PREFA C E. THIS Volume (the Second of the Criminal Division, and Sixth of this Work) comprehends the remainder of Indictments and Informations; Proceedings before JUSTICES; and in CRIMINAL SUITS; together with the Proceedings, partly criminal and partly civil, in QUO WARRANTO, PROHIBITION, and MANDAMUS. It may be recollected, that in the practical directions to the Fourth Volume, which is the First of the Criminal Division (as indeed in the Fifth of the Civil Divifion), I have faid, that wherever I may obtain fresh matter in the course of compilation, I fhall not hesitate to infert it, although it breaks in upon the strict arrangement of the Heads, if I can give the Precedent its due place in the Index, and a proper mark of reference to prevent difficulty to the Practitioner. In the Civil Divifion this has rarely happened. At the end of this Volume I have taken a greater liberty, by giving the remainder of my Indictments as an Appendix to both Volumes; but in the Index, fcrupulously obferving an exact order of reference to every Precedent in my own Work, and to every other extant, which I have confidered worthy of refe rence. In the distribution, or Analyfis, I have principally followed Mr. Serjeant Hawkins, and for the minuter Divifions, Mr. Juftice Blackstone: and, in conformity to the established divifion of Offences into Felonies Capital (fubjecting the convicted perfon to capital punish A 2 (iv) P ODLE punishment), and Misdemeanors or Offences, not capital, I have fo divided them; although capital punishment makes (a) no part of the idea of Felony. - 8 JUL 1962 IBRARY I have also deviated from Mr. Serjeant Hawkins in poftponing Offences not Capital, against God, and his Holy Religion, &c. and placing them among the Misdemeanors not claffed, or other Mifdemeanors. Offences againft MAN (and first against the KING, and the Administration of his Government) will be found under the Head of LIBEL, and Seditious Writings, &c. and of Other Mifdemeanors, both Indictments and Informations, ranging all the like Offences, not reducible to a common obvious Head, under Mifdemeanors not claffed. The Capital Offences under the First Divifion, against GOD, are fo unufual in thefe days, that even Lord Chief Juftice Hale, if he had lived, would fmile to fee an Indictment for Witchcraft-and, perhaps, think it puerile in an Author to refer to one.-As a matter of curiofity, however, I have referred to one old Precedent under Murder, for bewitching a Man; and another for bewitching him on horfeback as he was travelling, whereby he died. I have contented myself with referring merely to another-Offence against GOD, &c. namely, Herefy (now only cognizable in the Spiritual Court, except as to the punishment by the writ de bæretico comburendo, and that writ fince abolished). Of the third offence I have purpofely avoided giving any Precedent, obferving, that the Judges, in Trials for this Offence, direct the Note-takers in Court to fupprefs the publication of the evidence; for the honor of humanity the Precedents are few, very few, I have (a) Vide 4. Bl. Comm. 97. 9%. referred (v) referred to fuch as are extant, and leave the ungrateful tafk of framing them to the Practitioner whenever the fad occafion calls for it. The fecond important branch is an Offence against the King's Majefty, for HIGH TREASON (and for which fee Appendix to this Volume, Criminal Division -and Tremaine's Pleas of the Crown, addenda to the Index); I have given all the Precedents of our own times. Felonies against the KING relate chiefly to his Coin, and his Army (enlifting Soldiers to serve abroad, &c).; fuch of them as I have met with are among the Felonies. on Statutes (instead of Offences at Common Law), and this head forms a very confiderable collection of Precedents, being chiefly Offences against the SUBJECT. Although, in conformity to Hawkins divifion of Felonies on Statutes, against Public Credit, against Marriage, &c. I have claffed all Felonies on Statutes, viz. Forgery, Bigamy, &c. immediately to precede that general Head; yet I have alfo put them under their common known Head of Forgery, Bigamy, Rape, &c. diftinguishing them for the Pupil. The fame method will be observed in Indictments for Mifdemeanors. The Informations follow the order of Indictments, and for the like Offences. My reafon for making Informations a diftin&t Head, was to preferve uniform the Informations for Affaults, Riots, and Offences relating to the Excife, and comprehending as well Proceedings before Commiffioners of Excife and Customs, as Justices of the Peace. The only common Divifion I make of Informations, is, of fuch as above are men- tioned, and for LIBELS, &c. and against Justices of the Peace. The remainder following the order of the Ana- lyfis of Indictments are too few to fubdivide, but fuf- ficiently clear for practical ufe. Then follow Convic- tions, &c. and Proceedings in Criminal Cafes (which are, for the most part too, Proceedings before Justices of the Peace). And thus I had intended to close the Volume with Proceedings in Que WARRANTO, PROHIBITION, and MANDAMUS; though they refpect civil rights, are Proceedings on the Crown Side of the Court among the Pleas of the Crown, and moft fitly follow in the Criminal Divifion; but being favoured with a variety of Precedents of Indictments and Informations, after the mafs of copy had been prepared, I could not refift adding fome of the best Indictments, and a few Infor- mations, although a number of both remain unpublished, for fear of exceeding the limits of the Publication. Thefe (if I have leifure), I may perhaps ftill offer to the Public. The added matter will be found in its proper place in the Index (and this is my continual apology for all fuch precedents as may accidentally be misplaced. -As a Plea in Quo Warranto, p. 9.-and in p. 322. to Those gentlemen who publish can readily conceive, in two divifions of copy of a work of this extent diftri- buted, a few mistakes will arife; ftill I entreat an atten- tion to the Index, where I can confidently fay (with the exception of human frailty alone), from the pains I take to make the references clear and easy, no mistake can happen; and that the Pupil. will fee his way through and Sixth) with the fame facility that the most experienced Pleader can, by whom the Index will alone be confulted. And for their further affiftance in the ufe of the Index (if it can be neceffary), the Reader will obferve, that the Cardinal numbers on the left hand Vol. IV. VI, &c. and the pages refer to the page in that Volume of the principal Work.-On the right, and following the Precedents of the principal work, are the Precedents in the modern Books of Practice, Reporters, &c. under every Head as far as Modern Entries, and the references following, which occupy the whole space. are the Old Entries; and a Gloffary of all the names of Entries, Reporters, &c, to the Criminal Divifion, the Fourth and Sixth Volumes. This direction will serve as well for the Index to any part of the Civil Divifion, the Author having obferved one unvaried mode of reference to the whole body of Pleading, ancient and modern, including his own fyftem, and is enabled to fay, from the experience of the most learned in Pleading (as well as his own), that the Practitioner who is at a lofs in the ufe of the Index to the Precedents in the Author's feveral books hitherto publifhed, muft want capacity to ufe any book, There is a moft ufeful Book of Precedents referred to in the Index, by itself, at the end of Informations, viz. Tremaine's Pleas of the Crown; and another in the body of the Index, Burn's Juftice; together with the few Precedents in the Appendix to the Fourth Volume, of Blackstone's Commentaries, thofe I purpofed to have referred to generally the firft for Indictments; the fecond for Proceedings before Juftices, and xxт'ox the laft ; confidering Tiemaine's Pleas of the Crown, to be the beft arranged, and the most useful Book of Precedents of Crown |