INTOXICATION, or DRUNKENNESS, is, in point of law, no excuse for any wrong done by the drunken party. Crimes which are committed in a state of drunkenness are pun ishable in the same way as if the actor were sober, though it is discretionary in the court to mitigate the sentence. As regards contracts entered into by a drunken party, there is no peculiarity, unless the fact of drunkenness was taken advantage of by the sober party, in which case it lies on the drunken party to prove this. Cases may no doubt arise where Cue drunkenness may be an element of fraud, and so the contract or deed may be rescinded or set aside. The mere act or state of drunkenness, when pri vately indulged in, is not an offense against the law; but if it be shown in public. it may become so. If, for example, a person he drunk in the streets or a public place, he was made, by a statute of James I., liable to be fined Ss., or, if unable to pay, to be com mitted to the stocks for six hours. By a more modern enactment of 1872, called the
intoxicating liquors licensing act, which repealed the older statute, every person found drunk in a highway or public place, or in a licensed house, is liable to a penalty of 10s.: and on a second offense within 12 months, to 20s., and on a third offense within 12 months, to 40s. To be drunk and riotous, or be drunk while in charge of a horse or carriage, or of a gun, is punishable with a line of 20s., or imprisonment for one month. Local acts also often impose other penalties. In Scotland several ancient statutes were passed against drunkenness, which, however, are in desmetude. In several local police acts a penalty is imposed on drunkenness ill the streets, and the police and improve meatts act of Scotland, 25 and 20 Viet. c. 101, s. 254, subjects drunken persons in the streets to a penalty of 40s., or 14 clays' imprisonment, in all places where that act is adopted.