C R I 



540 



C R I 



Crirata, 

 Crime?. 



ties. 



The other was across the Caspian by way of Tre- 

 bizond, TaurUs, and Bagdad, to the Persian gulf, and 

 •tablished at Sevastopol or Atkiar in the Cri- 

 mea. 



In 14-11, the Crimea became an independent Tartar 

 monarchy under its own khans of the house of Zingis 

 hinghis; but was soon reduced under subjection 

 to the Turkish empire, by which also the Genoese were 

 expelled from the Crimea about the close of the fifteenth. 

 century. The Turks now placed garrisons in the prin- 

 cipal cities and fortresses of the Crimea, setting up and 

 deposing the Tartar khans at their pleasure; and, shut- 

 ting up the entrance into the Black Sea, completely 

 ruined the commerce of the peninsula. The Crimea 

 continued under subjection to the Turks till 1774, 

 when the Empress Catharine II. of Russia, by the 

 peace of Kntschuk-Kainardgi, stipulated for the inde- 

 pendence of the Crimea under its own khans. In 1781, 

 a civil war broke out among the Crim Tartars, in which 

 the Russians interposed; and in 1783, Sahim Gheray, 

 the last khan, abdicated his power, which he transfer- 

 red to Russia, and this acquisition was confirmed by a 

 treaty with the sultan in 1 784, since which Taurida 

 has continued to be a province of the Russian empire. 

 The abdicated khan retired into Moldavia, whence he 

 was dragged to Rhodes, where he was assassinated by 

 the Turks in the residence of the French consul, in 

 which he had taken refuge. 



Among the most remarkable antiquities of the Crimea, 

 are the military lines constructed in different parts by 

 its ancient Grecian colonists, to defend their possessions 

 from the depredations of the successive Nomadic tribes, 

 who have infested its steppes in all ages. Besides the 

 lines of Perecop already mentioned, there are vestiges 

 of others for the defence of the Minor Chersonesus, 

 said to have been erected by one of the generals serv- 

 ing under Mithridate^the Great. There are also three 

 series of similar field works of great extent, erected by 

 the Bosphorian kings in different ages, to defend their 

 eastern peninsula. It would, however, occupy too 

 much space in this work to give an account of the nu- 

 merous antiquities still visible in many parts of the 

 Crimea, and of which ample accounts will be found 

 in the works of various travellers, and particularly in 

 he recent travels of Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. 

 Part I. chap, xviii.— xxiii. See Tooke's View of the 

 Russian Empire; Reully, Voyage en Crime e ; Pallas, 

 Travels in the Southern Provinces of Russia ; Lady Cra- 

 ven's Journey to the Crimea ; and Clarke's Travels in 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa, Part First, (kk) 



CRIMES, in a legal sense, are certain acts commit- 

 ted in violation of the public law of the country, and 

 punishable by courts of justice. In common usage, 

 the word " crimes" is understood to denote those a- 

 trocious offences, which have a more direct tendency 

 to subvert the government or constitution, or to loosen 

 the bonds of society ; while the slighter transgressions, 

 which do not so immediately affect the security of the 

 public, are generally comprised under the denomina- 

 tion of misdemesnors or delicts. The different species 

 of crimes, which fall under the cognizance of our courts 

 of justice, will be found explained under their respec- 

 tive titles. Our object, in this article, is to give a ge- 

 neral view of the nature and division of crimes ; with a 

 few observations on criminal law, in reference more 

 especially to the institutions of our own country. 



The difference between a crime and a civil injury 

 seems to consist principally in this : the latter is only 



an infringement of the private rights of individuals, 

 considered merely as individuals ; whereas the former 

 is a violation of the public rights of the whole commu- 

 nity, considered in its social aggregate capacity. Civil 

 injuries, therefore, may be prosecuted and redressed at 

 the instance of the individual injured; but the prose- 

 cution of crimes belongs to the community, or to the 

 person in whom the right of the community is vested. 

 By the Roman law, the more atrocious crimes might 

 be prosecuted by any individual member of the com- 

 munity ; with us, all crimes are prosecuted at the in- 

 stance of his majesty, through the medium of the law- 

 officers of the crown. This distinctive character of 

 crimes seems to be but imperfectly understood in the 

 earlier stages of society ; all offences being considered 

 rather with a view to the immediate injury done and 

 suffered, than to their consequences in regard to the 

 public security. By the ancient Saxon laws, xaeregilds 

 were allowed to compensate the crime of homicide, ac- 

 cording to the degree of the person slain, (see Ap- 

 peal) ; and in England, until the reign of Henry VIII. 

 the crime of murder was within the benefit of clergy. 



Crimes may be divided generally into offences against 

 the law of nature, mala in se ; and offences against the 

 laws of the community, mala prohibita. The former 

 are clearly pointed out, and pretty universally acknow- 

 ledged, by every people who have made any advances 

 towards civilization ; the latter are created by positive 

 enactment, and depend, in a considerable degree, upon 

 the particular genius, habits, and customs, of each 

 country. Montesquieu divides crimes into four spe- 

 cies. The first comprehends offences against religion ; 

 the seeond, offences against morals ; the third includes 

 offences against the public tranquillity ; and the fourth, 

 offences against the public safety. In the modern 

 French criminal code, offences are classed according 

 to their degrees of enormity. Offences of the first, or 

 lowest class, are called contraventions ; those of the se- 

 cond dclils ; and those of the highest class are deno- 

 minated crimes. Each of those classes of offences is 

 tried before a particular order of tribunals, and has a 

 particular species of punishments annexed to it. With 

 reference to the penal laws of England and Scotland, 

 crimes may be divided into offences against God and 

 religion, (atheism, heresy, witchcraft, &c.) ; offences 

 against the government and state, (treason, sedition, 

 &c.) ; offences against the public peace ; offences against 

 public trade; against the public police; against the 

 persons of individuals ; against private property. We 

 shah 1 afterwards, however, have occasion to shew, that 

 these different species of crimes are not always very 

 strictly defined ; nor the punishments attached to them 

 appropriated with sound legislative discrimination. 



It is essential to the nature of a crime, that there be 

 an intention on the part of the actor to conunit it ; for 

 an involuntary act can neither lay claim to merit, nor 

 induce guilt. Hence, if a person commit an unlawful 

 act by chance, through ignorance or mistake, or by 

 compulsion and unavoidable necessity, it is no crime, 

 because there is no malicious intention. Hence, too, 

 infants and idiots, or lunatics, are considered incapable 

 of committing crimes ; because, from the defect of un- 

 derstanding, they are held to be incapaces doli. By 

 the civil law, minors under the age of ten and an half 

 were not punishable for any crime ; from ten and an 

 half to. fourteen they were punishable, if found to be 

 doli capuces, capable of mischief ; but with many miti- 

 gations, and not with the utmost rigour of the law. 



Crimes. 



