamation or otherwise in any part of Her Majesty's Dominions shall be construed as including references to coins lawfully current in Saorstát Eireann by virtue of this Act.

(2) Section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876 shall be construed and have effect as if the following articles were added to the Table of Prohibitions and Restrictions Inwards in that section, that is to say, counterfeits of coins issued under this Act.

(3) Section 2 of the Revenue Act, 1889 shall apply to imitations of coins issued under this Act, and for the purpose of such application the references in sub-section (4) of that section to coins lawfully current by virtue of any proclamation or otherwise in any part of Her Majesty's Dominions shall be construed as including a reference to coins lawfully current in Saorstát Eireann by virtue of this Act.

Defacing light gold coin.

12. —(1) Where any coin issued under this Act is below the least current weight specified in respect thereof in the third column of the Second Schedule to this Act, or where any coin issued under this Act is called in under this Act, every person shall by himself or another cut, break, or deface any such coin tendered to him in payment and the person tendering the same shall bear the loss.

(2) If any coin cut, broken or defaced in pursuance of this section is not below the least current weight specified in respect thereof in the third column of the Second Schedule to this Act or has not been called in under this Act, the person cutting, breaking, or defacing the same shall receive the same in payment according to its denomination.

(3) Any dispute arising under this section may be determined by a Justice of the District Court in accordance with Rules of Court.

Expenses of issue of coins.

13. —All expenses incurred by the Minister in carrying this Part of this Act into effect shall be paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.