Whereas it is expedient to amend the Act of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and one, so far as the same relates to Scotland, and to give greater Facilities for the Establishment there of Public Libraries and Museums: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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, as follows:—

I. In the Construction of this Act the following Words and Expressions, shall have the Meanings hereby assigned, if not inconsistent with the Context or Subject Matter; that is to say, the Expression “Parliamentary Burgh’ shall mean a Burgh or Town to which Magistrates and Councils were provided by the Act of the Third and Fourth Years of King William the Fourth, Chapter Seventy-seven; the Expression “Occupier of Premises” shall mean a Male Occupier of a Dwelling House or other Heritable Subjects of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds or upwards, not being a Lodger or a Party in the Occupation as Tenant of a Furnished House let for a less Period than One Year but in such Case shall mean the Party by whom such House is so let.