Tobacco. The growth of tobacco was formerly prohibited in any part of the United Kingdom, and any person growing it was liable to a penalty of 10l. for every rood grown, recoverable by penal action. See 12 Car. 2, c. 34 (the preamble of which shows the origin of the prohibition to have been the protection and maintenance of the colonies and plantations in America, and of the commerce of this country with them); 15 Car. 2, c. 7; and the (English) Tobacco Cultivation Act, 1831 (1 & 2 Wm. 4, c. 13). As to Ireland the Irish Tobacco Act, 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c. 3), largely removed the restrictions as to growth, etc., and similar provision is now made for Scotland and England by the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, which repeals the two Acts of Charles II. and the Act of 1831, and by s. 83 (5) entirely removes all prohibition or restraint on the growth, making, or curing of tobacco in England and Scotland, and to the same time imposes [s. 83 (2)] an excise duty of 5s. for a licence to grow, cultivate, or cure tobacco.
The duties on tobacco are mainly imposed by the Manufactured Tobacco Act, 1863, as amended by subsequent Acts. As to the duty on tobacco grown for agricultural purposes, see Finance Act, 1912, s. 4.
Tobacco factories, as 'non-textile,' are subject to the restrictions of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901. See FACTORY.
By the (English) Children Act, 1933, s. 7 (see CHILD-REN), it is an offence to sell cigarettes to a person apparently under 16, or other forms of tobacco, unless the seller had no reason to believe that such tobacco was for the use of that person. There is also power for certain persons to seize any tobacco or cigarettes in the possession of a person apparently under 16 who is found smoking.
The definition of the word 'tobacco' is contained in item 4 of the First Schedule as tobacco means any form of tobacco, whether cured or uncured and whether manufactured or not, and includes the leaf, stalks and stems of the tobacco plant, but does not include any part of a tobacco plant while still attached to the earth. The Supreme Court in this case came to the conclusion that tobacco seed once it is separated from the plant, is an item entirely different from tobacco and does not fall within the expression 'tobacco or any form of tobacco', Mahalakshmi Oil Mills v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1989 SC 335: (1989) 1 SCC 164: (1988) Supp 2 SCR 1088.