Foods, their composition and analysis : a manual for the use of analytical chemists and others : with an introductory essay on the history of adulteration / by Alexander Wynter Blyth.

Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Foods, their composition and analysis : a manual for the use of analytical chemists and others : with an introductory essay on the history of adulteration / by Alexander Wynter Blyth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    69/844 page 31
    There is nothing to limit the application of the enactment (as some of the Scotch judges seem to have supj)o.sed) to ai'ticles deleterious iu their nature. And in several of the sections (1.3 to 17) provisions are made for purchases by public olKcers for the purpose of analysis and prosecution, assuming that if the article is found to be adultei'ated,the offence Avill have been committed. It would be strange indeed if all these provisions were to be matlo nugatoiy by a construction which would, in effect, come to this — that proceedings could only be taken by private individuals. Here the i)Xirchase was made by the insjiector nnder those sec- tions; but sui-ely the case must be treated as though the pixrchase had been by a private individual. Now, in the case of a private individual no one could dispute that in such a case as this the off'ence would have been completed, and the magistrate has so found, in fact. That being so, what difference can it make as to the nature of the offence, that the purchase was by an officer on behalf of the public, and furnished with public money for the ])ur- pose 1 If tlie purchaser asks for a certain article, and gets an article which by reason of some admixture of a foreign article is not of the nature or quality of the ai-ticle he asks for, he is neces- sarily 'prejudiced;' and how can the fact that the purchase is not with his own money at all affect the question of tlie commis- sion of the offence? The offence intended to be ])revented by th© Act was the fraudulent sale of articles adulterated by the admix- ture of foi'eign substances, vv^hich would necessarily be ' to the prejudice of the purchaser;' and those words were inserted only to reqiiire that such an adulteration should be shown to have been made. Taking all these matters into consideration, I cannot bring my mind to the conclusion that in such a ca'-e as this the offence is less complete, merely because the money with which the j)urchase was made was not the money of the purchaser, which must bo wholly immaterial to the seller, and cannot affect the offence he has committed. I come, therefore, to the conclusion that the magistrate was wrong in dismissing the case on that ground, and, therefore, that the case must be remitted to him to be determined on the evidence as to the offence alleged to have been committed. Mr. Justice Lush, in expressing his entire concuiTenco, said that the differences of opinion which unfortunately prevailed as to the true construction of the sixth section of the Act had crip- pled the operation of a most beneficial Act.—Judgment for the appellant. JB'inally, the Act of 1875 was amended by the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1879, which became law on July 21st in that year. This Act settled the prejudice question, authorised the
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