Page 30 50 62 80 81 84 87 89.... 152 ... .... Line 13, after field, add or; after head, dele or. 5, b., for, or they might find one or both of them guilty of manslaughter, read, or they might find a true bill against one or both for manslaughter. 14, b., for dep. adj., read judge adv.; and after are, add not in England. note 112, for Archbold's Criminal Plea, read Military Law of England, p. 108. 25, for Wahib, read Wahid. 18, for one of H.M.'s jails of the K.B., read in the K.B prison; line 27, for cause, read 3, after practice, add semicolon; after England, dele semicolon, and add a comma; line 8, for Not only is it, read It is. 8, for with, read without. 14, after directed, add would. 7, after is, add his. 11, b., for inducia, read indicia. 9, b., for maligners, read malingerers. 32, for attend, read extend. 27, for nuncapative, read nuncupative. ·last, for receding, read preceding. 170 208 273 313 341 374 408 412 412 445 446 447 468 478 480 485 495 498 508 509 536 552 556 562 566 584 646 690 18, for settlers, read suttlers. 33, for by, read towards. 1 892 .... 896 903 904 908 911 912 917 921 929 938 941 945 33, for country, read county. 8, b., for try, read by. 6, for or, read of;-line 21, after and, add not. 2, b., for Sec. x., read Sec. viii. 22, for constructed, read construed. 24, for tending, r ad tendering. note 358, line 1, after the, add late. 21, for defendo, read defendendo. 2, for charge, read case. note 470, for p. 79, read 791. 25, for on, read an;-line 35, for correct, read corrupt. note 498, line 1, for for, read or;-note 504, should be 505. 4, for tenorum, read tenorem. note 546, make 548;-make 547, 548*;-548, 548**, note 557, last line, for astendere, read ostendere. 27, for tales, read tails. 4, dele comma aft r illud, and insert it after horrible. note 654, line 16, after wickedly, add and. 1 JA 12, for precedent.-Wrongful, read precedent wrongful;-note 799, line 4, after theft, note 67, for (See note 74), read note 78;-dele bracket after majesty, and put one after theatre. 5, add as, before whether;-note 95, for Brad, read Brod. note 106, line 2, for auterpois, read autrefois. No. 89, line 2, for abjects, read objects. note 140, line 1, after been, add entered;-note 144, for note 141, read 142. note 148, line 4, add the, before kâzee, and decree. 4, for intend, read intended. note 182, line 2, for the hand-writing, read his, &c. note 16, line 2, for objection, read object. 29, for creditable, read credible. note 63, line 4, for rested, read stayed. 21, insert-Such would be done in courts of criminal jurisdiction; but note 88 points out the course. 946 15, insert-Evidence should still be taken. See note 88, p. 945. ADDRESS. TO WILLIAM ASTELL, Esq., M. P., Chairman. CAMPBELL MAJORIBANKS, Esq., Deputy Chairman; and the Directors for the Management of the Affairs of the Honourable the East-India Com pany. HONOURABLE SIR AND SIRS: By your kind permission I have the honour to present the following Work, in the anxious hope that it may meet with your approbation. The patronage and facilities which I have received, from your Honourable Court, will ever be held in my grateful recollection, and I beg to return my sincere acknowledgments, for the very liberal support which has been afforded me. When I represented the necessity of the revision and correction of the legal portion of this Work by a Barrister of high legal attainments, I did it from a conviction that it would insure such a correctness, in explaining the intent, meaning, and application of the Mutiny Act, and of the Articles of War, as should give assurance and confidence to those, who might consult its pages; and my gratitude will, on all occasions, be as much evinced as it is felt, for the liberality with which the expense of that assistance has been defrayed; as well as, for the handsome subscription by which the work has been supported; and by which, I have been enabled to ensure its publication. My object has been, to render the Book of practical utility, applying to the subject all the information which I have been enabled to obtain; to endeavour to meet contingent and difficult cases which may arise in practice, and for which there appeared to be no mode of proceeding laid down elsewhere; and to apply my consideration to the solution of those doubts, in which others, as well as myself, have experienced difficulties, upon points of practice; which the many theoretical treatises that have been written, do not appear to have satisfactorily elucidated. During the last ten years of a service of nearly twenty years, I have given much consideration to the subject of Military Law, and have, since my return to England, applied my attention very closely to those points upon which I have heard, or understood difficulties to have been raised. Under the advice of professional friends, I consulted the best and most approved works on the Criminal Law of this country, to enable me to ascertain, how such or similar difficulties are overcome, in Courts of Criminal Judicature; from which the Military have necessarily borrowed their forms and mode of proceeding. It has been usual to designate works similar to the present, with the title of "Military Law;" but, on a careful perusal of all the works that have been published on the subject, it appears to me, that the term, if applied to any peculiarity in that, from the common and criminal law of the land, does not mean any thing more, than the application of so much of the latter, as is sufficient for, or does in any manner appertain to, the circumstances of Military Courts. That the forms of Military Courts do, in some respects, vary from those adopted in Courts of Law, is certainly true; but the variance is of no material consequence; and, in the main points, they must necessarily be the same. There is no written law regarding Military Courts, except what is contained in the provisions of the Mutiny Act and the Articles of War;' their practice, therefore, can only be derived from the common law, while their application is to be collected, from the proceedings of General Courts-Martial, conducted by the Judge Advocate-General, and from the proceedings of other courts, in the absence of such authority. ›› Though the private opinion of a military writer, may, in the absence of other sources of information, be useful; still, I have considered that it was necessary, that I should show, what has been the practice of General Courts-Martial, approved and confirmed by His Majesty; with the professional advice of the person, whose duty it is, in his official character, to offer it. As the rules of evidence, in all the Courts of Common Law, and of Criminal jurisdiction, are the same, the Military Courts can have no better guides than those which are universally adopted by the former; as the equal administration of justice, mainly depends upon a strict and impartial adherence to the established rules of evidence; and which, until otherwise settled, by the solemn decision of the Judges of the Land, are cited as precedents, and held as law in other cases. I have, therefore, dovoted a Chapter exclusively to the general rules of evidence and other matter, which properly belongs to that subject. * I have also devoted a considerable portion of the work, to the mode of conducting trials for capital and other crimes, punishable by the Common or by the Statute Law of England+; as the Legislature has given cognizance of the same to General Courts-Martial, under local, and particular circumstances. The importance of such cases, bas been duly considered, and any information that may be necessary for a General Court-Martial to possess, in investigating and deciding upon them, bas been given in the same manner and order, as if such trials were proceeded in, before the ordinary Courts of Criminal jurisdiction; and, as the punishment, which on conviction, a General Court-Martial is directed to award, is to be "in conformity to the Common and Statute Law of England", so it appears to be a necessary consequence, that, in investigating a crime submitted to their cognizance, the known and established rules of evidence should be applied, through the medium by which, the Court shall arrive at a conclusion, that insures such a result.. The Legislature, in giving to General Courts-Martial the cognizance of such crimes, which necessity and circumstances have made expedient, never could have intended, in transferring the power of the P.690. $ P. 691. Chap. xxiii, p. 875 to 927. † P. 690 to 872. Courts of Criminal jurisdiction to Military Courts, to give any authority, or sanction, for a departure from the rules of evidence, by which justice is administered in those Courts. The words of the 4th Article of the 24th Section of the Annual Articles of War, give to General-Courts Martial, the cognizance of such crimes," where there is no form of our Civil judicature in force," plainly indicating, that the form of procedure, in such cases, should be consonant to that, which obtains in the ordinary Courts; otherwise, some particular directions would have been given, on such an important subject. " Military crimes, in general, are of a very different complexion from the former, and do not require such nice forms and distinctions; for, as Lord Ellenborough observed, "I do not deny, that both in Civil and Criminal cases, the rules of evidence are not substantially the same; but it is in the nature of man, to look with more anxiety to a Criminal, than to a Civil case.' This observation will apply to those military cases, wherein a capital punishment may be inflicted. On the other hand, there are cases, in which a departure from the ordinary rules and forms of trial, is sanctioned; for, as was remarked by the same learned Lord, "it imports the public safety, that the means of resisting an enormous and overbearing evil, should be as strong, sudden, and capable of application, as the evil itself is capable, of immediate mischievous effect."+ In closing my own labours on the present occasion, and in repeating my gratitude to your Honorable Court, for the very liberal patronage which I have received, I feel it my duty to express my sincere acknowledgments, for the professional advice and assistance, which I have received, during the whole progress of this undertaking, from George Long, Esq., Barrister at Law; without whose advice and aid in, and revision and correction of, the legal portion of the work, I should have been unable to have presented it to you, with the conscious satisfaction, that it is calculated to give that assistance, and * Howell's, St. Tr. vol. 30, p. 977. † P. 381. |