AN ACT RESPECTING CRUELTY TO ANI

MALS.

32-33 VICT., CH. 27.

Whereas it is expedient that provision should be made, extending to all Canada, for the punishment of cruelty to animals: Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Sect. 1.-Whosoever, wantonly, cruelly, or unnecessarily beats, binds, ill-treats, abuses or tortures any horse, mare, gelding, bull, ox, cow, heifer, steer, calf, mule, ass, sheep, lamb, pig, or other cattle, or any poultry, or any dog, or domestic animal or bird, or whosoever, driving any cattle or other animal, is, by negligence or ill-usage in the driving thereof, the means whereby any mischief, damage or injury is done by any such cattle or other animal, shall, upon being convicted of any or either of the said offences before any one Justice of the Peace for the district, county or place in which the offence has been committed, for every such offence, forfeit and pay (over and above the amount of the damage or injury, if any, done thereby, which damage or injury shall and may be ascertained and awarded by such Justice) such a sum of money not exceeding ten dollars, nor less than one dollar with costs, as to such Justice seems meet,-and (33 Vict., ch. 29) any person who, in any manner, encourages, aids, or assists at the fighting or baiting of any bull, bear, badger, dog, cock or other kind of animal, whether of

domestic or wild nature, shall, upon being convicted before any one Justice of the Peace for the district, county or place, in which the offence was committed, for every such offence forfeit and pay such a sum of money not exceeding forty dollars, nor less than two dollars, with costs, as to such Justice seems meet.

Sect. 2.-The offender shall, in default of payment, be committed to the common gaol or other place of confinement, for the district, county or place in which the offence was committed, there to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding thirty days.

Sect. 3.-Nothing in this Act contained shall prevent or abridge any remedy by action against the offender or his employer where the amount of the damage is not sought to be recovered by virtue of this Act.

Sect. 4.-When any offence against this Act is committed, any constable or other peace officer, or the owner of any such cattle, animal or poultry, upon view thereof, or upon the information of any other person, (who shall declare his or their name or names and place or places of abode to the said constable or other peace officer) may seize and secure by the authority of this Act, and forthwith, and without any other authority or warrant, may convey any such offender before a Justice of the Peace within whose jurisdiction the offence has been committed, to be dealt with according to law.

Sect. 5.-If any person apprehended for having committed any offence against this Act refuses to discover his name and place of abode to the Justice of the Peace before whom he is brought, such person shall be immediately delivered over to a constable or other peace officer, and shall by him be conveyed to the common gaol or place of confinement for the district, county or place within which the offence has been committed, or in which

the offender has been apprehended, there to remain for any term not exceeding one month, or until he makes. known his name and place of abode to the said Justice.

Sect. 6. The prosecution of every offence punishable under this Act must be commenced within three months next after the commission of the offence, and not otherwise.

Sect. 7.-Every offence against any of the sections of this Act is a misdemeanor, and may be punished as such,

-or may be prosecuted in the manner directed by the Act respecting the duties of Justices of the Peace, out of Sessions, in relation to summary convictions and orders (32– 33 Vict., ch. 31) so far as no provision is hereby made for any matter or thing which may be required to be done with respect to such prosecutions, and all the provisions contained in the said Act shall be applicable to such prosecution, in the same manner as if they were incorporated in this Act.

Sect. 8.-All pecuniary penalties recovered before any Justice of the Peace under this Act shall be divided, paid and distributed in the following manner, that is to say one moiety thereof to the corporation of the city, town, village, township, parish or place in which the offence was committed, and the other moiety, with full costs, to the person who informed and prosecuted for the same, or to such other person, as to such Justice seems proper.

Sect. 9.-Every sum of money ascertained and awarded, adjudged, by any Justice of the Peace under this Act to be paid as the amount of any damage or injury occasioned by the commission of any of the offences hereinbefore mentioned, shall be paid to the person who has sustained such damage or injury.

Sect. 10. Where the word "cattle" is used in this Act,

it shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Act respecting larceny and other similar offences. Sect. 1, of the Larceny Act, ante.

Sect. 11.-This Act shall commence and take effect upon, from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

This Statute is based on the 12-13 Vict., ch. 92, amended by 17-18 Vict., ch. 60, of the Imperial Parliament. See Bishop, Statutory Crimes, 1094.

It would seem under section 4, ante, that if the offence against this Act is committed out of the view of the constable, the constable should inquire into the particulars of the complaint made to him, or should see the animal and so form a judgment as to what has occurred, and the person complaining to the constable should leave it to him to act or not as he thought proper, for if without so doing he directs the officer to take the offender into custody, he may render himself liable to an action for false imprisonment.-Hopkins vs. Crowe, 7 C. & P. 373.

AN ACT RESPECTING VAGRANTS.

32-33 VICT., CH. 28.

Sect. 1.-All idle persons, who, not having visible means of maintaining themselves, live without employment; all persons who, being able to work, and thereby or by other means to maintain themselves and families, wilfully refuse or neglect to do so; all persons openly exposing or exhibiting in any street, road, public place or highway any indecent exhibition, or openly or indecently exposing their persons; all persons, who, without a certificate signed, within six months, by a priest, clergyman or minister of the Gospel, or two Justices of the Peace, residing in the municipality where the alms are being asked, that he or she is a deserving object of charity, wander about and beg, or who go about from door to door, or place themselves in the streets, highways, passages or public places to beg or receive alms; all persons loitering in the streets or highways and obstructing passengers by standing across the footpaths or by using insulting language or in any other way, or tearing down or defacing signs, breaking windows, breaking doors or door plates, or the walls of houses, roads or gardens, destroying fences, causing a disturbance in the streets or highways by screaming, swearing or singing, or being drunk, or impeding, or incommoding peaceable passengers; all common prostitutes, or night walkers wandering in the fields, public streets or highways, lanes or places of public meeting or gathering of people, not giving a satisfac