duct of infected persons during the prevalence of contagious disease, as to prevent its introduction from foreign parts.

We here refer to the laws relating to quarantine; the term applied to that period of probation during which vessels which arrive from countries infected with plague, or other contagious disorder, are restrained by law from general intercourse (b).

The first statute on the subject was 9 Ann. c. 2, which was followed by several others in the reigns of George the first and George the second; but all previous provisions were repealed by 6 Geo. IV. c. 78, which consolidates the whole law now in force with respect to quarantine.

By this statute it is enacted, that all vessels, as well of war as others, coming from any place whence the crown, by the advice of the privy council, shall have adjudged it probable that the plague or other infectious disease of a highly dangerous kind may be brought; and all vessels and boats receiving persons or goods out of the same; and all persons and goods on board the vessels so arriving, or so receiving as aforesaid;-shall be liable to "quarantine" within the meaning of the Act, and of any order or orders in council concerning quarantine: and shall be obliged to perform quarantine in such place or places (known by the name of lazarets), for such time, and in such manner, as shall from time to time be directed by order in council, notified by proclamation or published in the London Gazette; and, until they shall have been discharged from such quarantine, shall not come on shore, or be put on board any other vessel or boat, except in such cases, and by such licence, as the order in council may direct (c). And in case of breach of quarantine, either as to persons or

(b) The earliest known regulations in the nature of quarantine laws are those contained in an edict of Justinian, A.D. 542. In modern

times the example has been followed in all the principal countries of Europe.

(c) 6 Gco. 4, c. 78, s. 2.

goods, the offender is visited with heavy fine, and is besides punishable with imprisonment for six months (d). But, on the other hand, the privy council are empowered, if they shall think fit, to shorten in any individual case the period of quarantine; or absolutely release therefrom any particular vessels, persons, or goods (e).

Besides many other regulations contained in this statute, too minute to be here set forth, it is provided, that the lords of the privy council, or any two of them, may make such order as they shall think necessary upon any unforeseen emergency, or in any particular case, with respect to any vessel or goods arriving with infectious disease on board, or arriving under any suspicious circumstances as to infection; and this, although such vessels shall not have come from any place from which the crown has declared it probable that the plague or other disease may be brought (ƒ). And a similar power is, by the same Act, entrusted to the privy council in the case of any infectious disease or distemper breaking out in the united kingdom; so as to enable them to cut off communication between persons afflicted therewith and the rest of the subjects of the realm (g).

Again, the visitation of this kingdom by the spasmodic or Asiatic cholera, gave occasion in the year 1832 to a statute (2 Will. IV. c. 10), by which the privy council were empowered to issue such orders as might appear expedient, with a view to prevent the spread of this fearful disease; for the relief of persons afflicted thereby; and for the interment of those who became its victims. And by the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 75, this Act was continued until the end of the then next session of parliament. But at the expiration of that period the cholera having wholly disappeared, the Act was not further continued; and though some partial outbreaks of the epidemic have since occurred, the statute has not been re-enacted,-having

(d) 6 Geo. 4, c. 78, ss. 17, 26. (e) Sect. 6.

(f) Sect. 6.
(g) Ibid.

indeed become unnecessary by the establishment of those more general provisions for the prevention of disease, of which we shall presently give some account (h).

With regard to Small-pox, in order to prevent so far as possible the ravages of that terrible malady, it has been thought fit to prohibit its voluntary production by way of inoculation (a practice which at one time was not unfrequently adopted), and also to institute throughout the country a system of compulsory vaccination. Accordingly, by the statutes now in force on this subject, viz. "The Vaccination Act, 1867" (30 & 31 Vict. c. 84), and "The Vaccination Act, 1871" (34 & 35 Vict. c. 98), the guardians of every union or parish which has not already been divided into vaccination districts, are required to make such division forthwith; and are to enter into a contract with some duly registered medical practitioner for the vaccination of all persons residing in each district, who shall be termed its public vaccinator (¿).

To such public vaccinator, or else to some other medical practitioner, it is made incumbent on every parent (or other person having the custody of a child) to take his child, within three months after its birth, for the purpose of being vaccinated; and he must moreover (in the case of a public vaccination) repeat his visit at the expiration of a week, that the vaccinator may ascertain that the operation was successful; and in case of a private vaccination a certificate must be procured by the parent himself and transmitted to the vaccination officer. And every parent (or other person) who shall neglect to perform these duties shall be liable to a penalty of twenty shillings on a summary conviction (k); while any person who shall by any means attempt to produce in any form the disease of

(h) Vide post, p. 174.

(i) By 30 & 31 Vict. c. 84, the prior enactments on this subject contained in 3 & 4 Vict. c. 29; 4 & 5 Vict. c. 32; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 100;

21 & 22 Vict. c. 25, s. 7, and 24 & 25 Vict. c. 59, are repealed.

(k) 30 & 31 Vict. c. 84, s. 29. (See Pilcher v. Stafford, 4 B. & S. 775.)

small-pox by variolous matter or otherwise, shall be liable on a summary conviction to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding one month (1).

It is moreover provided that any justice of the peace, on being satisfied that a child under the age of fourteen has not been vaccinated, nor has already had the smallpox, may make an order on the parent that such child shall be vaccinated within a certain time, under the penalty of twenty shillings in case of neglect (m).

As for the general provisions tending to the preservation and improvement of the public health to which we referred at the beginning of this chapter, they have issued from the legislature, during the last few years, with a profusion that makes it impossible to enter into a full detail of them, without allotting more space to the particular subject than the plan of this work permits. We can only advert to such as are of a more directly sanitary character; and which relate either to the public health in general, or more particularly to the removal of nuisances.

Firstly. By 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63 (called "The Public Health Act, 1848"), on the petition of a certain proportion of the rated inhabitants of any town, parish or other place with a known and defined boundary, an official inspector was directed to examine into the facts, and if he reported in favour of the petition, the Act was then applied to such place-in some cases, by order in council; in others, under the authority of parliament (n). And by a subsequent Act, viz. the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98 (called "The Local Government Act, 1858"), the previous statute was amended; and (among other points) in this important particular that the sanitary arrangements and internal management of any place already subject to or adopting

(1) 30 & 31 Vict. c. 84, s. 32. (m) Sect. 31. (See Allen, app., Worthy, resp., Law Rep., 5 Q. B. 163; Dutton, app., Atkins, resp.,

ib.; 6 Q. B. 373.)

(n) See an act of parliament for such purpose, 20 & 21 Vict. c. 22.

"The Public Health Act, 1848,") was thenceforth committed to its local authorities, instead of (as previously) to a central Board established in London.

The 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98 was, in its turn, afterwards amended by the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 61, called "The Local Government Act (1858) Amendment Act, 1861;" and, again, by the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 17, called "The Local Government Act Amendment Act, 1863." The system which prevails in those places to which the above Acts apply (o) is consequently to be ascertained by collating the provisions of the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63; the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98; the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 61; and the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 17;-a group of statutes which, taken collectively, are called "The Local Government Acts" (p).

In any place in which the "Local Government Acts" are in force, the duty of carrying them into execution devolves upon a "Local Board of Health," which as regards corporate boroughs is to be the town council, and as regards other places is to be elected by the owners and ratepayers. And this local Board is charged with a great variety of duties, and is clothed with corresponding powers of a very miscellaneous character-including the subjects of sewerage; scavenging and cleansing streets; buildings; the repair of the highways within the district; the control of streets and roads; the supply of water, and a variety of other matters more or less closely connected with the sanitary improvement of the place (g). It has, further, the power to borrow money, purchase land and settle boundaries, and procure the repeal of local Acts (r). And the expenses connected with all these duties are to be defrayed out of local rates, to be made either pro

(0) See The Queen v. Hardy, Law Rep., 4 Q. B. 117.

(p) They are thus defined in the Public Health Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 79), for the purposes of that statute.

(g) By 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 7,

no highway district, formed under that Act, is to include (among other places excepted) any district constituted under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, or 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98.

(r) 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 75. See such an Act, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 25.