348 SWEDISH JURISPRUDENCE. 



Ratt, and agreeably to Chap. 28, 1, of the Criminal 

 Code (M. B.), condemns Lloyd to the penalty of half 

 mans-bot* &c." 



This decision not only entailed on me a considerable 

 pecuniary fine, but subjected me to do penance in the 

 church. On the ground, however, of my professing another 

 religion than the Lutheran, the Court exempted me from the 

 Cutty-stool. 



Feeling myself perfectly blameless in the unfortunate 

 matter, and that the judgment of the Hof-Ratt was inequit- 

 able, I therefore appealed to the King in Council a course 

 likewise open to every one in either criminal or civil cases 

 praying for a reversal of what I with reason considered a 

 hard sentence. I was partly induced to take this step owing 

 to the urgent entreaties of friends, one of whom, shortly 

 after the accident, wrote me as follows : 



" I have been excessively grieved by the calamity which 

 has befallen you, and all our countrymen to whom I have 

 spoken on the subject, sympathise with you most feelingly 

 on the unfortunate occasion. That we are all perfectly 

 convinced that you are quite blameless, it is almost super- 

 fluous to mention ; but I earnestly entreat you, nevertheless, 

 not to slacken in your endeavours to make your innocence as 

 clear as noon-day ; for it is a sad censorious country we live 



* This penalty, which literally rendered means penance for half a man, and 

 which, in degree at least, answers to our deodand, carries with it a pecuniary 

 fine of, I believe, about 4 sterling. It is inflicted in such cases of homicide 

 in which the Court, as in my instance, acquits the prisoner of design, but 

 deems him to have been guilty of carelessness. 



The penalty of hel mans-bot or penance for a whole man is inflicted in 

 more culpable cases of homicide, and, as the words would imply, carries with 

 it a double fine. 



