Chapter III: Lotteries

A lottery has been defined to be “a distribution of prizes by lot or chance,” a definition which was accepted as correct by the Court in _Taylor_ v. _Smetten_,[283] but which seems somewhat incomplete considering the complexity of the subject, see _post_ p. 140 as to the tests of a lottery.

The setting up of lotteries has been declared illegal and penal by a long series of statutes commencing in the reign of William III. The full text of these statutes will be found in Chitty’s Statutes (title “Gaming”). It will be sufficient to summarise them for the purpose of the present work.

[Sidenote: 10 & 11 Wm. III., c. 17.]

The Statute 10 & 11 William III., ch. 17, reciting that persons had of late fraudulently obtained great sums of money from the children and servants of merchants and traders by colour of patents or grants under the Great Seal, [Sidenote: Lotteries declared nuisances.] enacts by