"be written, or knowingly send or cause to be sent, any letter or "other writing or message threatening any hurt or harm to any "such master woolcomber, or master weaver, or other person "concerned in the woollen manufacture; or threatening to burn, "pull down, or destroy any of their houses or outhouses, or to "cut down or destroy any of their trees, or to maim or kill any "of their cattle, for not complying with any demands, claims, or "pretences of any of his or their workmen, or others employed "by them in the said manufacture; or for not conforming or not submitting to any such illegal by-laws, ordinances, rules, or "orders as aforesaid, every person so knowingly and wilfully offending in the premises, being thereof lawfully convicted upon any indictment to be found within twelve calendar months next "after any such offence committed, shall be adjudged guilty of 66 felony, and shall be transported for seven years to some or one "of his Majesty's colonies or plantations in America by such ways, means, and methods, and in such manner, and under such pains and penalties, as felons in other cases are by law to be "transported."

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By stat. 8. the provisions of the act are extended to combers of Jersey and wool; to frame-work knitters, weavers of stockings, and to all persons whatsoever concerned or employed in any of the said manufactures.

By the stat. 22 Geo. 2. c. 27. s. 12. the provisions of the above statute are extended to journeymen dyers, journeymen hotpressers, and all other persons employed in the woollen manufactures of the kingdom, and also to journeymen, servants, workmen and labourers employed in the making of felts or hats, and in the manufacture of silk, mohair, fur, hemp, flax, linen, cotton, fustian, iron, or leather, and in manufacture of those materials mixed one with another.

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Assault on Account of Money won at Gaming.

By stat. 9 Ann. c. 15. s. 8. for preventing quarrels on account of gaming, "In case any person or persons whatsoever shall as"sault, and beat, or challenge or provoke to fight any other person or persons whatsoever, upon account of any money won by gaming, playing or betting at any of the games aforesaid (i. e. by s. 1. at cards, dice, tables, tennis, bowls, or other game or games whatsoever); such person or persons assaulting, &c. or "challenging, &c. upon the account aforesaid, shall, being thereof "convicted upon an indictment or information, forfeit all his "goods, chattels and personal estate whatsoever, and be impri"soned in the common gaol of the county where such conviction "shall be had, for two years."

On an indictment against Randal and others upon this statute, for assaulting the prosecutor on account of money won at gaming, the latter proved that he had been gaming with the defendants, and having lost his money to them, they had proposed breaking up and going away, but that he objected to it and wanted them to play on, saying that they had won his money, and would give him no opportunity of recovering it back; upon which they had committed the assault; Buller J. was of opinion that the game being

over before the assault began, the assault could not be said to have arisen out of the game, but from what the prosecutor had said to the defendants. And that it was necessary, in order to bring a case within the statute, that the assault should arise out of the play and during the time of playing; but that here the play was over, and the dispute had arisen from the prosecutor's own words: and therefore he directed the jury to acquit them of the 1 East, 423. charge.

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Assaulting Persons Wrecked.

As to assaults on persons wrecked; by stat. 26 Geo. 2. c. 19. it is enacted, "If any person or persons shall beat, or wound, "with intent to kill or destroy, or shall otherwise wilfully obstruct "the escape of any person endeavouring to save his or her life, "from such (viz. any ship, or vessel, of his Majesty's subjects, or "others, which shall be in distress, or which shall be wrecked, "lost, stranded, or cast on shore, in any of his Majesty's domi"nions) ship or vessel, or the wreck thereof; such person or "persons so offending shall be deemed guilty of felony, and being lawfully convicted thereof, shall suffer death without "benefit of clergy." By s. 11. of the same act, " If any sheriff, "or his deputy, justice of the peace, mayor, or other magistrate, "coroner, lord of the manor, commissioner of the land-tax, chief " or petty constable, or other peace officer, or any custom-house "or excise officer, or other person lawfully authorized, shall be assaulted, beaten, and wounded, for, or on account of the "exercise of his or their duty, in or concerning the salvage or "preservation of any ship or vessel in distress, or of any ship or "vessel, goods or effects, stranded, wrecked, or cast on shore, or lying under water in any of his Majesty's dominions; then any person or persons so assaulting, beating, and wounding, "shall, upon trial and conviction, by indictment at the assizes or "general gaol delivery, or at the quarter-sessions for the county, "riding, or division, where such offence shall be committed, "be transported for seven years to some of his Majesty's colo"nies in America; and shall be subject to such subsequent punishment, in case of return before that time, as other persons "under sentence of transportation are by the law subjected unto." Mariner assaulting his Commander to hinder him fighting his

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Ship.

By the statute 22 and 23 Car. 2. c. 11. s. 9. for the suppression of piracy, it is enacted, that " if any mariner shall lay violent "hands on his commander, whereby to hinder him from fighting "in defence of his ship and goods committed to his trust; he "shall suffer death as a felon.' The stat. 11 and 12 W. 3. c. 7. s. 9. more fully enacts that " any person" guilty of that offence "shall be adjudged to be a pirate, felon, and robber, and being "convicted thereof, according to the directions of that act, shall "suffer death, and loss of lands, goods, and chattels, as pirates," &c.

Beating a Clerk in Orders.

There is one species of battery which is aggravated from the circumstance of the character and respect due to the person assaulted,

By st. 9.

assaulted, which is, the beating of a clerk in orders. Ed. 2. c. 3. it is enacted, "if any lay violent hands on a clerk, the "amends for the peace broken shall be before the king, and for "the excommunication before a prelate, that penance corporal "may be enjoined; which, if the offender will redeem of his own "good will, by giving money to the prelate or party aggrieved, it "shall be required before the prelate, and the king's prohibition "shall not lie;" so that it appears that three remedies will lie for this offence.-1st. An indictment at the suit of the king for the peace broken. 2. A civil action for damages at the suit of the party. 3. A suit in the ecclesiastical court pro salute anima, and then for the sum that the party may agree to give to get rid of the penance-it being usual in those courts to commute their penance for a round sum of money-" perhaps,” says Mr. J. Blackstone," because poverty is generally esteemed by "moralists as the best medicine pro salute anima." (For Assaulting in a Churchyard, see title Affray.)

Assaulting Members of Parliament.

By 5 Hen. 4. c. 6. it is recited thus, " Item, because that "Richard Chedder, esquire, which was come to this parliament "with Thomas Broke, knight, one of the knights chosen to the "same parliament for the county of Somerset, and menial ser"vant with the said Thomas, was horribly beaten, wounded, "blemished, and maimed by one John Salage, otherwise called "John Savage, it is ordained and established, that seeing the 66 same horrible deed was done within the time of the said par"liament, that proclamation be made where the same horrible "deed was done, that the said John appear and yield him in the "King's Bench, within a quarter of a year after the proclama❝tion made; and if he do not, the same John shall be attainted "of the said deed, and pay to the party grieved his double "damages, to be taxed by the discretion of the judges of the "said bench for the time being, or by inquest, if need be; and "also, he shall make fine and ransom at the king's will. More"over, it is accorded in the same parliament, that likewise it be "done in time to come in like case.'

By 11 Hen. 6. it is recited and enacted that "the king, willing "to provide for the ease and tranquillity of them that come "to the parliament and councils of the king, by his command"ment hath ordained and established, that if any assault or affray "be made to any lords spiritual or temporal, knight of the shire, "citizen or burgess, come to the parliament or to other council "of the king, by his commandment, and there being and attend"ing at the parliament or council, that then proclamation shall "be made in the most open place of the town by three several "days, where the assault or affray shall be made, that the party "that made such affray or assault yield himself before the "king in his bench, within a quarter of a year after the procla"mation made, if it be in the time of the term, or otherwise at "the next day in the time of the term following the said quarter; "and if he do not, that he be attainted of the said deed, and pay "to the party grieved his double damages, to be taxed by the "discretion of the justices of the same bench for the time being,

" or

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or by inquest, if it be needful, and make fine and ransom at the king's will; and if he come and be found guilty by inquest, by "examination, or otherwise, of such affray or assault, that he shall ' pay to the party so grieved, his double damages, found by the inquest, or to be taxed by the discretion of the said justices, and "make fine and ransom at the king's will." This statute appears virtually to confirm the stat. 5 H. 4. c. 6. (5)

Of fulse Imprisonment, kidnapping, and leaving Seamen abroad. False imprisonment is necessarily attended with assault and battery, and is therefore an indictable offence, and is laid as an aggravation of the battery. It is a misdemeanor and punishable as other misdemeanors. But an aggravated species of false imprisonment is the privately carrying off any person, and keeping them secretly confined, which is generally understood by the term kidnapping. The offence at common law was punished by fine, imprisonment, and pillory. We may infer from the statute of 43 Eliz. c. 13. that at that day it was a common practice in the four northern counties for marauders and freebooters to carry off the inhabitants forcibly from their dwellings, and keep them in secret custody, until they had redeemed themselves by paying ransom to their captors.-But the progress of civilization, and an increased population in those counties, has put an end to this practice, and it is only now remembered as a proof of the barbarous manners of the period, (vide postea, the statute under chapter Offences against the Public Peace). The law ever considered it a great aggravation of false imprisonment, that the injured party should be sent out of his country, and beyond the protec tion of its laws (which seems to be the proper meaning of the term kidnapping). Nay, so jealous were our ancestors in this respect, that they would not suffer those who were detained by legal authority to be sent to a prison out of the kingdom, for by the Habeas Corpus Act, 31 Car. 2. c. 2. sec. 12. it is enacted, "No subject of this realm, that shall be an inhabitant of England, "Wales, or Berwick, shall be sent prisoner into Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or places beyond the seas; and every such imprisonment is hereby adjudged illegal: and any subject so imprisoned may maintain an action of false imprisonment in any "of his Majesty's courts of record against the persons by whom "he shall be so committed, detained, imprisoned or transported, "and against any person that shall contrive, write, seal, or coun"tersign any warrant or writing for such commitment, &c. or shall "be advising or assisting in the same; and shall recover treble "costs, besides damages, which shall not be less than £500, in "which action no delay, &c., shall be allowed, except such rule "of court made in open court, as in justice shall be necessary for "special cause expressed in the rule. And the person who shall "knowingly write, seal, or countersign any warrant for such commitment, detainer, or transportation, or shall so commit, &c. any person contrary to this act, or be advising or assisting

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(5) For Assaults in the King's Palaces, vide chapter 3, Offences against the King. For assaulting Privy Counsellors, vide same. For Assaults in a Church or Churchyard, vide post,

"therein,

Offences against the Peace, tit. "Affray." For assaulting persons to prevent the free passage of grain, vide post, Malicious Mischief.

"therein, being lawfully convicted, shall be disabled to bear any "office of trust or profit, and shall incur the penalties of the sta"tute of præmunire, 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. and be incapable of any "pardon from the king, of the said forfeitures, &c."

Leaving Seamen abroad.

A similar offence to carrying persons abroad against their will is the one of leaving them abroad. To prevent this, in the case of seamen, it is enacted by 11 and 12 W. 3. c. 7. s. 8. that "In case any master of a merchant ship or vessel shall, after the "29th of September, 1700, during his being abroad, force any "man on shore, or wilfully leave him behind in any of his ma'jesty's plantations or elsewhere, or shall refuse to bring home "with him again all such of the men which he carried out with "him as are in a condition to return when he shall be ready to "proceed in his homeward-bound voyage, every such master shall, being thereof legally convicted, suffer three months imprisonment without bail or mainprize."

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The statute 58 Geo. 3. c. 38. recites the above provision of the statute of William, and that " No mode of prosecuting is "provided by the said act in case of offences committed against "the same," and then, "for remedy thereof," enacts, "That " from and after the passing of this act, all offences committed against the said act, shall and may be prosecuted by indictment "or information at the suit of his majesty's attorney-general, in "his majesty's court of King's Bench at Westminster; and that "in such indictment or information the offence or offences shall " and may be alleged to have been committed at Westminster, in "the county of Middlesex; and that the said court shall be and "the same is hereby authorized to issue a commission or com"missions for the examination of witnesses abroad, and that the "depositions taken under such commission or commissions shall "be received in evidence on the trial of such indictments and "informations respectively."

The second section recites the twenty-seventh section of the statute 31 G. 2. c. 10. which provides, "That every master, "&c. of any merchant vessel in foreign parts and homeward"bound from thence, should take on board so many seafaring "men or boys, subjects of Great Britain, as should by ship"wreck, capture, or other unavoidable accident, be driven or "cast away to, or that should be discharged as unserviceable "from any of the vessels of the royal navy at foreign places, "where governors, ministers, and consuls, appointed by his majesty, his heirs or successors, should reside, or where none such "are resident, where any two or more British merchants should "reside, as the said governors, &c. or merchants should direct, "not exceeding four for each 100 tons of which his ship should "consist; but that no penalty or mode of prosecution is im

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posed or provided by the said act in case of neglect or refusal "to obey the directions therein contained;" and then enacts, "that any master or person having the charge of any merchant "vessel belonging to any of his majesty's subjects, that shall be "or arrive in any such foreign parts, and be bound from thence

to