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distribution on the premises of a club registered in con- 2 Edw. 7, c. 28.
formity with provisions of Part III. of this Act, within that
period knowingly sells, supplies, or distributes, or allows
any person to sell, supply, or distribute intoxicating liquor
to, or for the consumption of, any such person, he shall be
liable on summary conviction, for the first offence, to a fine
not exceeding ten pounds, and for any subsequent offence in
respect of the same person, to a fine not exceeding twenty
pounds.

(3) Regulations shall be made by the police authority for the purpose of securing the giving of information to licensed persons and secretaries of clubs registered under Part III. of this Act of orders made under this section, and for assisting in the identification of the convicted persons.

XII.

POOR LAW AND VAGRANCY.

Idle and disorderly

persons com

mitting certain

offences herein
mentioned,
how to be
punished.

Persons committing certain offences herein mentioned to be deemed rogues and vagabonds.

VAGRANCY ACT, 1824.

5 GEO. 4, C. 83.

3 That every person being able wholly or in part to maintain himself or herself or his or her family by work or by other means, and wilfully (a) refusing or neglecting so to do, by which refusal or neglect he or she or any of his or her family (b) whom he or she may be legally bound to maintain, (c) shall have become chargeable (d) to the parish, township, or place (e) . . . every person wandering abroad or placing himself or herself in any public place, (f) street, highway, court, or passage, to beg or gather alms, or causing or procuring or encouraging any child or children so to do, shall be deemed an idle and disorderly person within the true intent and meaning of this Act: and it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace to commit such offender to the house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding one calendar month.

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4 That every person committing any of the offences herein before mentioned after having been convicted as an idle and disorderly person... every person wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or waggon, not having (a) Wilfully defined p. 30, ante. A man who bonâ fide believes that his wife has committed adultery is not guilty of having "wilfully refused to maintain " her (Morris v. Edmonds, 77 L. T. 56).

(b) This section applies to legitimate children only (Reg. v. Maude, 11 L. J. 120). A wife deserted by her husband and left destitute is not guilty of an offence under this section (Peters v. Cowie, 46 L. J. 177); but see 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 57, post.

(c) Father, grandfather, mother, grandmother, and children. See 43 Eliz. c. 2, s. 7.

(d) There must be chargeability, or there is no offence (Recve v. Yeates, 31 L. J. 241); a husband was held not liable under this section where he reasonably believed that his wife was provided for (Sweeney v. Spooner, 32 L. J. 82); nor where his wife had left him and committed adultery (R. v. Flintan, 9 L. J. (O. S.) 33).

(e) The offence is a continuous one, and the jurisdiction of the justices is not therefore confined to the six months limit (Ulverstone Union v. Park, 53 J. P. 629).

(f) See also 39 & 40 Vict. c. 61, post, p. 199.

any visible means of subsistence and not giving a good account 5 Geo. 4, c. 83. of himself or herself... every person wilfully, openly, lewdly, obscenely exposing his person in any street, road, or public highway, or in the view thereof or in any place of public resort with intent to insult any female... every person wandering abroad and endeavouring by the exposure of wounds or deformities to obtain or gather alms . . . every person running away and leaving his wife or his or her child or children chargeable, or whereby she or they or any of them shall become chargeable to any parish,(g) township, or place . . . shall be deemed a rogue and a vagabond within the true intent and meaning of this Act, and it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace to commit such offender. . . to the house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three calendar months.

...

THE POOR LAW AMENDMENT ACT, 1834.

4 & 5 WILL. 4, c. 76.

56 From and after the passing of this Act all relief given to or on account of the wife, or to or on account of any child or children under the age of sixteen, not being blind or deaf and dumb, shall be considered as given to the husband of such wife, () or to the father of such child or children, as the case may be, and any relief given to or on account of any child or children under the age of sixteen of any widow, shall be considered as given to such widow provided always that nothing herein contained shall discharge the father and grandfather, mother and grandmother, of any poor child from their liability to relieve and maintain such poor child in pursuance of the provisions of a certain Act of Parliament passed in the forty-third year of the reign of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, intituled "An Act for the relief of the poor."

Poor persons liable for relief to wife or

children.

Husband liable to maintain children born before

57 Every man who from and after the passing of this Act shall marry a woman having a child or children at the time of such marriage, whether such child or children be legitimate or illegitimate, shall be liable to maintain such child or children as a part of marriage. his family, and shall be chargeable with all relief, or the cost price thereof, granted to or on account of such child or children until such child or children shall respectively attain the age of sixteen. or until the death of the mother of such child or children; and such

(g) See also 39 & 40 Vict. c. 61, post, p. 199.

(h) This section does not relieve the children of a mother who has

married again from their liability
to maintain her which is imposed
by 43 Eliz. c. 2, s. 7 (Arrowsmith
v. Dickenson, 20 Q. B. D. 252).

4 & 5 Will 4, c. 76.

Such relief as commissioners may direct to be considered as loan.

Mother of illegitimate children bound

to maintain the same.

child or children shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed a part of such husband's family accordingly.(i)

58 From and after the passing of this Act, any relief or the cost price thereof which shall be given to or on account of any poor person above the age of twenty-one, or to his wife, or any part of his family under the age of sixteen, and which the said commissioners shall by any rule, order, or regulation declare or direct to be given or considered as given by way of loan, and whether any receipt for such relief, or engagement to repay the same or the cost price thereof or any part thereof, shall have been given or not by the person to or on account of whom the same shall have been so given, shall be considered and the same is hereby declared to be a loan to such poor person.

71 Every child which shall be born a bastard after the passing of this Act shall have and follow the settlement of the mother of such chlld until such child shall attain the age of sixteen, (j) or shall acquire a settlement in its own right, and such mother, so long as she shall be unmarried, (k) or a widow, shall be bound to maintain such child as a part of her family until such child shall attain the age of sixteen; and all relief granted to such child while under the age of sixteen shall be considered as granted to such mother: provided always that such liability of such mother as aforesaid shall cease on the marriage of such child if a female.

THE POOR LAW AMENDMENT ACT, 1844.
7 & 8 VICT. c. 101.

5 All money payable under any order as aforesaid shall be due and payable to the mother of the bastard child in respect of such time and so long as she lives and is of sound mind and is not in any gaol or prison . . .; and after the death of the mother, or whilst such mother is of unsound mind, or confined in any gaol or prison ... any two justices may, if they see fit, by order under their

(i) Children under the age of sixteen whose widowed mother marries again do not by reason of this section acquire the settlement of the second husband (Keynsham Union v. Bedminster Union, 3 Q. B. D. 344; and Llanelly Union v. Neath Union [1893] 2 Q. B. 38), the object of this section being only to make the second husband liable to maintain them (R. v. Walthamstow,

6 A. & E. 301).

() It is provided by 39 & 40 Vict. c. 61, s. 35, post, p. 200, that "an illegitimate child shall retain the settlement of its mother until such child acquires another settlement."

(k) If she marries the liability passes to her husband under sec. 7, supra.

c. 101.

hands and seals, from time to time, appoint some person, who, with 7 & 8 Vict. his own consent, shall have the custody of such bastard child, so long as such bastard child is not chargeable to any parish or union, and any two justices may revoke the appointment of such person, and may appoint another person in his stead; ...

6 Every woman neglecting to maintain her bastard child, being able wholly or in part so to do, whereby such child becomes chargeable to any parish or union, shall be punishable as an idle and disorderly person, under the provisions of an Act made and passed in the fifth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled "An Act for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds, in that part of the United Kingdom called England";() and every woman so neglecting to maintain her bastard child after having been once before convicted of such offence, and every woman deserting her bastard child whereby such bastard child becomes chargeable to any parish or union, shall be punishable as a rogue and vagabond under the provisions of the said last recited Act.

Mother punishable for neglect or desertion of

her bastard

child.

DIVIDED PARISHES AND POOR LAW AMEND-
MENT ACT, 1876.

39 & 40 VICT. c. 61.

19 Proceedings may be taken against any person who runs away Desertion. and leaves his wife or his or her child chargeable, (m) or whereby she or they or any of them shall become chargeable to any union or parish at any time within two years after the commission of the offence, and a summons or warrant in respect thereof may be issued upon the information of any relieving officer of the guardians stating that relief has been applied for on behalf of the wife or child, and that he is informed and believes that the husband or parent, as the case may be, has left the wife or child and gone away, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. The justices to hear the complaint against a husband, under the thirty-third section of the Act of the thirty-first and thirty-second years of Her Majesty, chapter one hundred and twenty-two, may be other than those who summoned him to appear before them, but acting for the same petty sessional division.

34 Where any person shall have resided for the term of three years in any parish, in such manner and under such circumstances

Settlement for persons by

residence.

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