133 



LAW, CRIMINAL. 



LAW, CRIMINAL. 



magistrate may issue his warrant to apprehend him (11 and 12 Viet., 

 c. 42). After a warrant duly granted, whether a summons have been 

 previously issued or not, the person to whom it is directed is to proceed 

 to arrest the accused (and if for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, 

 may do BO on any day, and at any time of the day or night), and to 

 take him to jail or before some magistrate having jurisdiction, accord- 

 ing to the import of the warrant, and that without any unnecessary 

 daisy. It is also lawful for a constable or private person who sees a 

 felony committed, or attempted to be committed, or a dangerous 

 wound given, to arrest the offender, without warrant ; also any person 

 whom he reasonably suspects of having committed a felony which has 

 actually been committed, and persons found committing thefts or mali- 

 i-iuiis injuries to property and some other offences, and by the statute, 

 14 & 15 Viet., c. 18, any one may apprehend a person found commit- 

 ting any indictable offence in the night. A constable may also, with- 

 out warrant, arrest on a reasonable charge made of a felony committed 

 or dangerous wouud given, although it afterwards appear that none 

 such had been actually committed or given ; also for a breach of the 



Committed in his view; but (except in the case of one of the 

 metropolitan police, who may under certain circumstances do so upon 

 a charge made of an aggravated assault [see 2 & 3 Viet., c. 47]), not for 

 one committed out of his view. Justices of the peace, sheriffs, coro- 

 ners, and all other peace officers, have, it would appear, the like power 

 to arrest as constables. 



On surrendering himself or appearing in obedience to a summons, 

 or being brought before a justice of the peace under a warrant, the 

 is to proceed to take the statement on oath of those who know 

 the facts and circumstances of the case, and to reduce those statements 

 into writing, which are then signed by the witnesses and are termed 

 their ' depositions.' These are read to the accused and after being 

 i '1 according to a form provided, he is at liberty to make a 

 statement, which is taken down and transmitted with the depositions 

 to the court, before which the accusnd is sent for trial. If, however, 

 the justice or justices, are of opinion that the evidence is not suffi- 

 cient to put the accused party upon his trial for any indictable offence, 



1 i -charged, otherwise, or if the evidence given raise a strong or 

 proliable presumption of his guilt, he must either be committed to 



;i for trial or give bail (see Bill.). 



Where a party is committed or bailed for any offence, the justice may 

 bind by recognisance all persons who know or declare anything mate- 



< uuhing it, to appear and prosecute, or give evidence against him. 

 When hell tii b-iil or committed to prison, the accused is entitled to 

 have delivered to him, on demand, copies of the examinations of the 

 witnesses upon whose depositions he is so bailed-or committed, on pay- 

 ment of a reasonable sum not exceeding l^d. for each folio of 90 words. 

 (11 & 12 Viet., c. 42) 



To the above mode of proceeding there are some exceptions. 

 I'nder the Juvenile Offenders Acts (10 * 11 Viet. c. 82, and 13 & 

 14, c. 37), any two justices of the peace in petty sessions, or any 

 magistrate of the metropolitan police-courts, or any stipendiary magis- 

 trate, before whom any person is charged with having committed, or 

 having attempted to commit (or with having been an aider, abettor, 

 counsellor, or procurer in the commission of) any offence by law deemed 

 or declared to be simple larceny, or punishable as simple larceny, may, 



",'e of such person shall not exceed sixteen years, convict him 

 in open court of such offence, and pass a sentence of imprisonment for 

 any term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour, or 

 impose a fine not exceeding three pounds. If a male not more than 



'ii years of age, he may be once privately whipped, either 

 instead of or in addition to such imprisonment. On the other hand, 

 if the justices consider the charge not to be proved, or if proved, that 

 it U not expedient to inflict any punishment, they may dismiss the 

 accused with or without requiring him to find sureties fur his future 



behaviour. 



The accused person may object to the case being summarily dis- 

 posed of. lu order to ascertain hi.s wish on this point, one of the 

 justices, before asking bun whether he has any cause to show why he 

 should not be convicted, must inquire, in words prescribed by the 

 statutes, whether lie wishes to -be tried by a jury ; and if the accused 

 or his parent then objects to a summary trial by the justices, they 

 must proceed with the charge against him as if their summary juris- 

 diction did not exist. If the charge be dismissed, the dismissal is, 

 equally with a conviction, a bar to any further or other proceedings. 

 By the statute 18 & 19 Viet. c. 126, more extensive ppwers of sum- 

 marily convicting offenders were conferred on justices. Where any 



ii is charged before justices of the peace at petty sessions (or any 



magistrate of the metropolitan police district, or any stipendiary magis- 



!ly) with having committed simple larceny, and the value 



property does not exceed five shillings, or with having attempted 



umit larceny from the person, or simple larceny, the justices may, 

 with the assent of the accused, hear and determine the charge in a 



i iry way. In order to do so, the justices, at the close of the 

 examination* of all the witnesses for the prosecution, must state to the 



n accused the substance of the charge against bun, and then 

 inquire of him, in the language prescribed by the statute, whether 

 he consents that the charge shall be so tried, or sent for trial by a jury. 

 In case of di.; cut, there is an end of all summary proceedings ; but if 

 the accused assents to the charge being disposed of summarily, the 



justices reduce it into writing; and having read it to the accused, 

 require him to plead thereto. If he says he is guilty, he may be 

 sentenced to three calendar months' imprisonment, with hard labour. 

 If he says he is not guilty, the justices are to hear his defence, and 

 then dispose of the case summarily. On the other hand, if the justices 

 think the charge not proved, they may dismiss it, which has the effect 

 of an acquittal ; and even if the justices think the case is legally made 

 out, but that there are circumstances rendering it inexpedient to 

 iuflict any punishment, they may dismiss the person charged without 

 proceeding to a conviction. 



The summary powers conferred by this statute are not, however, 

 limited to trying offenders in the cases above mentioned ; the justices 

 have powers to punith in some other cases where the accused admits 

 his guilt. In cases of simple larceny, of stealing from the person, or 

 of larceny as a clerk or servant, irrespective altogether of the value of 

 the stolen property, where the evidence for the prosecution is, in the 

 opinion of the justices, sufficient to put the person charged on his 

 trial, but the case nevertheless appears to them to be one which may 

 properly be disposed of in a summary way, they are to reduce the 

 charge into writing, and having read it to the accused person, to ask 

 him whether he is guilty or not guilty. If he says he is guilty, that 

 plea is entered, and the justices may commit him to jail and hard 

 labour, for any term not exceeding six months ; but before the question 

 is put, the justices must explain to the accused that he is not obliged 

 to plead or answer before them at all, and that if he do not so plead or 

 answer he will be committed for trial in the usual course. It must be 

 added, that if it is made to appear that the accused has been previously 

 convicted of felony, the justices have no jurisdiction to dispose of the 

 case summarily. 



Before a prisoner can be put upon his trial for any treason or felony, 

 it is necessary that a bill of indictment should be found against him by 

 a grand jury duly returned before some court which has jurisdiction to 

 try parties for crimes by means of a petty jury ; or in the case of mur- 

 der or manslaughter, he may be tried upon the coroner's inquisition. 

 Where the offence with which he is charged is a misdemeanor, he may 

 be tried either upon bill of indictment found, as in the case of treason 

 or felony, or upon a criminal information filed against him in the name 

 of the queen. For a priemunire, he is to be first indicted as in other 

 cases, or may be proceeded against in the peculiar manner pointed out 

 by 16 Rich. II., c. 5, commonly called the Statute of Pracmuuire. Thi.-j 

 latter mode may, however, be regarded as obsolete. 



A bill of indictment is an accusation at 'the suit of the Crown, and 

 being for the public benefit and security, may generally be preferred 

 by any person ; but it is not usual for parties to interfere unless they 

 are individually aggrieved by the offence, or fill some office which 

 renders it peculiarly incumbent on them to bring the offender to 

 justice ; and a recent statute (22 & 23 Viet. c. 17) has taken away the 

 power to prefer indictments for perjury, conspiracy, false pretences, 

 and some other misdemeanors, without the previous committal of the 

 parties by a justice, or the leave of the court. [INDICTMENT.] So 

 goon as the grand jury have preseuted the bill of indictment in court, 

 indorsed " a true bill," the indictment is complete. If the grand jury 

 find no true bill, the accused, where in custody, is to be at once set at 

 large, without the payment of any fees on account of such discharge 

 (14 Ueo. III. c. 20; 55 Geo. III. c. 50 ; 8 & 9 Viet. c. 114). An in- 

 dictment may also be framed upon the presentment by a grand jury, 

 of their own knowledge that an offence has been committed ; but this 

 mode of prosecution is seldom adopted. For further particulars re- 

 lating to Grand Juries, see JURY. 



A criminal information in the name of the Queen is a suggestion 

 filed on record by the attorney-general or by the queen's coroner or 

 master of the Crown Office, in the court of Queen's Bench, that a 

 n i i i]' -meaner has been committed by an alleged offender. The 

 attorney-general, or, during vacancy in that office, the solicitor-general, 

 may at his discretion file a criminal information. In all other cases it 

 is hi the discretion of the Court of Queen's Bench to grant or refuse 

 leave to file such informations, and such leave will only be granted on 

 motion made, grounded on proper affidavits, and in respect of mis- 

 demeanors of such magnitude or under such circumstances as, in the 

 opinion of the court, call for its interference. After an information in 

 lil'-d, all the subsequent proceedings are, in general, the same as after 

 an indictment found for a misdemeanor. 



Persons committed for treason or felony who move in open court 

 the first week of the term, or first day of the sessions of oycr and 

 terminer or jail delivery, to be brought to trial, may, if not indicted 

 some time in the next term or session after their commitment, be 

 bailed by the judges of the Queen's Bench, or justices of oycr and 

 terminer or jail delivery, unless it appear that the witnesses for the 

 crown could not be produced the same term or sessions ; and if not 

 initiated and tried the second term or sessions after their commitment, 

 or if acquitted upon their trial, shall be discharged from imprisonment 

 (31 Car. II.. c. 2, s. 7). [HABEAS CORPUS ACT.] 



When the indictment is found, in cases of felony, the accused i.i 

 bound to plead and try intlanter, and if in custody, is to be brought to 

 the bar and arraigned (which is the legal term for calling on a prisoner 

 to answer to a charge of an indictable offence) as soon as convenient 

 after such indictment is found ; but in all cases of treason, except where 

 the overt act is the assassination of the queen, the endangering of her 



