16. This Act shall not exempt any person from any proceeding for an Sections 16-20. offence which is punishable at common law, or under any Act of Parlia- Saving of ment other than this Act, so that a person be not punished twice for the liability to same offence.

other criminal proceedings.

indictments

17. Every misdemeanour under this Act shall, in England and Ireland, Procedure on be deemed to be an offence within, and subject to, the provisions of the under Act. Act of the session of the twenty-sceond and twenty-third years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventeen, intituled, An Act to prevent vexatious indictments for certain misdemeanours, and any Act amending the same, and no indictment under the provisions of this Act shall in England be tried by any court of quarter sessions.

18. The court before which any misdemeanour indictable under this Costs. Act, or any case of indecent assault, shall be prosecuted or tried may allow the costs of the prosecution, in the same manner as in cases of felony, and may in like manner, on conviction, order payment of such costs by the person convicted; and every order for the allowance or payment of such costs shall be made out, and the sum of money mentioned therein paid and repaid upon the same terms and in the same manner in all respects as in cases of felony.

enactments in

19. The Acts mentioned in the schedule to this Act are hereby re- Repeal of pealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of the said schedule, schedule. except as to anything heretofore duly done thereunder, and except so far as may be necessary for the purpose of supporting and continuing any proceeding taken or of prosecuting or punishing any person for any offence committed before the passing of this Act.

be competent

20. Every person charged with an offence under this Act or under Person charged section forty-eight (g) and sections fifty-two to fifty-five (h), both in- and his wife to clusive, of the Act of the session of the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth witnesses. years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred, or any of such sections, and the husband or wife of the person so charged, shall be competent but not compellable witnesses on every hearing at every stage of such charge, except an inquiry before a grand jury.

Sections 1-6.

Short title.

Commencement of Act.

Definition.

Penalty

Exemption from penalty.

Marking of

cases.

MARGARINE ACT, 1887.

[50 & 51 VICT. CH. 29.]

An Act for the better prevention of the fraudulent sale of Margarine.

[23rd August 1887. WHEREAS it is expedient that further provision should be made for protecting the public against the sale as butter of substances made in imitation of butter, as well as of butter mixed with any such substances.

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:

1. This Act may be cited as the Margarine Act, 1887.

2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

3. The word "butter" shall mean the substance known as butter made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without salt or other preservative, and with or without the addition of colouring matter. The word "margarine" shall mean all substances, whether compounds or otherwise, prepared in imitation of butter, and whether mixed with butter or not, and no such substance shall be lawfully sold, except under the name of margarine, and under the conditions set forth in this Act (2).

4. Every person dealing in margarine, whether wholesale or retail, whether a manufacturer, importer, or as consignor or consignee, or as commission agent or otherwise, who is found guilty of an offence under this Act, shall be liable on summary conviction for the first offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and for the second offence to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and for the third or any subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

5. Where an employer is charged with an offence against this Act he shall be entitled, upon information duly laid by him, to have any other person whom he charges as the actual offender brought before the court at the time appointed for hearing the charge, and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, the employer proves to the satisfaction of the court that he had used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act, and that the said other person had committed the offence in question without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, the said other person shall be summarily convicted of such offence, and the employer shall be exempt from any penalty.

6. Every person dealing in margarine in the manner described in the preceding section shall conform to the following regulations:

Every package, whether open or closed, and containing margarine, shall be branded or durably marked "Margarine" on the top, bottom, and sides, in printed capital letters, not less than three quarters of an inch square; and if such margarine be exposed for sale, by retail, there shall be attached to each parcel thereof so exposed, and in such manner as to be clearly visible to the purchaser, a label marked in printed capital letters, not less than one and a half inches square" Margarine "; and every person selling margarine by retail, save in a package duly

(a) See Sect. 13 of 7. Edw. VII. c. 21.

branded or durably marked as aforesaid, shall in every case deliver the Sections 6-12. same to the purchaser in cr with (b) a paper wrapper, on which shall be printed in capital letters, not less than a quarter of an inch squ ́re (b), Margarine.

7. Every person dealing with, selling, or exposing, or offering for Presumption sale, or having in his possession for the purpose of sale, any quantity against vendor. of margarine contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to conviction for an offence against this Act, unless he shows to the satisfaction of the court before whom he is charged that he purchased the article in question as butter, and with a written warranty or invoice to that effect, that he had no reason to believe at the time when he sold it that the article was other than butter, and that he sold it in the same state as when he purchased it, and in such case he shall be discharged from the prosecution, but shall be liable to pay the costs incurred by the prosecutor unless he shall have given due notice to him that he will rely upon the above defence.

manufactured

8. All margarine imported into the United Kingdom of Great Britain Margarine and Ireland, and all margarine, whether imported or manufactured imported or within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall, whenever forwarded by any public conveyance, be duly consigned as margarine; and it shall be lawful for any officer of Her Majesty's Customs or Inland Revenue, or any medical officer of health, inspector of nuisances, or police constable, authorised under section thirteen of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875 (c), to procure samples for analysis if he shall have reason to believe that the provisions of this Act are infringed on this behalf, to examine and take samples from any package, and ascertain if necessary by submitting the same to be analysed, whether an offence against this Act has been committed.

9. Every manufactory of margarine within the United Kingdom of Registration of Great Britain and Ireland shall be registered by the owner or occupier manufactory. thereof with the local authority from time to time in such manner as the local Government Boards of England and Ireland, and the Secretary for Scotland respectively may direct, and every such owner or occupier carrying on such manufacture in a manufactory not duly registered shall be guilty of an offence under this Act (d).

inspectors to

purchase.

10. Any officer authorised to take samples under the Sale of Food Power to and Drugs Act, 1875 (c), may, without going through the form of pur- take samples chase provided by that Act, but otherwise acting in all respects in accord- without ance with the provisions of the said Act as to dealing with samples, take for the purposes of analysis samples of any butter, or substances purporting to be butter, which are exposed for sale, and are not marked Margarine," as provided by this Act; and any such substance not being so marked shall be presumed to be exposed for sale as butter.

66

Appropriation

of penalty.

11. Any part of any penalty recovered under this Act may, if the Court shall so direct, be paid to the person who proceeds for the same, to reimburse him for the legal costs of obtaining the analysis, and any other reasonable expenses to which the court shall consider him entitled. 12. All proceedings under this Act shall, save as expressly varied by Proceedings. this Act, be the same as prescribed by sections twelve to twenty-eight

(b) Repealed by tale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899.

(c) See 38 & 39 Vict. c. 63, s. 13, and 7 Edw. VII. c. 21, s. 9 and s. 12.
(d) See 7 Edw. VII. c. 21, s. 1.

Sections 12, 13. inclusive of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875 (e), and all officers employed under that Act are hereby empowered and required to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Definition of

13. The expression "local authority" shall mean any local authority local authority. authorised to appoint a public analyst under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875.

LAW OF DISTRESS, AND SMALL DEBTS (IRELAND)
ACT, 1888.

[51 & 52 VICT. CH. 47.]

An Act to amend the Law relating to execution for Small Debts and the levying of Distress for Rent in Ireland, with special provisions for the City of Dublin.

[24th December 1888.

BE it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,

Sections 1-5. in this present Parliament assembled, as follows:

Short title.

of Act.

1. This Act may be cited as the Law of Distress and Small Debts (Ireland) Act, 1888.

Commencement 2. This Act, except as herein otherwise provided, shall come inte operation from and immediately after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

Interpretation.

Extent of Part I.
Certain goods

distress and

execution.

66

3. "Municipal authority" in this Act shall mean the Lord Mayor and corporation of the city of Dublin; distress" shall mean and be confined to distresses for rent where the amount due and distrained for shall not exceed ten pounds sterling.

PART I.

4. Part One of this Act shall apply throughout Ireland.

5. From and after the commencement of this Act such goods and exempted from chattels of the tenant or debtor, or his family, as would be protected from seizure in execution under section nine of eleven and twelve Victoria, chapter twenty-eight, or section one hundred and twenty-five of the County Courts (Ireland) Act, 1851, shall be exempt from distress for rent, and from executions under decree of the Dublin Court of Conscience, or of the Court of Conscience of any other municipal borough, and executions under decrees or orders of the courts of the Dublin divisional justices in pursuance of their small debts jurisdiction; and executions under the decrees or orders of justices in petty sessions in pursuance of the small debts jurisdiction conferred on them by the Act of the twentysecond year of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter fourteen: that is to say, the wearing apparel and bedding, and the tools and implements of trade, of such tenant or debtor, not exceeding in the whole the value. of five pounds sterling: Provided that this enactment shall not extend to any case where the lease, term, or interest of the tenant has expired, and where possession of the premises in respect of which the rent is

(e) See ante, p. 683 et seq

claimed has been demanded, and where the distress is made not earlier Sections 5-10. than seven days after such demand.

PART II.

6. Part Two of this Act shall apply only within the municipal Extent of boundaries of the city of Dublin.

Part II.

bailiffs.

7. From and after the commencement of this Act no person shall Appointment of act as a bailiff in the city of Dublin to levy any distress for rent, or execute any decree of the Court of Conscience, or any such decree or order of the divisional justices as aforesaid, unless he shall be authorised to act as a bailiff by the municipal authority, by a certificate in writing under the hand of the Lord Mayor, or shall be otherwise authorised as provided by this Act. It shall be the duty of the municipal authority, at least one fortnight before the commencement of this Act, and from time to time afterwards as shall be requisite, to appoint a sufficient number of fit and proper persons to act as such bailiffs, subject to the approval of the Recorder of Dublin, and it shall be lawful for the Recorder, if at any time he considers it necessary to do so, himself to appoint fit and proper persons to act as such bailiffs; and it shall be lawful for the persons so authorised to act until their certificates be withdrawn or suspended, as provided by this Act.

bailiffs.

8. It shall be lawful for the municipal authority and for the Re- Annual sum to corder of Dublin at any time to withdraw or suspend certificates granted be paid to by them respectively at their discretion. So long as same shall remain in force the municipal authority may pay to the person thereby appointed an annual sum or salary not exceeding five pounds a year, to be paid quarterly upon a certificate of the satisfactory performance of his duties, to be given by such person and in such manner as shall be prescribed by rules made under this Act.

bailiffs to be

for inspection.

9. The name and place of abode of every bailiff so appointed, or Names, &c., of whose certificate shall be withdrawn or suspended, shall be published advertised and immediately after the date of such appointment or withdrawal or sus- lists published pension of his certificate, in some newspaper or newspapers published within the city, and in such other manner as shall be prescribed by rules made under this Act, and a list of the bailiffs for the time being shall be at all times posted and kept open for public inspection in the Town Hall, the Court of Conscience, the courts of the divisional justices, and otherwise as shall be prescribed by rules made under this Act.

be maintained

10. The municipal authority shall provide and maintain on any site Public store to belonging to them within the city a fit and proper place or places in by the municiwhich all goods seized under distress or executions to which this Act pal authority. applies shall be kept and preserved pending sale or redemption, and they shall also provide, when such shall be requisite, means of conveying goods thereto. Such goods shall be sold at such times and in such manner and after such notice as shall be prescribed by rules made under this Act, and at any time before sale shall be re-delivered to the owner on payment of the amount for which same were seized, and the charges accrued in relation to same. Goods whilst in the charge or possession of the municipal authority shall be deemed, as regards them, in lawful custody.