by any unlawful violence to, or restraint of the person of another, or by any threat of such violence or restraint, or

by accusing, or threatening to accuse, any person of treason or felony, or any such crime as is mentioned in clause a. ii.:

or

1

(d.) who, with menaces or force, demands any valuable thing of any person with intent to steal the same (2 whether the thing demanded is received or not).

3 It is immaterial whether the menaces or threats mentioned in clauses a. i., a. ii., b., c., and d. be of violence, injury, or accusation to be caused or made by the offender or by any

other person.

The expression " valuable thing" in this article means any property, chattel, money, valuable security, or other valuable thing.

part of any valuable security, or to write, impress, or affix his name, or the name of any other person, or of any company, firm, or co-partnership, or the seal of any body corporate, company or society, upon or to any paper or parchment, in order that the same may be afterwards made or converted into, or used, or dealt with as a valuable security."

1 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 45, C. R. v. Ogden, R. v. Walton, 1863, L. & C. 288, shows what sort of menaces fall within this section. A obtained five shillings from B by pretending to be a bailiff, and threatening to distrain. It was held that his guilt depended on the question whether or not he made the threat in such a way as to unsettle B's mind, "and take away from his acts that element of free, voluntary action which alone constitutes consent."

2 R. v. Robertson, 1864, L. & C. 483. policeman who said he would lock a man unless he received five shillings used a having no power to do so.

In that case it was held that a

up for speaking to a prostitute menace," notwithstanding his

324 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 49. There is no similar section in the Act relating to offences against the person (see Article 255) (a), or in the Act relating to malicious injuries to property, from which a. ii. and a. iii. are taken. I think, however, both on authority and on principle, that those clauses would be construed as if there were. The language of the sections on which this Article is founded has been condensed and rearranged, but it will be found on examination that the Article accurately represents the seven sections which it embodies. As to threats to publish libels with intent to extort, see Art. 303, p. 240.

CHAPTER XXXIX

1 BURGLARY, HOUSEBREAKING, ETC.

ARTICLE 341.

DEFINITIONS.

In this chapter the following words are used in the following senses:

2 Night means the interval between nine of the clock at night and six of the morning.

House means a permanent building in which the owner, or the tenant, or any member of the family habitually sleeps at night.

If a building is so constructed as to consist of several parts having no internal communication between each other and if these parts are occupied and habitually slept in by different tenants, they may constitute separate dwellinghouses.

* A building occupied with and within the same curtilage with any dwelling-house, is deemed to be part of the said dwelling-house if there is between such building and dwelling-house a communication either immediate or by means of a covered and inclosed passage leading from the one to the other, but not otherwise.

The word "break means

(a.) the breaking of any part, internal or external, of the building itself, or the opening by any means whatever (including lifting, in the case of things kept in their places by their own weight) of any door, window, shutter, cellar flap, 13 Hist. Cr. Law, 150.

Draft Code, Part XXVIII., ss. 297-308.

2 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 1; the time here referred to must be taken to be Greenwich time, see 43 & 44 Vict. c. 9.

3 The cases and authorities on this subject are collected in Archbold, 569-572, but there is so little principle in the matter, and each case depends so much on its peculiar circumstances, that I have not thought it advisable to give illustrations.

424 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 53.

or other thing intended to cover openings to the house, or to give passage from one part of it to another, and getting down the chimney;1

(b.) obtaining an entrance into the house by any threat or artifice used for that purpose, or by collusion with any person in the house.

The word "enter" means the entrance into the house of any part of the offender's body, or of any instrument held in his hand for the purpose of intimidating any person in the house or of removing any goods, but does not include the entrance of part of an instrument used to break the house open.

Illustration.

2 A opens a sash window, puts a crowbar under a shutter three inches inside the window, and tries to break open the shutter, but does not come within the sash window. Here there is a breaking, but no entry.

ARTICLE 342.

ROBBING PLACES OF WORSHIP-BURGLARY.

Every one commits felony, and is liable upon conviction thereof to penal servitude for life, who

(a.) 3 breaks and enters any church, chapel, meeting-house or other place of divine worship, and commits any felony therein; or

(b.) 4 breaks and enters any dwelling-house by night with intent to commit a felony therein. The offence in this case is called burglary.

1 As to what constitutes breaking see the cases collected in Archbold, pp. 576-8 the text will be found to be a correct summary of the law so formed. Collins, J., at the Cardiff Assizes in November 1893, told the jury that breaking into a house meant entering it in any way except by an open door or window, and allowed a man to be convicted for burglary who entered a house through a swing door.

2 R. v. Rust, 1828, 1 Moo. 183; and see R. v. Roberts, 1702, 2 East, P. C. 487.

3 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 30.

4 Ibid. s. 52, for punishment ; 2 Russ. Cr. 2, for definition.

ARTICLE 343.

HOUSEBREAKING AND COMMISSION OF FELONY.

1 Every one commits felony and is liable, upon conviction. thereof, to fourteen years penal servitude, who breaks and enters and commits any felony in any dwelling-house, or any building being within the curtilage of a dwelling-house and occupied therewith (but not being part thereof within Article 341), or any schoolhouse, shop, warehouse, or counting-house.

ARTICLE 344.

ENTERING DWELLING-HOUSE WITH INTENT.

2 Every one commits felony, and is liable upon conviction thereof to seven years penal servitude who breaks and enters any of the buildings mentioned in Articles 342 or 343, or who by night enters any dwelling-house with intent in either case to commit felony therein.

ARTICLE 345.

BREAKING OUT AFTER COMMITTING FELONY.

3 Every one who, being in any of the buildings mentioned in Articles 342 or 343, commits a felony therein, and breaks out of the same, commits felony, and is liable to the same punishment as if he had broken in and committed felony therein. If such building is a dwelling-house, and the offence is committed at night, the offender commits burglary.

Every one who enters any dwelling-house with intent to commit a felony therein, and breaks out of the same by night, is guilty of burglary.

124 & 25 Vict. c. 96, ss. 55 and 56.

2 Ibid. ss. 54 and 57.

3 Ibid. ss. 50, 51, 55, 56. These sections are re-arranged.

ARTICLE 346.

BEING FOUND IN POSSESSION OF HOUSEBREAKING

INSTRUMENTS.

1 Every one commits a misdemeanor, and is liable for the first offence to a punishment of five, or if he has been previously convicted of felony or of such misdemeanor, of ten years penal servitude;

2 who is found by night armed with any dangerous or offensive weapon or instrument whatever with intent to break or enter into any dwelling-house or other building whatsoever, and to commit any felony therein;

or is found by night having in his possession, without lawful excuse (the proof of which excuse lies upon him), any picklock key, crow, jack, bit, or other instrument of housebreaking;

or is found by night having his face blackened or otherwise disguised with intent to commit any felony ;

or is found by night in any dwelling-house or other building whatsoever, with intent to commit any felony therein.

124 & 25 Vict. 96, c. ss. 58 and 59.

2 A common key may be such an instrument. R. v. Oldham, 1852, 2 Den. 472. Maule and Cresswell, JJ., were both of opinion that there should be a comma between "picklock" and "key." R. v. Oldham, however, makes this unimportant