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An Act to prohibit the exhibition or distribution of cinematograph films in connection with the production of which suffering may have been caused to animals; and for purposes connected therewith |
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[30th
July 1937]
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1
Prohibition of films involving cruelty to animals
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(1) No
person shall exhibit to the public, or supply to any person for public exhibition
(whether by him or by another person), any cinematograph film (whether produced
in Great Britain or elsewhere) if in connection with the production of the
film any scene represented in the film was organised or directed in such
a way as to involve the cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal
or the cruel goading of any animal to fury.
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(2) In
any proceedings brought under this Act in respect of any film, the court
may (without prejudice to any other mode of proof) infer from the film as
exhibited to the public or supplied for public exhibition, as the case may
be, that a scene represented in the film as so exhibited or supplied was
organised or directed in such a way as to involve the cruel infliction of
pain or terror on an animal or the cruel goading of an animal to fury, but
(whether the court draws such an inference or not) it shall be a defence
for the defendant to prove that he believed, and had reasonable cause to
believe, that no scene so represented was so organised or directed.
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(3) Any
person contravening the provisions of this section shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding [level 3 on the standard scale], or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine
and such imprisonment.
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(4) For
the purposes of this Act—
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(a) | a
cinematograph film shall be deemed to be exhibited to the public when, and
only when, it is exhibited in a place to which for the time being members
of the general public as such have access, whether on payment of money or
otherwise, and the expression “public exhibition” shall be construed accordingly;
and
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(b) | the
expression “animal” has the same meaning as in the Protection of Animals
Act 1911 and the Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act 1912.
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NOTES
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Royal
Assent Royal Assent: 30 July 1937: (no specific commencement provision). |
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Amendment |
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Sub-s
(3): maximum fine increased by the Criminal Law Act 1977, s 31, Sch 6, and
converted to a level on the standard scale by virtue of the Criminal Justice
Act 1982, ss 37, 46.
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2
Short title and extent
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(1) This
Act may be cited as the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937.
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(2) This
Act shall not extend to Northern Ireland.
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Royal
Assent Royal Assent: 30 July 1937: (no specific commencement provision). |
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