Q.-What offence is it to discharge, point, or aim any gun or other arms at the person of the Queen? A.-Any one so offending is guilty of a high misdemeanor, and is made liable to penal servitude for seven, or not less than five, years, or to imprisonment for three years, and (if the court shall so direct) to be whipped not more than thrice publickly or privately during that period. (16 & 17 Vict. c. 99; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 5.)

Q.-Of what crime is any person guilty who shall compass, imagine, or intend to depose the Queen or her successors from the Crown of the United Kingdom, or to levy war upon her Majesty in order to compel a change of measures or counsels, or to intimidate or overawe Parliament, and shall express or utter such intention by publishing or writing the same or by any other overt act?

A. By 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12, the person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and on conviction is liable (at the discretion of the court) to penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, as the court shall direct. These offences are sometimes known as treason felonies.

Q. What is the offence of sedition?

A.-Sedition may be by writing or speaking against the sovereign, cursing or wishing him ill, or doing anything which may weaken his government or may prejudice his subjects against him. The truth of a seditious libel is no excuse for publication, for the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 96, which allows the truth of a libel to be pleaded under certain conditions, does not extend to seditious libels. (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12, s. 7.)

Coinage Offences.

WITH RESPECT TO GOLD AND SILVER COIN.

Q.-What offence is it to counterfeit any of the Queen's gold or silver coin, and what is the punish

ment?

A.-It is a felony, and the punishment is, at the discretion of the court, penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or imprisonment for any term not more than two years, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 2.)

-What offence is it to impair, lighten, or diminish any current gold or silver coin with intent to defraud, and what is the punishment?

A.-It is a felony, and the punishment is penal servitude for any term not less than five years, nor more than fourteen years, or the offender may be imprisoned as already specified. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 4.)

Q. What is the offence of tendering any false or counterfeit gold or silver coin, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit ?

A. This is a misdemeanor, and the punishment is imprisonment for any term not exceeding one year, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 9.

-What offence is it to make or sell medals resembling current coin?

A. By the Counterfeit Medal Act, 1883, it is enacted that any person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to imprisonment for any

term not exceeding one year, with or without hard labour. (46 & 47 Vict. c. 45, s. 2.)

IN RESPECT TO COPPER COIN.

Q. What is the offence of, and what is the punishment for, counterfeiting copper coin?

A.-It is a felony punishable with penal servitude for any term not more than seven nor less than five years, or imprisonment for any term not more than two years, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 14.)

Q.-Is it any offence, and if so what, to utter false coin intended to pass for current copper coin?

A. Yes; it is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for any term not exceeding one year. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 15.)

Q.-What facilities for trial are there of any person charged with coinage offences committed in various places?

A.-Where any person shall tender any counterfeit coin in one county or jurisdiction, and also tender any such coin in any other county or jurisdiction, either on the same day or within ten days thereafter, or where two or more persons acting in concert in different counties or jurisdiction shall commit any offence under that act, every such offender may be tried in any of the said counties and jurisdictions. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 28.)

AS TO COIN OF FOREIGN STATES.

Q.-What is the offence of counterfeiting (1) foreign gold or silver coin, (2) foreign copper coin?

A.--The first offence is a felony, and the punish

ment is penal servitude for any term not more than seven nor less than five years. The second offence a misdemeanor, and the offender may be imprisoned for the first offence for any time not exceeding one year, and on a second conviction he is liable to penal servitude for not more than seven nor less than five years, or imprisonment (with or without hard labour and solitary confinement) not exceeding two years. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, ss. 18, 19, 22.)

Offences against the Person.

-Define homicide, and into what classes is it divided?

A. It is destroying the life of man, the circumstances being such as to render it justifiable, or at least excusable, or else it is felonious.

Q. When is homicide justifiable ?

A.-Justifiable homicide is of divers kinds. First, such as is occasioned by the due execution of public justice in putting a malefactor to death, who has forfeited his life by the laws of this country.

But the sentence must be pronounced legally, for if the judge act without authority and the accused is executed the judge is guilty of murder.

Secondly, justifiable homicide may be committed for the advancement of public justice, as in the following instances: (1.) Where a police officer or his assistant, in the due execution of his office, arrests or attempts to arrest one who resists, and is consequently killed in the struggle; (2.) Where, in case of a riot or rebel

lious assembly, such officers or assistants kill any of the mob in the endeavour to disperse them; (3.) Where the prisoners in a gaol assault the gaoler or officer, and he, in his defence, kills any of them; (4.) Where an officer or his assistant, in the due execution of his office, arrests or attempts to arrest a party for felony or for a dangerous wound given, and the party, having notice thereof, flies and is killed in the pursuit.

Thirdly, homicide is justifiable when committed for the prevention of any forcible and atrocious crime, as for the prevention of robbery or murder, or the breaking into a house in the night-time, but not during the daytime, unless it carries with it an attempt of robbery, murder, or the like.

In the event of an attempt to commit burglary at night, not only the owner, his servants and members of his family, but also any strangers present, are justified in killing the assailant; but this extreme step should not be taken until all other means have failed.

Fourthly, homicide may be justifiable where the party slain is equally innocent as he who occasions his death, as where two persons being shipwrecked, and getting on the same plank, but finding it not able to save them both, one of them thrusts the other from it, whereby he is drowned. (4 Steph. Comm. pp. 48 et seq; Har. Crim. Law, 155.)

Q. When is homicide excusable?

A.-Excusable homicide is divided into two classes: viz., per infortunium, by accident; or se defendendo, in self-defence. Homicide per infortunium is where a man doing a lawful act, without any intention of hurt, unfortunately kills another; as where a man is at work with a hatchet and the head flies off and kills a