Alcohol : its place and power in legislation / by Robinson Souttar.

  • Souttar, Robinson, 1848-1912.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Alcohol : its place and power in legislation / by Robinson Souttar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the same. No claim for compensation can be legally supported. Neither by Statute nor by prescription has a public-house licensee any legal estate in the license beyond the year for which it is granted. But although the legal aspect of the case is incontrovertible, the moral aspect may not be quite so clear. Though it be true that the legal estate of a licensee is but for a year, may not the fact that the license has been renewed continuously create an expectation that it will continue? Has not the publican invested his capital upon this supposition, and arranged his plan of life upon the strength of it, and is it fair to defeat expec- tations thus formed, without adequate compen- sation ? This argument is specious, but does not rest upon a solid basis. The struggling publican who has thus ordered his life and invested his capital is now somewhat rare. There are still a certain number of houses which are owned by their landlords. They are, perhaps, in a majority of cases houses of a supe- rior class, and would probably be the last to be touched by the hand of the reformer. But gene-