A further relaxation of the rule established by the (stet. 10 Geo. II. a 28, for the regulation of theatrical performances, was effected by the statute 28 Geo. III. c. 30, in favour of places which could not be expected to bear the expense of a special act of parliament. By this latter statute, the justices of the peace at general or quarter sessions are authorised to license the performance of any such tragedies, comedies, Interludes, oiler" plays, or farces as are represented at the patent or licensed theatres in IN cctmhister, or as have been submitted to the Lord Chamberlain, at any place within their jurisdiction not within 20 miles of London, Westminster, or Edinburgh, or eight miles of any patent or licensed theatre, or ten miles of the king's residence or fourteen miles of either of the universities of Oxford or Cam bridge or two miles of the outward limits of any place having peculiar jurisdiction.
The penalties imposed by the stat. 10 Geo. II. c. 28, being found in practice insufficient to prevent the performance of theatrical entertain ments without licence, and great evils being alleged to follow from the resort of the lower orders in London to such entertainments, the legislature, in the year 1839, gave additional powers to the metropo litan police for their prevention. By the 46th section of the stat. 2 &
3 Viet. c. 47, "the commissioners of police are empowered to authorise a superintendent, with such constables as he may think necessary, to enter into any house or room, kept or used within the metropolitan police district for stage plays or dramatic entertainments, into which admission is obtained by payment of money, and which is not a licensed theatre, and to take into custody all persons who shall be found therein without lawful excuse." The same clause enacts that " every person keeping, using, or knowingly letting any house or other tenement for the purpose of being used as an unlicensed theatre, shall be liable to a penalty of 201., or, in the discretion of the magistrate, may be committed to the House of Correction, with or without hard labour, for two calendar months; and every person performing or being therein without lawful excuse shall be liable to a penalty of forty shillings."