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APPENDIX TO THE CHRONICLE. 
Unanimous Opinion of the Judges 
upon the several Questions put to 
them on the 27th of April, 1792, 
‘ respecting the Law of Libels, as 
deboenas by the Lord Chief Ba- 
ron of the Exchequer. 
MY LORDs, 
lime judges have taken the 
questions, seven in number, 
which your Lordships have been 
pleased to propose to them, into 
their consideration ; they have con- 
ferred together, and have agreed 
upon answers, which I am now to 
‘submit to your Lordships. 
Your Lordships first question is, 
“Qn the trial of an information or 
indictment for a libel, is the crimi- 
nality or innocence of the: paper 
set forth in such information or in- 
dictment as the libel, matter of 
fact, or matter of law, where no 
evidence is given for the defend- 
ant ?”—Preliminary to all which 
we have to offer to your Lordships, 
we state, as a fundamental princi- 
ple, that the general criminal law 
of England is the law of libel; and 
that the very few particularities 
which occur in legal proceedings 
upon libel, are not peculiar to the 
proceedings upon libel, but do or 
may occur in all cases, where the 
corpus delicti is specially stated upon 
the record; the case of an indict- 
ment for publishing a forged pro- 
missory note may be put as a preg- 
nant instance. The matter of your 
Lordships first question has no par- 
ticular application to libel.—We 
answer, That the criminality or 
innocence of any act done (which 
includes any paper written) is the 
result of the judgment which the 
law pronounces upon that act, and 
must therefore be in all cases, and 
under all circumstances, matter of 
law, and not matter of fact; and 
this, as well where evidence is 
given, as where it is not given, 
for the defendant; the effect of 
evidence given for the defendant, 
as to this question, being nothing 
more than to introduce facts or 
circumstances into the case which 
the prosecutor had left out of it, 
upon which it will still be for 
the law to pronounce whether the 
act done be criminal or innocent. 
Your Lordships second question 
is, “Is the truth or falsehood of 
the written or printed paper ma- 
terial, or to be left to the jury, on. 
the trial of an indictment or infor- 
mation for a libel? and does it. 
make any difference in this respect, 
whether the epithet false, be or be 
not used in the indictment or in- 
formation??? This question con-- 
sists of two branches.—Our answer 
to the first branch of this question 
is, That the truth or falsehood of 
a written or printed paper is not 
material, or to be left to a jury 
upon 
