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Provisions as to use of warranty or invoice as defence, and proceedings against the warrantor.
38 & 39 Vict. c. 67.
50 & 51 Vict. c. 29.
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20.—(1) A warranty or invoice shall not be available as a defence to any proceeding under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act unless the defendant has, within seven days after service of the summons, sent to the purchaser a copy of such warranty or invoice with a written notice stating that he intends to rely on the warranty or invoice, and specifying the name and address of the person from whom he received it, and has also sent a like notice of his intention to such person.
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(2) The person by whom such warranty or invoice is alleged to have been given shall be entitled to appear at the hearing and to give evidence, and the court may, if it thinks fit, adjourn the hearing to enable him to do so.
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(3) A warranty or invoice given by a person resident outside the United Kingdom shall not be available as a defence to any proceeding under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, unless the defendant proves that he has taken reasonable steps to ascertain and did in fact believe in the accuracy of the statement contained in the warranty or invoice.
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(4) Where the defendant is a servant of the person who purchased the article under a warranty or invoice he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled to rely on section twenty-five of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, and section seven of the Margarine Act, 1887, in the same way as his employer or master would have been entitled to do if he had been the defendant, provided that the servant further proves that he had no reason to believe that the article was otherwise than that demanded by the prosecutor.
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(5) Where the defendant in a prosecution under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts has been discharged under the provisions of section twenty-five of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, as amended by this Act, any proceedings under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts for giving the warranty relied on by the defendant in such prosecution, may be taken as well before a court having jurisdiction in the place where the article of food or drug to which the warranty relates was purchased for analysis as before a court having jurisdiction in the place where the warranty was given.
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(6) Every person who, in respect of an article of food or drug sold by him as principal or agent, gives to the purchaser a false warranty in writing, shall be liable on summary conviction, for the first offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, for the second offence to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and for any subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court that when he gave the warranty he had reason to believe that the statements or descriptions contained therein were true.
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