

LEGAL DECISIONS. 359 



High Court Decisions. These figures were obtained under 

 conditions which need never occur in practice ; indeed, the 

 decision of the Court of Queen's Bench in the case of Dyke 

 v. Gower makes it necessary that they must not occur, as it 

 has been decided that a vendor is bound to sell milk in its natural 

 state ; it is equally an offence against the law to sell milk which 

 has been deprived of its cream by natural rising when the milk 

 is undisturbed, and to sell that wilfully adulterated with skim 

 milk. 



In the recent appeal case of Hunt v. Richardson it was held 

 by three Judges that no offence against the Sale of Food and 

 Drugs Acts was committed by the sale of milk which was proved 

 to be in the same state as yielded by the cows, even if far below 

 the Board of Agriculture limits ; while two other Judges were 

 of the opinion that the case should be remitted to the justices 

 to find whether the milk, although in the same state as yielded 

 by the cows, was of merchantable quality. This decision has 

 been made use of to a considerable extent in the defence of 

 prosecutions, especially for the abstraction of cream ; in the 

 author's opinion, however, too much stress has been laid on the 

 necessity of proving that the milk has not been tampered with, 

 and far too little on proving that the natural separation oi 

 cream from milk on standing has been counteracted. To take 

 an example, if a sample of milk contained 2*5 per cent, of fat, 

 the chance deduced from the results given in Table CXXIII. 

 would be about 1,000 to 1 against its being genuine in the months 

 of May or June, and far greater in other months ; while the chances 

 of its having attained that composition from the natural rising 

 of cream not being counteracted by mixing would be something 

 like 1,000 to 1 on. It is quite evident that to prove that the 

 milk was sold in the same state as yielded by the cow, very 

 definite evidence must be forthcoming of careful and complete 

 admixture of the milk every time that a portion is withdrawn 

 from a bulk after standing any appreciable time. As a rule 

 there is much evidence as to non-tampering, and but little as to 

 admixture, and the defence is really very weak. Another weak- 

 ness of the defence is that frequently colouring matter is added, 

 and this, though it may not affect the composition appreciably, 

 prevents the proof that the milk was sold in the same state as 

 yielded by the cows. 



Practical Allowances for Pat Variation. It is, however, 

 fortunately not a matter of extreme difficulty for a vendor to 

 comply with the spirit of the former judgment ; for instance, in the 

 sale of milk from a counter pan it is easy to stir the milk every 

 half hour, or, what is preferable, before serving each customer. 

 When milk is delivered in the streets the churn can be fitted 



