Powell v Kempton Park Racecourse Co Ltd
The ejusdem generis rule: general words following a list of specific words are limited to things of the same kind.
Facts
The Betting Act 1853 made it an offence to keep a house, office, room or other place for the purposes of betting. Kempton Park Racecourse had an open air enclosure, known as Tattersall's Ring, where bookmakers took bets. The question was whether the enclosure was an other place within the meaning of the Act.
Legal principle
The House of Lords held that the enclosure was not an other place within the Act. Under the ejusdem generis rule, the general words or other place, following the specific words house, office and room, were limited to places of the same kind, which were indoor places. An open air enclosure was not of the same kind, so it was not covered by the Act.
Related cases on statutory interpretation
- Adler v George [1964] 2 QB 7
- Black-Clawson International Ltd v Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg AG [1975] AC 591
- Corkery v Carpenter [1951] 1 KB 102
- Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HLC 61
- Heydon's Case (1584) 3 Co Rep 7a
- Inco Europe Ltd v First Choice Distribution [2000] 1 WLR 586
- Jones v Tower Boot Co Ltd [1997] ICR 254
- London and North Eastern Railway Co v Berriman [1946] AC 278
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