identical with the leading representatives of the class of capitalists and traders. This class was always distinct at Rome from the hereditary nobilty which monopolized the government of the state, and members of the senatorial class were excluded from it by definite enactment (see Senate). Although common interest was strong enough to secure for the government in time of external danger the loyal support of the commercial class, yet after the close of the great wars a market hostility grew up between it and the government.
The extension of the Roman system of tax-farming to the provinces did not at first increase the importance of the publicani in Italy; for in the earlier provinces, in which the collection of the revenues was put up to auction in the province itself, the publicani were generally natives. But C. Gracchus, who carried a law that the taxes of the new province of Asia should be put up to auction by the censor in Rome, gave to the Roman capitalists an opportunity of greatly extending their financial operations and thus in a short time of securing important political powers. It was in their capacity of publicani in the wealthiest provinces that the capitalist or equestrian judices (see Equites) became a menace to the provincial governors who represented the senatorial power. Cicero often applies the name publicani to the whole order; and on the various occasions when the demands of the equestrian party determined the policy of the state we can clearly trace the interests of the publicani, who were involved in an infinite number of commercial and financial transactions in the provinces, as the motive of its action. Thus the cruel fate of the Roman business men in Cirta led the capitalist class to force the Jugurthine War upon the senate in 112 B.C.; the disorganization of Asiatic commerce by the pirates led the same party to support the proposal to confer extraordinary powers on Pompey in 67 B.C.; and the rigour of the senate in opposing any relaxation of the burdensome contract made by the tax-farmers of Asia in 60 B.C. led to that estrangement between the senate and the capitalist class which enabled the democratic party to work its will and pave the way for the principate.
The companies of publicani continued some of their operations in the provinces under the early principate, but they lost many of their opportunities of oppression and embezzlement. We hear of a vigorous attempt made by Nero to suppress their unjust exactions, and they appear to have been kept under much closer supervision.
The term publicanus was applied at this time, and probably earlier, to the subordinate officials employed by the companies of publicani for the actual collection of the revenue, and thus acquired the general sense of “tax-collector,” even in provinces where the system of tax-farming by contract with societies of publicani was not in existence. (A. M. Cl.)
PUBLIC HEALTH, LAW OF. State medicine as an organized department of administration is entirely of modern growth. By the common law of England the only remedy for any act or omission dangerous to health was an action for damages or an indictment for nuisance. The indictment for nuisance still lies for many offences which are now punishable in a summary manner under the powers of modern legislation. But for a long time it
was the only, not as now a concurrent, remedy. At a comparatively early date statutes were passed dealing with matters for
which the common law had provided too cumbrous a remedy,
while the plague called forth the act of 1 Jac. I. c. 31 (1603),
which made it a capital offence for an infected person to go
abroad after being commanded by the proper authority to keep
his house. The act for the rebuilding of London after the great
fire, 19 Car. II. c. 3 (1668), contained various provisions as to the
height of houses, breadth of streets, construction of sewers and
prohibition of noisome trades. Numerous local acts gave the
authorities of the more important towns power over the public
health. But it was not until 1848 that a general Public Health
Act, embracing the whole of England (except the Metropolis),
was passed. The Public Health Act 1848 created a general
board of health as the supreme authority in sanitary matters,
but greater local sanitary control was given by an act of 1858.
The local government board, the present central authority, was
created by an act of 1871. Numerous acts dealing with public
health were passed from 1849 to 1874; and the law was digested
into the Public Health Act 1875, as amended by the Local
Government Act 1894 and other acts.
The tendency of English sanitary legislation has been to place local sanitary regulations in the hands of the local authorities, subject to general superintendence by a government department. The jurisdiction of a local authority is both preventive and remedial. The matters falling under it are very numerous, but the more important will be found in the article England: Local Government. The act of 1875 was followed by the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1890, the Public Health Act 1896 and the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907. The first of these statutes confers enlarged powers on such local authorities as choose to adopt it—the right of adoption being general in the case of urban authorities, and in that of rural authorities limited to certain specified provisions unless extended by the local government board. The Public Health Acts 1896 and 1904 abolished the old system of quarantine (q.v.), and empowered the local government board to make regulations as to the landing or embarking of infected persons from ships, British or foreign; while the act of 1907 enabled local authorities to adopt many of the useful clauses introduced into private bills from time to time, relating not only to sanitary provisions, but to streets and buildings, milk, &c. supply, recreation grounds, sky-signs, &c.
Elaborate provision has been made for the notification of infectious diseases by the infectious Diseases (Notification) Acts 1889 and 1899. The former statute was originally adoptive only, but it has now been extended by the latter to every district in England or Wales—in London notification has been compulsory since 1891. Reference should be made also to the following statutes: the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act 1890 provides for the inspection of dairies, and the cleansing and disinfecting of premises, and under the Public Health (Ports) Act 1896 the local government board may by order assign to any port sanitary authority powers or duties arising under this statute. The scope of the Baths and Washho-uses Acts 1846 to 1882 sufficiently appears from the title. The Isolation Hospitals Act 1893 enables county councils to promote the establishment of hospitals for the reception of patients suffering from infectious diseases; the Cleansing of Persons Act 1897 enables local authorities to permit persons who apply to them, on the ground that they are infested with vermin, to have the gratuitous use of cleansing apparatus; and the Vaccination Acts of 1898 and 1907 profoundly modified the law as to vaccination by giving a discretion to magistrates. See too, among other acts, those of 1881 (alkali works), 1882 (fruit pickers), 1883 (epidemics), 188 (cholera), 1904 (shop hours), 1905 (medical inspection of aliens) and numerous others.
In addition to these statutes, account has to be taken of a large body of legislation which relates indirectly to the law of public health, or at least comes well within its range of operation. It deals with a very great variety of subjects, and only the slightest sketch of its results need be given here. (For factories and workshops, see Labour Legislation, and for merchant shipping, see Seamen.) The Coal Mines Regulation Act 1896 aims at the prevention of accidents due to inflammable gas and coal-dust in coal mines. The Cotton Cloth Factories Acts 1889 and 1897 enable the home secretary to make regulations for health in cotton mills. The Rivers Pollution Prevention (Borders Councils) Act 1398 enables joint committees of English and Scottish county councils of counties on both sides of the Border to exercise the powers of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act 1876, in relation to any river or tributary which is partly in England and partly in Scotland—an expression including the Tweed. The Notification of Births Act 1907 and the Children Act 1908 (see Children: Law relating to) have given great protection to infant life. Lastly, reference may be made to the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1894, which consolidated the law on this subject.
London.—Down to the year 1891 London was governed in matters of public health by a series of special statutes (especially the Metropolitan Police Acts), and by provisions in the general statutes. The law as to the Metropolis was consolidated, and is now regulated by the Public Health (London) Act 1891. The sanitary authorities for the execution of the act were the commissioners of sewers for the City of London, the vestries of the larger and the district boards of some of the smaller parishes, and varying authorities for Woolwich and some other places. Under the London Government Act 1899, the powers of each existing vestry and district board are transferred to the council of the borough comprising the area within the jurisdiction of such vestry and district board; and the borough councils take over certain of the powers of the county council (e.g. as to dairies, milk, slaughterhouses and offensive businesses) and exercise concurrent jurisdiction with it in other matters. Provision is made for the appointment of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors. The medical officer is for some purposes placed on the footing of a district poor law medical officer, and he cannot be removed without the consent of the local government board. In its structure and substance
