Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Frizelle, J. - As it is the possession of more than one tola of intoxicating drug that con- stitutes the offence, and not the amount that the person in possession may himself own, ac- cused had been rightly convicted on the ground that he was in possession of 2 1/2 tolas, although there may have been three other persons each using a fourth of it, and accused's own share may have been only a fourth. The accused were all caught in one sampan, and in the sampan were found thirty-six quarts of kazaw-ye in nine bundles of four bottles each. Conviction o/them all, on the ground that they were in joint possession of thirty-six quarts was held bad. The Excise Act prohibits the joint possession by several persons of more spirit of fermented liquor than may be sold retail to one person. If two persons, having each bought 4 quarts of liquor, put it together and carry it home, each of them is in contemplation of law in possession of the whole.