WA(iERS. 415 



A Wager by wliicli A. received from B. one hundred Wager on tlie 

 guineas on tlie 31st of May, 1802, in consideration of pay- j^^*^ ^^ Napo- 

 ing him a guinea a day so long as Napoleon Bonaparte 

 (then First Consul of the French Eepublic) should live, 

 was held to be roid on the grounds of immorality and 

 imjDolicy. This Bet arose out of a conversation upon the 

 probability of his coming to a violent death by assassination 

 or otherwise (b). 



So also a Wager made, before the poll began, between Wager on the 

 two voters with respect to the event of an election of a ^f^^l* o* ^^ 



GiGCtlOU 



member to serve in Parliament, was held to be void, as 

 such contract is corrupt in the eye of the law and against 

 the fundamental principles of the constitution (r). 



Until the late Act of Victoria ((i?), Wagers above a cer- Betting on a 

 tain amount were declared to be illegal by Statute ; now, , ^^^ ^?„ , 



o ^ */ / ? longer iii6^3-l, 



however, the illegality no longer exists, and therefore '^ " 

 Betting on a Eace may now be practised to any extent 

 without any penalty being incurred (e). 



But by the above-mentioned Act (/) it is provided, that Bets not re- 

 " all contracts or agreements, whether by parol or in writ- <^overable. 

 ing, by way of Gaming or Wagering, shall be null and 

 void ; and no suit shall be brought or maintained in any 

 Court of Law or Equity for recovering any sum of money 

 or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager, or 

 which shall have been deposited in the hands of any per- 

 son to abide the event on which any Wager shall have 

 been made; but this enactment is not "to apply to any 

 subscription or contribution, or agreement to subscribe or 

 contribute, for or toward any Plate, Prize or sum of Money, 

 to be awarded to the winner or winners of any lawful 

 Game, Sport, Pastime, or Exercise" (/). 



However, a party depositing a sum of money with a Deposit re- 

 Stakeholder, by way of Wager and not as a Stake (g), may f^^^^^'"^^^^® 

 recover his money back, if he give Notice to the Stake- event, 

 holder, before the event comes off, that he shall break off 

 the Bet, and require him to return his money. In a case 

 tried before Chief Justice Wilde at Nisi Prius in the Court 

 of Common Pleas, Westminster, Nov. 30th, 1846, it ap- 

 peared that a match in harness had been made between one 

 Isaacs, a Jew dustman, and the plaintiff, who was a Cab 



(i) Gilbert v. iS>/kes, 16 East, (r) See the Eules of Eacing, 



150. ' Appendix, Part 3. 



(c) Allen V. Hearn, 1 T. R. 56. (/) 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, s. 18. 



{(I) 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, s. 15. (y) Distinction taken in Connor 



V. Qi<ic/c, cited 2 W. Ela. 708. 



