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Sect[Section] 1st Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General assembly, That if any person or persons shall pay at cards[,] dice[,] or Billiards, or with any other implements used in Gaming in any tavern or other
house of entertainment2, or place licensed for retailing spiritous liquors, or in any of the out houses[,] yards[,] or gardens or appendages of the same or other houses that may be kept for gaming
or shall in any of the houses or licenced places as afforesaid, expose to view any of the implements afforesaid, or shall be seen sitting at any table therein with any of said implements before
^him or them^ and playing; or being interested in any game then playing, and shall be convicted
thereof by a Jury before any Justice of the peace, or before the Circuit Court of
the proper County, or on presentment of any grand July, the person or persons so offending
and convicted, shall forfeit and pay any sum not less than three nor more than twenty
Dollars, to be assessed by the Justice
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of the peace or Judge of the Court before whom said trial may be had together, with
cost of suit, to be applyed as other fines are
Sect 2d The one Hundreth and twenty seventh section of the Criminal Code act relating to Criminal Jurisprudence3 be and the same is hereby repealed
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[01]/[31]/[1835]
[01]/[31]/[1835]
sel com Manly
Carpenter of H
Hunter
Carpenter of H
Hunter
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[01]/[29]/[1835]
[01]/[29]/[1835]
sel Com
Blackwell,
Dawson, &
Clark
Blackwell,
Dawson, &
Clark
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Same is hereby repealed
1John Dawson introduced HB 187 in the House of Representatives on January 29, 1835. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select
committee reported back the bill on January 31 without amendment, recommending its
rejection. The House referred the bill to another select committee. The select committee
reported back the bill on February 5 without amendment. On February 6, the House
passed the bill by a vote of 36 yeas to 7 nays, with Abraham Lincoln voting yea. On February 7, the Senate referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee did not report back
the bill before the end of the session.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 126, 432, 453;
Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 450, 462; Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 2nd sess., 383, 403.
3The eleventh division of the referenced act dealt with “offenses against the public
morality, health, and police,” including bigamy, adultery, fornication, lewdness,
public indecency, and gaming. Section 127 fined persons found playing cards, billiards,
and other games for money between ten and one hundred dollars, without reference to
location or method for punishment. HB 187 would have superseded that section, reducing
the fine for gaming, but at the same time broadening the definition of gambling to
include not only the direct participants but those indirectly or tangential involved,
making explicit references to places where gambling was prohibited, and delineating
the method of punishment.
“An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence,” 1 July 1833, The Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 198-204.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 153, HB 187, GA Session: 9-1,
Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,