Some Interesting Points of Licensing Law
| Date | 01 April 1946 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4601900214 |
| Author | William Guttridge |
| Published date | 01 April 1946 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SomeInterestingPointsof
Licensing
Law
By
STATION
SERGEANT
WILLIAM
GUTTRIDGE,
Metropolitan Police
THE licensing laws of England are among the most complicated
on the Statute Book,
but
for all their complexity they are, to the
discerning Police Officer, extremely interesting.
The
law of licensing
is
not
easy to assimilate,
but
when once grasped is never forgotten.
"Knowledge is
power"
in all walks of life, and especially in the
profession of the Police.
To
know one's
job
thoroughly,
and
to know
exactly what to do when called to or dealing with offences committed
on licensed premises, immediately stamps one as a reliable and efficient
Police Officer.
One of the aspects of licensing law of more
than
usual interest
is
that
dealing with the question of sale.
The
sale, supply, and con-
sumption of intoxicating liquor may only take place during specified
"permitted hours," with certain exceptions such as supply to friends
at the expense of the licensee, consumption with a meal for an extra
half an
hour
at the end of each period of permitted hours and con-
sumption by bona-fide residents on licensed premises. Consumption
of intoxicating liquor during
"non-permitted"
hours is an offence
even if the liquor is not sold or supplied on the premises
but
is brought
in from outside. Closing time, as all Police Officers should know
(but do not), was abolished by the Licensing Act, 1921, and licensed
premises may remain open all day or all night, provided
that
permitted
hours for the sale of intoxicating liquor are complied with.
A licensee (not being an innkeeper) has a commonslaw right to
refuse to serve any person, and no publican (except an innkeeper) is
.compelled to serve anyone.
His
premises, although known as a
"public house," are a shop, and he can, like any ordinary shopkeeper,
pick and choose his customers with impunity.
The
Case Law on this
subject
states:
"No
one has a right to insist on being served in a
tavern or alehouse more
than
in any other shop, and the occupier
has a right to request aperson to leave if he does not wish
him
to
remain on the premises, and, if necessary, to eject
him."
(R. v. Rymer
(1877) ; Sealy v. Tandy (1902).) If, however, he carries this right to
excess, the renewal of his Justices Licence would be open to strong
opposition at Brewster Sessions, or, in legal language, the General
Annual Licensing Meeting.
Equally interesting are the various laws concerning
the
relation
of children to licensed premises. Children under the age of 14 are
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