Unlawful pawning.
Pawnbroker to seize applicant suspected of unlawful conduct.
Liability of pawnbroker
in respect of loss or damage.
Pawning by children,
Taking in
pawn goods with certain marks.
Hours of business.
Delivery to owner of
property unlawfully pawned, with or without compensation
to pawn- broker.
Ordinance
No. 5 of 1865. Ordinance No. 4 of 1896.
698
22. No person shall pawn, or attempt to pawn, the goods of any other person without being duly authorised or employed in that behalf.
23. Every pawnbroker to whom any application is made to borrow or redeem, or for a copy of an entry, who has reasonable cause to suspect any unlawful conduct on the part of the applicant in any of the above cases, is hereby required to seize and detain such applicant, and is empowered to call in the aid of any other person for that purpose; and every person so seized shall, with all reason- able speed, be delivered into the custody of a police constable who shall convey him before a magistrate.
24.-(1) A pawnbroker shall make good all loss or damage accruing to a borrower in the following cases :--
(a) where the goods pawned have been stolen, embezzled, lost, or otherwise improperly dis- posed of, before the period for the redemption thereof has elapsed; and
() where the goods, before the said period has elapsed, have by the default, neglect, or mis- feasance of the pawnbroker been destroyed, damaged, or impaired in value.
(2) In any of the said cases a magistrate shall allow and award an amount in satisfaction of such loss or damage, from which shall be deducted the amount of principal and interest then due in respect of such goods.
(3) A pawnbroker shall not be responsible for damage caused by fire, rats, insects or other causes not attributable to his default.
25. No pawnbroker shall receive any goods in pawn from any person under the age of ten years.
26. It shall not be lawful for any pawnbroker to receive in pawn any goods having upon them any mark or sign denoting them to be or to have been the property of the Crown or of any public department.
27. Subject to any regulation made under this Ordi- nance by the Governor in Conneil, no goods shall be pawned or redeemed before 6 a.in, or after 8 p.m.
28.-(1) In each of the following cases, that is to
say :-
(a) if any person is convicted of feloniously taking or fraudulently obtaining any goods, and it appears to a court or magistrate that the same have been pawned with a pawnbroker, or (b) if, in any proceedings before a court or magis- trate, it appears that any goods brought before such court or magistrate have been unlawfully pawned with a pawnbroker,
the court or magistrate, on proof of the ownership of the goods, may order either the delivery or the non-delivery thereof to the owner, either on payment to the pawn- broker of the amount of the loan advanced by him thereon, and the interest due, or on payment of any part of such loan or interest, or without payment of any part of such loan or interest, as to the court or magistrate, according to the conduct of the owner and pawnbroker and the other circumstances of the case, may seem just and fitting.
(2) No such order shall be made by the court or magis- trate unless the pawnbroker and the owner shall have been given an opportunity of being heard.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 88 of the Larceny Ordinance, 1865, or in section 24 of the Sale of Goods Ordinance, 1896, any such order made by the court or magistrate shall bar any civil remedy which the owner would have had for the recovery of the goods, and the owner shall not be entitled to claim the return of the goods from the pawnbroker except in accordance with the terms of such order.
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