X. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall resist or oppose any Justice of Peace, churchwarden, or officer of health, in the execution of the powers of this Act, or in the doing or performing of any matter or thing in the execution of this Act, every such person or persons so guilty of resisting or opposing shall, on conviction thereof before any two Justices of Peace or Magistrates within their jurisdiction, on the oath or affirmation of any one or more credible witness, or on the confession of the party so offending, incur such penalty, not less than ten shillings nor more than five pounds, as such Justices of Peace or Magistrates shall in their discretion think proper to adjudge and inflict; or in failure of making payment of such fine, such offenders shall and may be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for any time not exceeding three calendar months; and no such conviction shall be quashed for informality, nor shall be removed or removable by _certiorari_ or otherwise, nor subject to any appeal whatever.
XI. And be it further enacted, That if any action shall be brought against any person or persons for any thing done in the execution of any of the powers or duties by this act given or required, the defendant or defendants may in every such suit plead the general issue, and give this act and the special matter in evidence; and in every case where the plaintiff or plaintiffs in such suit shall fail, the court in which such suit shall be carried on shall award costs to the defendant or defendants.
Whereas, many great and dangerous abuses frequently arise from the present state of Houses kept for the reception of Lunaticks, for want of regulations with respect to the persons keeping such houses, the admission of Patients into them, and the Visitation by proper persons of the said Houses and Patients: And whereas the law, as it now stands, is insufficient for preventing or discovering such abuses; 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, That, from and after the Twentieth day of November One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, if any person or persons, in that part of _Great Britain_ called _England_, the dominion of _Wales_, or town of _Berwick upon Tweed_, shall, upon any pretence whatsoever, conceal, harbour, entertain, or confine, in any house or place, kept for the reception of Lunaticks, more than one Lunatick, at any one time, without having such Licence for that purpose as is herein-after directed, (except such Lunaticks as are committed by the Lord High Chancellor of _Great Britain_, or Lord Keeper, or Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal for the time being), every such person shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of Five hundred Pounds.