BEER. ACTS, the 11 Geo. IV. and 1 William IV. c. 64. the 4 and 5 William IV. c. 85, and the 3 and 4 Viet. c. 61, amended by the wine and beer-house acts, 39 and 83 Vict. c. 27. 33 and 34 Viet. c. 29, and the intoxicating liquor acts, 35 and 36 Vict. c. 94, 37 and 38 Viet. c. 49. By the earlier of these acts (all relating to England), every house holder assessed to the poor-rates. in any parish or place and not being a sheriff's officer, or officer employed to execute judicial process), could, without any license from the magistrates, apply for and obtain an excise license, to enable him to sell beer and cider, by retail, at some house situated within such parish or place, and specified in such license. .But in order to obtain such license the applicant must produce an overseer's certificate that he was the real resident, holder, and occupier of such house, and rated to the poor-rate in a certain amount; and must enter into a bond with one sufficient surety, in the penal sum of :C20. or two sufficient sureties in the penal sum of .-C10 each, for the payment of such penalties as he may incur under the acts; and if he is also desirous for permission that the liquor should be drunk on the preonses, he must, moreover, annually deposit with the commissioners of excise (now the board of inland revenue), or other person authorized to grant the license, a certificate of good character," signed by six rated inhabitants of the parish, of whom none shall be maltsters, common brewers, or licensed publicans, or owners of licensed public-houses. These requirements were easily evaded as regards the evidence of good character, and in 1869 the new practice was introduced by the wine and beer-house act, 32 and 33 Viet. c. 27, of not only requiring the house to be of a certain valuation, but the applicant to go first to the jus tices of his division or borough for a certificate, which thus enabled some inquiry to be made into the respectability of the persons keeping beer-houses. This certificate of justices, sometime also called a justices' license. is indispensable before getting an excise license. It is, moreover, required that every person obtaining a license, shall paint conspicuously over the door of his premises, in such form and manner as the acts specify, his Chris tian name and surname at full length, and the words "licensed to sell beer (or cider) by retail," with the addition of " to he drunk on the premises," or " not to be drunk on the premises," as the case may be. Penalties are also imposed on every retailer of beer or cider who shall transgress. or allow to be transgressed, any of the numerous and strin gent provisions of the licensing acts 1872-74. The license to sell beer isconfined to that particular privilege; and persons, under cover of it, attempting to sell wines or spirits, are not only liable in a heavy penalty, but may be deprived of their beer license. Ou the other hand. a license to sell wines and spirits is quite distinct; but all excise licenses to retail liquors must be preceded by a justice's certificate.
The wine and beer-house acts of 1869 and 1870 still mainly govern the qualifications of those who sell beer by retail, and a similar law is applied to those who sell wine and liquors by retail in refreshment houses. The law was, however, deemed imperfect as
regards the offenses which the keepers of licensed houses are prone to commit, and it required the intoxicating liquors licensing act of 1872, c 94, and of 1874, c. 49, to create more iiniformity as well as stringency in the requirements. During Sundays, all licensed houses require to be shut except between 12i- or 1 r.M. and 21 or 3 P.31., and between 6 r.st. and 10 or 11 P.m_ the justices having a slight power to vary these hours. A fixed time of opening and closing is also prescribed for week-days. When a keeper of the house is convicted of an offense, it is usually indorsed on his license, and after three indorsements he forfeits the license; and, in some cases, even the landlord's power to relet the house for the sale of liquors is suspended for some years, according to the nature of the offenses. Though the houses are closed for part of Sundays, yet travelers and lodgers are exempted in most cases, and can be supplied as usual with liquors. Some of the penalties have been admitted to be too severe, and require modification.
The place where beer is exclusively sold is called a differing in this respect from an which means a place where other liquors as well as beer are retailed. The term applies to the second most frequently.
The sale of beers or :des in Scotland is regulated by the act 25 and 26 Vict. c. 35, amending the act 9 Geo. IV. c. 58, and the 16 and 17 Vict. c. 67, commonly called the "Forbes Mackenzie act." Justices and magistrates meet twice a year to grant certifi cates. By the form of license, thereby prescribed, no "liquors of any kind can be sold en Sunday in any inn, hotel, shop, or any public-house, except to lodgers and travelers. In the English acts the words travelers" are used, which mean the same thing, and they are held to include persons traveling two or three miles for business or pleas- . ure. Many of the penalties of the act 25 and 26 Viet. c. 35, exceeded those of the Eng lish acts, but the English act of 1872 far outstripped in stringency (except as regards Sunday) the Scotch acts.* or Branitoomi, a district in the lower provinces of Bengal, with an area of 1344 sq.m., and a pop. (1871) of 095,921. It extends between n. lat. 23' 32' and 42° 40', and between e. long. 86' 25' and 88' 30'. The chief town is Soil. 100 m. n.n.w. of • Calcutta, and after it the district is sometimes named. The inhabitants are gee-. orally a rude race, and there appear to be hardly any places worthy of the name of towns.
was a peculiar payment to non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the English army. It was established in the year 1800, at the suggestion of the duke of York, and consisted of one penny per day for troops when on hp/De-service, as a substi tute for an issue of beer and spirits. It continued as an addition to the daily pay until 1873, when, the stoppages for rations having been abolished, the opportunity was taken. to consolidate beer-money and pay proper.