458 



GAlSfING HOUSES. 



Duty of 



Overseers of 

 the poor. 



Penalty 

 where Con- 

 stable neg- 

 lects his 

 duty. 



Setting up 

 or playing at 

 Hazard, &c. 



Sufficient 

 evidence that 

 Hazard has 

 been played. 



Rent of a 



Gaming 



House. 



A subscrip- 

 tion Club. 



cretion, take security for such person's good beliaviour in 

 the meantime (;:). 



The Overseers of the Poor of the parish or place are to 

 jiay the constable the reasonable expenses of prosecution, 

 and on conviction 10/. to each of the two inhabitants, on 

 penalty of forfeiting double the sum (r/). 



Any constable who may neglect or refuse upon such 

 Notice to go before any Justice of the Peace, or to enter 

 into such recognizance, or may be wilfully negligent in 

 carrying on such prosecution, is for every offence to forfeit 

 20/. to each inhabitant giving such Notice (b). 



Any person setting up the Grames of the Ace of Hearts, 

 Pharaoh, Basset or Ilazant, is liable on summary conviction 

 before a Justice of the Peace to a penalty of '200/. And 

 any person playing or staking at any of the Games is 

 liable in the same manner to a penalty of 50/. (c). 



On an information before two Magistrates under this 

 Statute (d) " for setting up, maintaining and keeping a 

 certain Grame, to be determined by the chance of Dice, 

 called Plazard," the proof was that certain persons were 

 found in the House playing at Hazard with Cards ; that 

 a Dice-box and Dice were found on the table the subse- 

 quent day, and these facts were held sufficient to warrant 

 the Justices to conclude that the Game of Hazard was 

 there plaj^ed (e) . 



If a person knowingly lets a House for the purpose of 

 its being used as a Gaming House, he cannot recover the 

 rent. This defence w^as set up in the case of Parsey v. 

 Edmonds (./), but as it was not proved the Jury found a 

 verdict for the plaintiff. 



An establishment which is carried on as an ordinary 

 Club, the members being regularly balloted for, and 

 chargeable with an entrance fee of ten guineas, and the 

 like for a yearly subscription, is held not to be a common 

 Gaming House, though it appear that in part of the House 

 Whist is generally played at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 and Hazard at night after supper, which is provided 

 gratuitously for the members by the proprietor (r/). But 



{z) 25 Geo. 2, c. 36, s. 6. 



(ff) Ibid. s. 5. 



{b) Ibid. s. 7. 



\c) 12 Geo. 2, 0. 28, ss. 2, 3, 

 Appendix ; M'Xinnell v. Robinson, 

 3 M. & W. 438. 



{fl) 12 Geo. 2, c. 28, s. 2, Ap- 

 pendix. 



{e) Rex V. Liston, 5 T. R. 390. 



(/) Parsey v. Edmonds, before 

 Mr. Baron Martin, Ex. N. P. Jan. 

 20, 1853. 



{g) Crockford v. Lord Maidstone, 

 8 L. T. 217; and see S. C, Ap- 

 pendix. 



