SECTION 103. PUBLIC INDECENCIES. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon conviction thereof be liable to be imprisoned with hard labour for 5 two years, who does any grossly indecent act in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access, or which is so situated that what passes there can be seen by any considerable number of persons if they happen to look, or who does any such act in any place intending thereby or so as to insult or offend any person 10 or persons by whom he knows or has reasonable grounds for knowing that such act will or may be observed. SECTION 104. OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon 15 conviction thereof be liable to be imprisoned with hard labour for two years, who knowingly and without justification- (a.) Publicly sells, or exposes for public sale or to public view, any obscene book, print, picture, model, or other object; or (b.) Publicly exhibits any disgusting object or other indecent 20 exhibition. A person is justified in publishing or exhibiting such things as are herein-before referred to if their publication or exhibition is, in the opinion of the jury, for the public good, as being necessary or advantageous to religion or morality, to the administration of justice, 25 the pursuit of science, literature, or art, or other objects of general interest; but the justification ceases if the publication or exhibition is made in such a manner, to such an extent, or under such circumstances as to exceed what the public good, in the opinion of the jury, requires in regard to the particular matter published or exhi30 bited. The motives of the publisher or exhibiter in making any such publication or exhibition are immaterial. SECTION 105. DEFILING GIRLS UNDER AGE. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be 35 liable upon conviction thereof to two years imprisonment with hard labour, who, by false pretences, or false representations, or other fraudulent means, procures any woman or girl, under the age of twenty-one years, to have illicit carnal connexion with any man. A.D. 1878. A.D. 1878. SECTION 106. CONSPIRACY TO DEFILE. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to imprisonment, who conspires with any other person (other than the woman to whom the conspiracy refers) 5 to induce any woman to commit adultery or fornication. SECTION 107. PREVENTING THE BURIAL OF DEAD BODIES AND DISINTERRING THEM. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable on conviction thereof to imprisonment, who prevents the burial of 10 any dead body, or who, without lawful authority, disinters a dead body; or who, having the means of doing so without incurring a debt, neglects to perform any legal duty incumbent on him with respect to the burial of any dead body; or who buries or otherwise disposes of any dead body on which to his knowledge an inquest ought to be taken without giving notice to a coroner; or 15 who, being under a legal duty to do so, fails to give notice to a coroner that a body on which an inquest ought to be held is lying 20 unburied, before such body has putrefied. CHAPTER XVI. COMMON NUISANCES. SECTION 108. COMMON NUISANCE DEFINED. A common nuisance is an act or a series of acts or an omission to discharge a legal duty 25 (a.) Which obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage to any of Her Majesty's subjects in the exercise or enjoyment of any right common to all Her Majesty's subjects, whether such act or omission 30 is or is not convenient to a number of persons larger than the number so obstructed, inconvenienced, or damaged; or (b.) Which endangers the life, health, property, or comfort of the public, or of any part of it, either by causing actual danger thereto, or by causing a state of things which must produce such actual 35 5 10 15 danger unless some person exercises in reference thereto a degree A.D. 1878. of care, skill, or prudence, the continual exercise of which in such situations is unusual. It is a common nuisance within the meaning of this definitionWilfully to expose or cause to be exposed for sale articles of food unfit for consumption; Knowingly or negligently to permit servants to mix unwholesome ingredients in articles of food exposed or offered for sale or sold to any considerable number of persons; To make for the purposes of trade or otherwise loud noises, or offensive and unwholesome smells, in such places and under such circumstances as to annoy any considerable number of persons in the exercise or enjoyment of rights common to all Her Majesty's subjects; To keep any inn in a disorderly manner, and to suffer it to be resorted to by persons of bad character, or to refuse without reasonable grounds to entertain therein any properly conducted person ready and willing to pay for such entertainment; To obstruct any highway, by any work or erection thereon or 20 injury thereto, which renders the highway less commodious to the public than it would otherwise be; To omit to repair any public highway or any bridge which the person in default is under a legal obligation to repair; To prevent the public from having access to any part of any 25 highway by an excessive and unreasonable temporary use thereof, or by so dealing with the land in the immediate neighbourhood of the highway as to prevent the public from using and enjoying it securely; To divert or obstruct the course of any navigable river so as 30 appreciably to diminish its convenience for purposes of navigation, even though the alteration may, upon the whole, be for the convenience of the public; Provided that the particular instances of common nuisances herein-before mentioned are mentioned by way of example only, and 35 are not intended to restrict the general terms of the definition of a common nuisance herein-before contained, or to limit them to cases resembling any or all of the cases specially mentioned. Every one shall be guilty of an indictable offence and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to imprisonment, who commits any 40 common nuisance other than common nuisances punishable under the provisions of any statute in a summary way. A.D. 1878. SECTION 109. DISORDERLY HOUSES. Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to two years imprisonment with hard labour, who keeps any disorderly house, that is to say, any common 5 bawdy house, common gaming house, common betting house, or disorderly place of entertainment as herein-after defined. Any person who appears, acts, or behaves as master or mistress, or as the person having the care, government, or management of any disorderly house, shall be deemed to be the keeper thereof, and shall 10 be liable to be prosecuted and punished as such, although, in fact, he is not the real owner or keeper thereof. of SECTION 110. COMMON BAWDY HOUSES. A common bawdy house is a house, room, set of rooms, or place 15 SECTION 111. COMMON GAMING HOUSES. A common gaming house is a house, room, or place kept or used for playing therein at any game of chance, or any mixed game 20 of chance and skill, in which-. (i.) A bank is kept by one or more of the players, exclusively of the others; or (ii.) In which any game is played the chances of which are not alike favourable to all the players, including among the players 25 the banker or other person by whom the game is managed, or against whom the other players stake, play, or bet. SECTION 112. EVIDENCE THAT A HOUSE IS A COMMON GAMING HOUSE. The following circumstances shall be deemed to be sufficient evi- 30 dence (until the contrary is proved) that a house, room, or place is a common gaming house, and that the persons found therein were unlawfully playing therein; that is to say, (i.) Where any cards, dice, balls, counters, tables, or other instruments of gaming used in playing any unlawful game are found 35 in any house, room, or place suspected to be used as a common gaming house, and entered under a warrant or order issued under an Act passed in the ninth year of Her Majesty's reign, A.D. 1878. (ii.) Where any constable or officer authorised as aforesaid to (iii.) If any such house, room, or place is found fitted or provided SECTION 113. COMMON BETTING HOUSES. A common betting house is a house, office, room, or other place (a.) Kept or used for the purpose of betting between persons resorting thereto and The owner, occupier, or keeper thereof; or Any person using the same; or Any person procured or employed by, or acting for or on behalf of, any such person; or Any person having the care or management, or in any manner conducting the business thereof; or (b.) Kept or used for the purpose of any money or valuable thing being received by or on behalf of any such person as aforesaid, as or for the consideration (i.) For any assurance, undertaking, promise, or agreement, express (ii.) As or for the consideration for securing the paying or giving |