Vagrant Act Amendment Act, 1873

VAGRANT ACT AMENDMENT ACT 1873

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

An Act to amend an Act passed in the fifth year of the reign of His Majesty George the Fourth, chapter eighty-three, intituled “An Act for the punishment of idle and disorderly “persons and rogues and vagabonds in that part of Great “Britain called England. . . .” [7th July 1873.]

[Preamble recites 5 Geo. 4. c. 83.]

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Vagrant Act Amendment Act, 1873.”

Construction.

2. This Act and the recited Act shall be construed as one Act.

Extending provisions to gaming with coin, &c.

3. Every person playing or betting by way of wagering or gaming in any street, road, highway, or other open and public place, or in any open place to which the public have or are permitted to have access, at or with any table or instrument of gaming, or any coin, card, token, or other article used as an instrument or means of such wagering or gaming, at any game or pretended game of chance, shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond within the true intent and meaning of the recited Act, and as such may be convicted and punished under the provisions of that Act, or, in the discretion of the justice or justices trying the case, in lieu of such punishment, by a penalty for the first offence not exceeding forty shillings, and for the second or any subsequent offence not exceeding five pounds.

[S. 4 rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 54. (S.L.R.) S. 5 rep. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39. (S.L.R.)]