This Act maybe called The Indian Coinage Act, 1870.

The Regulations and Acts mentioned in the schedule hereto annexed are repealed.

In this Act, the expression Mint includes the Mints at Calcutta, at Bombay and at such other places (if any) as the Governor General in Council, by notification in the Gazette of India, from time to time directs;

the expression Mint-rules means such rules as the Governor General in Council from time to time prescribes for the management of the Mint;

and the expression remedy means variation from the standard weight and fineness.

GOLD COINAGE

The under-mentioned gold coins only shall be coined at the Mint:

(1.) A gold mohur or fifteen-rupee piece.

(2.) A five-rupee piece equal to a third of a gold mohur.

(3.) A ten-rupee piece equal to two-thirds of a gold mohur.

(4.) A thirty-rupee piece or a double gold mohur.

The standard weight of the said gold mohur shall be one hundred and eighty grains Troy, and its standard fineness shall be as follows: eleven-twelfths, or one hundred and sixty-five grains, of fine gold, and one-twelfth, or fifteen grains, of alloy.

The other gold coins shall be of proportionate weight and of the same fineness:

Remedy allowed. Provided that, in the making of gold coins, a remedy shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding two thousandths in weight and two thousandths in fineness.

SILVER COINAGE

The under-mentioned silver coins only shall be coined at the Mint:

(1.) A rupee to be called the Government Rupee.

(2.) A half rupee.

(3.) A quarter rupee, or four-anna piece.

(4.) An eighth of a rupee, or two-anna piece.

The standard weight of the Government Rupee shall be one hundred and eighty grains Troy, and its standard fineness shall be as follows: eleven-twelfths, or one hundred and sixty-five grains, of fine silver, and one-twelfth, or fifteen grains, of alloy.

The other silver coins shall be of proportionate weight and of the same fineness:

Remedy allowed. Provided that, in the making of silver coins, a remedy shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following:

COPPER COINAGE

The under-mentioned copper coins only shall be coined at the Mint:

(1.) A double pice, or half anna.

(2.) A pice, or quarter anna.

(3.) A half pice, or one-eighth of an anna.

(4.) A pie, being one-third of a pice, or one-twelfth of an anna.

The weight of the double pice shall be two hundred grains Troy.

The other copper coins shall be of proportionate weight:

Provided Remedy allowed. Provided that, in the making of copper coins, a remedy shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding one-fortieth in weight.

DEVICES ON COINS

Until the Governor General in Council otherwise orders under the power hereinafter conferred, the coins coined under this Act shall bear on the obverse the likeness of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and the inscription Victoria Queen, and on the reverse the designation of the coins in English filled by the word India, with such date and embellishments on each coin as the Governor General in Council from time to time determines.

The Governor General in Council may, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, direct the coining and issuing of all coins authorized by this Act, and prescribe, in lieu of the likeness and inscription hereinbefore mentioned, such other likeness and inscription for all or any of the said coins as he thinks fit.

LEGAL TENDER

No gold coin shall be a legal tender in payment or on account.

The said rupee and half rupee shall be a legal tender in payment or on account:

Provided that the coin has not lost more than two per cent in weight:

Provided also that it has not been clipped or filed, or defaced or diminished, otherwise than by use.

Four-anna and two-anna pieces. The quarter rupee and eighth of a rupee shall be legal tender only for the fractions of a rupee, subject to the second proviso contained in this section.

The double pice shall be a legal tender for the thirty-second part of a rupee or for half an anna;

the pice for the sixty-fourth part of a rupee or for one-fourth of an anna;

the half pice for the one hundred and twenty-eighth part of a rupee or for one-eighth of an anna;

and the pie for the hundred and ninety-second part of a rupee or for one-twelfth of an anna:

Provided that none of the said copper coins shall be a legal tender, except for the fractions of a rupee.

All silver coin of the weight and standard specified in the Acts No. XVII of 1835, No. XXI. of 1838, and No. XIII of 1862, issued since the passing of those Acts, respectively, and declared by those Acts, respectively, to be a legal tender,

and all copper coins of the weight specified in Acts No. XXI of 1835, No. XXII of 1844, and No. XIII of 1862, issued since the passing of those Acts, respectively, and declared by those Acts, respectively, to be a legal tender,

shall continue to be a legal tender for the amounts thereof, respectively, subject to the same conditions and provisions as under those Acts, respectively, anything contained in this Act or in any Act hereby repealed notwithstanding.

DIMINISHED, COUNTERFEIT, AND CALLED-IN COIN

When any silver coin purporting to be coined and issued under the authority of the Government of India is tendered to any officer authorized by the Governor General in Council or the Local Government to act under this section, who has reason to believe it to have lost, by reasonable wearing, more than two per cent in weight,

or to be counterfeit,

or to have been reduced in weight otherwise than by reasonable wearing,

or to be called-in by any proclamation,

he may, by himself or another,

(subject to the rales which the Governor General in Council prescribes in this behalf),

cut or break such coin.

If any coin so cut or broken is counterfeit, or has been reduced in weight otherwise than by reasonable wearing, the pieces shall be returned to the person tendering the coin, and he shall bear the loss caused by such cutting or breaking.

Receipt of cut coin. But if it has been coined and issued by the authority of the Government of India, and has lost by reasonable wearing more than two per cent, in weight, or has been called-in by any proclamation, the officer cutting or breaking the same shall receive it at the rate of one rupee per tola.

All public servants are hereby indemnified for anything clone heretofore, which they might lawfully have done if this Act had been in force, and if they had been authorized under section sixteen, and no suit or other proceeding shall be maintained against any such person in respect of anything so done.

Bar of suits for acts done bon fide. No ??? or other proceeding shall be maintained against any person in respect of anything done by him bon fide pursuant to this Act.

COINAGE OF BULLION

Subject to the Mint-rules for the time being in force, the Mint Master shall receive all gold and silver bullion and coin brought to the Mint:

Provided that such bullion and coin be fit for coinage:

Provided also that the quantity so brought at one time by one person is not less, in the case of gold, than fifty tolas, and, in the case of silver, than one thousand tolas.

A duty shall be levied at the rate of one rupee per cent, at the Mint on the produce of all gold bullion and on all gold coin brought for coinage to the Mint in accordance with the said Mint-rules.

All silver bullion or coin brought for coinage to the Mint, in accordance with the said Mint-rules, shall be subject to a duty at the rate of two per cent, on the produce of such bullion or coin, and the amount of such duty shall be deducted from the return to he made to the proprietor.

A charge of one-fourth per mille on gold bullion and coin, and of one per mille on silver bullion and coin, shall also be levied for melting or cutting such bullion and coin so as to render the same fit for receipt into the Mint.

All gold and silver bullion and coin brought to the Mint for coinage and which is inferior to the standard fineness prescribed by this Act, or which, from brittleness or other cause, is unfit for coinage, shall, in case it is refined, be subject, in addition to the duty and charge aforesaid, to such charge on account of the loss and expense of refining as the Governor General in Council prescribes in this behalf.

The Mint Master, on the delivery of gold or silver bullion or coin into the Mint for coinage, shall grant to the proprietor a receipt which shall entitle him to a certificate from the Assay Master for the net produce of such bullion or coin payable at the General Treasury.

The proprietor of any bullion or coin so delivered for coinage, who is dissatisfied with the Assay Master's report of its value, may, within twenty-four hours after receiving such report, and subject to the payment of the fee prescribed in this behalf by the Governor General in Council, withdraw such bullion or coin without being subject to the duties on coinage imposed by this Act.

For all gold bullion and coin, in respect of which the Assay Master has granted a certificate, payment shall be made, as nearly as may be, in gold coins coined under this Act or Act No. XVII of 1835; and the balance (if any) due to the proprietor shall be paid in silver, or in silver and copper, coins current in British India.

POWER TO MAKE RULESS

The Governor General in Council may, from time to time,

(1) fix the number and duties of the officers of, and persons employed in, the Mint:

(2) make rules and give directions (subject to the provisions of this Act, and any notification made thereunder) respecting the management of the Mint, and revoke and alter such rules and directions.

The Governor General in Council may also, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India,

(1) diminish the amount of remedy allowed by sections five, seven and nine in the case of any coin:

(2) determine in the case of any coin the date and embellishments to be put thereon:

(3) call-in coins of any date or denomination, or any coins coined before the date in the notification mentioned:

(4) prescribe rules for the guidance of officers authorized to cut or break coin under section sixteen:

(5) prescribe the charge to be made on account of the loss and expense of refining:

(6) determine the period for which certificates granted under section twenty-four shall run:

(7) fix the fee payable under section twenty-five:

(8) establish a Mint at any place in British India, other than Calcutta and Bombay:

(9) abolish any Mint so established or any Mint now existing in British India:

(10) regulate any matters relative to coinage and to the Mint, which are not provided for by this Act:

(11) revoke or alter any notification previously made under this Act.

Every such notification shall come into force on the day therein in that behalf mentioned, and shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act.

SCHEDULE