§ The EARL of ST. GERMANShaving moved the third reading of this Bill,
LORD CAMPBELLdirected attention to the injurious and unjust effect which the 11th Clause of the Bill would have if left in its present form, as it made it a misdemeanor punishable with transportation for any person to be in any dwelling-house one hour before sunrise, or one hour after sunset, if in that dwelling-house there should be consumed any malt or spirituous liquors, without saying one word about being so found under suspicious circumstances. So that the corpus delicti consisted simply in being in a house in which malt or spirituous liquors were sold or consumed, although the person so offending might be there for a just and lawful purpose. But according to the wording of the 11th Clause, it would be no defence for him to show that he was there for a lawful purpose. The noble and learned Lord illustrated the injustice and inconvenience of such an enactment by observing that a person wishing to buy groceries for a family, and proceeding to an establishment for that purpose, after sunset, would not be guilty of a misdemeanor, because he could show, while on the highway, that he was about a lawful purpose; 978 but, once he entered the grocery establishment, if malt or spirituous liquors should be sold or consumed in it, he became guilty of a misdemeanor, and subjected himself to be transported for seven years.
§ The EARL of ST. GERMANScomplained of the noble and learned Lord for not having suggested the alteration he required when the Bill was in Committee, or on the bringing up of the Report. The clause in question had not been altered or amended since the printing of the Bill; and if the noble and learned Lord had suggested the alteration even privately to the the noble and learned Lord on the woolsack, his communication would have received every attention. The clause was intended to apply only to public houses that were not licensed, commonly called "shebeen" houses.
The LORD CHANCELLOR,to meet the objection of the noble and learned Lord, moved to alter the clause by leaving out the word "consumed," and inserting, instead, the words "usually sold." This alteration, he thought, would make the clause more satisfactory, and render it impossible to be applied in the cases cited by the noble and learned Lord.
§ The EARL of ST. GERMANSwas quite willing to adopt the Amendment suggested by his noble and learned Friend on the woolsack.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Bill read 3a. and passed.
§ House adjourned.