That presumption materially prejudices the position, and renders more difficult the defence, of any one now charged with an offence under section 2 of the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act, 1892. And the section also indicates the persons who may be charged with the offence of inviting business from infants. It says that if any such document as above-mentioned sent to an infant purports to issue from an address named therein, or indicates an address as the place at which the application is to be made with reference to the subject-matter of the document, and at that place there is carried on some business connected with loans, whether making or procuring loans or otherwise, every person who attends at that place for the purpose of taking part in or who takes part in or assists in the carrying on of the business, shall be deemed to have sent or caused to be sent the document, unless he proves that he was not in any way a party to and was wholly ignorant of the sending of such document The offence is consti tuted by sending these documents to an infant, or causing them to be so sent ; and it will be seen from the foregoing that, subject to his proving the contrary, an assistant in the business which transgresses the law is himself liable to prose cution. Apart from the presumption of knowledge of infancy introduced by the Money-Lenders Act, the Act of 1892 also specially provides that if a document of the above-mentioned class is sent to any one at a university, college, school, or other place of education, the sender is deemed to have known that the person to whom it was sent was an infant, " unless he proves that he had reasonable groutul for believing such person to be of full age." And no one, except under the authority of the Court, may solicit an infant to make an affidavit or statutory declaration for the purpose of or in connection with any loan. Whoever does so will be liable, on sumtnary conviction, to one month's hard labour and a fine of ,E20 ; or, on conviction on indictment, to three months' hard labour and a fine of Lt00. Very important, too, is the provision avoiding a contract for payment of a loan advanced during infancy. The precise words of the statute are as follows :—" If any infant who has contracted a loan which is void in law, agrees after he comes of age to pay any money which in whole or in part represents or is agreed to be paid in respect of any such loan, and is not a new advance, such agreement, and any instru ment, negotiable or other, given in pursuance of or for carrying into effect such agreement, or otherwise in relation to the payment of money representing or in respect of such loan, shall, so far as it relates to money which represents or is payable in respect of such loan, and is not a new advance, be void absolutely as against all persons whomsoever." For the purpose of the foregoing, any interest, commis sion, or other payment in respect of the loan, is considered to be a part of that loan. In Scotland the word " infant " means and includes any minor or pupil.
Registration.—A money-lender, within the meaning of the Money-Lenders Act, 1900, must register himself as a money-lender in accordance with the regulations for tho time being in force. He must do so under his own or usual trade name (not a name assumed for the first time for the purposes of registration, Whitetnan v. Sadler), and in no other name, and with the address, or all the addresses if more than one, at which he carries on his business of money-lender. In the case of a money lending firm the names of the real partners must be registered (In re Robinson, Clarkson v. Robinson). And a money-lender partner in a firm carrying on money lending business at one address in a partnership name cannot carry on business alone at another address in a name different from that of the partnership (Stirling v. Silburn v. Pyman). He must carry on the money-lending business in his registered name, and in no other name and under no other description, and at het registered address or addresses, and at no other address. He cannot enter into any agreement in the course of his business as a money-lender with respect to the advance and repayment of money, or take any security for money in the course of his business as a money-lender, otherwise than in his registered name. And, .ort reasonable request and tender of a reasonable sum for expenses, he must furnish the borrower with a copy of any document relating to the loan or any security therefor. Non-compliance with any of the foregoing requirements will render a money-lender liable to a heavy punishment upon summary conviction. This punish ment consists of a fine of £100 for a first offence ; but in the case of a second or subsequent conviction the offender may be imprisoned with hard labour for three months and also fined £100. If, however, the offender is a body corporate, that body corporate will be liable to a fine of £500 on a second or subsequent convic tion. Moreover, a non-registered money-lender cannot recover on a contract
entered into in the course of his business, nor can even an assignee of the security, for value without notice, enforce the same (In re Robinson, Clarkson v. Robinson). The whole of a particular transaction must be carried through at the registered address. Even an occasional place of business must be registered. This does not prevent, however, a particular loan being effected at the borrower's residence (Kirkwood v. Gadd); or the loan being made through the post, as by a cheque (Jackson v. Price; In re Debloy, No. 2 of 1010 ; In re Seed); or collecting repay ments elsewhere than at the registered address (Hopkins v. Hills). A prosecution for non-registration merely can only be instituted with the consent of the Attorney General or Solicitor-General, a provision which is probably intended to prevent the vexatious prosecution of persons who are not within the scope of the Act and so are not registered. Registration ceases to have effect at the expiration of three years from the date of the registration ; but it may be renewed from time to time, and if renewed it has effect for three years from the date of the renewal. A fee of XI is payable on each registration or renewal thereof. And this fee is payable whether the renewal arises in consequence of the expiration of the three years, or in consequence of a change of names or addresses of the person registered. The fee payable for the inspection of each separate return on the register is one shilling. On payment of this fee, together with a stamp duty of one shilling, any person, on demand, will be furnished with a certified copy of any registered return.
Eremption.—The application for exemption from registration is to be made on foolscap paper in a specified form, and must be signed by some re sponsible officer by and on behalf of the body corporate desiring the exemption. It is required to be accompanied by—(a) In the case of a body corporate regis tered under the Companies Acts, a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and, in other cases, a copy of the Charter, Deed of Settlement, or other document of Incorporation, and the regulations governing the rights of members, such copies being certified by some responsible officer of the body corporate as true copies ; (b) A Statutory Declaration by a responsible officer of the body corporate setting out the nature of the business carried on by the body corporate ; (c) A copy of the last balance-sheet. The Board of Trade may require, and the body corporate (if so required) must supply such further information by Statutory Declarations, production of documents, or otherwise, as the Board may think proper, concerning the constitution, objects, and financial position of the body corporate, and also concerning the manner in which the said body corporate has carried on the business. And the Board, if they think fit, may require notice of the application to be advertised in such papers as they may prescribe. If in the opinion of the Board the body corporate is a proper one for exemption, an order will be made exempting the body corporate from registration under the Act upon such conditions and for such period as the Board may think fit. In the case of a body corporate registered under the Companies Acts, the order is signed in quadru plicate on behalf of the President of the Board of Trade. In all other cases it is so signed in triplicate. One copy is retained by the Board and another copy forwarded to the body corporate. The Board also forwards another of such copies to the office for the registration of money-lenders, and, in the case of a body corporate registered under the Companies Acts, forwards the remaining copy to the Registrar of Joint-Stock Companies. The body corporate must forthwith publish:a copy of the order in the London or Edinburgh or Dublin Gazette, as the case may require, and in such other papers as the Board may direct. Upon the expiration of the period limited by any order, the body corporate may make a further application for renewal of the order of exemption, and the Board may from time to time make further orders exempting the body corporate from registration upon such conditions and for such further period as the Board may think fit. And the Board has power at any time to revoke any order of exemp tion. Upon a revocation it causes notice thereof to be given to the body corporate, to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and in case of bodies corporate registered under the Companies Acts, to the Registrar of Joint-Stock Companies. Thereupon the body corporate ceases to be exempted from registra tion under the Money-Lenders Act. The Board of Trade also publishes a copy of the revoking order in the London or Edinburgh or Dublin Ga4.-ette, as the case may require.