1*1 



ALEHOUSES. 



keeper* by justice* living at a distance, and tlirr--fif not truly 

 informed of the occasion or want uf alehouse* in the neighbourhood. or 

 t h<- character uf th who apply for licence*." enacU that " no licence dull 

 in future be granted but at a general meeting of the magistrate* acting 

 in the division in which tin- applicant dwells." At this period the sale 

 t spirituous li<|in>ni luul become cummon ; and in the statute which we 

 hare just mentioned a clause is contained, placing the keepera of liquor 

 or brandy -*hop* under the arae regulations an to licences an alehouse- 

 keepen. The eagernen with which spirits were connimed at this 

 period by the lower order* of the people in England, and mptdtDj in 

 London and other large towns, appears to have resembled ratlin ill. 

 brutal intemperance of a tribe of savages than the liabiU of n civilised 

 nation. Varioun evasions of the provisions of the licensing Acts were 

 readily suggested to meet this inordinate demand; and in 1733 it 

 beanie necessary to enforce, by penalty, the discontinuance of the 

 practice of " hawking spirits about the streets in wheelbarrows, and of 

 exposing them for sale on bulks, sheds, or stalls." (See 6 Oeo. II. c. 11.) 

 From this time alehouses became the shops for spirits, as well as for 

 ale and beer ; in consequence of which their due regulation became n 

 subject of much greater difficulty than formerly ; and this difficulty 

 was increased by the growing importance of a large consumption of 

 time articles to the revenue. Besides this, all regulations for the 

 prevention of evils in the management of alehouses were now embar- 

 rawed by the arrangements which had become necessary for the facility 

 and certainty of collecting the Excise duties. 



In 1763 a statute was passed (26 Geo. II. c. 31), by the provisions of 

 which, with some trilling modifications by later statutes, the lin-n-ini: 

 of alehouses continued to be regulated for the remainder of the lost 

 century. This statute, after reciting that " the laws concerning ale- 

 houses, and the licensing thereof, were insufficient for correcting and 

 suppressing the abuses and disorders frequently committed therein," 

 contains, among others, the following enactments : 1. That upon 

 granting a licence to any person to keep an alehouse, such person 

 should enter into a recognisance in the sum of 10?. with sufficient 

 sureties, for the maintenance of good order therein. 2. That no 

 licence should be granted to any person not licenced the preceding 

 year, unless he produced a certificate of good character from the clergy- 

 man and the majority of the parish officers, or from three or four 

 respectable and substantial inhabitants, of the place in which such 

 alehouse is to be. 3. That no licence should be granted but at a 

 meeting of magistrates, to be held on the 1st of September in every 

 year, or within twenty days afterwards, and should be made for one 

 year only. 4. Authority is given to any magistrate to require an 

 alehouse-keeper, charged upon the information of any person with a 

 breach of his recognisance, to appear at the next quarter-sessions, 

 where the fact may oe tried by a jury, and in cose it is found that the 

 condition of the recognisance has been broken, the recognisance is to 

 be estreated into the Exchequer, and the party is utterly disabled from 

 selling ale or other liquors for three years. 



By a statute passed in 1808 (48 Geo. HI. c. 143), a difference was 

 introduced into the mode of licensing, not with a view to the internal 

 regulation of alehouses, but for purposes connected with the collection 

 of the revenue. The licence, which was formerly obtained from the 

 magistrate*, was, by that Act, to be granted by the commissioners, 

 collectors, or supervisors of Excise, under certain specific directions, 

 and upon the production by the applicant of a previous licence or 

 allowance, granted by the magistrates, according to the provisions of 

 the former statutes respecting licensing. 



The next Act of Parliament upon this subject was passed in 1822 

 (3 Geo. IV. c. 77), but as that statute continued in operation for only 

 a few years, it is unnecessary to specify its provisions further than to 

 notice that the preamble states the insufficiency of the laws previously 

 in force respecting alehouses, and that one of its provisions is consider- 

 ably to increase the amount of recognisances required both ft in tin- 

 alehouse-keeper and his sureties. 



In 1 828 a general Act to regulate the granting of alehouse licences 

 was pawed (9 Geo. IV. c. 61), which repealed all former statutes on 

 this subject, and enact* a variety of provisions, of which the following 

 are the most important : 1. Licences are to be granted annually, at a 

 special session of magistrates, appointed and summoned in a manner 

 particularly directed, and to be called the Gem-nil Annual Licensing 

 Meeting, to be holdeu in Middlesex and Surrey, within the first ten 

 days of March, and in every other place between the 20th of August 

 and the 14th of September. Any person who is refused a licence may 

 appeal to the quarter-sessions ; and no justice in to act in an apixsil 

 who wan concerned in the refusal of the licence. '2. Every person 

 intending to apply for a licence must affix a notice of his intention, 

 with the name, abode, and calling of the applicant, on the d..,,, of tin 

 house, and on the door of the church or chapel of the place in which it 

 is situated, on three several Sundays, and must serve a copy "I" it II|N,II 

 one of the ovi.iii.em, and one of the peace officer*. 3. If a riot or 

 tumult happen*, or in expected to happen, two justices may direct any 

 licensed alehouse-keeper to clone his house; and if this order !.. .It 

 obeyed, the keeper of the alehouse is to be deemed not to have main- 

 tained good order therein. 4. The licence is subjected to an 

 -tipulatioii that the keeper of the house shall not adulterate his liquor.* ; 

 that he shall not use falae measures ; that he shall not permit drunken- 

 new, gaming, or disorderly conduct in his house ; that he shall not 



AI.KIIOUSKS. 



101 



sutler pcr-'ii* of notoriously bad character to assemble ti 

 that (except for the reception of travellers) he ahall not o|<en liis li"u-. 

 during divine ten-ice on Sunday* and bolydays. 5. Heavy |>eualtie 

 for repeated offence* against the tenor of the licence are imposed ; and 

 magistrates at sessions are empowered to punish an alehouse-keeper, 

 convicted by a jury of a third offence against the tenor of his licence, 

 by a fine of 1007., or to adjudge hu licence to be forfeited. 



The Act of Parliament, 11 Geo. IV. and 1 Win 1 \ 

 an "Act to permit the general sale of beer and rider l.y retail in 

 England" The following are it* most material provisions: 1. Any 

 householder, desirous of selling molt liquor, by retail, in any house, 

 may obtain an excise licence for that purpose, to be granted by the 

 Commissioners of KM-!-,- in London, and by collector* and supervisor* 

 of excise in the country, upon payment of two guinea*. 2. A list of 

 such licences shall be kept .. -e Office, and be at all times 



open to the inspection of the magistrate*. 3. The applicant for a licence 

 must enter into a bond with a surety for the payment of any penalties 

 imposed for offences against the Act. 4. Any person licensed under 

 the Act, who shall deal in wine or spirits, shall be liable to a jx-ii-ilt \ 

 of 20/. 5. In cases of riot, persons BO licensed shall close their house* 

 :i" 'n the direction of a magistrate. 6. Such persons suffering drunken- 

 ness or disorderly conduct in their houses shall be subject to penalties 

 which are to be increased on a repetition of the offence, and the magis- 

 trates before whom they are convicted may disqualify them from 

 selling beer for two years. 7. Such houses are not to be opened before 

 four in the morning nor after ten in the evening, nor during divine 

 -n ire on Sundays and hoKday.*. 



The effect of this statute was to withdraw the authority of granting 

 licences to houses opened for the sale of ale, beer, and cider, from the 

 local magistrates, in whose hands it had been exclusively vested for 

 nearly 300 years, and to supersede their direct and immediate su]>eriu- 

 tendence of such houses. The consequence of the facility of obtaining 

 licences upon a small pecuniary payment, and without the troublesome 

 and expensive process directed by former statutes, was a rapid multi- 

 plication of alehouses throughout the country, together with very 

 general complaints, especiaDy in the southern and western districts, 

 and amongst the rural population, of a considerable increase of idleness 

 and crime, and of increased and increasing demoralisation among the 

 labouring classes of the people. 



A discussion of the justice of these complaints would be foreign to 

 the purpose of this article. It cannot however be too strongly 

 impressed upon the minds of all, that it is a fatal ciroi t<i consider 

 this question strictly with a view to finance and revenue; these 

 objects, momentous as they undoubtedly are, ought not to supersede 

 those of much more weighty importance, as permanently affecting the 

 moral and intellectual character, as well as the health, comfort, and 

 independence of the lower orders. As a matter of finance, the 

 ragement of the use of intoxicating liquors is considered, l>y \ - 

 potent judges, as of doubtful policy. " For government to offer 

 encouragement to alehouses," says Sir Frederick Morton Eden, in his 

 valuable ' History of the Poor,' " any further than they are wanted i, .r 

 the many useful purposes which they serve among the labouring 

 classes, is to act the port of a fc/o tie ne. Nor ought the public ever 

 to be lulled into an acquiescence by the flattering bait of immediate 

 gain, which ere long they would be obliged to pay back to paupers, in 

 relief, with a heavy interest." 



By 4 4 5 Win. IV. c. 85, the preamble of which recites that much 

 evil has arisen from the management of houses, in which beer and 

 cider are sold by retail under 1 \\'m. IV. c. 64, it is enacted that each 

 beer-seller is to obtain his annual excise licence only on condition of 

 placing in the hands of the excise a certificate of good character, signed 

 by six rated inhabitants of his parish, none of whom must be brewers 

 or maltsters. Such a certificate is not to be required in town- con- 

 taining a population of 5000 and upward.-: but the house to be 

 licensed is to be one rated at 10/. a year. This Aet nuke* .1 di'i 

 between person* who sell a liquor to be drunk on tin- premises and 

 those who sell it only to be dnink elscw 1 



By a Treasury order, beer sold at or under 1 4<'. quart 1 1 

 retailed without a licence: the officers of Excise arc einpow 

 enter such houses and to examine all beer therein. 



By the 8 & 4 Viet. c. 61, which amends l*.th ,,f (lie above ' 

 licence can only be granted to the real occupier of the In. use in which 

 the beer or cider is to be retailed ; and the rated value of neh house 

 is raised to 15/. in towns with a imputation of 10,000 and upwards; iu 

 towns of betwixt 10,000 and 2500, to III. ; and in town* of small 

 the annual value is to 1>c not less than 8/. Every |'rson who applies 

 for a licence must produce a certific.it e from the nverwpr of his being 

 the real occupier of the house, and of 'the amount at whieh it is rated. 

 nt this certificate renders the overseer liable to a 

 penalty of 20/. ; and any person forging a certificate, or making use of 

 a certificate knowing it to be false, is to forfeit 60A 



The hours for opening and closing beershops are now regulated by 

 the above Act. In London and We--t <l within the bound uie; 



of the metropolitan boroughs, th>7re noi ' ' p-n-d earlier than 



5 o'clock in the morning, and the hour of .losing i 12 o'clock; but 

 11 o'clock in any place within the bills of mortality, or any city, town, 

 or place not containing above 2500 inhabitant* ; and iu all sma 

 places, 5 o'clock is the hour for opening, and 10 o'clock for closing. 



