232
NOTES AND QUERIES, do s. vm. SEPT. 21, 1907.
BEER SOLD WITHOUT A LICENCE.
(10 S. ii. 9, 71.)
THE practice of selling beer at fairs with- out licence appears to have been common throughout the country. Hone in his ' E very-Day Book,' vol. ii., par. 676 (1827 edition), under the heading of ' Whitsun Ales,' refers to a somewhat similar custom. The practice was, as will be seen from the following extracts from Acts of Parliament, allowed by law, if not actually encouraged. Mr. N. J. Highmore (late Assistant Solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue, and now Solicitor to the Board of Customs) in his work on ' Excise Laws,' p. 17, says :
"Fairs and Races. The law as to the sale of liquors at fairs and races was for some time very changeable and somewhat obscure ; see 25 and 26 Viet. chap. 22, sec. 12, and 26 and 27 Viet. ch. 33, sec. 21, and the cases of Ash v. Lynn [18661 and Haywood v. Holland [1873].
" It has, however, since 1874, been settled that an occasional licence is required for sales at fairs and races in any part of the United Kingdom see 37 and 38 Viet. ch. 49, sec. 18, as to England, 37 and 38 Viet. ch. 69, sec. 4, as to Ireland, arid 25 and 26 Viet. ch. 35, sec. 6, as to Scotland except upon licensed premises in England or Ireland within the limits of fairs or race-courses, or except for sales by a licensed innkeeper in Scotland at a fair in the same parish in which his licensed house is situate see as to the latter exception 9 Geo. IV. ch. 58, sec. 8, and Lamb v. Brown [1894].
"Any privilege to sell beer by retail at fairs under a charter or grant is taken away, Huxham v. Wheeler [1864]."
Section 11 of the Excise Licences Act, 1825 (6 Geo. IV. ch. 81), provides that nothing in this Act shall extend to prohibit any licensed dealer in, or retailer of, in- toxicating liquor (except holders of a spirit retailer's [grocer's} licence in Ireland) from selling such liquors at any lawful fair or any public races.
Section 36 of the Alehouse Act, 1828 (9 Geo. IV. ch. 61), after providing that the Act should not affect the privileges of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, nor of the Vintners' Company of London, proceeds :
" Provided also, that nothing in this Act con- tained shall alter any law relating to the revenue of excise, except so far as the same is hereby ex- pressly altered, and otherwise provided for; nor to prohibit any person from setting beer in booths or other places at the time and within the limits of the (/round or place in or upon lohich is holden any lawful fair, in like manner as such person ivas authorized to do before the passing of this Act." The italics are mine.
The case of Huxham v. Wheeler (1864),.
referred to above, was apparently caused
by the passing of the Revenue Act, 1862:
(25 and 26 Viet. ch. 22), sec. 12 of which
enacts that
so much of any Act as permits the sale of beer, spirits, or wine at fairs or races without an excise licence shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed."
This Act was followed a year later by the Revenue Act, 1863 (26 and 27 Viet. ch. 33),. of which sec. 21 enacts that from and after the passing of this Act nothing in sec. 12 of the Revenue Act, 1862, should extend to prohibit any licensed retailer of beer, spirits, or wine from selling at any lawful fair or public races in like manner as such person might lawfully have done under the Act 6 Geo. IV. ch. 81, sec. 11.
This Act again was followed by the Licensing Act, 1874 (37 and 38 Viet. ch. 49), of which sec. 18 requires an occasional licence to be held by any person selling intoxicating liquors at any fair or public races in England and Wales.
It will thus be seen that the changes in the law have been as follows :
Alehouse Act, 1828, allows sale of beer at lawful fairs, as was customary previously.
Revenue Act, 1862, requires an excise licence to be held for every sale at fairs or races.
Revenue Act, 1863, allows licensed dealers and retailers to sell at fairs or races without an " occasional licence."
Licensing Act, 1874, requires an occasional licence to be held by every person selling beer, &c., at fairs or races, except where the- sale takes place at a licensed inn or beer- house.
I am informed by persons residing in this locality that the custom was exercised until recently at the neighbouring village (? mar- ket town) of Llanarth, Cardiganshire. Old residents at that place tell me that, even so recently as the later eighties, there were several old topers (private householders) living in the village who regularly brewed a quantity of beer prior to fair days for sale at the fair ground. Later, owing to the vigilance of the police, they called in the aid of some friendly publican, who obtained an occasional licence, under cover of which the beer was sold by its makers.
My father states that he believes this custom of selling beer was exercised in his early days at the " Church Street Fair " at Warrington.
In Cardiganshire the custom of selling beer without licence appears not to have been confined to fairs and races, but to have
