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No. XX.

43 Geo. III.

e. 58.

ed under this Act shall be acquitted.

subjects, or any body corporate, that then and in every such case the person or persons so offending, their counsellors, aiders, and abettors, knowing of and privy to such offence, shall be and are hereby declared to be felons, and shall suffer death as in cases of felony without benefit of elergy: Provided always, that in case it shall appear on the trial of any When the kill- person or persons indicted for the wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully ing by such shooting at any of his Majesty's subjects, or for wilfully, maliciously, and stabbing, &c. unlawfully presenting, pointing, or levelling any kind of loaded fire-arms at is not murder any of his Majesty's subjects, and attempting, by drawing a trigger, or in by Law, the parties indict- any other manner, to discharge the same at or against his or their person or persons, or for the wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully stabbing or cutting any of his Majesty's subjects with such intent as aforesaid, that such acts of stabbing or cutting were committed under such circumstances as that if death had ensued therefrom, the same would not in Law have amounted to the crime of murder, that then and in every such case the person or persons so indicted shall be deemed and taken to be not guilty of the felonies whereof they shall be so indicted, but be thereof acquitted. II. And whereas it may sometimes happen that poison or some other "other noxious and destructive substance or thing may be given, or other means used, with intent to procure miscarriage or abortion where the woman may not be quick with child at the time, or it may not be 'proved that she was quick with child;' Be it therefore further enacted, That if any person or persons, from and after the said first day of July, in the said year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, shall wilfully and maliciously administer to, or cause to be administered to, or taken by any woman, any medicines, drug or other substance or thing whatsoever, or shall use or employ, or cause or procure to be used or employed, any instrument or means whatsoever, with intent thereby to cause or procure the miscarriage of any woman not being, or not being proved to be quick with child at the time of administering such things or using such means, that then and in every such case the person or persons so offending, their counsellors, aiders, and abettors, knowing of and privy to such offence, shall be and are hereby declared to be guilty of felony, and shall be liable to be fined, imprisoned, set in and upon the pillory, publickly or privately whipped, or to suffer one or more of the said punishments, or to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years at the discretion of the Court before which such offender shall be tried and convicted.

Punishment of persons administering medicines to women though

not quick with

child, to proeure miscarriage, felony, punishable by imprisonment or transporta tion.

English Act.

21 Jac. 1. c. 27.

and

Irish Act

6 Anne, c. 4. repealed.

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III. And whereas doubts have been entertained respecting the true sense and meaning of a certain Act of Parliament, made in England in the twenty-first year of the reign of his late Majesty King James the first, inti'tuled, An Act to prevent the destroying and murthering of Bastard Children; ' and also of a certain other Act of Parliament, made in Ireland in the sixth year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, also intituled, An Act to prevent the destroying and murthering of Bastard Children; and 'the same have been found in sundry cases, difficult and inconvenient to 'be put in practice;' for remedy whereof, Be it enacted by the authority Trial of women aforesaid, That from and after the first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, the said two several Acts, and every thing therein contained, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed; and that, from and after the said first day of July, in the said year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, the trials in England and Ireland respectively of women charged with the murder of any issue of their bodies, male or female, which being born alive would by Law be bastard, shall proceed and be governed by such and the like rules of evidence and of presumption as are by Law used and allowed to take place in respect to other trials for murder, and as if the said two several Acts had never been made.

for murder of bastards shall proceed as in other cases of murder.

Women ac

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawquitted of such ful for the jury by whose verdict any prisoner charged (1) with such murder

(1) This extends to the case of a person charged with murder by the coroner's inquest, R. v. Cole, 2 Leach, 4th Edit. 1095,-Q. Whe

ther it would not be desirable to make the concealment a substantive offence?

No. XXII. 43 Geo. III.

c. 58.

as aforesaid shall be acquitted, to find, in case it shall so appear in evidence that the prisoner was delivered of issue of her body, male or female, which if born alive would have been bastard, and that she did, by secret burying or otherwise, endeavour to conceal the birth thereof, and thereupon it shall be lawful for the court before which such prisoner shall have been tried, to adjudge that such prisoner shall be committed to the com- in cases of mon gaol or house of correction for any term not exceeding two years.

[ No. XXI.] 59 George III. c. 70.-An Act to repeal certain Acts of the Parliament of Scotland regarding Duelling.-[3d July 1811.]

[ No. XXII.] 6 George IV. c. 126.—An Act to make Provision in Scotland for the further Prevention of malicious shooting, and attempting to discharge loaded Fire Arms, stabbing, cutting, wounding, poisoning, maiming, disfiguring, and disabling His Majesty's Subjects.-[5th July 1825.]

Murder may,

concealment, be imprisoned.

c. 31.

Repeal of

9 H. 3. c. 26. 52 H. 3. c. 25. Ed. 1. c. 11 and 13.

3

[No. XXII. ] 9 George IV. c. 31.-An Act for consolidating and amending the Statutes in England relative to Offences against the Person.-[27th June 1828.] W WHEREAS it is expedient to repeal various statutes now in force in No. XXIII. that part of the United Kingdom called England, relative to offences 9 Geo. IV. against the person, in order that the provisions contained in those statutes may be amended and consolidated into this Act; be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That so much of the great charter made in the ninth year of the reign of King Henry the Third, as relates to inquisitions of life or member; and so much of a statute made in the fifty-second year of the same reign, as relates to murder; and so much of a statute made in the third year of the reign of King Edward the First, as relates to inquests of murder, and the writ of Odio et atiâ, and to any person ravishing or taking away by force any female as therein mentioned; and so much of a statute made in the fourth year of the same 4 Ed. 1. st. 3. reign, intituled "The Statute of Bigamy," as relates to bigamists; and c. 5. so much of a statute made in the sixth year of the same reign, as relates to any person killing another by misfortune or in his own defence, or in other manner without felony; and so much of a statute made at Westminster in the thirteenth year of the same reign, as relates to the writ of Odio et atia and to rape; and so much of a statute made in the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the Second, commonly called "Articuli Cleri," as relates to laying violent hands on a clerk; and so much of a statute made in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Edward the Third, as relates to bigamists; and so much of a statute made in the twenty-fifth year of the same reign, as relates to petit treason; and so much of a statute made in the fiftieth year of the same reign, as relates to the arrest of persons of holy church; and so much of a statute made in the first year of the reign of King Richard the Second, as relates to the like arrests; and so much of a statute made in the sixth year of the same reign, as relates to ravishers, and to women ravished; and so much of a 5 H. 4. c. 5. statute made in the fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Fourth, as relates to cutting the tongues or putting out the eyes of any of the King's liege people, and to any assault upon the servant of a knight of the shire 5 H. 4. c. 6. in Parliament; and so much of a statute made in the second year of the 2 H. 5. st. 1. VOL. V.

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6 Ed. 1. c. 9.

13 Ed. 1. st. 1.
c. 29 and 34.
9 Ed. 2. st. 1.

c. 3.

18 Ed. 3. st. 3.

c. 2.

25 Ed. 3. st. 5.
Part of c. 2.
50 Ed. 3. c. 5.
Ric. 2. c. 15.
6 Ric. 2. st. 1.

c. 6.

c. 9.

3 H. 7. c. 2. 3 H. 7. c. 14.

12 H. 7. c. 7.

24 H. 8. c. 5.

5 & 6 Ed. 6. c. 4. s. 3.

No. XXIII. reign of King Henry the Fifth, as relates to persons fleeing for murders, 9 Geo. IV. manslaughters, robberies, and batteries; and so much of a statute made in the eleventh year of the reign of King Henry the Sixth, as relates to c. 31. any assault or affray made to any lord, knight of the shire, citizen, or 11 H. 6. c. 11. burgess, being and attending at the Parliament or other council of the King; and an Act passed in the third year of the reign of King Henry the Seventh, intituled "An Act against taking away of women against their "wills;" and an Act passed in the same year, intituled "An Act that the "Steward Treasurer and Controller of the King's House, shall enquire of "Offences done within the same;" and an Act passed in the twelfth year of the same reign, intituled "An Act to make some Offences Petty Trea"son ;" and an Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, intituled "An Act where a Man killing a Thief shall 25 H. 8. c. 6. "not forfeit his Goods;" and an Act passed in the twenty-fifth year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for the Punishment of the Vice of 33 H. 8. c. 12. "Buggery;" and so much of an Act passed in the thirty-third year of the Part of s. 6. same reign, intituled "An Act for Murther and malicious Bloodshed, to s. 18. " within the Court," as relates to the punishment of manslaughter and of 33 H. 8. c. 23. malicious striking, by reason whereof blood shall be shed; and an Act passed in the same year, intituled "An Act to proceed by a Commission "of Oyer and Determiner against such Persons as shall confess Treasons "without remanding the same to be tried in the same Shire where the 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. "Offence was committed ;" and so much of an Act passed in the first year s. 10. 13. 16. of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, intituled "An Act for the Repeal and 22. "of certain Statutes concerning Treasons Felonies &c.," as relates to petty treason and murder and to bigamists, but nothing therein now in force relating to foreign pleas or dower; and so much of an Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the same reign, intituled "An Act against quar"relling and fighting in Churches and Churchyards," as relates to the punishment of persons convicted of striking with any weapon, or drawing 4 & 5 P. & M. any weapon with intent to strike as therein mentioned; and an Act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of King Philip and Queen Mary, intituled "An Act that Accessories in Murders and divers Felon4 & 5 P. & M. "ies shall not have the Benefit of Clergy;" and an Act passed in the same years, intituled "An Act for the Punishment of such as shall take "away Maidens that be Inheritors, being within the Age of Sixteen Years, or that marry them without Consent of their Parents;" and so much of an Act passed in the fifth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, intituled "An Act touching divers Orders for Artificers, Labourers, Servants of Husbandry, and Apprentices," as relates to the punishment of any servant workman or labourer making any assault or affray as therein mentioned; and an Act passed in the same year, intituled "An Act for the "Punishment of the Vice of Sodomy;" and an Act passed in the eightteenth year of the same reign, intituled "An Act to take away clergy from "the offenders in Rape and Burglary, and an Order for the Delivery of "Clerks convict without Purgation;" and an Act passed in the thirty-ninth year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for taking away of Clergy from "Offenders against a certain Statute made in the Third Year of the Reign "of King Henry the Seventh, concerning the taking away of Women against their Wills unlawfully;" and an Act passed in the first year of the reign of King James the First, intituled "An Act to take away the Benefit "of Clergy from some kind of Manslaughter;" and an Act passed in the same year, intituled An Act to re-train all Persons from Marriage unţil "their former Wives and former Husbands be dead;" and an Act passed in the twenty-second and twenty-third years of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled "An Act to prevent malicious Maiming and Wounding;" and so much of an Act passed in the same years, intituled "An "Act to prevent the Delivery up of Merchant Ships, and for the Increase "of good and serviceable Shipping," as relates to any mariner laying vioJent hands on his commander, as therein mentioned; and so much of an Vulgo 11 12 W. 3. Act passed in the eleventh year of the reign of King William the Third, intituled "An Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy," as relates to any master of a merchant vessel, who shall force any man ou shore,

c. 4.

c. 8.

5 Eliz. c. 4. s. 21.

5 Eliz. c. 17. 18 Eliz. c. 7.

39 Eliz. c. 9.

Vulgo 2 J. 1.

c. 8.

Valgo 2 J. 1. c. ll.

22 & 23 C. 2. c. 1.

22 & 23 C. 2. c. 11. s. 9.

c. 7. s. 18.

66

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66

No. XXIII. 9 Geo. IV.

c. 31.

Ann. c. 14.

s. 8.

or wilfully leave him behind, or refuse to bring home any man as therein mentioned; and so much of an Act passed in the ninth year of the reign of Queen Anne, intituled "An Act for the better preventing of excessive " and deceitful Gaming," as relates to the forfeiture and punishment of any person assaulting and beating or challenging or provoking to fight any other person on account of any money won as therein mentioned; and an Act passed in the same year, intituled "An Act to make an at- 9 Ann. c. 16. "tempt on the Life of a Privy Councillor in the Execution of his Office "to be Felony without Benefit of Clergy;" and so much of an Act passed 12 G. 1. c. 34. in the twelfth year of the reign of King George the First, intituled "An s. 6. "Act to prevent unlawful Combinations of Workmen employed in the "Woollen Manufactures, and for better Payment of their Wages," as creates any felony; and an Act passed in the second year of the reign 2 G. 2. c. 21. of King George the Second, intituled "An Act for the Trial of Murders "in Cases where either the Stroke or Death only happens within that " part of Great Britain called England;" and so much of an Act passed 11 G. 2. c. 22. in the eleventh year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for punishing Part of s. 1 "such Persons as shall do Injuries and Violences to the Persons or Pro- and 2. "perties of His Majesty's Subjects, with Intent to hinder the Exportation "of Corn," as relates to any Person who shall beat wound or use any other violence to any person or driver and so much thereof as makes any

66

second offence felony; and so much of an Act passed in the twenty-second 22 G. 2. c. 27. year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for the more effectual prevent- Part of s. 12. ing of Frauds and Abuses committed by Persons employed in the Manu"facture of Hats, and in the Woollen, Linen, Fustian, Cotton, Iron, "Leather, Fur, Hemp, Flax, Mohair, and Silk Manufactures; and for preventing unlawful Combinations of Journeymen Dyers and Journeymen Hotpressers, and of all Persons employed in the said several Manu"factures, and for the better Payment of their Wages," as extends to the persons therein mentioned that part of the Act of the twelfth year of

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King George the First which is herein-before referred to; and the whole of 25 G. 2. c. 37. an Act passed in the twenty-fifth of the reign of King George the Second, except s. 9 intituled "An Act for better preventing the horrid Crime of Murder," ex- and 10. cept so far as relates to rescues and attempts to rescue; and so much of 26 G. 2. c. 19. an Act passed in the twenty-sixth year of the same reign, intituled "An s. 11. "Act for enforcing the Laws against Persons who steal or detain Ship"wrecked Goods, and for the Relief of Persons suffering Loss thereby," as relates to any person who shall be assaulted beaten and wounded for the exercise of his duty in the salvage of any vessel goods or effects, as therein mentioned; and so much of an Act passed in the thirtieth year 30 G. 3. c. 48. of the reign of King George the Third, intituled "An Act for discontinuing "the Judgment which has been required by Law to be given against Wo"men convicted of certain crimes, and substituting another Judgment in "lieu thereof," as relates to petit treason; and so much of an Act passed

in the thirty-third year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for better pre- 33 G. 3. c. 67. "venting offences in obstructing destroying or damaging ships or other ves- s. 2. "sels, and in obstructing seamen, keelmen, casters, and ship carpenters "from pursuing their lawful occupations," as relates to any seaman, keelman, caster, ship carpenter, or other person, who shall prevent, hinder, or obstruct or assault, beat, wound, or do any bodily violence or hurt to any seaman, keelman, caster, or ship carpenter, as therein particularly mentioned;

and an Act passed in the thirty-fifth year of the same reign, intituled "An 35 G. 3. c. 67. "Act for rendering more effectual an Act passed in the First Year of the "reign of King James the First, intituled An Act to restrain all Persons "from Marriage until their former Wives and former Husbands be "dead;'" and so much of an Act passed in the thirty-sixth year of the 36 G. 3. c. 9. same reign, intituled "An Act to prevent Obstructions to the free Passage Part of s. 1 "of Grain within the Kingdom," as relates to any person who shall beat and 2. wound or use any other violence to any person or driver, and so much thereof as makes any second offence felony; and an Act passed in the

forty-third year of the same reign, intituled "An Act for the further pre- 43 G, 3, c, 58. "vention of malicious shooting, and attempting to discharge loaded Fire Arms, stabbing, cutting, wounding, poisoning, and the malicious using

c. 31.

No. XXIII. " of Means to procure the Miscarriage of Women, and also the malicious 9 Geo. IV. "setting fire to Buildings; and also for repealing a certain Act made in "England, in the Twenty-first Year of the late King James the First, in"tituled An Act to prevent the destroying and murthering of Bastard "Children,' and also an Act made in Ireland, in the Sixth Year of the "Reign of the late Queen Anne, also intituled An Act to prevent the "destroying and murthering of Bastard Children,' and for making other 43 G. 3. c. 113. Provisions in lieu thereof;" and an Act passed in the same fortythird year, intituled "An Act for the more effectually providing for the "Punishment of Offences in wilfully casting away burning or destroying "Ships and Vessels, and for the more convenient Trial of Accessories in "Felonies, and for extending the Powers of an Act made in the Thirty"third Year of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, as far as relates to 54 G. 3. c. 101. “Murders, to Accessories to Murders, and to Manslaughters;" and an Act passed in the fifty-fourth year of the reign of King George the Third, intituled "An Act for the more effectual Prevention of Child-stealing;" 58 G. 3. c. 38. and so much of an Act passed in the fifty-eighth year of the same reign, intituled "An Act to extend and render more effectual the present Regula"tions for the Relief of seafaring Men and Boys, Subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Foreign Parts," as relates to the trial of offences against the Act of King William the Third, herein-before mentioned; and so much of an Act passed in the first year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled “An Act to remove Doubts and to remedy "Defects in the Law, with respect to certain offences committed upon the "Sea or within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty," as refers to the Act of the forty-third year of the reign of King George the Third, herein1 G. 4. c. 115. before first mentioned; and an Act passed in the same first year, intituled

s 1.

1 G. 4. c. 90. s. 2.

1 & 2 G. 4. c. 88.

3 G. 4. c. 38.

3 G. 4. c. 114.

Commencement of this Act.

Petit Treason to be treated

in all respects as Murder.

Punishment of

Principals and
Accessories in
Murder.

66

"An Act to repeal so much of the several Acts passed in the Thirty-ninth "Year of the Reign of Elizabeth, the Fourth of George the First, the Fifth and Eighth of George the Second, as inflicts Capital Punishment on cer"tain Offences therein specified, and to provide more suitable and effec"tual Punishment for such Offences;" and so much of an Act passed in the first and second years of the present reign, intituled "An Act for the "Amendment of the Law of Rescue," as relates to the offences of assaulting beating and wounding therein mentioned; and an Act passed in the third year of the present reign, intituled "An Act for the further and "more adequate Punishment of Persons convicted of Manslaughter, and "of Servants convicted of robbing their Masters, and of Accessories be"fore the Fact to Grand Larceny, and certain other Felonies;" and so much of an Act passed in the same year, intituled "An Act to provide "for the more effectual Punishment of certain Offences by Imprisonment "with hard Labour," as relates to any of the assaults therein mentioned; shall continue in force until and throughout the last day of June in the present year, and shall from and after that day, as to that part of the United Kingdom called England, and as to offences committed within the jurisdiction of the admiralty of England, be repealed, except so far as any of the said Acts may repeal the whole or any part of any other Acts, and except as to offences committed before or upon the said last day of June, which shall be dealt with and punished as if this Act had not been passed; and this Act shall commence and take effect (except as is hereinbefore excepted) on the first day of July in the present year.

II. And be it enacted, That every offence, which before the commencement of this Act would have amounted to petit treason, shall be deemed to be murder only, and no greater offence; and all persons guilty in respect thereof, whether as principals or as accessories, shall be dealt with, indicted, tried, and punished as principals and accessories in murder.

III. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of murder, or of being an accessory before the fact to murder, shall suffer death as a felon; and every accessory after the fact to murder shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for life, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding four years.

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