WHereas in regard of many doubts arising upon an Act of the late Parlament, for the Re­lief of Creditors and poor Priso­ners, and several inconvenien­cies and mischiefs like to grow from thence, not onely to the Creditors & Prisoners them­selvs, but to divers other persons, without som explanation and further direction to bee given to the several and respective Iudges authorized in and by the said Act; It is by an Ordinance of the 31 of March last Ordeined, that the said several and respective Iudges should not proceed to sale or disposition, nor otherwise intermeddle in the execution of the said Act, or of any the powers and authori­ties given by the same, until the twentieth day of April instant; and whereas the way for prevention of those evils, and the better accomplishing the ends intended by the said [Page 284] Act, is now under consideration, which will necessarily require som longer time to per­fect the same: Bee it Ordeined by His High­ness the Lord Protector, by and with the consent of his Council, That the said several and respective Iudges mentioned in the said Act, or any of them, shall not proceed to the sale or disposition of any the estates real or personal, of any of the said prisoners, or of any other person or persons whatsoever, mentioned or intended in or by the said Act, nor shall otherwise intermeddle in the execu­tion of the said Act, or of any the powers or authorities given by the same, until the fif­teenth day of May next coming; And bee it further Ordeined, that all acts and things to bee don by the said several and respective Iudges, or any of them, by virtue, color, or pretence of the said Act from henceforth and before the said fifteenth day of May afore­said (saving onely in such cases, and accord­ing to such limitations, as by the said Ordi­nance they had power to do, before the said twentieth day of April) shall bee and are here­by declared to bee utterly null and void.