rmed solely to sell intoxicating liquors free from the
restrictions of the licensing acts, it applied to _all_ clubs in England
and Wales, of whatever kind, from the humblest to the most exalted Pall
Mall club. The act required the registration of every club which
occupied any premises habitually used for the purposes of a club and in
which intoxicating liquor was supplied to members or their guests. The
secretary of every club was required to furnish to the clerk to the
justices of the petty sessional division a return giving (a) the name
and objects of the club; (b) the address of the club; (c) the name of
the secretary; (d) the number of members; (e) the rules of the club
relating to (i.) the election of members and the admission of temporary
and honorary members and of guests; (ii.) the terms of subscription and
entrance fee, if any; (iii.) the cessation of membership; (iv.) the
hours of opening and closing; and (v.) the mode of altering the rules.
The same particulars must be furnished by a secretary before the opening
of a new club. The act imposed heavy penalties for supplying and keeping
liquor in an unregistered club. The act gave power to a court of summary
jurisdiction to strike a club off the register on complaint in writing
by any person on any of various grounds, e.g. if its members numbered
less than twenty-five; if there was frequent drunkenness on the
premises; if persons were habitually admitted as members without
forty-eight hours' interval between nomination and admission; if the
supply of liquor was not under the control of the members or the
committee, &c. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 1903 made Scottish clubs
liable to registration in a similar manner.

In no other country did club-life attain such an early perfection as in
England. The earliest clubs on the European continent were of a
political nature. These in 1848 were repressed in Austria and Germany,
and the modern clubs of Berlin and Vienna are mere replicas of their
English prototypes. In France, where the term _cercle_ is most usual,
the first was Le Club Politique (1782), and during the Revolution such
associations proved important political forces (see JACOBINS,
FEUILLANTS, CORDELIERS). Of the modern purely social clubs in Paris the
most notable are The Jockey Club (1833) and the Cercle de la Rue Royale.

In the United States clubs were first established after the War of
Independence. One of the first in date was the Hoboken Turtle Club