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GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - LONG TITLE

An Act for the Suppression of Gaming Houses.{1}
[24th July 1854]
1845 c.109

[WHEREAS divers statutes have been made from time to time for the
prevention of unlawful gaming; and particularly by the Gaming Act,
1845, powers are given to justices of the peace in places beyond
the Metropolitan Police District to authorize constables,... to enter
houses suspected to be kept as common gaming houses, and to arrest
all persons found therein; and it is thereby enacted, that where
any cards, dice, balls, counters, tables, or other instruments of
gaming used in playing any unlawful game shall be found in any
house, room, or place suspected to be used as a common gaming
house, and entered under a warrant or order issued under the
provisions of that Act, or about the person of any of those who
shall be found therein, it shall be evidence, until the contrary be
made to appear, that such house, room, or place is used as a
common gaming house, and that the persons found in the room or
place where such tables or instruments of gaming shall have been
found were playing therein: And whereas the keepers of common gaming
houses contrive, by fortifying the entrances to such houses, or by
other means, to keep out the officers authorized to enter the same
until the instruments of gaming have been removed or destroyed, so
that no sufficient evidence can be obtained to convict the
offenders, who are thereby encouraged to persist in the violation of
the law: And whereas it is expedient that the law shall be made
more efficient for the suppression of gaming houses:]

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 1
Penalty on persons obstructing the entry of constables, &c.

1. Any person who shall wilfully prevent any constable or officer
authorized under the provisions of the Gaming Act, 1845, to enter
any house, room, or place from entering the same or any part
thereof, or who shall obstruct or delay any such constable or
officer in so entering, and any person who by any bolt, bar,
chain, or other contrivance, shall secure any external or internal
door of or means of access to any house, room, or place so
authorized to be entered, or shall use any means or contrivance
whatsoever for the purpose of preventing, obstructing, or delaying
the entry of any constable or officer authorized as aforesaid into
any such house, room, or place, or any part thereof, may for every
such offence, on a summary conviction of the same before two
justices of the peace, be adjudged by such justices to forfeit and
pay any penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds... or..., may be
committed to [prison]... for any period not exceeding six calendar
months.

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 2
Obstructing entry of constable, &c. to be evidence of house being
used as a common gaming house.

2. Where any constable or officer authorized as aforesaid to enter
any house, room, or place is wilfully prevented from or obstructed
or delayed in entering the same or any part thereof, or where any
external or internal door of or means of access to any such house,
room, or place so authorized to be entered shall be found to be
fitted or provided with any bolt, bar, chain, or any means or
contrivance for the purpose of preventing, delaying, or obstructing
the entry into the same or any part thereof of any constable or
officer authorized as aforesaid, or for giving an alarm in case of
such entry, or if any such house, room, or place is found fitted
or provided with any means or contrivance for unlawful gaming, or
with any means or contrivance for concealing, removing, or destroying
any instruments of gaming, it shall be evidence, until the contrary
be made to appear, that such house, room, or place is used as a
common gaming house within the meaning of this Act and of the
former Acts relating to gaming and that the persons found therein
were unlawfully playing therein.

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 3
Penalty on persons refusing to give names and addresses, or giving
false names or addresses.

3. If any person found in any house, room, or place entered by
any constable or officer authorized as aforesaid to enter the same,
upon being arrested by any such constable or officer, or upon being
brought before any justices, on being required by such constable or
officer or by such justices to give his name and address, shall
refuse or neglect to give the same, or shall give any false name
or address, he may upon summary conviction thereof before the same
or any other justices be adjudged to pay any penalty not exceeding
fifty pounds, ... or ..., may be imprisoned... for any period not
exceeding one month.

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 4
Penalty on persons keeping gaming houses, &c.

4. Any person, being the owner or occupier or having the use of
any house, room, or place, who shall open, keep, or use the same
for the purpose of unlawful gaming being carried on therein, and
any person who, being the owner or occupier of any house or room,
shall knowingly and wilfully permit the same to be opened, kept, or
used by any other person for the purpose aforesaid, and any person
having the care or management of or in any manner assisting in
conducting the business of any house, room, or place opened, kept,
or used for the purpose aforesaid, and any person who shall advance
or furnish money for the purpose of gaming with persons frequenting
such house, room, or place, may, on summary conviction thereof
before any two justices of the peace, be adjudged by such justices
to forfeit and pay such penalty, not exceeding five hundred pounds,
as to such justices shall seem fit, and may be further adjudged by
such justices to pay such costs attending such conviction as to
them shall seem reasonable; and on the nonpayment of such penalty
and costs, or in the first instance, if to the said justices it
shall seem fit, may be committed to [prison] ... for any time not
exceeding twelve calendar months.

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 5
Justices may require any of the persons apprehended to be sworn and
give evidence.

5. It shall be lawful for the justices before whom any persons
shall be brought who have been found in any house, room, or place
entered in pursuance of any authority granted under the provisions
of the Gaming Act, 1845, to require any of such persons to be
examined on oath and give evidence touching any unlawful gaming in
such house, room, or place, or touching any act done for the
purpose of preventing, obstructing, or delaying the entry into such
house, room, or place, or any part thereof, of any constable or
officer authorized as aforesaid; and no person so required to be
examined as a witness shall be excused from being so examined when
brought before such justices as aforesaid, or from being so examined
at any subsequent time by or before the same or any other
justices, or by or before any court, on any proceeding or the
trial of any indictment, information, action, or suit in anywise
relating to such unlawful gaming or any such acts as aforesaid, or
from answering any question put to him touching the matters
aforesaid, on the ground that his evidence will tend to criminate
himself; and any such person so required to be examined as a
witness who refuses to make oath accordingly, or to answer any such
question as aforesaid, shall be subject to be dealt with in all
respects as any person appearing as a witness before any justices
or court in obedience to a summons or subp-na, and refusing,
without lawful cause or excuse, to be sworn or to give evidence,
may by law be dealt with.

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 6
Persons so examined and making full discovery to receive
certificates.

6. Every person so required to be examined as a witness as
aforesaid who upon such examination shall make true and faithful
discovery to the best of his knowledge of all things as to which
he is so examined shall receive from the justices or judge of the
court by whom he is examined a certificate in writing to that
effect, and shall be freed from all criminal prosecutions and penal
actions, and from all penalties, forfeitures, and punishments, to
which he may have become liable for anything done before that time
in respect of the matters touching which he has been so examined;
but such witness shall not be indemnified under this Act unless he
receive from such justices or judge a certificate in writing under
their hands, stating that such witness has on his examination made
a true disclosure touching all things as to which he has been
examined; and if any action, information, or indictment be at any
time pending in any court against any person so examined in respect
of any act of gaming touching which he was so examined, and if
any action, information, or indictment be at any time pending in
any court against any person so examined as a witness in manner
before mentioned for any such matter or thing, such court shall, on
the production and proof of such certificate, stay the proceedings
in any such action, information, or indictment, and may, in its
discretion, award to such person such costs as he may have been
put to by such action, information, or indictment.

S.7 rep. by SLR 1976. S.8 rep. by 1954 c.9 (NI) s.29 sch.7

GAMING HOUSES ACT 1854 - SECT 9
On prosecutor making default another may be substituted.

9. In case any person who shall have laid any information in
respect of any offence against this Act shall not appear at the
time at which the defendant shall have been summoned to appear, or
at any time to which the hearing of the summons may have been
adjourned, or if such person, in the opinion of any justices having
authority to adjudicate with respect to the offence charged in such
information as aforesaid, shall otherwise have neglected to proceed
upon or prosecute such information with due diligence, it shall be
lawful for such justices to authorize any other person to proceed
on such information and summons instead of the person to whom the
same may have been granted, or such justices may dismiss the first
information and summons, and authorize any person to lay a fresh
information in respect to the offence charged in such information,
in like manner as if the previous summons had not been granted.

S.10 rep. by SLR (NI) 1954. S.11 rep. by SL(R) 1976. S.12 rep. by
1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.I. Ss.13, 14 rep. by SLR 1894. S.15
rep. by SLR 1892