Cruelty to animals : [an Act to amend the law relating to cruelty to animals, 15th August 1876].

  • Great Britain. Home Office.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cruelty to animals : [an Act to amend the law relating to cruelty to animals, 15th August 1876]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/10 (page 1)
    CHAPTER 77. An Act to amend the Law relating to Cruelty to Animals. [15th August 1876.] WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law relating to cruelty to animals by extending it to the cases of animals which for medical, physiological, or other scientific purposes are subjected when alive to experiments calculated to inflict pain: Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- poral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as “ The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876.” 2. A person shall not perform on a living animal any experiment calculated to give pain, except subject to the restrictions imposed by this Act. Any person performing or taking part in performing any experiment calculated to give pain, in contravention of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall, if it be the first offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, and if it be the second or any subsequent offence, be liable, at the discretion of the court by which he is tried, to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months. 3. The following restrictions are imposed by this Act with respect to the performance on any living animal of an experiment calculated to give pain; that is to say, (1.) The experiment must be performed with a view to the advancement by new discovery of physiological know- ledge or of knowledge which will be useful for saving or prolonging life or alleviating suffering ; and (2.) The experiment must be performed by a person holding such license from one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secre- [P«6«ff.-77.] A 2 1 A.D.1876. Short title. Prohibition of painful ex periments on animals. General re- strictions as to perform- ance of pain- ful experi- ments on animals.