If a married woman, indicted jointly with her husband be described in the indictment as his wife, she need not prove her marriage, but will be entitled to protection if it appear that she acted under his coercion: but the mere description will be no ground for dismissing the indictment as to the wife, for the indictment is joint and several, according to the facts as they may appear. 1 Hale, 46. 1 Hale, 46. If she be described as a single woman, she must prove her marriage; R. v. Jones, Kel. 37; and such evidence must be given as will satisfy the jury of her marriage, although it is not absolutely necessary that the actual marriage should be proved. R. v. Atkinson, 1 Russ. 20: R. v. Hassall, 2 C. & P. 434: Reg. v. Woodward, 8 C. & P. 434: Reg. v. Woodward, 8 C. & P. 561.

Ignorance.]-Ignorance of the law will not excuse from the consequences of guilt any person who has capacity to understand the law, of which all are presumed to have knowledge. 1 Hale, 42. But this rule supposes an opportunity of knowing the law. Where, therefore, a de fendant was indicted for maliciously shooting at A. B. upon the high seas and the offence was perpetrated within a few weeks after the stat. 39 G. 3, c. 37, passed, and before notice of it could have reached the place where the offence was committed, the judges held that he could not have been tried before the act passed; and that, as he could not have heard of it, he ought to be pardoned. R. v. Bailey, R. & R. 1. If, however, the offence be committed in England, a foreigner cannot be excused, because he does not know the law. R. v. Esop, 7 C. & P. 456. But ignorance or mistake of the fact may in some cases be allowed as an excuse for the inadvertent commission of a crime; as, for instance, if a man, intending to kill a thief in his own house kill one of his own family, he will be guilty of no offence. 1 Hale, 42, 43; 4 Bl. Com. 27; R. v. Levett, Cro. Car. 538. But this rule proceeds upon a supposition, that the original intention was lawful; for, if an unforeseen consequence ensue from an act which was in itself unlawful, and its original nature wrong and mischievous, the actor is criminally responsible for whatever consequence may ensue. 4 Bl. Com. 27.

SECT. 3.

The Form of an Indictment.

AN indictment consists of three parts: the commencement, the statement, and the conclusion. We shall treat of each of these in its order.

1. The Commencement.

The commencement of every indictment is thus:-"Middlesex to wit: -The jurors for our lady the Queen upon their oath present, that," &c. [so proceeding to state the offence for which the defendant is to be prosecuted].

[ *19 ]

Venue.]-The venue in the margin is the only part of the commencement of an indictment that requires attention. The general rule upon this subject is, that the venue in the margin should be the county in which the offence was committed; see 2 Hale, 160; or, if the jurisdiction of the court in which the bill of indictment is to be referred extend only to part of the county, or, as is the case with the Central Criminal Court, includes more than one county, 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 36, or be confined within the limits of a borough, (as to which see 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 76; R. v. Piller, 7 C. & P. 337, and R. v. JJ. of Gloucestershire, 4 A. & E. 689), the venue in the margin should be co-extensive with the jurisdiction of the court; that is, it should be descriptive of the limit to which the jurisdiction of the court is confined, and the offence must have been committed within the limit so described. This is the general rule of the common law; but several exceptions have been made to it by statute.

1. In indictments for extortion, the venue, it is said, may be laid in any county. 31 Eliz. c. 5. s. 4; 1 Hawk. c. 68, s. 6, n. (3); 2 Stark. C. P. 585, n.(k). Sed quære, 2 Hawk. c. 26, s. 50; 2 Chitt. C. L. 294, (n).

2. In indictments for plundering or stealing any part of any ship in distress or wrecked, or any goods belonging to such ship, the venue may be laid either in the county in which the offence was committed, or in the next adjoining county. 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 18. It is doubtful, however, whether this provision is not repealed by stat. 7 W. 4. 1 Vict. c. 87, s. 1, although that statute recites a part of 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 18, and does not notice the above provision.

3. In indictments for resisting or assaulting officers of the excise, 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 53, s. 43, or for offences against the revenue of the customs, 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 53, s. 122, the venue may be laid in any county. See 9 G. 2, c. 35, s. 36. For offences against the customs, committed upon the high seas, the venue may be laid in the county into which the offender is taken, and, if he be taken to a city or borough, &c., in the county in which such city, &c. is situate. 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 53, s. 77. See R. v. Cartwright, 4 T. R. 490: In re Nunn, 8 B. & C. 644; 3 Man. & R. 75.

4. In indictments for offences relating to the post-office, the venue may

be laid in the county or place where the offence is committed or where the offender is apprehended or is in custody; and, if the offence be committed in or upon, or in respect of a mail, or upon a person engaged in the conveyance or delivery of a post-letter-bag, or post letter, or in respect of a post-letter-bag, or post-letter, or a chattel, or money, or valuable security sent by the post, the venue may be laid in the county where the offender is apprehended or is in custody, or in any connty or place through any part whereof the mail, or the person, or the post-letter-bag, or the post-letter, or the chattel, or the money, or the valuable security sent by the post, in respect of which the offence is committed, shall have passed in the due course of conveyance or delivery by post: and, if the side, centre, or other part of a highway, or the side, centre, bank, or other part of a river, canal or navigation, constitute the boundary, of two counties, the venue may be laid in either county. 7 W. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 36, s. 37.

5. In indictments for endeavouring to seduce soldiers or sailors from their duty, or for inciting or stirring them up to mutiny, the venue may be laid in any county, whether the offence be committed on the high seas or in England. 37 G. 3, c. 70, s. 2; 57 G. 3, c. 7.

6. In indictments for forgery, and uttering forged instruments, the venue may be laid, and the offences charged to have been committed, in the county in which the offender is apprehended or is in custody; 1 W. 4, c.

66, s. 24; R. v. James, 7 C. & P. 558, or in which the offence [ *20] was committed. See R. v. Collicott, R. & R. 212. And *accessaries before and after the fact in felony, and aiders and abettors in misdemeanors, under that act, may be indicted, and the of fence charged to have been committed, in any county in which the principal offender may be tried. 1 W. 4, c. 66, s. 24.

7. In indictments for offences against statutes relating to the stamp duties, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offence was committed, or in the county in which the parties accused, or any of them shall have been apprehended. 53 G. 3, c. 108, s. 24.

8. In indictments for offences with reference to the coin of the realm, where two or more persons have acted in concert in different counties or jurisdictions, the venue may be laid, and the offence charged to have been committed, in any one of those counties or jurisdictions. 2 W. 4, c. 34, s. 15.

31,

9. In indictments for bigamy, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offender was apprehended or is in custody, 9 G. 4, c. s. 22, or in the county in which the second marriage took place. Where the indictment is preferred in the county in which the defendant was apprehended or is in custody, it must state that fact. R. v. Frazer, 1 Mood. C. C. 407: Reg. v. Whiley, 2 Mood, C. C. 186. If the de

fendant, being in custody for a felony, be detained for bigamy, he may be indicted for the bigamy in the county in which he is so detained. R. v. Gordon, R. & R. 48.

10. In indictments for escapes, breaches of prison, and rescues, the venue may be laid either in the jurisdiction where the offence was committed, or in that where the offender shall be apprehended and retaken. 4 G. 4, c. 64, s. 44.

11. In indictments for returning from transportation, the venue may be laid either in the county where the defendant was apprehended, or in that from whence he was ordered to be transported. 5 G. 4, c. 84, s. 22. 12. In indictments against persons in the public service for embezzlement, the venue may be laid in the county or place where the party is apprehended, or in which the offence is committed. 2 W. 4, c. 4.

s. 5.

13. In indictments for felonies or other offences committed in Wales, the venue might formerly have been laid in the next adjacent English county, 26 H. 8, c. 6, s. 6, which extended to felonies subsequently created. R. v. Wyndham, R. & R. 197; 3 Camp. 78; 34 & 35 H. 8, c. 26, s. 84. But now these statutes are repealed by implication by stat. 11 G. 4 & 1 W. 4, c. 70, s. 14; and in indictments for offences committed in Wales, the venue must, as in England, be laid in the county in which the offence is committed, unless otherwise provided for by

statute.

14. Where an offence is committed within the county of a city or town corporate, (except in London, Westminster, or the borough of Southwark, 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 11, so much of that statute as applied to the cities of Bristol, Chester, and Exeter, having been repealed by stat. 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 76, s. 109; see Reg. v. Holden, 8 C. & P. 606), the prosecutor may prefer his indictinent to the jury of the next adjoining county, at the sessions of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, and have the offender tried there; 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 2: see R. v. Gough, 2 Doug. 791; but the venue must still be laid in the county of the city, &c. where the offence was committed; R. v. Mellor, R. & R. 144; and it is not necessary to allege that the county in which the indictment is preferred is the county next adjoining to the county of the city, &c., but when the record is made up, that may appear in randum. R. v. Goff, R. & R. 179. found by a jury of the county of the terminer or gaol delivery, holden for such county of the city, &c., may order it to be tried by a jury of the next adjoining county, 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 2. In both of which cases, the court before which the offender is tried and convicted may order the judgment to be executed, either in the same county, or in the county of a city in which the offence was

the caption or memo- [ 21 ] Or, if the bill have been city, &c., any court of oyer and

committed; 51 G. 3, c. 100, s. 1; and may order the expenses of prosecution and witnesses, 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 8, and the expenses the county have been put to by the removal of the prisoner there for trial, &c., 51 G. 3, c. 100, s. 2, to be paid by the person (the treasurer) who would have been ordered to pay the same, if the offender had been indicted and tried in such county of a city, &c. See 60 G. 3, c. 14, s. 3; 7 G. 4, c. 64, s. 25; 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 113; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38.

15. In indictments for high treason or misprision of treason committed out of the realm, the venue may be laid in Middlesex, if the trial is to be in the Court of Queen's Bench; or in such shire as the Queen shall appoint, if she appoint a commission to try the offender. 26 H. 8, c. 13; 35 H. 8, c. 2, s. 1. 2, s. 1. See 5 & 6 Ed. 6, c. 11, s. 6, and 33 H. 8, c. 23. Treasons committed in Ireland or Scotland, since the Unions, and treasons committed in Wales, are not within the meaning of this act; but treasons committed in the isles of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, and Alderney, or in our foreign plantations, (which, although parts of the dominions of the Crown of England, are not parts of the realm, see 3 Inst. 11, 111; 4 Inst. 124), are. So, in indictments for murder or manslaughter, or for being accessary before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter, committed on land out of the united Kingdom, by British subjects, whether within the Queen's dominions or without, the venue may be laid in the county appointed by the Lord Chancellor in the commission issued for the trial of the offenders. 9 G. 4, c. 31, s. 7. But this statute only relates to offences committed by the Queen's subjects, and does not extend to offences committed by foreigners, notwithstanding they are committed on Englishmen and on board an English ship; R. v. Depardo, 1 Taunt, 26; R. & R. 134: R. v. Helsham, 4 C. & P. 394: R. v. Manoel de Mattos, 7 C. & P. 458; but it comprehends' all countries, though within the dominion of a foreign power. R. v. Sawyer, R. & R. 294. So, in indictments for burning or destroying the Queen's ships, magazines, &c., out of the realm, the venue may be laid in any county within the realm. 12 G. 3, c. 24, s. 2. So, in indictments for robberies and other capital crimes committed in Newfoundland, the venue may be laid in any county in England. 10 & 11 W. 3, c. 25, s. 13. In indictments for offences committed out of this kingdom against the foreign enlistment act, the venue may be laid at Westminster. 59 G. 3, c. 69, s. 9. Misdemeanors committed in India may be tried in the Queen's Bench in England. 13 G. 3, c. 63. And in indictments for offences committed by persons employed in any public service abroad, the venue may be laid in Middlesex. 42 G. 3, c. 85, s. 1. See R. v. Shawe, 5 M & Selw. 403.

16. All offences alleged to have been committed on the high seas, and other places within the Admiralty of England, may be inquired of, heard,