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152
taken with reference to it in bygone times. The law is contained
in section 38 of The Sanitary Act, 1866, and is as follows
"Any person who without previous disinfection gives, lends, sells,
transmits or exposes any bedding clothing, rags, or other things
which have been exposed to infection from any dangerous infectious
disorder shall, on conviction of such offence before any justice,
be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds."
The above words follow others, dealing with the wilful exposure
of "any person suffering from any dangerous infectious
disorder, without proper precaution against spreading the said disorder,
in any street, public place or public conveyance." But in
the words relating to exposure of infected things, no reference is
made to locality. It may therefore be open to question whether,
by reason of the context, or by simply reading on, the exposure
must be in "a street, public place or public conveyance," to constitute
an offence under the section, and whether exposure of infected
clothing, on the body of the wearer, in a shop ; or the exposure of
infected bedding, &c., in a backyard or garden, can be deemed to
be an infraction of the law. Many years ago, I brought the
question generally before your Vestry at a time when small-pox was
prevalent, and I cited instances in which men had gone to their
daily employment, after sleeping in the same room with their
children ill of this disease, and wearing in "street, public place or
public conveyance," clothing which, having been all night in the
sick room, was reeking with infection. I also cited instances of
exposure of infected bedding in backyards of bouses, respecting
which complaint had been made by adjoining occupiers. I was
desirous of having a test case taken with the view of ascertaining
whether the section was wide enough to cover such exposure of
infected things, and your Vestry referred the subject to the Law
and Parliamentary Committee for their opinion. The Committee
reported that, in their opinion, the section was not intended to
apply to the exposure of infected clothing worn by a person not
being himself ill of the infectious disease; and, with respect to
bedding, &c., that the exposure contemplated was in a public
place and not in a private garden. So that, as I remarked in my
Annual Report for 1876 (page 26), while deferring to the views