Larceny Advertisements Act

An Act (33 & 34 Vic., c. 65) has recently been passed to amend the law relating to advertisements respecting stolen goods. Under the Act 24 & 25 Vic., c. 96, any person who prints or publishes advertisements tor the return of stolen goods without questions being asked, forfeits the sum of fifty pounds to any person who will sue for the same by action of debt (Sec. 102). This provision having given occasion to many vexatious proceedings at the instance of common informers against printers and publishers of newspapers, it was thought expedient to pass a new Act, which stayed proceedings inactions brought before its passing; and provides that:—

Every action against the printer or publisher of a newspaper to recover a forfeiture under section one hundred and two of The Larceny Act, 1868, shall be brought six months after the forfeiture is incurred, and no such action against the printer and publisher of a newspaper shall be brought unless the assent in writing of Her Majesty’s Attorney-General or Solicitor-General for England, if the action is brought in England, or for Ireland, if the action is brought in Ireland, has been first obtained to the bringing of such action.—Sec. 3.