INDICTMENT. 
T! 
criminal of Several defendants, they may be all charged 
in one indiftment, jointly and 1'everally, or jointly only ; 
and fome of the defendants may be convicted, and others 
acquitted ; for the law looks on the charge as feveral 
againft each, though the words of it purport a joint charge 
againft all. In other cafes, the offences of feveral perfons 
inuft be laid leveral, becaufe the offence of one cannot 
be the offence of another; and every man ought to anfw.er 
leverally for his own crime. And three offences may be 
joined in an indictment, and the party convicted of one 
offence, though he is found not guilty of the others. On 
penal ftatutes, feveral tilings lhall not be joined in the 
indictment, &c. except it be in refpett of fome one thing 
to which all of them have relation. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 25. 
§ 89. 1 Hal. P.C. c. 561, 610. 
Several defendants cannot be joined in one indictment 
for perjury; for perjury is a feparate act in each; and 
one may be defirous to have a certiorari, and the other 
not; and the jury, on the trial of all, may apply evidence 
to all that is but evidence againft one. Sira. 921. So alfo 
in the Kingv. Clendon&al. where two were joined in the 
fame indictment for an affault, the court held they were 
diltinCt offences. Stra. 870. Lord Raym. 117a. But in an¬ 
other cafe, on an information againlt two for the fame li¬ 
bel, it was held good; and the cafe of the King v. Clen- 
don held not to be law. Burr. 980. 
A perfon indicted of felony, &c. may plead generally 
tnifnomer, or wrongful addition ; a former acquittal or 
conviction; a pardon, or other fpecial plea; or the gene¬ 
ral iffue ; or may plead any plea in abatement of the in¬ 
dictment, &c. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 25. § 150. One indifted 
for felony may have counfel affigned him to fpeak for him 
in matter of taw only. See the article Trial. 
After a perfon is indiCted for felony, the fheriff is com¬ 
manded co attach his body by a capias ; and, on return of 
a non ejl inventus, a fecond capias fliall be granted, and the 
fheriff is to feize the offender’s chattels, &c. And, if on 
that writ a non ejl inventus is returned, an exigent fliall be 
awarded, and the chattels be forfeited, &c. 25 Edw. III. 
Jl. 5. c. 2. 
If an innocent perfon be indiCted of felohy, and will 
not fuffer himfelf to be arrefted by the officer who has a 
warrant for it, he may be killed by the officer, if lie can¬ 
not otherwiie be taken; for there is a charge againft him 
Upon record, to which at his peril he is bound to anfwer. 
Fitz. Coron. 189, 261. See Arrest, vol. ii. 
A perfon may be indiCted twice at the fame time, 
where he hath committed two felonies ; and, if he hath his 
clergy for one, he may be hanged for the other. And if 
there is an indictment and inquifition againft one for the 
fame offence, one found by the coroner’s inqueft, and 
another by the grand jury, he may be tried on both at 
the fame time, but, if he be tried and acquitted upon 
the one, it may be pleaded in bar on trial for the other. 
Kel. 30, 108. 1 Salk. 382. 
When a perfon is conviCted upon an indictment for 
trefpafs or mifdemeanor, he is to appear in court, on judg¬ 
ment pronounced ; and the court, having fet a fine upon 
him, will commit him in execution, See. 2 Lit. AOr. 4.1. 
The o-rand jury are fworn to inquire only for the body 
of the county ; and therefore they cannot regularly in¬ 
quire of a faCl done out of the county for which they are 
fworn, unlefs particularly enabled by ftatute. At com¬ 
mon law, therefore, where a man was wounded in one 
county and died in another, the offender was indictable 
in neither, Becaufe no complete aCt of felony was done in 
either County; but by ftat. 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 24, the of¬ 
fender is now indictable in the county where the party 
died; and by 2 Geo. II. c. 21, if the ftroke or poifoning 
be in England, and the death upon the fea or out of 
England, or vice verfd, the offenders and their acceffories 
may be indiCted in the county where either the death, 
poifoning, or ftroke, lhall happen. So in fome other cafes; 
as particularly, where treafon is committed out of the 
realm, it may be inquired of in any county within the 
realm, as the king fliall direCt, in purfuance of the flats. 
26 Hen. VIII. c. 13, 33 Hen. VIII. c. 23. 35 Hen. VIII. c. s; 
5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 11. 
Counterfeiters, wafliers, or minilhers, of the current 
coin, together with all manner of felons and their accef. 
lories, may, by ftat. 26 Hen. VIII. c. 6, (confirmed and 
explained by 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. § 75, 76,) be in¬ 
dicted and tried for thofe offences, if committed ip any 
part of Wales, before the juftices of gaol-delivery, and of 
the peace, in the next adjoining county of England 
where the king’s writ runneth; that is, at prefent, in the 
county of Hereford or Salop; not, as it Ihould feem, in 
the county of Chefter or Monmouth ; the one being a 
county palatine where the king’s writ did not run, and 
the other a part of Wales in the time of Henry VII I. Stra. 
533. % Mod. 134. Hardr. 66. Murders alfo, whether com¬ 
mitted in England or in foreign parts, may, by virtue of 
ftat. 33 Hen. VIH. c. 23, be inquired of and tried by the 
king’s fpecial commifiion in any ihire or place in the 
kingdom. By 10 & 11 Wil. III. c. 25, all robberies and 
other capital crimes, committed in Newfoundland, may 
be inquired of and tried in any county of England. Of¬ 
fences againft the black aft, 9 Geo. I. c. 22, may be in¬ 
quired of and tried in any county of England, at tlte 
option of the profecutor. So felonies in deftroying turn¬ 
pikes, or works upon navigable rivers, erefted by author 
rity of parliament, may, by flats. 8 Geo. II. c. 20, 13 
Geo. III. c. 84, be inquired of and tried in any adjacent 
county. By 26 Geo. II. c. 19, plundering or Healing 
from any veffel in diftrels or wrecked, or breaking any 
lhip, contrary to 12 Ann. 2. c. 18, may be profecuted ei¬ 
ther in the county where the faft is committed, or in any 
county next adjoining ; and, if committed in Wales, then 
in the next adjoining Englilh coupty ; by which is un- 
derftood to be meant fuch Englilh county as, by ftat. 26 
Hen. VIII. c. 6, above-mentioned, had before a concur¬ 
rent jurifdiftion with the great feflions on felonies com¬ 
mitted in Wales. Felonies committed out of the realm, 
in burning or deftroying the king’s fliips, magazines, or 
ftores, may, by ftat. 12 Geo. III. c. 24, be inquired of 
and tried in any county of England, or in the place 
where the offence is committed. By ftat. 13 Geo. III. c. 
63, mildemeanors committed in India may be tried upon 
information or indiftment in the court of king’s bench 
in England 5 and a mode is marked out for examining 
witneffes by commifiion, and tranfimitting their depofi- 
tions to the court. 
But, in general, all offences muff: be inquired into, ag 
well as tried, in the county where the faft is committed. 
Yet, if larceny be committed in one county, and the 
goods carried into another, the offender may be indifted 
in either; for the offence is complete in both. 1 Hat. P.C. 
507. Or, he may be indifted in England for larceny in 
Scotland, and carrying the goods with him into England, 
or vice verfa, or for receiving in one part of the united 
kingdoms goods that have been ftolen in another. 13 Geo. 
III. c. 31. But, for robbery, burglary, and the like, an 
offender can only be indifted where the faft was aftually 
committed ; for though the carrying away and keeping 
of the goods is a continuation of the original taking, and 
is therefore larceny in the fecond county, yet it is not a 
robbery or burglary in that jurifdiftion. And, if a perfon 
be indicted in one county for larceny of the goods origi¬ 
nally taken in another, and be thereof convifted, or Hands 
mute, he lhall not be admitted to his clergy ; provided 
the original taking be attended -with fuch circumftances 
as would have oufted him of his clergy by virtue of any 
ftatute made previous to the year 1691. 25 Hen. VIII. 
c. 3. 3 Will. & Mary c. 9. 
If no town or place be named where the faft was done, 
the indiftment lhall be void ; though a miftake of the 
place in laying the offence is of no fignification. on the 
evidence, if the faft is proved at fome other place in the 
fame county. H. P. C. 264. 1 Hen. V. cap. 5. 
If, upon Not guilty pleaded to an indiftment, it fliall 
appear 
