PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN V. MARWOOD. 555 
consequence, he yesterday delivered the judgment, which, as I said before, was in favour of 
the plaintiff. I will now read the opinion which has been obtained from the Attorney- 
General, aud Mr. Bullock, of the Norfolk Circuit; it is as follows. (See p. 553.) 
The Judge. —Who is R. P. Collier? You said you would bring me the opinion of the 
Attorney- General. 
Mr. Flux. —R. P. Collier is her Majesty’s Attorney-General. 
The Judge. —Not the Attorney-General; is he not the Solicitor-General? I want the 
Attorney-General’s opinion. 
Mr. Flux. —Sir R. P. Collier has, for some time, been her Majesty’s Attorney-General. 
The Judge. —This is an Act of Parliament which gives to the Pharmaceutical Society the 
privilege of suing for certain penalties, but is there any view given, or has the Attorney- 
General pointed out any direction in the Act of Parliament to alter the character of this 
case ? It appears to me, that this is made a misdemeanour; the man who sells improperly 
against the Act of Parliament and is made liable to penalty, is by Act of Parliament declared 
guilty, in my opinion, of misdemeanour. I want to know, has the Attorney-General been 
asked, or has he handed over any reason upon which he founds his opinion that this may be 
brought by action. 
Mr. Flux. —The whole matter was laid before the Attorney-General, in a case prepared 
by me, so as fairly to raise the points as completely as possible, aud he devoted a very 
lengthy consultation to the full consideration of it. The result of that consultation was the 
opinion which I have read, and which I venture to submit, goes to the whole matter. As 
respects the question, as to the jurisdiction of the County Court, you may remember that it 
was considered when last I was here, and that you offered to the other side the opportunity 
of going to the Court of Queen’s Bench, upon the question, whether the County Court had 
jurisdiction, and that the other side then said that they did not wish for that opportunity. 
Mr. Blackburne. —We did not say that we did not wish, we said that we had not the 
means to go. 
Mr. Flux. —Either the one way or the other. 
The Judge. —There is no doubt there is a great value attached to this Act of Parliament, 
because the penalty rests upon a matter that affects the public interests. 
Mr. Flux. —Your honour will see that this penalty is the only protection interposed by 
Parliament for the safety of the public in the matter of the sale of poisons, by persons not 
possessing the proper qualifications. The preamble of the Act shows the evil which the Act 
was intended to remedy, and if I cannot recover the penalty upon the facts which it will be 
my duty to lay before you, the defendant will go forth from this Court to the world, bear¬ 
ing the sanction of the Act of Parliament to sell or vend poisons to any extent. 
The Judge. —I deny that; Parliament having made a certain thing a misdemeanour it is 
a matter of criminal law, and not of a civil action, and therefore I want to know whether 
that has been brought to the notice of the Attorney-General. 
Mr. Flux. —The word “ misdemeanour ” does not appear in the Act of Parliament, in 
relation to the offence which is the basis of this action. 
The Judge. —Perhaps; but I say that the man who sells contrary to the Act of Parliament, 
and is liable to a penalty in consequence, is, in my opinion, guilty of a misdemeanour. 
Mr. Flux. —I once laid a case before the present Lord Chief Baron, when he was 
Attorney-General, and Mr. Mellish, two of the most eminent lawyers of the day, and they 
advised me that offences under the Pharmacy Act, which are on the same footing as offences 
under this Act, were not misdemeanours. I should be in a position to produce that opinion 
to your honour if I were in London, and had access to my papers, though I will pledge my¬ 
self to produce that case, and the opinion bearing the signature of Sir Pitzroy Kelly and 
Mr. Mellish. 
The Judge. —I do not doubt your word at all, but I confess I cannot convince myself 
that where an Act of Parliament declares that a man shall be liable to a penalty of £5, and 
says nothing of how it shall be recovered, it can become a matter recoverable in an action, 
except at the suit of the Attorney-General. 
Mr. Flux. —It is possible that your honour has overlooked these words in section 15, in 
relation to penalties, “The same may be sued for, recovered, and dealt with in the manner 
provided by the Pharmacy Act, for the recovery of penalties under that Act.” The atten¬ 
tion of the Attorney-General having been brought to this, he has written this opinion, “The 
action musf be brought under section 15 of the ‘Pharmacy Act, 1868,’ and in the manner 
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