other capital crimes, committed in Newfoundland, may be inquired of and tried in any county in England. Offences against the Black Act, 9 Geo. I. c. 22, may be inquired of and tried in any county of England, at the option of the prosecutor (1). So felonies in destroying turnpikes, or works upon navigable rivers, erected by authority of parliament, may, by statutes 8 Geo. II. c. 20, and 13 Geo. III. c. 84, be inquired of and tried in any adjacent county. By statute 26 Geo. II. c. 19, plundering or stealing from any vessel in distress or wrecked, or breaking any ship contrary to 12 Ann. st. 2, c. 18, (m), may be prosecuted either in the county where the fact is committed, or in any county next adjoining; and, if committed in Wales, then in the next adjoining English county: by which is understood to be meant such English county as, by the statute 26 Hen. VIII. above mentioned, had before a concurrent jurisdiction with the great sessions of felonies committed in Wales (n). Felonies committed out of the realm, in burning or destroying the king's ships, magazines, or stores, may, by statute 12 Geo. III. [*305] c. 24, be inquired of and tried in any county of England, or in the place where the offence is committed. By statute 13 Geo. III. c. 63, misdemesnors committed in India may be tried upon information or indictment in the court of King's Bench in England; and a mode is marked out for examining witnesses by commission, and transmitting their depositions to the court. But, in general, all offences must be inquired into as well as tried in the county where the fact is committed. Yet, if larceny be committed in one county, and the goods carried into another, the offender may be indicted in either; for the offence is complete in both (o). Or, he may be indicted in England for larceny in Scotland, and carrying the goods with him into England, or vice versá; or for receiving in one part of the united kingdom goods that have been stolen in another (p). But for robbery, burglary, and the like, he can only be indicted where the fact was actually com (1) So held by all the judges, H. 11 Geo. III. in the case of Richard Mortis on a case referred from the Old Bailey. (m) See page 245. (n) At Shrewsbury summer assizes, 1774, Parry and Roberts were convicted of plundering a vessel which was wrecked on the coast of Anglesey. It 1. mitted: for though the carrying away and keeping of the goods is a continuation of the original taking, and is there fore larceny in the second county, yet it is not a robbery or burglary in that jurisdiction. And if a person be indicted in one county for larceny of goods originally taken in another, and be thereof convicted or stands mute, he shall not be admitted to his clergy; provided the original taking be attended with such circumstances as would have ousted him of his clergy by virtue of any statute made previous to the year 1691 (q) (6). (9) Stat. 25 Hen. VIII c. 3; 3 W. & M. c. 9. As to murder. By 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, § 7, if any British subject shall be charged in England with any murder or manslaughter, or with being accessary before the fact to any murder, or after the fact to any murder or manslaughter, committed on land out of the united kingdom, whether within the king's dominions or without, any justice of the county or place where the person so charged shall be, may take cognizance of the charge, and proceed therein as if it had been committed within the limits of his ordinary jurisdiction; and if any person so charged shall be committed for trial, or admitted to bail, a commission shall be directed to such persons and into such county or place as shall be appointed by the lord chancellor, for the speedy trial of any such offender; and such persons shall have power to hear and determine all such offences, within the county or place limited in their commission by a jury of such county or place, in the same manner as if the offences had been actually committed in such county or place: and by § 8, where any person being feloniously struck, poisoned, or hurt, upon the sea, or at any place out of England, shall die of such stroke, &c. in England, or vice versa, every offence committed in respect of any such case, whether the same shall amount to the offence of murder, or manslaughter, or being accessary before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter, may be tried and punished in the county or place in England in which such death, stroke, &c. shall happen, in the same manner, in all respects, as if such offence had been wholly committed in that county or place. The 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 24, which relates to the trial of murder, where the stroke or poisoning is in one county, and the death in another, being wholly repealed by the 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, and no similar provision being expressly reenacted, a question arises whether murder is within the 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, § 12, which provides that any felony begun in one county and completed in another, may be tried in either. If the latter provision does not comprehend murder, there seems to be the same difficulty respecting the trial in such cases, as there was at the common law. Different opinions have been expressed upon the point; see Car. C. L. 19; Collyer's Cr. St. 254, note. It is said that where the causa causans occurs in one county, and the death happens in another, the coroner of the latter county shall proceed to take the inquisition; Jervis on Coroners, 51. And, upon the whole, it seems justifiable to assume grand jury, at When the grand jury have heard the evidence, if they Twelve of the think it a groundless accusation, they used formerly to in- least must con that, in such cases, the murder may be tried in either county; vide ante, 196, note (33). As to offences committed on the borders of counties. By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, 12, where any felony or misdemeanor shall be committed on the boundary or boundaries of two or more counties, or within 500 yards thereof, or shall be begun in one county and completed in another, every such felony or misdemeanor may be tried and punished in any of the said counties, in the same manner as if it had been actually and wholly committed therein. As to offences committed on persons or property in coaches or vessels. By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, § 13, where any felony or misdemeanor shall be committed on any person, or on or in respect of any property in or upon any coach, waggon, cart, or other carriage whatever, employed in any journey, or on board any vessel whatever employed on any voyage upon any inland navigation, such felony or misdemeanor may be tried and punished in any county through any part whereof such coach, &c., or vessel, shall have passed in the course of the journey or voyage during which such felony or misdemeanor shall have been committed, in the same manner as if it had been actually committed in such county; and where any part of any highway or navigation shall constitute the boundary of any two counties, such felony or misdemeanor may be tried and punished in either of the said counties through, or adjoining to, or by the boundary of any part whereof such coach, &c., or vessel, shall have passed, in the course of the journey or voyage during which such felony or misdemeanor shall have been committed, in the same manner as if it had been actually committed in such county. As to larceny generally. By the Larceny Act, 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, $ 76, if any person having feloniously taken any property in any one part of the united kingdom, shall afterwards have it in his possession in any other part, he may be indicted for larceny in that part where he shall so have such property in his possession, as if he had actually stolen it there: and any person having knowingly received, in any one part of the united kingdom, any stolen property, which shall have been stolen in any other part, may be indicted for such offence in that part where he shall so receive such property, as if it had been originally stolen in that part. : As to accessaries. By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, § 9, accessaries before the fact to any felony, may be tried in any court that has jurisdiction to try the principal offender, although the offence of such accessaries may be committed on the high seas, or on land, within or without the king's dominions and if the principal offence is committed in one county, and the other offence in another, such accessaries may be tried in either; and by sect. 10, a similar provision is made with respect to accessaries after the fact to felony. See this section set out in full, ante, 40, n. (13). This repeals the 43 Geo. III. c. 113, § 5. See further as to the venue in indictments of offences committed on the high seas, ante, 269, note (15). As to treasons. By 35 Hen. VIII. c. 2 (which is not repealed by 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 10, see 1 East, P. C. 103), all treasons or misprisions of treason committed out of the realm, may be tried in the court of King's Bench, by a jury of the county in which the court sits, or by a special commission in any county of England; see 1 Chit. Cr: L. 188. An indictment for bigamy may, by 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, § 22, be tried in the cur to find a true bill. [*306] The indictment must be clear and certain, as description of dorse on the back of the bill, ignoramus:" or, we know nothing of it; intimating that, though the facts might pos sibly be true, that truth did not appear to them: but now, they assert, in English, more absolutely "not a true bill;" or (which is the better way) "not found ;" and then the party is discharged without further answer. But a fresh bill may afterwards be preferred to a subsequent grand jury. If they are satisfied of the truth of the accusation, they then *indorse upon it, "a true bill;" anciently, "billa vera." The indictment is then said to be found, and the party stands indicted. But, to find a bill, there must at least twelve of the jury agree for so tender is the law of England of the lives of the subjects, that no man can be convicted at the suit of the king of any capital offence, unless by the unanimous voice of twenty-four of his equals and neighbours: that is, by twelve, at least, of the grand jury, in the first place, assenting to the accusation; and, afterwards, by the whole petit jury, of twelve more, finding him guilty upon his trial. But if twelve of the grand jury assent, it is a good presentment, though some of the rest disagree (r). And the indictment, when so found, is publicly delivered into court. Indictments must have a precise and sufficient certainty. By statute 1 Hen. V. c. 5, all indictments must set forth the to the name and Christian name, surname, and addition of the state and degree, mystery, town or place, and the county, of the offender, and all this to identify his person (7). The time and place (r) 2 Hal. P. C. 161. the offender: the time and county where the offender is appre- In an indictment for a libel the venue Indictments for offences against the customs and excise may be tried in any county of England; see the recent statute of 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 53, §§ 77, 122; Cro. Cir. Comp. 456-7. Offences committed in a county of a city or town, may be tried in the county at large; see 38 Geo. III. c. 52; 51 Geo. III. c. 100; 60 Geo. III. c. 4; 1 Geo. IV. c. 4. If the indictment *,་ states the felony to have been committed in the county at large, and it was committed in the county of a city or town, this is bad; Rex v. Mellor, R. & R. C. C. 144. But if the offence be properly laid in the county of a town, and the indictment is preferred in the county at large, it need not be averred that that is the next adjoining county to the county of the town; Rex v. Goff, id. 179. The 26 Hen. VIII. c. 6, §16, which makes felonies in Wales triable, in the next English county, extends to felonies created since that statute; Rer v Wyndham, id. 197. (7) The indictments mentioned in this statute are those "in which the done; the nature and the value of &c, concerned. are also to be ascertained, by naming the day and township place of the fact in which the fact was committed; though a mistake in these of the offence; points is in general not held to be material, provided the time the instrument, be laid previous to the finding of the indictment, and the place to be within the jurisdiction of the court; unless where the place is laid, not merely as a venue, but as part of the description of the fact (s) (8). But sometimes the time may be very material, where there is any limitation in point of time (s) 2 Hawk. P. C. 435. exigent shall be awarded," shewing that it extends only to cases in which process of outlawry may be had; see Cro. Eliz. 148. This statute extends, however, to a presentment before a coroner, which is to be taken as an indictment, and upon which outlawry lies; see 2 Leon. 200; Jervis on Coroners, 35, 37. If the name of a prisoner is unknown, and he refuse to disclose it, an indictment against him as a person whose name is to the jurors unknown, but who is personally brought before the jurors by the keeper of the prison, will be sufficient; Rex v., R. & R. C. C. 489. But an indictment against him as a person to the jurors unknown, without something to ascertain whom the grand jury meant to designate, is insufficient; Id. Ibid. An Indictment for conspiracy alleged that "at the court of quarter sessions holden, &c., an indictment against A. was preferred to and found by the grand jury:" held, that this allegation must be proved by a caption regularly drawn up of record, and that the minute-book kept by the clerk of the peace could not be received as evidence of the finding of the bill, though no record had been in fact drawn up; Rex v. Smith, 8 B. & C. 341. By the 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, § 19, "no indictment or information shall be abated by reason of any dilatory plea of misnomer, or of want of addition, or of wrong addition, of the party offering such plea, if the court shall be satisfied VOL. IV. by affidavit, or otherwise, of the truth So that it would be of little ad- (8) By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, § 20, “no judgment upon any indictment or information, for any felony or misdemeanor, whether after verdict or outlawry, or by confession, default, or otherwise, shall be stayed or reversed for want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved; nor for the omission of the words, as appears by the record,' or, 'with force and arms,' or, against the peace;' nor for the insertion of the words, against the form of the statute,' instead of, ‘against the form of the statutes,' or vice verså; nor HH |