Drunk in charge of a cow
An offence from 1872 that still stands. Should it?
- The law
- Drunkenness, 1872
- What it says
- In England and Wales it is an offence to be drunk in a public place while in charge of a carriage, a horse, cattle or a steam engine, or while carrying a loaded gun.
- Why it's out of date
- The steam engines are long gone. The serious parts, a drunk rider on the road or a drunk person with a loaded gun, still matter, but they sit in a Victorian law most people have never heard of, with a maximum penalty of a small fine or a month inside.
- A better version
- Move the horse and firearm parts into modern road-traffic and firearms law, and drop the steam engines.
- Status
- PROPOSED
Explore the detail
Licensing Act 1872, section 12 (England and Wales). Current text: every person "who is drunk while in charge on any highway or other public place of any carriage, horse, cattle, or steam engine, or who is drunk when in possession of any loaded firearms, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale, or in the discretion of the court to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one month." The words "may be apprehended" were repealed in 2006 (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005). Note for fairness: the firearm limb exists only in this Act, and drunk cycling is covered separately by the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 30, so a plain repeal would leave horse riders and loaded guns uncovered. Hence "move, don't just repeal".
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Last checked 9 Oct 2026. Corrections: Corrections policy · Archive