Odger's English Common Law

312 ACTS ENDANGERING HUMAN LIEE.
of the child being burnt or scalded, without taking reasonable
precautions against that risk, and by reason thereof the child
is killed or suffers serious injury, he shall on summary con-
viction be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds." 1
" If any person gives, or causes to be given, to any child
under the age of five any intoxicating liquor, except upon
the order of a duly qualified medical practitioner, or in case
of sickness, or apprehended sickness, or other urgent cause,
he shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not
exceeding three pounds." 2
But the Children Act has not repealed the old section of
the Offences against the Person Act, 1861, as to the abandon-
ment or exposure of a child by any one who is under a legal
obligation to take charge of it. " Whosoever shall unlawfully
abandon or expose any child, being under the age of two
years, whereby the life of such child shall be endangered, or
the health of such child shall have been or shall be likely
to be permanently injured, shall be guilty of a mis-
demeanour," and may be sent to penal servitude for five
years. 3
Thus, where a mother packed up her baby comfortably in a hamper and
sent it by train to its father, it was held that she had committed an offence
under this section, although the clerk at the station was told to be particu-
larly careful with the hamper, and although the child did not suffer at all
by travelling in such an unusual way. 4
It is, moreover, not necessary that
the defendant should have had the actual custody of the child if he, being
bound by law to provide for it, knowingly allowed it to be " abandoned or
exposed." 5
So, too, the Children's Dangerous Performances Acts, 1879
and 1897, 6 still remain in force, and forbid the employment of
any boy under sixteen or any girl under eighteen in any
dangerous public exhibition or performance, under a penalty
not exceeding £10 ; and this fine is recoverable on summary
conviction from the person who causes the child to take part
in the performance, and also from the parent or guardian or
1 s. 15.
2 S. 119.
8 24 & 25 Vict. o. 100, s. 27. See B. v. White (1871), L. E. 1 0. 0. E. 311.
i S. v. Falhingham (1870), L. E. 1 0. C. E. 222.
6 See R. v. Connor, [1908] 2 K. B. 26.
e 42 & 43 Vict. c. 34 ; 60 & 61 Vict. c. 52.