IND 
art, which the law has appropriated for the 
description of an offence which no circum- 
locution will supply ; as feloniously, in the 
indictment ot any felony ; burglariously, in 
an indictment of burglary, and the like. 
And an indictment on the black act for 
shooting at any person, must charge that 
the offence was done wilfully and mali- 
ciously. 
By 10 and 11 William, c. 23, it is enact- 
ed, that no clerk of assize, clerk of the 
peace, or other person, shall take any mo- 
ney of any person bound over to give evi- 
dence against a traitor or felon, for the dis- 
charge of his recognizance, nor take more 
than two shillings for drawing any bill of in- 
dictment against any such felon, on pain of 
live pounds to tiie party grieved, with full 
costs. And if he shall draw a defective 
bill, be shall draw a new one gratis, on the 
like penalty. With respect to drawing in- 
dictments for other misdemeanors, not be- 
ing treason or felony, no fee is limited by 
the statute, the same therefore depends on 
the custom and ancient usage. 
Every person charged with any felony or 
other crime, who shall on his trial be ac- 
quitted, or against whom no indictment 
shall be found by the grand jury, or who 
shall be discharged by proclamation for 
want of prosecution, shall be immediately 
set at large in open court, without payment 
of any fee to the sheriff or gaoler; but in 
lieu thereof, the treasurer, on a certificate 
signed by one of the judges or justices, be- 
fore whom such prisoner shall have been 
discharged, shall pay out of the general rate 
of the county or district, such sum as has 
been usually paid, not exceeding thirteen 
shillings and fourpence. 
By these words, immediatly set at large, 
the reader must not understand that this 
actually takes place immediately after the 
throwing out of the bill. It is usually done 
after the assizes or sessions are over, and 
when the judge or justices proceed to the 
gaol-delivery, as it is called. This affords 
an opportunity for the preferring a new in- 
dictment against the party, if there should 
be occasion ; and it is upon this ground 
that the detention of a prisoner, after re- 
jecting the indictment by the grand jury, 
is countenanced. It is, however, in many 
cases, a hardship. The present sheriffs of 
London, in A. D. 1808, Sir Richard Phil- 
lips, Knt., and Mr. Alderman Smith, have 
very much to their credit, endeavoured to' 
procure the judges at the Old Bailey to dis- 
charge prisoners immediately, but the prac- 
IND 
tiee having long continued as above stated, 
the judges have been averse to altering it. 
Upon a certificate of an indictment being 
found, for an assault or other misdemeanor, 
and much more for a felony, at the sessions, 
a warrant is issued, on the application of 
the prosecutor, to take the party into cus- 
tody, and he may be held to bail by a jus- 
tice of the peace, or a judge, and it is usual, 
in expectation of such a warrant, to put in 
bail, and obtain a supersedeas to the war- 
rant previously. This was not formerly the 
piactice, upon indictments or informations 
in the court of King’s Bench. An act lias 
now passed to enable the. court to issue 
warrants, and hold to bail, upon indict- 
ments or informations filed. This act is 
principally objectionable, as it may be used 
as the means of harassing persons, prose- 
cuted harshly and vindictively by the Attor- 
ney General, for libels, &c. It is either a 
useless act, since the justice of the country 
has been safely conducted for centuries 
without it, or it is an act of great impor- 
tance to the liberty of the subject. 
But an action cannot be brought by the 
person acquitted, against the prosecutor of 
the indictment, without obtaining a copy 
ot the record of his indictment and acquit- 
tal; which, in prosecutions for felony, it is 
not usual to grant, if there be the least pro- 
bable cause to found such prosecution 
upon ; for it would be a very great discou- 
ragement to the public justice of the king- 
dom, if prosecutors who had a tolerable 
ground of suspicion, were liable to be sued 
at law whenever their indictments miscar- 
ried. But an action on the case, for a ma- 
licious prosecution, may he founded on such 
an indictment whereon no acquittal can be, 
as, if it be rejected by the grand jury, or be 
coram non judice, or be insufficiently 
drawn ; for it is not the danger of the plain- 
tiff, but the scandal, vexation, and expence 
upon which this action is founded. How- 
ever, any probable cause for preferring it 
is sufficient to justify the defendant, pro! 
vided it do not appear, that the prosecution 
was malicious. And it is necessary to show 
something more than the mere not prose- 
cutis, in order to raise the inference of ma- 
lice. 
I?v DIGESTION. See Medicine. 
INDIGO, a dye prepared from the leaves 
and small branches of the indigofera tine- 
toria. See the next article. 
Indigo is distinguished into two kinds, 
the true and the bastard. Though the first 
is sold at a higher price on account of its sit- 
