Bazaars
The question never seems to have been raised whether bazaars conducted on the now somewhat common system of selling things by drawing of lots do not infringe the Lottery Acts. Such bazaars are usually held for the purpose of raising money for a charity. The method of operation in many cases is for a certain number of subscribers to pay down a specified sum of money each, and then articles of a different value are distributed among those subscribers, by drawing of lots, some of the articles being of greater value than others, every subscriber getting something for his ticket. It is clear from the authorities above quoted, that the latter circumstance does not take the case out of the Lottery Acts. |“Fish ponds.”| So also articles are sold at these bazaars by raffle, or by a more modern institution called a “fish pond,” in which a quantity of articles of unequal value, and all under cover, are placed together; and the subscribers, with a sort of fishing rod and line and a hook attached at the end, endeavour to fish up some article, the value of which of course is uncertain until taken out of its cover. It seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that if such bazaars are conducted on any of the systems above alluded to they infringe the provisions of 12 George II., c. 28, section 1., which prohibits the sale or exposing for sale of goods, &c., by any method or device to be determined by lot or drawing, thus prohibiting any lottery being carried on under the guise of a sale. Section 3 of the same Act seems to apply to any person buying at any such sales—it inflicts a penalty of £20 on any adventurer in the games forbidden by the Act, and on any person taking part in such lottery or sale. Whether it would be wise or tolerable that the law should be enforced in every case in all its strictness is another question, but it would be wise for persons who get up these bazaars, even with the most charitable motives, and ladies who take stalls therein, to consider the Lottery Acts.
Lotteries illegal, not merely void as agreements.
Of course as the statutes have imposed penalties for setting up lotteries it follows that an agreement which has for its object any transaction which amounts to a lottery or of which such transaction forms any part is tainted with illegality. |Results of illegality.| The chief results of a contract being illegal have been noted above in treating of bills and securities given for an illegal consideration. In some few cases the application of these rules to lottery transactions is illustrated.
Whole transaction tainted.
In Fisher v. Bridges[[303]] defendant agreed to sell to plaintiff a piece of land at a certain price, for the purpose, as plaintiff well knew, that the land should be exposed for sale by lottery contrary to the statute.[[304]] Defendant having paid only a part of the purchase money after the sale was over, entered into a covenant with plaintiff to pay the balance. The defendant pleaded that the deed was given for an illegal consideration, viz., the sale by lottery.
The Court of Queen’s Bench held that as the deed was made after the illegal transaction was over, and did not appear by the plea to have been entered into in pursuance of the previous illegal agreement, it was not affected with the illegality; the grounds of their decision being that the purchase money and the sum secured by the bond were not necessarily identified.
But the Court of Exchequer Chamber reversed this judgment on the ground that “the covenant was given to secure the payment of a part of the purchase or consideration money for the lands the subject of the agreement, and no action could have been brought to recover the purchase money of the lands. The covenant springs from, and is a creation of, the legal agreement; and as the law would not enforce the original illegal contract, so neither will it allow the parties to enforce a security for the purchase money, which by the original bargain was tainted with illegality.
Money paid in respect of a lottery.
Another consequence of lotteries being illegal is seen in the right of the person who has paid money in respect of it to recover it back. Where the money has been deposited with a stakeholder, the series of cases ending with Diggle v. Higgs,[[305]] given under “Wager Contracts,” show that notice can in any case be given by the depositor to recall the money before it has been paid over by the stakeholder.