490 
OLDHAM COUNTY COURT. 
His Honour. —I must have some person coming here with authority. I will not have 
a person standing up and saying he represents some society, and that they wish a penal 
statute to be enforced against a man. 
Mr Flux. —I can well understand your Honour. At all times actions for penalties 
are opposed to the feelings of an English gentleman; but the recovery of these penalties 
is cast upon the parties I have the honour to represent, and the reluctance they have in 
this matter is shown by the very lengthy correspondence I have in my hands. 
His Honour. —But an individual cannot sue except the penalty is given to a common 
informer. 
Mr. Flux. —If your Honour so rules, I am satisfied you will give me the opportunity 
which a short time ago you offered to my friend on the opposite side. 
His Honour. —What was that ? 
Mr. Flux. —The opportunity of submitting the point to that court which your Honour 
at first thought should be the one to take prior cognizance of this case. 
His Honour. —Yes. 
Mr. Flux. —But it is my duty also to point out— 
His Honour. —But I have great doubts of any right you have, as an individual, to 
sue. It is not given in the Act of Parliament, and therefore I am inclined to nonsuit 
you. You must apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench to make an order for me to pro¬ 
ceed with the case, seeing that I have doubts of the jurisdiction, that I am against the 
right of an individual to sue, and the Court of Queen’s Bench would have, as the 
general superintendent of the legislature of the country, to order me to proceed. If 
you get an order, I will throw nothing in your way. I only say that my duty is, as 
there is no person to whom power is given to recover these penalties, not to the in¬ 
former, or anything of that kind, that nobody can sue for them but her Majesty’s 
Government, her Majesty herself, and it must be in her name. Therefore I cannot 
proceed to charge this man with penalties in such a case. 
Mr. Flux. —The words of your Honour would apply with the utmost force to an or¬ 
dinary case, but I must submit to your Honour that this Act of Parliament has cast 
upon those whom I represent, not only this duty of suing for penalties, but the great 
principle of their duty is incident to the protection of the public, as detailed in this Act 
of Parliament. 
His Honour .— I Avould rather you stated this to the Court above, which has authority 
to order me to proceed, and I will willingly proceed under their authority, when you 
have obtained it. 
Mr. Flux. —The recognition of this body as having statutory power has already been 
established by the Court of Queen’s Bench, but not on this particular point. 
His Honour .— My point is this: here is a penalty imposed on an individual under a 
particular Act, but there is nobody entitled to sue for it by the Act imposing that 
penalty, and therefore it must become due to the Crown, and must be sued for by au¬ 
thority of the Crown, and until I am clear upon the matter I will not proceed with the 
case. 
Mr. Flux.- —I should not discharge my duty to the Court, or those whom I represent, 
if I did not call your Honour’s very particular attention to the statute. At the head of 
p. 13 of that book, Pharmacy Act, June 30, 1832, c. 16, s. 12, already quoted, which is 
the property of the Court, sent for the Court’s information by one of her Majesty’s de¬ 
partments— 
His Flonour .— It is an Act of Parliament. Where it ■comes from does not make one 
farthing’s difference to me. It has been passed by the legislature, and, as a matter of 
course, is, like all other Acts of Parliament, sent for the use of a public Court. 
Mr. Flux. —Yes. The law of the land is this. Penalties are to be sued for as shown 
by this clause here (sect. 13, Pharmacy Act), which I respectfully point to your 
Honour’s attention. 
His Honour. — But, however, time can be of no consequence in this case ; and I don’t 
wish to be taken by surprise in a case which appears to me to be worthy of great con¬ 
sideration, and therefore I wish it to stand over to the next Court, and if you will furnish 
me with the Acts of Parliament, I shall go into the matter. 
Mr. Flux. —In anticipation of this I did my utmost to get the case so prepared that 
it might come before you with as little preliminary trouble as possible, and if, after 
hearing me, your Honour should consider it a matter of propriety or convenience to 
defer the judgment of the Court, I have only respectfully to bow. 
