99 



Now and again cases of cock-fighting are 

 detected by the police or the agents of the 

 R.S.P.C.A. and legal proceedings follow 



A test case was decided in 1863 by the Court 

 of Appeal (Morley and others v. Greenhalgh) : 

 the cockers were convicted of an offence under 

 12 and 13 Vic., and successfully appealed on 

 the ground that the old stone quarry where 

 the main was fought did not constitute a 

 "place" within the meaning of the Act. It 

 being obvious that the old quarry was not 

 "kept" for cocking, the conviction was 

 necessarily quashed . 



Another case in the same year which excited 

 considerable feeling was that against the 

 Marquis of Hastings, who fought a main on 

 his own premises at Castle Donington 



The last famous case of illegal cocking in 

 London took place on 2ist April, 1865, when 

 the proprietor of the Queen's Head Tavern, 

 Queen's Head Passage, Great Windmill Street, 

 was summoned for allowing a cock-fi^ht on his 



o o 



premises, and a large number of participators 

 and onlookers of all social grades were sum- 

 moned for " abetting. " The defendants, by 

 the way, included W. Gilliver, grandson of the 

 Roval feeder to George III and IV. All were 



J o 



convicted and fined 



