Page images
PDF
EPUB

and advantages inducing an individual to become the accuser, and the liability which he incurs.

In the second chapter, the law relative to arrests on criminal charges, is very fully considered, viz. who may be arrested-for what crimes-at what time-in what places-and by whom, as by private individuals, constables, watchmen, justices of the peace, sheriffs, coroners, and upon hue and cry. Next are considered the arrests under warrant; the information or evidence given before a magistrate; his summons or his warrant thereon; by whom a warrant may be issued; to whom directed; its form and requisites; the backing of the warrant, and the law and practice of a supersedeas to prevent an arrest under it Then is considered how the warrant is to be executed; the legality of breaking open doors; the conduct of the officer after the arrest; the law relative to resistance of process, escapes, rescues, and retaking; the mode of detaining a party already in custody; the law relative to search warrants; and the indemnity to magistrates, officers, and parties concerned

in the arrest.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In the third chapter is considered the examination of the accuser, the witnesses, and prisoner, before the magistrate; the recognizances; bail; commitment and incidental proceedings, viz. the time of examination ; the statute and decisions which regulate it; the summoning of the witnesses, and enforcing their appearance before the magistrate; the swearing of the accuser and the witnesses, and the formal mode of taking their examinations, as well as that of the prisoner; the power of the magistrate to discharge the prisoner in cases where he considers there is no ground for the accusation; the recognizances to prosecute and give evidence; the duty to certify the examination and reDINS LADI cognizances to the proper court; the law of bailing in criminal cases; what are sufficient bail; of the offence of taking insufficient bail, and of refusing bail; the

[ocr errors]

༩་

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

form and requisites of the recognizance of bail, and of certifying such recognizances, and the power of bail to take and render their principal. The law relative to the commitment of the prisoner is then considered; to what prison he is to be sent, the form and requisites of the commitment; how the expence of his conveyance to prison is to be defrayed; the duty of the gaoler to receive him, and to give him a copy of the mittimus. This chapter concludes with a full consideration of the writ of habeas corpus, as it applies to and affects criminal proceedings; when the writ is to be granted; the practical mode of obtaining it; the writ itself, its form, and requisites; the return which may be made to it; the proceedings upon it, and the bailing of the prisoner when brought up before the superior tribunal.

[ocr errors]

1.

The supposed offender having been thus secured and ile the committed for trial, the next considerations are, court in which the proceeding is to be instituted; the time within which the prosecution must be commenced; and the mode of conducting it; and, therefore, in the fourth chapter are fully considered, the criminal jurisdiction of the courts of general and quarter sessions of the peace; oyer and terminer; general gaol delivery; assize and nisi prius courts under special commissions; the Admiralty Sessions, and the Court of King's Bench, with some other courts of more limited power; the time of prosecution, whether limited by the Habeas Corpus Act, or other particular enactments; the modes of prosecution, whether by indictment, presentment by a grand jury of their own knowledge, coroners' inquest, verdict of a jury in a civil action, information in the King's Bench, presentments of a judge or justice of the peace, or informations at sessions.

3

In the fifth chapter, the general principles, rules, and practice affecting the structure of an indictment, whether against principals or accessaries at common law, or upon statutes, are very minutely considered, viz. its ge

[ocr errors]

W

રે

[ocr errors]

neral requisites of certainty and language, and its form, parts, and particular requisites, as the venue and mode of stating and repeating it, the formal words of commencing the indictment, the name and addition of the defendant and of third persons, the statement of the time when the offence and other circumstances took place, the use of the videlicet, the description of the offence itself, the various technical terms which must be inserted, the usual words of concluding the indictment, the utility of several counts, the cases in which a part of a count may be found by the jury, and the joinder of several offences. The law relative to principals and ac'cessaries in the first and second degrée, and of accessaries before and after the fact, and the distinctions respecting the criminality and punishment of each of these offenders, together with the law respecting the joinder of several offenders in the same indictment, whether guilty in the same or different degrees, are then fully considered. Next are examined at some length the requisites of indictments founded upon statutes; and this chapter concludes with some general considerations on the consequences of unnecessary length, and of variance in the indictment, how far criminal proceedings are amendable, when the indictment will be quashed, and What are the consequences of its being found defective.

[ocr errors]

The sixth chapter relates to the grand jury, and the presentment and finding of the bill of indictment; viz. the number, qualification, and mode of summoning the jurors, and the proceedings to swear and charge them both at the assizes and sessions; the time they are to serve; the extent of their jurisdiction; the mode of preferring the bill of indictment before them; the evidence to be adduced; the mode of compelling the attendance of witnesses, and production of documents, and of the finding or rejecting the hill presented.

The caption of the indictment, or stile of the court at which it was found, is considered in the seventh chapter,

with the law relative to demurrers, founded on defects in the caption, and the jurisdiction and practice of the court as to amending a defect in this part of the proceedings,

In chapter eight the process against the defendant, after indictment found, and the proceedings thereon, are minutely examined: first the summary process, by capias, bench warrant, or by a judge's or justice's warrant; supersedeas to prevent arrest; the bailing of the defendant, and his commitment for trial; secondly, the process to outlawry, the consequences of that judgment, and the subsequent proceedings to enforce or reverse it.

[ocr errors]

The ninth chapter comprises the law and practice relative to the removal of indictments from inferior courts to the court of King's Bench by writ of certiorari.

In the tenth chapter are stated the application for a copy of the indictment, the assignment of counsel to the defendant, the cases in which the appearance and defence may be by attorney, and the defence in formâ pauperis. The law and practice of the defendant's arraignment in cases of treason and felony are then fully stated, together with the rules which govern the arraignment of principals and accessaries, and arraignments upon several indictments, and also the incidents of arraignments, viz. denial of identity, pleading in abatement, standing mute, confession of guilt, and proceedings which severally follow them..

In the eleventh chapter, after stating the modes in the King's Bench of compelling the defendant to plead or demur, a comprehensive view is taken of criminal pleadings. First are shewn the various pleas in criminal cases, their general qualities, requisites, and number, the time and manner of pleading them, with the amending, withdrawing and pleading them afresh; and the mode in which pleas are entered; then the several particular, pleas, and proceedings thereon, are separately stated and discussed, viz. pleas to the jurisdiction,

demurrers to the indictment and their effects; pleas in abatement, sand all proceedings to which they.give rise ;-pleas in bar, as autrefois acquit, convict, or attaint and pardon, and pleas to the matter or merits of the indictment, as the general issue, and special pleas when requisite. And then this chapter concludes with some observations on stopping the prosecution by nolle prosequiod to a sh

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The twelfth chapter comprises the proceedings before the trial and relating to it; viz. the issue, record of nisi prius, the mode of obtaining a view, the time of trial, the notice of trial, the proceedings to put off the trial and the place of trial, together with trials at bar, remanets, compromises, and mode of withdrawing the recorddw konn f

to The jury and proceedings relating to them, form the next subject of inquiry; and therefore in the thirteenth chapter the following matters are fully considered; the county from which the jury must be summoned ; the court into which the jurors are to be returned; the qualification of the jurors; their number; the process by which the jury is to be convened; when it may be joint or several, and with a clause of proviso; the mode in which the process is to be executed, and the attendance of the jurors compelled; the time when the process must be returnable, to whom directed, and by whom. returned; the form of the return, and when a panel of the jury must be returned; when there may be a tales; the proceedings relative to special juries; a jury de medietate linguæ, and the indemnities and liabilities of jurors. Next is considered the calling of the defendant to the bar, and his treatment there, and the calling of the jury; and then the different proceedings relative to challenges, viz. those on behalf of the king and the defendants; challenges to the array, and to the polls; the time and mode of challenge, and how it is to be tried, and the mode of reforming the panel.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »