BREAD. Weight £10, nor less than 40s., or shall by warrant of such justice be apprehended and committed to the house of correction, or some prison where the offence has been committed, or the offender apprehended, there to remain and be kept to hard labour for not more than one calendar month, nor less than ten days. And a servant or journeyman knowingly offending, is liable to forfeit not more than £5, nor less than 20s., and to be committed for the like time; and the name and abode of the offender are to be published, together with his offence, in a newspaper (1). There is also a provision against adulterating meal; penalty not more than £5, nor less than 40s. (2). Also against making a different sort of meal from that which the bread purports to be made of; penalty not more than £5, nor less than 20s. (3) By statute 50 Geo. 3. c. 73., it is enacted, that if any person residing beyond the city of London, or the liberties thereof, or beyond ten miles of the royal exchange, shall make or expose for sale any bread deficient in weight according to the assize, it shall be lawful for a magistrate before whom an information is laid on the oath of one witness, and also for any peace officer acting under a warrant, at any seasonable times in the day-time, to enter into the baker's premises to search for, view, weigh, and try such bread as shall be found there, and shall have been baked within twenty-four hours, and which bread shall be weighed by the bushel, or in any larger or smaller quantity as may be found most convenient; and if, on weighing it, any deficiency be found on the average of the whole weight of the bread found, on the oath of the party weighing, a forfeiture is incurred of not more than 5s. for every ounce, and so in proportion for less than an ounce, besides the loss of the bread, except it be proved by the oath or affirmation of one or more respectable housekeepers that the deficiency arose from accident or from some confederacy (4). It is also required, that every baker and seller of bread shall have fixed, in some convenient part of his shop, a beam and scales, with proper weights of the assize weight of a half peck loaf, a quartern, and a half quartern, and also of an 1s. 6d., 1s. Od., and 3d. loaf; and any person who may purchase any such loaf of bread from any baker or seller of bread may, if he think proper, require it to be weighed in (1) 31 Geo. 2. c. 29. s. 21. (3) 31 Geo. 2. c. 29. s. 23. See infra, as to mealmen, &c. (4) 50 Geo. 3. c. 73. s. 1. his presence, and if such loaf be found deficient in weight, the person requiring it to be weighed shall have the deficiency made up with other bread, or another loaf given in lieu of it, as may be required; and any such baker or seller of bread who shall neglect to fix such beam and scales, or to provide and keep for use proper weights, or whose weights shall be deficient, or who shall refuse to weigh any half peck loaf, quartern, or half quartern, in presence of the party requiring it, and shall be convicted either by the oath of one witness or his own confession, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding 10s. as the magistrate shall think fit. (1) BREAD. Assize. And by statute 31 Geo. 2. c. 29., if bread made for sale be Weight, when an deficient in weight according to the assize, the offender is liable to forfeit not more than 5s., nor less than 1s., for every ounce deficient; and where less than an ounce is wanting, not more than 2s. 6d., nor less than 6d., so as such bread which is complained of as deficient in any city, &c. be brought before some magistrate and weighed before him within twenty-four (since extended to forty-eight) (2) hours after the baking thereof; the party complained of, however, is allowed (as usual in such cases), to prove that the defect arose from accident, or from a conspiracy against him (3). Where a statute prohibited the sale of bread within twenty-four hours after its being baked, the provision was held to apply to a sale on commission, although the vendor desired the retail dealer to whom he supplied it not to sell it again till after the expiration of the limited time; and where a power of conviction is given to a magistrate, he is considered the sole judge of the weight of the evidence adduced before him, and the court of K. B., on a removal by certiorari, will not examine whether he has drawn a correct conclusion. But if, from the evidence as stated in the conviction, it appear that there is no proof of a material fact alleged in the information, the conviction will be quashed. (4) It is also enacted by the 50 Geo. 3. c. 73., that no person employed in the business of a baker shall on the Lord's day make any household bread, rolls, or cakes of any kind, or on any part of that day, except between the hours of ten in the forenoon, and half-past one in the afternoon, expose to sale bread, rolls, or (1) 50 Geo. 3. c. 73. s. 2. (2) 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 74. s. 4. 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 74. s. 4. BREAD. cakes of any kind, or bake or deliver victuals after half-past one in the afternoon, or in any other manner be engaged in the business of a baker, except so far as may be necessary in setting and superintending the sponge, to prepare the bread or dough for the next day's baking; and that no victuals shall be brought to or taken from a bakehouse during the time of divine service, or within a quarter of an hour of its commencement; a person offending against these regulations, or making any sale or delivery allowed by the act between the said hours, otherwise than within the bakehouse or shop, and being convicted before a justice within two days from the commission of the offence, either on view or confession or proof by one or more witnesses, is liable to forfeit for the first offence 5s., for the second 10s., for the third 15s., and also to pay the costs of the prosecution; and the amount thereof, together with such part of the penalty as the justice shall think proper, to be allowed to the prosecutor for loss of time in instituting and following up the prosecution at a rate not exceeding 3s. per diem, and be paid to the prosecutor for his use and benefit, and the residue to be paid to the justice, and within seven days after his receipt, transmitted to the churchwardens or overseers; in default of distress to levy the penalty, the offender to be committed on the first offence for seven days, on the second, fourteen, and a subsequent one, twenty-one days (1). A late statute has been passed (2) to regulate the making and sale of bread out of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and beyond the weekly bills of mortality, and ten miles of the royal exchange, where no assize is set. This statute provides, that although no assize is set, according to the 53 Geo. 3. c. 116., no loaves deemed assize loaves in that act, and the weight of which varies according to the variation in the price of grain, shall be made for sale where the priced loaves are also at the same time made for sale or allowed to be sold, i. e. that no assize loaves of the price of 3d., and priced loaves called half quartern, nor assize loaves of the price of 6d., and priced loaves called quartern, nor assize loaves of the price of 1s., and priced loaves called half peck, nor assize loaves of the price of 1s. 6d., and priced loaves called peck (1) 50 Geo. 3. c. 73. s. 3. ; s. 4. saves the right of the universities, and by s. 5. the powers of former acts apply. (2) 59 Geo. 3. c. 36. repeals 5 Geo. 3. c. 11. 33 Geo. 3. c. 37. 41 Geo. 3. C. 12. loaves, shall at the same time be made for sale; the object of the legislature being, that unwary persons might not be imposed upon and injured by buying assize loaves referred to in the tables of the act as and for priced loaves so referred to, by buying such priced loaves as and for such assize loaves; penalty not more than 40s., nor less than 10s. (1) The 59 Geo. 3. also contains provisions similar to those that now prevail within the bills of mortality relative to the materials with which bread may be made and sold (2); to the use of alum (3); to the adulteration of corn, meal, or flour (4); to the marking of loaves made of meal of any other grain than wheat (5); to searching the premises of bakers, and seizing adulterated goods and ingredients (6), and the punishment for making and keeping the same (7), and obstructing the search of the officers (8); together also with similar power to magistrates and directions of the proceedings in prosecutions for offences (9). The provisions out of the bills of mortality where no assize is set, are also nearly similar to those within these limits, so far as regards the weight of bread (10); the penalty of 5s. for every deficient ounce being imposed on selling bread short of weight, the bread being weighed within twenty-four hours after baking, in the presence of the magistrate and of the offender if he appear, and evidence given that it is in the same state as when taken from the baker (11); also so far as respects the offence of selling bread (except to travellers, or in cases of urgent necessity) or delivering bakings after half-past one p. m., or in any other manner exercising the trade of a baker (except so far as may be necessary in setting or superintending the sponge to prepare the bread or dough for the next day's baking) on a Sunday, no meat, &c. being allowed to be brought to or taken from a bakehouse during the time of divine service, or within a (1) 59 Geo. 3. c. 36. s. 3. (2) 55 Geo. 3. c. 99. s. 2. confirmed by 59 Geo. 3. c. 36. as to London, ante, p. 274. (3) 59 Geo. 3. c. 36. s. 4. penalty £5, and in default of paymentimprisonment for six months; offender's name to be inserted in newspaper, see ante, p. 274. (4) s. 5. penalty £5. see ante, p. 275. (5) s. 6. penalty 40s. for each loaf, see ante, p. 275. BREAD. BREAD. Bread (continued) Miller, Mealman, &c. 1. Adulterating Meal, &c. quarter of an hour of the time of its commencement: penalty for the first offence 5s., for the second 10s., and for the third 20s. together with costs, to be paid to the prosecutor, he being also allowed at the rate of 3s. a day for loss of time, and the residue of the penalty to be paid to the justice for the benefit of the poor; for want of distress the offender to be committed to the house of correction, on the first offence fourteen, or any other, twenty-one days. (1) The miller is also subject to various prohibitory regulations, both in the criminal and the civil law (2). At common law, an indictment for the crime of larceny, which implies a trespass and a felonious taking of the thing stolen, has been holden to be maintainable against a person who has goods by the delivery of the party; as, for instance, a miller to whom corn is delivered to be ground, and who may be guilty of felony by taking away any part of that corn with intent to steal it (3). But it seems that a criminal prosecution cannot be sustained against a miller for changing corn sent to him to be ground, and delivering an article of an inferior quality (4). Thus it has been determined, that an indictment does not lie against a miller, charging him with receiving good barley to grind at his mill, and delivering a mixture of oat and barley meal, different from the produce of the barley, and which was musty and unwholesome. The defendant having been found guilty of the offence alleged against him, it was assigned, for error, amongst other things, that no indictable crime was charged. As to one of the grounds upon which it was contended that the offence charged was not indictable, namely, that the statement should have been that the defendant delivered the barley to be eaten as for food, and that it was not fit to be eaten by man, Lord Ellenborough, C. J., said, that if the indictment had alleged that the defendant delivered the barley as an article for the food of man, it might possibly have been sustained; but that he could not say that its being musty and unwholesome, necessarily, lex vi termini, imported that it was for the food of man; and it was not stated (1) 59 Geo. 3. c. 36. s. 12. see ante, p. 276. (2) In Barlow's Justice, ch. 112. tit. Weights and Measures, it is said that millers are not to be common buyers of any corn to sell the same again either in corn or meal, but in that only to serve for the grinding of corn that shall be brought to their mills. (3) Hawk. b. 1. c. 33. s. 5. (4) That it can, see Rex v. Wood, 1 Sess. Cas. 217., but see iufra. |