"In default of payment, in cases not otherwise provided for, of any fine imposed under the authority of this act, on a summary conviction before any Justice of the Peace, together with the costs attending the same, within the period specified for the payment thereof at the time of conviction by the Justice before whom the conviction takes place, such Justice may issue his warrant directed to any constable to levy the amount of such fine and costs within a certain time to be in the said warrant specified; and in case of no distress sufficient to satisfy the amount being found, he may commit the offender to the common gaol of the district, county or division wherein the offence is committed for any term not exceeding one month, unless the fine and costs be sooner paid." (Ib. s. 81.)

COMPOUNDING, WHEN ALLOWED.-A compromise of criminal proceedings is in general permitted in those cases only in which the injured party might sue and recover damages. But by Con. Stat. C. c. 93, s. 38, in case any person be summarily convicted before a Justice of the Peace of any offence against this act, and it be a first conviction, the Justice, if he thinks fit, may discharge the offender from the conviction, upon his making satisfaction to the party aggrieved for damages and costs, or either of them, to be ascertained by the Justice.

Although parties cannot compromise without the Justice's consent, Justices have no power of compelling the complainant in summary proceedings to attend to give evidence. (See Con. Stat. C. c. 103, ss. 17, 18, ante, p. 77.)

CONCEALMENT OF BIRTH.*

Con. Stat. C. c. 91, s. 4, enacts that, "Any woman delivered of a child, who, by secret burying or otherwise disposing of the

On an indictment for this offence it is necessary to prove-1. The birth; 2. The secret burial or other disposal of the body; 3. The endeavor to conceal the birth. As regards the first, the evidence of a competent physician is sufficient. As regards the secret disposal of the dead body, placing it in a drawer and keeping the key, or in a box, or under the bedding, or throwing it into the privy, is a sufficiently secret disposal of the body. But a woman who was seen carrying a bundle to the privy, which, on being opened, was found to contain the body of

dead body of the said child, endeavors to conceal the birth thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned for any term less than two years, and it shall not be necessary to prove whether the child died before, at, or after its birth."

CONVICTION FOR CONCEALMENT ON INDICTMENT FOR MURDER.— "If any woman tried for the murder of her child, be acquitted thereof, the jury may find, if it so appear in evidence, that she was delivered of a child, and that she did, by secret burying or otherwise disposing of the body of the said child, endeavor to conceal the birth thereof, and thereupon the court may pass sentence as if she had been convicted upon an indictment for the concealment of the birth." (Con. Stat. U. C. c. 99, s. 67.)

CONSPIRACY.

A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons, 1. Falsely to charge another with a crime punishable by law, either from malice towards the party, or to extort money from him; 2. Wrongfully to injure or prejudice a third person, or any body of men, in any other manner; 3. To commit any offence punishable by law; 4. To do any act to pervert the course of public justice; 5. To effect a legal purpose with corrupt intent, or by improper means; 6. To raise wages, &c.

Under the first head, a conspiracy to charge a man falsely with treason, felony or misdemeanor, is indictable; but it is not an indictable offence for two or more persons to consult and agree to prosecute a person who is guilty, or against whom there are reasonable grounds of suspicion.

Under the second head, a conspiracy to impose a pretended

a child, could only be indicted for the attempt. Also, if the woman had gone to the privy for some other purpose, but while there was unexpectedly delivered, and the child fell in and was suffocated, she could not be indicted, though she concealed the birth. A woman procuring the secret burial of the child by an agent is guilty of the offence, and her agent is accessory thereto. If he be interested in the secret burial, and perform it of his own will, and without solicitation on her part, yet with her knowledge and consent, he will be principal, and she accessory. But if he do so without her knowledge or consent, though she conceal the birth, he will stand single in the offence.

article upon a purchaser; a conspiracy by a female servant and a man whom she got to personate her master and marry her, in order to defraud her master's relations of a part of his property after his death; a conspiracy to injure a man in his business; a conspiracy, by false and fraudulent representations, that a horse bought by one of the defendants from the prosecutor was unsound, to induce him to accept a less sum for the horse than the agreed price; a conspiracy to charge a man falsely as the reputed father of a bastard; a conspiracy to raise the prices of bank stock or other stocks by false rumours; a conspiracy to procure the defilement of a girl; these have respectively been held to be indictable offences.

It is necessary to prove the conspiracy, and that the defendants were engaged in it, or prove circumstances from which it may be presumed. And the prosecutor may go into general evidence of the nature of the conspiracy, before he gives evidence to connect the defendants with it. The acts and declarations also of any of the conspirators, in furtherance of the common design, may be given in evidence against all. But before evidence as to the acts of one conspirator can be received against another, it is necessary that it should be proved that the conspiracy actually existed, that the parties were members of the same conspiracy, and that the act in question was done in furtherance of the common design. The wife of one of the defendants should not be allowed to give evidence for or against the others. A conspiracy must be by two persons; one cannot be convicted of it, unless for conspiring with persons unknown or who have not appeared, or are since dead. And a man and his wife alone cannot be indicted for conspiracy.

"In case of the conviction of any prisoner for conspiracy, the person convicted of any such offence may be sentenced to be imprisoned only, or imprisoned and kept at hard labor, or in solitary confinement in the common gaol or house of correction for any period less than two years, or may be imprisoned at hard labor in the Penitentiary for any term not less than two, and not exceeding seven years." (Con. Stat. U. C. c. 115, s. 1.)

CONSTABLE.

APPOINTMENT OF ORDINARY CONSTABLES.—23 Vic. c. 8. Section 1 repeals the 10th section of cap. 17 Con. Stat. U. C.

2. "The magistrates, at the first General Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be holden in each county in Upper Canada, in the said year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, shall appoint [a county high constable (24 Vic. c. 48) and] a sufficient number of fit and proper persons to act as constables in each township, incorporated village, police village, and place, within their respective counties."

3. "The persons so appointed as constables shall, before entering on the duties of office, take and subscribe the following oath, which any Justice of the Peace may administer:

"I

having been appointed constable for the county of (or United Counties, as the case may be), do solemnly swear, that I will truly, faithfully and impartially perform the duties appertaining to the said office, according to the best of my skill and ability. So help me God."

4. "Every such constable so appointed, and having taken the aforesaid oath, shall continue in office at least one year, and shall further continue in office from year to year without re-appointment, unless he shall claim exemption from serving as such constable, in which case he shall be released at any time after the first year, when he shall legally claim and be entitled to such exemption: Provided always, that the magistrates, at any time, in General Quarter Sessions of the Peace assembled in any county, may dismiss any person from the office of constable, and may at any time appoint such additional number of constables as they, in their discretion, may consider necessary."

APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL CONSTABLES.-"In case it be made to appear to any two or more Justices of the Peace of any territorial division in this province, upon the oath of any credible witness, that any tumult, riot or felony, has taken place or is continuing, or may be reasonably apprehended in any territorial division or place situate within the limits for which the said respective Justices usually act, and in case such Justices be of opinion that the ordinary officers appointed for preserving

the peace are not sufficient for the preservation of the peace, and for the protection of the inhabitants and the security of the property in any such territorial division or place as aforesaid, then and in every such case such Justices, or any two or more justices acting for the same limits, may nominate and appoint by precept in writing, under their hands, so many as they think fit of the householders, or other persons not legally exempt from serving the office of constable, residing in the territorial division or place as aforesaid, or in the neighbourhood thereof, to act as special constables, for such time and in such manner as to the said Justices respectively seem necessary, for the preservation of the public peace, and for the protection of the inhabitants and the security of property in such territorial division or place." (Con. Stat. C. c. 104, s. 1.)

"The Justices of the Peace who appoint special constables by virtue of this act, or any one of them, or any other Justice of the Peace acting for the same limit, may administer to any person so appointed the following oath, that is to say:

"I, A. B., do swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady the Queen, in the office of special constable for the of without favour or affection, malice or ill will; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved, and will prevent all offences against the persons and properties of Her Majesty's subjects; and that, while I continue to hold the said office, I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law. So help me God.” (Ib. s. 2.)

"In case it be deemed necessary to nominate and appoint special constables as aforesaid, notice of the nomination and appointment, and of the circumstances which rendered it expedient, shall be forthwith transmitted by the justice making such nomination and appointment, to the secretary of the province." (Ib. s. 3.)

"The Justices of the Peace who appoint any special constables under this act, or any two of them, or the Justices acting for the limit within which such special constables have been called out, may, at a special session of such last mentioned Justices, or the major part of such last mentioned Justices at such special session, make such orders and regulations as may from time to time be necessary and expedient for rendering such special constables more efficient for the preservation of the