CHEATING.

A cheat at common law is "the fraudulently obtaining the property of another person by any deceitful and illegal practice or device which affects or may affect the public.'

The gist of the offence is its tendency to deceive the public in general. Examples of such cheats are counterfeiting a discharge from gaol, selling provisions unfitted for human consumption, or using false weights and measures.

Some of these offences are also punishable by specific statutes, but are nevertheless misdemeanours at common law visited with fine and imprisonment.

And, by 14 Vic., No. 9, s. 7, any person who, by any fraud, unlawful device, or ill practice at cards, dice, or any other game, or in betting on the players, or on the event of any game, sport, pastime or exercise, wins from any other person for himself or another person (e.g., a confederate) any money or valuable thing, shall be deemed guilty of obtaining such money, etc., by a false pretence with intent to cheat or defraud such other person. Punishment, penal servitude for not less than 3 nor more than 5 years; or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years.

BETTING AND GAMING HOUSES, ETC.

BETTING HOUSES.

Any person (1) Opening, keeping, or using any house, room, or other place for the purpose of receiving bets upon horse races, other races, fights, games, sports, etc., or knowingly and wilfully permitting the same to be used, etc., for such purpose, and any manager or assistant; or,

(2) Receiving money as a deposit on bets, or giving any acknowledgment or security on the receipt of any such money purporting to entitle the bearer or any other person to receive any money on the event of any race, etc., or any person assisting in so doing; or,

(3) Advertising, or assisting in advertising, betting-houses by exhibiting or publishing placards, handbills, cards, writing or advertisements, or inviting persons to resort to such houses on behalf of the owner; or sending or publishing any letter, telegram, advertisement, etc., relative to information as to wagers or as to making wagers for others, or inducing persons to apply to any such house for information, etc., or inviting persons to make or share in bets or wagers;

Punishment as to (1) penalty not exceeding £100 and costs or imprisonment proportionate to the penalty adjudged; as to (2) penalty limit £50 and costs or imprisonment as before; as to (3) penalty limit £30 and costs, or imprisonment as before.

But in either case the justices may direct imprisonment in the first instance for not exceeding six, three, or two months in regard to offences (1), (2), and (3) respectively. Two justices are required in any case.

Keeping, etc., a betting-house is declared to be a common nuisance.

Any person found in any such house, room, or place, without lawful excuse, is liable to a penalty not exceeding £50, or to imprisonment as previously mentioned-on conviction before two justices.

For fuller information the reader is referred to the Act 39 Vic., No. 28.

GAMING-HOUSES.

(1) The owner or keeper of a gaming-house, or caretaker thereof, and every banker, croupier, or person assisting in conducting any common gaming-house, room, or place; or,

(2) Any person being found in such house, room, etc., without lawful excuse; or,

(3) Any person offending against the provisions of the Act 14 Vic., No. 9, where such Act indicates no specific penalty:

Punishment, as to (1) penalty limit £100; as to (2) penalty limit £5; as to (3) penalty limit £20. Two justices required, who may, in the first case, commit the offender for not exceeding six months; in default of payment of the penalty imprisonment proportionate to its amount may be. adjudged.

See 14 Vic., No. 9, for further information.

Keeping a common gaming-house is also a misdemeanour at common law, punishable with fine and imprisonment.

LOTTERIES.

Selling or disposing of, or promising to sell, etc., any goods: or merchandise whatsoever, to or among any persons by any game of skill or chance or device whatsoever, by which such goods shall be sold, etc., by lottery or chance-whether by dice, or drawing tickets, or cards, or otherwise howsoever.

Punishment, penalty limit £100; in default imprisonment proportionate to amount of penalty. (16 Vic., No. 2, s. 1.) Two justices required.

And, under the Vagrant Act (15 Vic., No. 4, s. 3) any person publicly or privately keeping any place to exercise, expose to be played, etc., by dice, lots, cards, or any other device whatsoever, any game or lottery, not authorised by Parliament, or knowingly suffering the same to be exercised in his house, home, or place, is to be deemed a "rogue and vagabond"; punishment, imprisonment limit 6 months, in nearest gaol.

One justice may adjudicate. By the same Act persons discovered in a house, on warrant of justices, and being knowingly concerned in any way with the offenders in carrying on transactions relating to the lottery, are liable to the same penalty. Setting up lotteries is also punishable as for a common nuis

ance.

BILLIARDS, ETC., LICENCES FOR.

A license to keep a billiard or bagatelle saloon may be obtained on written application (in the form prescribed) to a Licensing Court or magistrate, the intending licensee being shown to be a person of good character and not being the holder of a liquor license. The magistrate may grant the applicant a certificate, which he may exchange for a license, on payment to the Colonial Treasurer or authorised officer of the sum of £10. A publican may obtain such license in the same manner, except that he need not furnish a certificate from a householder, as is required in the case of other persons; and he must not allow the table to be used after eleven o'clock, but an ordinary licensee may allow play to continue until twelve at night. The licensee must, under penalty, affix and keep affixed on his premises, in letters at least two inches long, the words, "licensed to keep billiard tables (or bagatelle boards)," together with his name in full.

Unauthorised persons keeping such tables, or licensees permitting their use at prohibited hours, or upon Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, or knowingly permitting any person under the age of eighteen years to play on any such table or board, are liable, for the first offence, to not exceeding £10 penalty, and not less than £2; and for every subsequent offence, to not exceeding £30, and not less than £10, or to a proportionate term of imprisonment in default-in each case. The statute regulating the granting, etc., of billiard and bagatelle licenses (from which the above provisions are taken) also provides that no unmarried woman, not being a widow, may hold such licenses under its terms.

Warranties.

DEFINITION, ETC.

A warranty is an express or implied statement to the effect that goods or chattels sold are of a particular kind or quality.

As a general rule all sales of goods are subject to the maxim "caveat emptor," that is, let the purchaser beware; and this holds good unless a warranty is implied by law from the

nature of the article sold and the circumstances of the sale, or unless the vendor gives an express warranty.

Express warranty; the general rule is, that whatever a person represents at the time of sale is a warranty.

No particular form of words is necessary to constitute an express warranty; and the words used are to be interpreted in their ordinary sense; to prove that the words were, in the particular case, used in a different sense, the clearest evidence is necessary.

As regards obvious defects in the thing sold which may easily be observed by the purchaser, the seller is not bound by a general warranty; but the former is not bound to use more than ordinary diligence.

WARRANTY, WHEN IMPLIED.

1. A warranty of title is implied where the goods or chattels sold are, at the time of the sale, in the possession of the seller or of some other person on his behalf.

2. Where the contract is to furnish goods of a particular description or for a particular purpose, a warranty that they shall be of that description or fit for that purpose is implied; in this case the buyer trusts to the judgment of the seller to select goods which are reasonably adapted to the purpose for which they are ordered.

3. Where the purchaser is unable, from their nature or situation at time of sale, to make an examination of the goods, it is implied that they shall be saleable; here again the buyer must necessarily trust to the judgment or skill of the manufacturer or dealer.

4. Where goods are sold under a certain denomination the buyer has the right to have goods delivered to him such as are commercially known under that denomination; and this holds good, although the sale was made upon an inspection of the goods in bulk and without an express warranty.

5. As a general rule, where a sale is made by sample, an implied warranty exists that the bulk shall be equal to the sample in nature and quality.

6. As to warranties against latent defects, i.e., such defects as are not apparent upon an ordinary examination of the goods or chattels, a warranty will be implied; first, where the seller was aware that the buyer relied on his (the seller's) judgment, and where the former was, or might have been, aware of the defect; and secondly, where the seller, being a manufacturer or producer, might therefore have provided against the existence of such defects.

WARRANTIES UPON THE SALE OF HORSES.
RANTIES

It has been held that, where the seller of a horse said at the time of sale, "I believe the mare to be sound, but I will not warrant her," he was liable as upon a warranty of soundness, it being afterwards proved that the mare was unsound to his knowledge. If a man buys a horse generally, the seller will not be responsible; though, knowing that his customer wanted the horse for a particular purpose, he sells him one unfitted for that purpose; but if the seller make any representation as to its fitness for any particular purpose, or as to its quietness or freedom from vice, etc., he will, in general, be liable as upon a warranty.

But the warranty will not extend to patent or obvious defects in the animal, which the buyer may detect by exercis ing ordinary vigilance.

As to a warranty of "soundness"; if the animal has, at the time of sale, any disease which impairs or will, in the ordinary course of events, impair its usefulness; or if it has, either from disease or accident, suffered such damage as has had, or will have, the effect of diminishing its natural usefulness, such animal is unsound. Mere temporary sickness will constitute unsoundness if it has diminished or will diminish the animal's natural usefulness. As a general rule, a warranty made by an agent will bind the principal.

REMEDIES FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY.

Where a warranty exists and is not complied with, the purchaser has three remedies, any of which he may pursue, having regard to the attendant circumstances.

First, he may refuse to receive the article on the ground that it is not in accordance with the contract, provided the warranty amounts to a condition upon the non-performance of which the buyer is justified in wholly abandoning the contract; and if the article is one ordered from a manufacturer who contracted that it should be of a particular quality or fit for a particular purpose, he may return it as soon as he discovers the defect; where the bulk of goods does not correspond to the sample the buyer may reject such bulk; the goods or chattels should be returned in as nearly as possible the same state as that in which they were received.

Secondly the purchaser may, where he has no right to return the goods or chattels, bring a cross action against the seller for the breach and recover damages.

Thirdly, where the seller brings an action to recover the price of the articles sold, the buyer may either show that they were worthless, or plead, in reduction of damages, that they were not in accordance with the warranty.