WHEN BRIDGE IS ILLEGAL
By ALFRED FELLOWS THE . ruling by Sir Herbert Wilberforce last week that it is illegal to play any game of cards for money on premises mainly used for that purpose appears to have caused surprise and alarm in certain quarters, knt it can certainly , cause none in the legal profession. It follows a, classical authority of over fifty years ago, When the , late Lord Brampton as Sir Henry Hawkins laid ,dow,n , the law as follows : " The unlawful games are : Ace of Hearts, Pharaoh, Basset, Hazard, Passage, Roulet, every game of dice except backgammon, and every game of cards which is not a game of mere skill ; and, I incline to add, any other game of mere chance." This pronouncement was made on the prosecution of the Proprietor of a club under the Gaming Houses Act for allowing a room in it to be used for high play at baccarat. The' games specifically mentioned above are those set forth as unlawful in certain eighteenth-century statutes, and the list alone shows the need of revising the law. " Ace of Hearts," " Pharaoh " and " Basset " were card pines, bid, except so far as " Pharaoh " may be the Modern " faro " are quite obsolete, as indeed are hazard or passage, games with dice., Naturally no mention is made of games originating later, though there isa'ciiriotts veto on games " invented or to be invented " with dice, or with " any other instrument, engine, or device in the nature of dice " excepting back- gaMmon.
Lord. .Brampton deduced from the Acts that all card games were unlawful except games of mere skill—which obViously no card game can possibly be, for all are derninated by the pure chance of the fall of the cards, which defeats the best patience players and gives rubbers of bridge to duffers against champions. The judge was speaking in respect of the case before him, concerning a room; specially kept in a club for card-playing. It has been held that the so-called unlawful games may lawfully be played on private premises for money as an occasional Usage (unless, of course, such premises are licensed for the sale of liquor, when another ,veto prevails). GiVen, hOweVer, habitual usage, the law allows of no dis- , eriininntiOn between one card game and another, if played for money, and contract and auction bridge and whist arc just as, unlawful as poker, baccarat, or faro. There is; of course, no question but that whist-drives as generally conducted arc unlawful. In a case five or six years ago Lord Hewart observed " a decision otherwise would Over-ride a whole series of authorities." No doubt, then, the law as laid down by Sir Herbert would be affirmed in a' superior Court.. If enforced to the letter, it would result, in the abolition of every card-room of every club • Unless the members played with irredeemable counters or CONNTieS like children. In practice it is understood that the voliee do in fact make a distinction between raid games where skill predominates, such as bridge, and the purely gambling games such as baccarat. That is ,to say, they administer a law founded on common sense, instead of the law of the land as made by Parlia7 merit and interpreted by - judges. If, however, the police arc to make sensible laws because Parliament cannot or will not do so, considerable expense, would be saved by abolishing the present Legislature, and substituting the Force in its stead,
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