I N F 



Royale do Med. de Paris, pour 1776. — Edin. Med. Eflays, 

 Vol. ii. art. 2. — Rutty, Hill, of Weather. 



INFORCED. ■) c; fRKixFORCED. 



INFORCEMENT. J ^" |REis-KoncK>rK\-T. 



IN FORMA PAUPERIS, in Law. See Forma 

 Paupens. 



INFORMATION, for the king, is much tlie fame with 

 wtiat is called declaration fur a common perfon : it is not 

 always done directly by the king or his attorney, or the 

 clerk of the crown-office ; hut fonietimcs by another, who 

 flies as well for the king as hinil\-lf, on a breach of fomc 

 penal law or llatute, wherein a penalty is given, one part to 

 the ufe of the king, and another to the ufe of the informer. 

 And it differs from an i-.idiclment, which is found by the oaths 

 of twelve men ; and is only the allegation of the officer who 

 exhibits it. The latter fort of informations, which are 

 partlv at the fuit of the king, and partly at that of a fubjetl, 

 13 a fpecies of qui tarn actions, fo called becaufe they arebrought 

 by a perfon qui t am pro domino rege, &c. quam pro fiipj'o in 

 h:ic parte ft-quitur, and carried on by a criminal inifead of a 

 civil procefs. By 31 Eli/, c. 5, no profecution of this kind 

 an be brought by any common informer, after one year 



expired fince the commiliion of the offence ; 



of the 



country where the offence was committed ; nor on behalf of 

 the crown after the lapfe of two yeai-s longer ; nor, where 

 the forfeiture is originally given to the king alone, can fuch 

 profecution be had after the expiration of two years from 

 the coir.mifTion of the offence. It is alfo enacted by 

 18 Eliz. c. 5, that if any perfon, informing under pretence 

 of any penal law, makes any compoiition without leave of 

 the court, or takes any money or promife from the defendant 

 to excufe him, he fhall forfeit ten pounds. Hand two hours 

 on the pillory, and be for ever difabled to fue on any popular 

 or penal flatute. And by the fame ftatute, if a perfon ex- 

 Iiibits his information onlv for vexation, the defendant may 

 bring information againfl the informer. See Co.mpousu- 

 ING of Informations. 



Informations that are exhibited in the name of the king 

 alone arc of two kinds ; thofe which are truly and properly 

 his own fuits, and filed cv iifficio by his own immediate officer, 

 the attorney-general ; and thofe, in which, though the king 

 is the nominal prolecutor, yet it is at the relation of fome 

 private perfon or common informer ; and they are filed by 

 the king's coroner and attorney in the court of king's bench, 

 ufually called the mafter of the crown-office, who, for this 

 purpofe, is the flanding officer of the public. The objefts 

 of the king's own profecutions, hied cv oficio by his own 

 attorney-general, are properly fuch enormous mildemeanors 

 r.s particularly tend to ditlurb or endanger his government, 

 or to moleft or affront him in the regular difcharge of his 

 royal fundlions. The objedts of the other fpecies of in- 

 formation are any grofs and notorious mii'demeanors, riots, 

 batteries, libels, and other immoralities of an atrocious kind. 

 And when an information is. lilei'i in either of thefe ways, it 

 inuft be tried by a petit jury of the county where the offence 

 arifes ; after which, if the defendant be found guilty, he 

 tnufl be rcfortcd to the court for his punifluuent. Thefe 

 informations, which are as ancient as the law itfelf 

 (i Show. 118.), of every kind, are confined by the confti- 

 tutional law to mere miliiemeanors only, without extending 

 to any capital offence. The opprefTive ufe ot information 

 by the court of Star-chamber, &c. in the times preceding the 

 Revolution, occafioned a ffruggle foon after the acceflion 

 of king William, to procure a declarption of their illegality 

 by tlie judgment of the court of king'-s bench. But fir 

 John Holt, who then prelided there, and all the judges, 



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were cleail, of opinion, that tjiis proceeding \vas founded 

 on the common law, and could not then be impeached. . 

 However, in a few years afterwards, it was cnafted bv ' 

 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 18. that the clerk of the crown flial'l 

 not file any informati<m wnhout exprcfs direction from the 

 court of king's bench ; andthrt every profecutor. permitted 

 to promote iuch information, /hall give fecurity by a recog- 

 nizance of twenty pounds (a fum now too fmall), to profc- 

 cute the fame with tfled ; and to pay cofls to the defendant, 

 in cafe oi his acquittal, unlefs the judge, who tries the in- 

 formation, fhall certify there was reafonable caufe for filinjr 

 i[=„^r'' ^';>""-^-"f^' "> P'-'V C"^t«. «"'l^fs the information 

 ftall be tried within a year after ifhie joined. But there is 

 a provifo in this aft, that it fliall not "extend to any other 

 informations than thofe which are exhibited bv the maflcr 

 of the crown office : and, confequently, informations at the 

 king's own fuit, filed by his attorney-general, are no wav 

 reftraiiied thereby. ' 



There is one fpecies of informations, flill farther regulated 

 by 9 Ann. c. 20, •ui-z. thofe in the nature of a writ of qno' 

 ivarranto, which is a remedy given to tlic crown acrainft 

 fuch as had ufurped or intruded into any office or franchife. 

 The modern information tends to the fame purpofe as the' 

 ancient writ, being generally made ufe of to try the civil 

 rights of fuch franchifes ; though it is commenced in the 

 fame manner as other informations are, by leave of the court, 

 or at the will of the attorney-general • being properly a 

 criminal profecution, in order to fine the defendant for his 

 ufurpation, as v.-ell as to oull !iim from his office ; yet ufually 

 confidered at prefent a.s merely a civil proceed in<r.' 



An information on behalf of the crown, filed" in the ex- 

 chequer by the king's attorney-general, is a method of fuit 

 for recovering money or other chattels, or for obtaining 

 fatisfaaion for damages in any perfoiial wrong committed iii 

 the lands or poffeffioiis of the crown. (Moor, 375.) The 

 moft ufual informations are thofe of intnifon' mi. debt; 

 the former being for any trefpafs committetl on the lands 

 of the crown (Cro. Jac. 212. 1 Leon. 48. Savil. 49.), as 

 by entering thereon without title, holding over after a leafe 

 is determined, taking the profits, cutting down timber, or the 

 like ; and the latter, upon any contract for monies due to 

 the king, or for any forfeiture due to the crown upon the 

 breach of a penal llatute. There is alfo an information 

 m ran, ufually hied in the exchequer, where anv goods are 

 fuppofed to become the property of the crown, if no man 

 appears to claim them, or to difpute the ti'le of the king 

 There is alfo another information, filed cv officio by the attorl 

 ney -general, in the court of chancery, at the relation of fome ' 

 informant, called the relator, for the proper ellablifhmenf 

 of chanties, of winch the king lias the general fuperinteiid- 

 ance. lilackil. Com. b. iii. and iv. 



INFORMATUS xoN- ..um, or ^n f„„ i„fonr,atus, a 

 formal anlwcr made of courle by an attorney, who is com 

 manded by the court to fay any thing he thinks good in' 

 behalf of his client : who having nothing material to urge 

 makes aniwer, he i.s not informed : on wliich judgment paffes 

 for the other parly. j o r 



INFORMER,' I.NFOKMATOK, a perfon that informs 

 agamlt, or profecutes in any of the king's courts, thofe that 

 offend againft any law or penal llatute. See Inpokm\- 



TION. , " ■ . 



INFORMIS, UN-roitMED, that which has not the'' 

 form or perfertion it fliould have. 



lNFOK.M.:.s 5/,//-, in JJronon^y, are fuch .ftars as ha.* not 



Tlrah' '"'" ""'■ ''""'^^■"'"'"» ; otherwife called 



5 Of' 



