Hansen v Archdall and Smith [1930] HCA 16

| rt — << A Hiuloty oy. doves fee be EOL i nm 44 C.L.R.} OF AUSTRALIA. (HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.] HANSEN ¥ APPELLANT ;

AND

ARCHDALL AND SMITH . RESPONDENTS.

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND.

Vagrancy—Fortune-telling—Imposing upon charitable institution or private individual —False or fraudulent representation—With a view to obtain money or some other benefit— Interpretation — Imposition not limited to cases of charity— Vagrant Act of 1851 (Q.) (15 Vict, No. 4), sec. 3.*

A person was convicted, under sec. 3 of the Vagrant Act of 1851, of endeavour- ing to impose upon a private individual by a false verbal representation that she had power and ability to foretell events which would thereafter happen in the life of that individual with a view to obtain money.

Held, by Isaacs C.J., Gavan Duffy and Starke JJ. (Rich J. dissenting), that fortune-telling, if dishonestly made, is an offence under sec. 3 of the Vagrant Act of 1851, and that the statute is not limited to cases of imposition by way of charity.

Per Isaacs C.J. and Gavan Duffy J. :—It is only when a person sets out to cheat either any charitable institution or any private individual by means of a false or fraudulent representation in order to obtain from the institution or individual, as the direct or proximate result of the representation, money or some other benefit or advantage, that the section is contravened. It does not. extend to any case when the representation is honestly made, even though it

*The Vagrant Act of 1851 (Q.), by see. 3, provides (inter alia) that " All

private individual by any false or fraudulent, representation either ver-

persons going about as gatherers of alms under false pretence of loss by fire or by other casualty or as collectors under any false pretence and all persons imposing or endeavouring to impose upon any charitable institution or