inspector, and for any police officer, when required by any of the said officials, to enter any shop or other place in which foods or drugs are exposed for sale or are kept or prepared to be sold or disposed of, and to inspect the same.

ART. 162. It will lie on the person in whose possession such foods or drugs shall be found to prove that the same were not intended to be sold for food or drugs.

ART. 164. It shall be lawful for the aforesaid officers, in the event of their finding in any place that any food or drugs which are deteriorated, infected, or otherwise unwholesome, or injurious to health, or which are not regularly stamped in the cases in which stamping is required under this ordinance or under any regulations thereunder are sold, or exposed for sale, or kept, or prepared for sale or disposal, to seize and take away such articles.

ART. 165. It shall likewise be lawful for the persons mentioned in article 161 to cause to be delivered to them, on payment of the proper price, samples of such articles for inspection or analysis.

Any vendor who refuses to deliver samples on the above condition shall be sentenced to a fine of not less than £1 sterling.

ART. 166. When samples of food or drugs are taken for the purpose of analysis, the samples shall be sealed and signed by the person from whom the articles are seized; should the latter refuse or be unable to sign, the signature of the authority effecting the seizure will suffice.

ART. 167. Any buyer may, likewise, in effecting the purchase, declare to the vendor that he intends to have the goods bought examined or analyzed.

In such case he shall, before leaving the place in which the purchase was made, propose to the seller to divide the article bought into three parts; and should his offer be accepted, he shall seal or tie up each of the said parts, deliver one to the vendor, keep one himself for any future necessary reference, and deliver the other to the public health department for examination or analysis.

If the seller do not accept the offer of the purchaser to divide the samples purchased in his presence, the officer of the public health department to whom the sample is delivered for analysis shall divide the same into two parts, and shall seal or fasten up one of those parts, and shall cause it to be delivered, either upon receipt of the sample or when he delivers the certificate of the analysis, to the purchaser, who shall keep that part in order to produce it should any proceedings be subsequently instituted.

ART. 168. Should it appear in the cases referred to in articles 165, 166, and 167, or in any other case, that any food or drug has been sold, exposed for sale, kept for sale, or supplied by way of compensation to dependent persons in contravention of any of the provisions of this ordinance, the police shall, on the report of the public health department, institute against the vendor such proceedings in a competent court as the case may call for.

ART. 169. In any such proceedings the court may order the articles seized or the sample taken to be examined by competent persons to be appointed by the court as experts.

Should the articles seized have to be analyzed, the court shall appoint, for carrying out the analysis, one or more analytical chemists attached to the public health department, and, if any of the latter shall have made the analysis before proceedings were instituted, the court shall require such analyst to confirm the report on oaths.

The court shall have power to give further instructions to the said analytical chemist or chemists; and to appoint other persons to give opinions based on the results obtained by the said analytical chemist or chemists from the analysis.

The examination or analysis shall be made on all the articles seized, or on a portion thereof, as the court, after having heard, if necessary, the opinion of the experts, shall direct.

ART. 170. The persons appointed as aforesaid shall make a report to the court in writing, which shall be read in open court.

ART. 171. The court, on finding that an offense against the provisions of this ordinance has been committed, shall sentence the person guilty of such offense to the punishment applicable to such person according to circumstances, to pay all judicial costs, including the fee for the examination or analysis performed, or a portion thereof, and shall, in the cases mentioned in article 180, order the forfeiture of all the articles or of such of them as are spoiled, infected, or otherwise unwholesome or noxious. Should it appear, on the contrary, that no contravention was committed, the court shall condemn the Government, represented by the public health department, to pay to the defendant compensation for any damage to the articles seized, or to any part thereof, arising from the analysis or examination above referred to, and to pay the judicial costs incurred by the party accused.

ART. 172. Provided that, should the party accused, on the day appointed for the hearing of the case and before the hearing commences, allege that another person named by him has committed the contravention with which he is charged, without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, such other person shall be summoned, and should the original defendant satisfy the court, on the contravention being proved, that the contravention was committed by the other defendant without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, he shall be exempted from all punishment and the other defendant shall be punished; but the court shall order the articles to be confiscated, whenever they are subject to be confiscated according to law.

ART. 173. In the case of proceedings under article 9, the vendor shall be exempt from all punishment should he prove to the satisfaction of the court that he did not know that the article of food or drug sold, exposed for sale, or kept for sale by him was so mixed, colored, or powdered as mentioned in the article above referred to, and that he could not with ordinary diligence have obtained that knowledge.

In the case of proceedings under article 10 or 12, the vendor shall likewise be exempt from all punishment should he prove that he bought the article as of the kind, substance, and quality required by the buyer, on a written guaranty to that effect, and that he was not aware, and could not with ordinary diligence have become aware, that the article was otherwise, and that he sold it in the same state in which he bought it.

The defendant shall, however, in the case contemplated in the preceding paragraph, be sentenced to costs should he fail to give notice of the plea referred to in that paragraph before the hearing of the

case.

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ART. 174. Whoever shall infringe the provisions of articles 3, 4, 5, 6,15, * * * 17, 18, 19, * or of clauses 1 and 3 of article 129 shall be condemned by the court of judicial police to a fine not exceeding £20, or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, or with both punishments.

In cases of small importance the offender shall be condemned to fine, or to detention, or to both punishments.

ART. 175. Whoever shall infringe the provisions of articles 7 * * * and 9 shall be condemned by the court referred to in the preceding article to fine not exceeding £50.

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ART. 176. Whoever shall infringe the provisions of articles 10, 12, 13. * * and of the last paragraph of article 129 shall be condemned by the court referred to in the preceding articles to fine and in cases of small importance to fine not less than 10 shillings.

ART. 177. The court which has condemned the accused party may order the registrar to cause a notice to be published three times in the Government Gazette and in two other periodical newspapers containing the name of the condemned party and a summary of the decision. The cost of the publication of that notice shall be recoverable from the condemned party by an action in the civil court.

ART. 178. Whoever shall offend against the other provisions of this ordinance, not contemplated in the preceding articles of this chapter, or against the provisions of any regulations which shall be made under this ordinance, except the regulations referred to in articles 174 and 176, shall be punished with fine or with detention;

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ART. 179. The provisions of articles 174, 175, 176, and 178 shall obtain whenever a higher punishment is not applicable according to the criminal laws, or whenever the offense is not specially provided for in any other law. In the first case the provisions of the criminal laws shall be applied, and in the second case the provisions of such other law.

ART. 180. When any of the contraventions enumerated in article 174, except contraventions of article 16 [not quoted], are declared to have been committed, the articles shall be confiscated, even though the accused party be exempted from the punishment on the grounds stated in the first paragraph of article 173.

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It is left to the discretion of the court to permit the condemned party to export the said articles, or to use them for industrial purposes after they have been reduced to such a state as to be unfit for human food. The court, before giving any such permit, shall hear the chief government medical officer or one of the medical officers of health on oath, and shall suspend the order for the confiscation of the articles until the expiration of the term which shall be fixed by the court for their exportation or for their reduction to the state above mentioned under the direction of the competent authority.

See ordinance of Dec. 30, 1922, p. 270 of this handbook.

ART. 181. Any person who, after having been senteneed for a contravention of the provisions of article 174, 175, or 176, commits another contravention of the provisions of those articles within three months from the date on which the punishment was undergone or condoned, shall be liable to be punished:

(1) In case of a subsequent commission of any of the contraventions referred to in the first paragraph of article 174, with an increase of the fine or of the imprisonment up to double the amount or term:

(2) In case of a subsequent commission of any of the contraventions referred to in the second paragraph of article 174. with an increase of fine up to double the amount, or with detention, or with the two punishments at the same time;

(3) In case of a subsequent commission of any of the contraventions referred to in article 175, with detention or with imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months:

(4) In case of a second commission of any of the contraventions referred to in article 176, with fine not less than £10 and not exceeding £40 sterling, and in case of any further commissions of the said contraventions, with fine not less than £20 and not exceeding £100. Any person who, after having been sentenced for a contravention of the provisions of this ordinance, commits, within three months from the date on which the punishment was undergone or condoned. a contravention of any of the provisions of this ordinance not referred to in the article dealing with the contravention for which he was first sentenced, shall be liable to be punished:

(1) By an increase of fine up to double the amount, if the punishment for the new contravention be that provided by the criminal laws for contraventions;

(2) In other cases, by a punishment higher by one degree than that prescribed for the new offense.

In cases of a third or subsequent commission of the same contravention by shopkeepers, sellers, or other persons exercising arts. trades, or other occupations under a license from a public authority, it shall be lawful for the court to withdraw the license of the offender. or to suspend it for any time at its discretion, if the contravention be connected with the exercise of any such art, trade, or other occupation.

ART. 182. In case of any contravention against the provisions of this ordinance, the court, besides awarding punishment, shall order the offender, whenever it may be necessary, to remove the nuisance caused by the contravention or, according to circumstances, to carry out the law within a period, sufficient for that object, to be fixed by the court; and the offender, if he fails to comply with such order within that period, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £2 sterling for every day during which the nuisance or the noncompliance with the law shall have continued after the lapse of the said period.

ART. 183. The court may also order that the nuisance be removed, or that the law be carried out, by the police at the expense of the offender, who, in any such case, may be compelled to refund such expense, by a warrant issued by the said court.

ART. 184. Any proceedings for offenses mentioned in this ordinance shall be instituted by the police in the court of judicial police of Valletta when the offense has been committed in Malta, and in the court of judicial police for the islands of Gozo and Comino when the offense has been committed in those islands.

ART. 185. In the case of the offenses referred to in article 176, criminal action may be taken by the party who has suffered damage according to the provisions contained in the criminal laws, provided that such action has not been taken by the police.

In the case contemplated in the preceding paragraph, the superintendent of public health shall be notified of the summons at the expense of the complainant, and shall be admitted to produce evidence as if he were a party to the case.

ART. 186. In the case referred to in the first paragraph of the preceding article, and saving the provision of article 193, the court which declares that the offense was committed may direct that any part of the fines to which the offender is condemned be paid to the complainant in compensation for the expense of the analysis and for any other expense to the reimbursement of which the court shall consider him entitled.

The portion of the fine so awarded to the complainant shall be paid to him by the registrar who shall have levied it, on the judgment becoming final.

ART. 187. When the proceedings are instituted by the police, any medical officer of health, Government veterinary surgeon, or inspector of markets may, if deputed by the superintendent of public health, bring the charge before the court, produce evidence, and plead instead of the police.

ART. 192. Offenses against any of the provisions of this ordinance shall, for the purposes of the criminal laws, come under the class of contraventions, even when the punishments provided in the preceding articles are in excess of those established by the criminal laws for contraventions.

ART. 193. Whenever there is occasion for compensation for any damage caused by a contravention of the provisions of this ordinance, the party aggrieved shall take proceedings in the civil court. ART. 194. Any regulation and any declaration which the head of the government may make by virtue of the powers vested in him by this ordinance shall be published by a notice in the Government Gazette, and a copy thereof shall be laid on the table of the council of government at one of the next two sittings of that council.

ART. 195. The following legislative enactments, except in so far as they repeal other legislative enactments, shall be repealed and revoked from the date on which this ordinance shall, as hereunder enacted, come into force, namely:

(1) Articles 62, 84, 110, 111, 114, 115, and 116 of the police laws; Chapter VI of the said laws; ordinances No. 14 of 1859, No. 9 of 1888. and No. 3 of 1893; articles 3 and 4 of ordinance No. 15 of 1897; ordinances No. 9 of 1898 and No. 3 of 1900;