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G A M

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G A M

tlie otluT by 5 Ami. c. 14, which empowers lords and ladies ofmanors to appoint game-keepers, to kill game lor the use of suchlord or lady; which with some alteration still subsists, and plainlysupposes such power not to have been in them before. The truthof the matter is, that these game-laws do indeed qualify nobody,except in the instance of a game-keeper, to kill game: but onlyto save the trouble and formal process of an action by the personinjured, who perhaps too might remit the offence, these statutestnflict additional penalties to be recovered either in a regular orsummary way,by any of the king’s subjects, from certain persons of in-terior rank who may be found offending in this particular. But itdoes not follow that persons excused from these additional penal-ties are therefore authorised to kill game. The circumstance ofhaving 100k per ann. and the rest, are not properly qualificationshut exemptions. And these persons so exempted from the penal-ties of the game-staHites, are not only liable to actions of trespasshv the owners of the land; but also, if they kill game within thelimits of any royal franchise, they are liable to the actions of such"ho nuty have the right of cliace or free warren therein. Uponthe whole, it appears, that the king, by his prerogative, and suchPersons as have, under his authority, the royal franchise of chac-e,purk, or free warren, (see these articles,) are the only persons wholn ay acquire any property, however fugitive and transitory, inthese animals ferae natur.T, while living; which is said to be"ested in them propter privilegium. And such persons as maythus lawfully hunt, lish, or fowl, ratione privileg'd, have only aqualified properly in these animals: it not being absolute or per-,manent, but lasting only so long as the creatures remain within thelimits of such respective franchise or liberty, and ceasing the in-fant they voluntarily pass out of it. It is held indeed, that if aflan starts any game within his own grounds, and follows it intoanother's, and kills it there, the property remains in himself. Andmis is grounded on reason and natural justice; for the propertyConsists in the possession; which possession commences by thehnding it in his own liberty, and is continued by the immediatePursuit. And so, if a stranger starts game in one man’s cliace orf ee warren, and hunts it into another liberty, the property conti-nues in the owner of the chace or warren; this property arisinglr °m privilege, and not being changed by the act of a mereGranger. Or if a man starts game on another’s private grounds,?fd kills it there, the property belongs to him on whose groundswas killed, because it was also started there ; this property aris-Jfg ratione soli. Whereas if, after being started there, it is killedf> the grounds of a third person, the property belongs not to thef'vner of the first ground, because the property is local; nor vet|° the owner of the second, because it was not started in his soil;"Ut it vests in the person who started and killed it, though guiltya trespass against both the owners. See Law, respectingGame.

. Games, in antiquity, were public diversions, exhibited on so-ctrin occasions. Such among the Greeks were the Olympic, I’y-Isthmian, Neinean, Ac. games; and, among the Romans,

' e Apollinarian, Circensian, Capitolina, Ac. games. See Aroi.-Lnarjan, Olympic, I’ythian, Ac.

.Games, Modern, are usually distinguished into those of exer-C'se ?nd address, and those of hazard. To the first belong chess,le fms, billiards, Ac, and to the latter those performed with cards,° r dice, as back-gammon, ombre, picquet, whist, Ac. See thesear ticies.

GAMF.LIA, in Grecian antiquity, a nuptial feast, or rather sa-Cri fice, held in the ancient Greek families on the day before af'arriage.

GAftiELION, in the ancient chronology, was the eighth month? the Athenian year, containing twenty-nine days, and answering0 the end of January and beginning of February.

Gam FLORA, an island in the Mediterranean, near the N. E.c °ast of Tunis , three miles F. of Cape Zibech. ,

GAMFT, an island of Denmark , three miles from the Conti-lp ft, ami eight \V. S. W. of Ripen.

i. , -^IkllNG, the art of playing or practising any game, particu--m those of hazard; as cards, dice, tables, Ac. Gaming has attimes been considered as of pernicious consequence to the

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.their respective fortunes; and therefore they cast lots to determineupon whom the ruin shall at present fall, that liie rest may be sav-ed a little longer. But, taken in any light, it is an offence of themost alarming nature; tending, by necessary consequence, topromote public idleness, theft, and debauchery, among those of alower class; mul, among persons of a superior rank, it has fre-quen.ly been attended with the sudden ruin and desolation of an-cient and opulent families, an abandoned prostitution of evervprinciple of honour and virtue, and too often has ended in suicide.To restrain this pernicious vice among the inferior sort of people,the statute 33 lien. VIII. c. 9, was made; which prohibits to allbut gentlemen, the games of tennis, tables, cards, dice, bowls, andother unlawful diversions there specified, unless in the time ofChristmas , under pecuniary pains and imprisonment. And thesame law, and ahotlie statute 23 Geo. II. c. 24, inflict pecuniarypenalties, upon the master of any public house, win rein servantsare permitted to game, as well as upon servants themselves whoare found gaming there. But this is not the principal ground ofcomplaint; it is the gaming in high life that demands the attentionof the magistrate; a passion to which every valuable considerationis sacrificed, and which we seem to have inherited from our an-cestors, the ancient Germans; whom Tacitus describes lo havebeen bewitched with the spirit of play to a most exorbitant de-gree. “ They addict themselves (says lie) to dice (which is won-derful) when sober, and as a serious employment; with such amad desire of winning or losing, that, when stript of everythingelse, they will stake at last their liberty, and their very selves.The loser goes into a voluntary slavery; and, though younger andstronger than his antagonist, sutlers himselt to be bound and sold.And this perseverance in so bad a cause they call the point of ho-nour; ea est in re prava pervicacia, ipsi iideni vocant.” Onewould almost be tempted to think Tacitus was describing a mo-dern Englishman. When men are thus intoxicated w ith so frantica spirit, laws will be of little avail: because the same lalse sense ofhonour that prompts a man to sacrifice himselt, will deter himfrom appealing to the magistrate. Yet it is proper that lawsshould be, and be known publicly, that gentlemen may consider! what penalties they wilfully incur, and what a confidence they re-j pose in sharpers; who, if successful in play, are certain to bepaid with honour, or, if unsuccessful, have it in their power to hestill greater gainers by informing.

Gaming, Chance in. Hazard, or chance, is a matter of mathe-matical consideration, because it admits of more and less. Games-ters either set out upon an equality of chance, or are supposed todo so. This equality may be altered in the course of the game, bythe greater good fortune or address of one of the gamesters, where”-by he comes to have a better chance, so that his share in the stakesis proportionably better than at first. This more and less runsthrough ail the ratios between equality and infinite difference, orfrom an infinitely little difference till it come to an infinitely greatone, whereby the game is determined. The whole game, there-fore, with regard to the issue of it, is a chance of the proportion thetwo shares bear to each other. The probability of an event isgreater or less, according to the number of chances- by which itmay happen, compared with all the chances by which it mav eitherhappen or fail. M. de Moivre, ina treatise de Mensura Sorlis, hascomputed the variety of chances in several cases that occur ingaming, the laws of which may he understood by what follows.Suppose p the number of cases in which an event may happen, and7 the.number of cases wherein it may not happen, both sides havetiie degree of probability, which is to each other as p to q. Iftwogamesters, A and B, engage on tills footing, that, if the cases phappen, A shall win ; but if q happen, B shall win, and the slake bep a q a

a ; the chance of A will be-, and that of B,-; consequent-

p-\-q P + 7

ly, if they sell the expectancies, they should have that tor themrespectively. If A and B play with a single die, on this condition,that, if Athrow two or more aces at eight throws, he shall win; other-wise B shall win ; What is the ratio of their chances? Since thereis hut one case wherein an ace may turnup, and five wherein itmay not, let a = j, and 6 = 5. And again, since there are eightthrows of tlfo die, let n = 8; and you will have a-j-61"—■nab"— 1 , to b n -J- nab"— 1 : that is, the chance of A w ill be to thatof B as 663991 to 1015625, or nearly as two to three. A and B areengaged at single quoits; and, after playing sometime, A wants

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