Car. II., c. 5, it is enacted that not more than twenty names shall be signed to any petition to the Crown or either House of Parliament for any alteration of matters established by law in Church or State, unless the contents thereof be previously approved, in the country, by three justices, or the majority of the grand jury at the assizes or quarter-sessions; and, in London, by the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and common council; and that no petition shall be delivered by a company of more than ten persons, on pain in either case of incurring a penalty not exceeding £100 and three months' imprisonment.* By stat. 57 Geo. III., c. 19, no meeting of more than fifty persons within the distance of one mile from Westminster Hall, for the purpose or on the pretext of petitioning the Crown or Parliament during the sitting of Parliament or of the Courts at Westminster, is legal.

Besides actual breaches of the peace, anything that tends to provoke or excite others to break it is an offence, therefore a challenge to fight, either by word or letter; or the bearing of such challenge, is punishable by fine and imprisonment, according to the circumstances of the offence.

V. Another offence against the public peace is that of a forcible entry or detainer; which is committed by violently taking or keeping possession of lands and tenements, with menaces, force, and arms, and without the authority of law.†

VI. A libel, libellus famosus, taken in its largest sense, signifies any writing, picture, or the like, of an immoral or illegal tendency; but, in the sense now under consideration, it is a malicious defamation of any person, made public by printing, writing, a sign, or a picture, in order to provoke him to wrath, or expose him to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule. The direct tendency of these libels is the breach of the public peace by stirring up the objects of them to revenge, and perhaps to bloodshed. The communication of a libel to any one person is a publication in the eye of the law; and therefore the sending an abusive private letter to a man is as much a libel

* Several of the provisions of these Acts are nearly obsolete.

+ See Forcible Entry Acts, 8 Hen. VI., c. 9; 31 ̊ Eliz., c. 11; and 21 Jac. I., c. 15.

as if it were openly printed, for it equally tends to a breach of the peace, and it is now enacted by 6 & 7 Vict., c. 96, that if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, knowing the same to be false, he shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, and to pay such fine as the court shall award;* and, by sec. 5, if any person shall maliciously publish any defamatory libel, any such person being convicted thereof shall be liable to fine or imprisonment, such imprisonment not to exceed the term of one year.

* See "Publication of Libel," page 227.

T

CHAPTER VIII.

OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC TRADE.

Offences against public trade, like those of the preceding classes, are either felonies or misdemeanors.

What are the Offences against Public Trade; and state those that are Felonies and those that are Misdemeanors, with the punishment?

I. Smuggling, which belongs to the former, is the offence of importing or exporting goods without paying the duties imposed thereon by the laws of the customs and excise. This is restrained by a variety of statutes,* which inflict pecuniary penalties and seizure of the goods for clandestine smuggling, and in aggravated cases, a penalty is inflicted and imprisonment for twelve months.

By stat. 16 & 17 Vict., c. 107 (the Customs' Consolidation Act, 1853), persons assaulting or obstructing any officer in the performance of his duty may be sentenced to penal servitude for not more than seven or less than five years, or to imprisonment, with hard labour, for not more than three years.

II. Fraudulent bankruptcy is an offence against public trade, and by 32 & 33 Vict., c. 62, a bankrupt who defrauds or wilfully defeats the rights of his creditors, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.†

III. Cheating is another offence against public trade, as trade cannot be carried on without a punctilious regard to common honesty and faith between man and man. The general punish

* See 8 & 9 Vict., c. 87, entitled, an Act for the Prevention of Smuggling.

† See Court of Bankruptcy, p. 209.

ment for all cheating, forging or counterfeiting trade-marks, or for aiding and abetting any such offence, is by fine and imprisonment, to which hard labour may now be added.

IV. TRADE-MARKS.-By 25 & 26 Vict., c. 88, any person forging or counterfeiting a trade-mark to any article not being the manufacture, production, or merchandise of any person denoted by such trade-mark, so as to pass it off as genuine when in fact it is spurious, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable by fine and imprisonment; but the usual remedy is by application to the Court of Chancery for an injunction to restrain the sale of the article of trade to which the trade-mark was attached and the future publication of the trade-mark, as well as for the amount of loss sustained by the applicant.

The same statute enacts that every person who aids, abets, counsels, or procures the commission of any such offence shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished accordingly.

V. A monopoly was a licence or privilege allowed by the Crown for the sole buying and selling, making, working, or using of anything whatsoever, whereby the subject was restrained from that liberty of manufacturing or trading which he had before. The granting of exclusive privileges had been carried to an enormous height during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but was remedied by 21 Jac. I., c. 3, which declares such monopolies, except as to patents, to be contrary to law and void.

VI. Combinations amongst persons to effect illegal objects, such as molesting parties engaged in the exercise of a lawful trade, or by threats and intimidation, subject the offenders, on conviction, to imprisonment for three months. By a recent statute it is enacted that any person wilfully committing an assault in pursuance of an unlawful combination or conspiracy to raise the rate of wages shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.*

* For the law relating to combinations amongst workmen, see 6 Geo. IV., c. 129, amended by 22 Vict., c. 34; also 34 & 35 Vict., c. 32, an Act to amend the criminal law relating to violence, threats, and molestation.

CHAPTER IX.

OFFENCES AGAINST THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND ECONOMY.

Let us now consider another species of offences affecting the Commonwealth, for the preservation of which magistrates and police are appointed and charged with specific duties by the Legislature, viz., Offences against the public health, safety, and economy.

Explain Offences prejudicial to the Public Health and Safety, and state the Punishments that are inflicted on Conviction.

I. First, then, amongst offences prejudicial to the public health, is that of infringing the quarantine laws; which impose a probation on, or detention of, ships coming from infected ports; and by stat. 6 Geo. IV., c. 78, amended by 29 & 30 Vict., c. 90, it is enacted that if any officer of customs or other person charged with the execution of orders concerning quarantine, desert from his duty when so employed, or knowingly or willingly permit any person, vessel, or goods, or merchandise to depart, or be conveyed out of the lazaret, or place appointed for the performance of quarantine, unless under authority from the Crown; or, shall knowingly give a false certificate that a vessel has duly performed quarantine, he shall be guilty of felony, and in minor infringements be liable to fine or imprisonment.

II. Offences against the Vaccination Acts* are also punishable by fine and imprisonment.

It is indictable to expose in a public thoroughfare a person

See 34 & 35 Vict., c. 98, an Act to amend the Vaccination Act, 1867.