SYNOPSIS OF OFFENCES.

Statute.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS (Note 2).

1. Mixing, &c. with intent to sell.] No person shall mix, colour, stain or powder, or order or permit any other person to mix, colour, stain or powder, any article of food with any ingredient or material so as to render the article injurious to health with intent that the same may be sold in that state (Note 3),

and

2. Selling any such article. No person shall sell any such article so
mixed, coloured, stained or powdered.

[MEM. The inspector may lay the information although the
purchase was made by his agent. Hirder v. Scott, 44 J. P.
520.]

38 & 39 Vict,

c. 63, s. 3.

shall be in writing signed by him, or by his agent on his behalf, and may be transmitted as a registered letter by the post in the ordinary way, and shall be deemed to have been served at the time when it would be delivered in the ordinary course of the post.

Application of Provisions respecting Appeals to Quarter Sessions to Appeals under prior Acts.] By sect. 32, "Where a person is authorized by any past act to appeal from the conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction to a court of general or quarter sessions, he may appeal to such court, subject to the conditions and regulations contained in this act with respect to an appeal to a court of general or quarter sessions: "Provided that where any such appeal is in accordance with the conditions and regulations prescribed by the act authorizing the appeal, so far as the same is unrepealed, such appeal shall not be deemed invalid by reason only that it is not in accordance with the conditions and regulations contained in this act.

"Where any past act, so far as unrepealed, prescribes that any appeal from the conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction shall be made to the next court of general or quarter sessions, such appeal may be made to the next practicable court of general or quarter sessions having jurisdiction in the county borough or place for which the court of summary jurisdiction acted, and held not less than fifteen days after the day on which the decision was given upon which the conviction or order appealed against was founded."

2" ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS: " Interpretation of Words.] By the 2nd section it is enacted that "the term 'food' shall include every article used for food or drink by man other than drugs or water. The term 'drug' shall include medicine for internal or external use; the term 'county' shall include every county, riding, and division, as well as every county of a city or town not being a borough; the term 'justices' shall include any police and stipendiary magistrate invested with the powers of a justice of the peace in England and any divisional justices in Ireland.'

3. Tea, Special Provisions as to.] By sect. 30 it is enacted that from and after the 1st of January, 1876, "all tea imported as merchandise into and landed at any port in Great Britain or Ireland, shall be subject to examination by persons to be appointed by the commissioners of customs, subject to the approval of the Treasury, for an inspection and analysis thereof, for which purpose samples may, when deemed necessary by such inspector, be taken and with all convenient speed be examined by the analysts to be so appointed; and if upon such analysis the same shall be found to be mixed with other

substances or exhausted tea, the same shall not be delivered unless with the sanction of the said commissioners, and on such terms and conditions as they shall see fit to direct, either for home consumption, or for use as ship's stores, or for exportation; but if on such inspection and analysis it shall appear that such tea is in the opinion of the analyst unfit for human food, the same shall be forfeited and destroyed, or otherwise disposed of, in such manner as the said commissioners may direct."

By sect. 31 it is enacted that, "Tea, to which the term 'exhausted' is applied in this act, shall mean and include any tea which has been deprived of its proper quality, strength, or virtue by steeping, infusion, decoction, or other means."

4 Special Provision as to Time for Proceedings.] By sect. 10 of the 42 & 43 Vict. c. 30, it is enacted that, "In all prosecutions under the principal act, and notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty of the said act, the summons to appear before the magistrates shall be served upon the person charged with violating the provisions of the said act within a reasonable time, and in the case of a perishable article not exceeding twenty-eight days from the time of the purchase from such person for test purposes of the food or drug, for the sale of which, in contravention to the terms of the principal act, the seller is rendered liable to prosecution, and particulars of the offence or offences against the said act of which the seller is accused, and also the name of the prosecutor, shall be stated on the summons, and the summons shall not be made returnable in a less time than seven days from the day it is served upon the person summoned."

66

5 Mitigation of Penalties.] By sect. 20, Every penalty herein imposed may be reduced or mitigated according to the judgment of the justices."

6 Appeal to the Quarter Sessions.] By sect. 23, "Any person who has been convicted of any offence punishable... by this act by any justices may appeal in England to the next general or quarter sessions of the peace which shall be held for the city, town, county or place wherein such conviction shall have been made, provided that such person enter into a recognizance within three days next after such conviction with two sufficient sureties conditioned to try such appeal, and to be forthcoming to abide the judgment and determination of the court at such general or quarter sessions, and to pay such costs as shall be by such court awarded; and the justices before whom such conviction shall be had are hereby empowered and required to take such recognizance; and the court at such general or quarter sessions are hereby required to hear and determine the matter of such appeal, and may award such costs to the party appealing or appealed against as they or he shall think fit." See also Note 1, pp. 283, 284.

SYNOPSIS OF OFFENCES.

Statute.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS-continued.
3. Mixing Drugs with Injurious Ingredients with Intent to sell same.]
No person shall, except for the purpose of compounding as
hereinafter described (i. e., composed of ingredients in accord-
ance with the demand of the purchaser, s. 7), mix, colour, stain
or powder or order or permit any other person to mix, colour,
stain or powder any drug with any ingredient or material so as
to affect injuriously the quality or potency of such drug with
intent that the same may be sold in that state.

4. Selling any such Drug.] No person shall sell any such drug so
mixed, coloured, stained or powdered (Note 7).

38 & 39 Vict.

c. 63, s. 4.

5. Selling Food and Drugs not of the proper Nature, Substance and Quality.] No person shall sell to the prejudice of the purchaser any article of food, or any drug, which is not of the nature, substance and quality of the article demanded by such purchaser.

The foregoing is not an Offence

(1.) Where any matter or ingredient not injurious to health has
been added to the food or drug because the same is required
for the production or preparation thereof as an article of
commerce in a fit state for carriage or consumption, and
not fraudulently to increase the bulk, weight or measure of
the food or drug, or conceal the inferior quality thereof.
(2.) Where the food or drug is a proprietary medicine, or is the
subject of a patent in force, and is supplied in the state
required by the specification of the patent.

(3.) Where the food or drug is compounded as in this act men

tioned.

(4.) Where the food or drug is unavoidably mixed with some ex-
traneous matter in the process of collection or preparation. 8

Id. s. 6.

7 Certificate of Analyst primâ facie Evidence-Analyst may be called.] By sect. 21 it is enacted that, "At the hearing of the information in such proceedings, the production of the certificate of the analyst shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein stated, unless the defendant shall require that the analyst shall be called as a witness, and the parts of the articles retained by the person who purchased the article shall be produced." Defendant may tender himself and Wife to be examined.] By the same section it is enacted, that "the defendant may, if he think fit, tender himself and wife to be examined on his behalf, and he or she shall, if he so desire, be examined accordingly." 8 Officer, Inspector, or Constable may obtain a Sample of Milk at the Place of Delivery to submit to Analyst.] By sect. 3 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 30), it is enacted that "any medical officer of health, inspector of nuisances, or inspector of weights and measures, or any inspector of a market, or any police constable under the direction and at the cost of the local authority appointing such officer, inspector, or constable, or charged with the execution of this act, may procure at the place of delivery any sample of any milk in course of delivery to the purchaser or consignee in pursuance of any contract for the sale to such purchaser or consignee of such milk; and such officer, inspector, or constable, if he suspect the same to have been sold contrary to any of the provisions of the principal act, shall submit the same to be

Two at Not exceeding £50 for first of

Petty

Sessions
(s. 20).

Yes

If prosecu-
tion by an

Nos. 4, 5,

fence (s. 3), recoverable under (Note 6). officer of the p. 89.

11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, s. 19
(Note 5).
Every subsequent offence after
a conviction to be a misde-
meanor, punishable with im-
prisonment with hard labour
not exceeding 6 months (s. 3).

Not exceeding £20, recoverable Yes.

under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43
(s. 19), may be reduced or
mitigated according to the
judgment of the justices
(s. 20).

authority
who ap-
pointed ana-
lyst, then to
be paid to
such autho-
rity.
If otherwise,
then accord-
ing to the law
regulating
the applica-
tion of penal-
ties for

offences
punishable in

u summary
manner.

analysed, and the same shall be analysed and proceedings shall be taken and penalties on conviction be enforced in like manner in all respects as if such officer, inspector, or constable had purchased the same from the seller or consignee under section thirteen of the principal act."

Penalty for Refusal to give Milk for Analysis.] By sect. 4, "the seller or consignor or any person or persons entrusted by him for the time being with the charge of such milk, if he shall refuse to allow such officer, inspector, or constable to take the quantity which such officer, inspector, or constable shall require for the purpose of analysis, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

Extension of Act as to sale in Streets, &c.] By sect. 5, "Any street or open place of public resort shall be held to come within the meaning of section seventeen of the principal act."

The offence created by this section does not depend upon any pecuniary or personal prejudice to the purchaser, but is committed in the case of a sale to an inspector appointed under section thirteen to carry out the provisions of the act, if an ordinary customer would have been prejudiced by a sale to him (Hoyle v. Hitchman, 40 Law T. Rep. 252). This decision is now in accordance with the express provisions of sect. 2 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act Amendment Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 30), which is

SYNOPSIS OF OFFENCES.

Statute.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS-continued.
6. Selling compound Articles of Food or Drugs not composed in accordance
with demand of Purchaser.] No person shall sell any compound
article of food or compound drug which is not composed of
ingredients in accordance with the demand of the purchaser.

[Provided that no person shall be guilty of any such offence as
aforesaid in respect of the sale of an article of food or a drug
mixed with any matter or ingredient not injurious to health
and not intended fraudulently to increase its bulk, weight or
measure, or conceal its inferior quality, if at the time of de-
livering such article or drug he shall supply to the person
receiving the same a notice by a label distinctly and legibly|
written or printed on or with the article or drug to the effect
that the same is mixed. Sect. 8.]

38 & 39 Vict.

c. 63, s. 7.

7. Abstracting any part of an Article before Sale and Selling without|| Notice.] No person shall, with the intent that the same may be sold in its altered state without notice, abstract from an article of food any part of it so as to affect injuriously its quality, substance or nature, and no person shall sell any article so altered without making disclosure of the alteration.

Id. s. 9.

as follows:-"In any prosecution under the provisions of the principal act for selling to the prejudice of the purchaser any article of food or any drug which is not of the nature, substance, and quality of the article demanded by such purchaser, it shall be no defence to any such prosecution to allege that the purchaser, having bought only for analysis, was not prejudiced by such sale. Neither shall it be a good defence to prove that the article of food or drug in question, though defective in nature or in substance or in quality, was not defective in all three respects."

Spirits.] This section, as applicable to spirits, has given rise to considerable difficulties, and since from the circumstance that pure spirit is unfit for human consumption it is never sold by the retail dealer except in a reduced or lowered condition, great uncertainty has prevailed as to the extent of reduction to which it may be subjected without it losing its distinctive attribute. Hence we have reported the cases of Webb v. Knight, L. R., 2 Q. B. D. 530; 46 L. R., M. C. 264; 46 Law T. Rep. 791; Pashler v. Stemmit, 35 Law T. Rep. 862; 40 J. P. 357. These difficulties have now been removed by sect. 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 30), which enacts that, "In determining whether an offence has been committed under section six of the said act by selling to the prejudice of the purchaser spirits not adulterated otherwise than by the admixture of water, it shall be a good defence to prove that such admixture has not reduced the spirit more than twenty-five degrees under proof for brandy, whisky, or rum, or thirty-five degrees under proof for gin." Notice that Spirits sold are mixed.] S., a publican, stuck up a notice in his house "All spirits sold here are mixed." An inspector of weights and measures sent a messenger to buy some whisky, nothing more being said on either side. It was afterwards found that the whisky was mixed with water, and was thirty per cent. under proof. S. was charged under section six with selling whisky not of the nature, &c. of whisky. Held, that as the purchaser was informed beforehand of the mixture, the purchase was not to his prejudice, and that S. had committed no offence.

Power to Justices to have Articles of Food and Drugs analysed.] By the 22nd section,