Margarine Act 1887

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


Margarine Act, 1887

(50 & 51 Vict.) CHAPTER 29.

An Act for the better Prevention of the Fraudulent Sale of Margarine.

[23rd August 1887]

W HEREAS it is expedient that further provision should be made for protecting the public against the sale as butter of substances made in imitation of butter, as well as of butter mixed with any such substances:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

S-1 Short title.

1 Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as theMargarine Act, 1887.

S-2 Commencement of Act.

2 Commencement of Act.

2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

S-3 Definition.

3 Definition.

3. The word ‘butter’ shall mean the substance usually known as butter, made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without salt or other preservative, and with or without the addition of colouring matter.

The word ‘margarine’ shall mean all substances, whether compounds or otherwise, prepared in imitation of butter, and whether mixed with butter or not, and no such substance shall be lawfully sold, except under the name of margarine, and under the conditions set forth in this Act.

S-4 Penalty.

4 Penalty.

4. Every person dealing in margarine, whether wholesale or retail, whether a manufacturer, importer, or as consignor or consignee, or as commission agent or otherwise, who is found guilty of an offence under this Act, shall be liable on summary conviction for the first offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and for the second offence to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and for the third or any subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

S-5 Exemption from penalty.

5 Exemption from penalty.

5. Where an employer is charged with an offence against this Act he shall be entitled, upon information duly laid by him, to have any other person whom he charges as the actual offender brought before the Court at the time appointed for hearing the charge, and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, the employer proves to the satisfaction of the Court that he had used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act, and that the said other person had committed the offence in question without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, the said other person shall be summarily convicted of such offence, and the employer shall be exempt from any penalty.

S-6 Marking of cases.

6 Marking of cases.

6. Every person dealing in margarine in the manner described in the preceding section shall conform to the following regulations:

Every package, whether open or closed, and containing margarine, shall be branded or durably marked ‘Margarine’ on the top, bottom, and sides, in printed capital letters, not less than three quarters of an inch square; and if such margarine be exposed for sale, by retail, there...

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