436 



GAMING. 



Penalty for 

 suffering any 

 Lottery to be 

 drawn, &c. 



Justices have 



summary 



jurisdiction. 



5 Geo. 4, 

 c. 83, s. 4, 

 " Instru- 

 ments of 

 Gaming'." 



The same Penalty is also incurred by any person who 

 " shall knowingly suffer to be exercised, kept open, shown, 

 or expose to be played, drawn, or thrown at or in, either 

 by Dice, Lots, Cards, Balls, or by Numbers or Figures, or 

 by any other Way, Contrivance, or Device whatsoever, any 

 such Game or Lottery, in his or her House, Room, or 

 Place" (r/). 



Before the passing of the Vagrant Acts, 3 Greo. 4, c. 40, 

 and 5 Geo. 4, c. 83, Offenders not proceeded against for the 

 above Penalty were punishable as lioyues and Vagabonds, 

 imder 17 Geo. 2, c. o. But though by 5 Geo. 4, c. 83, 

 s. 1, it is enacted "That all provisions heretofore made 

 relative to Rogues and Vagabonds''^ are repealed, yet it 

 would appear that the combined operation of 3 Geo. 4, 

 c. 40, s. 21, and 5 Geo. 4, c. 83, s. 21, continues to Justices 

 of the Peace their jurisdiction under 42 Geo. 3, c. 119 {e). 



By 5 Geo. 4, c. 8-J, s. 4, people playing or betting "in 

 any street, road, highway, or other place, at or with any 

 table or instrument of Gaming, at any Game or pretended 

 Game of Chance, are to be deemed Pogues and Yaga- 

 bonds," and to be liable to imprisonment with hard labour 

 for any term not exceeding three calendar months. The 

 words "instruments of gaming" here signify things des- 

 tined for that purpose, and therefore were held not to apply 

 to halfpence used for pitch and toss (/) ; nor to cards, as, 

 in a case in which the defendant was seen to play with 

 three cards, they were held by Erie, J., not to come within 

 this designation in this statute {g). But it is now provided 

 by the Yagrant Act Amendment Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Yict. 

 c. 38), s. 3, that " every person playing or betting by way of 

 wagering or gaming in any street, road, highway, or other 

 open and public place, or in any open place to which the 

 public have or are permitted to have access, at or with any 

 table or instrument of gaming, or any coin, card, token or 

 other article used as an instrument or means of such wager- 

 ing or gaming at any game or pretended game of chance, 

 shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond within the true in- 

 tent and meaning of 5 Geo. 4, c. 83, and as such may be 

 convicted and punished under the provisions of that Act, 

 or in the discretion of the Justice or Justices trying the 

 case, in lieu of such punishment, by a penalty for the first 



{d) 42 Geo. 3, c. 119, s. 2. 



[e) Case of H. King, Bristol, 

 Dec. 6, 1853 ; S. C. nom. Err/, v. 

 Justices of Bristol, Jan. 11, 1854, 

 Q. B. 



(/) Watson V. Martin, 13 W. R. 

 144. 



{g) li. v. Itoach, Judge's Cham- 

 bers, July 12, 1856. 



