4. Other misprisions and contempts. Of which crimes the first and principal is that of treason.

2. What is treason?-75.

Treason, proditio, in its very name, imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of faith. It, therefore, happens only between allies; for treason is indeed a general appellation, made use of by the law, to denote, not only offenses against the king and government, but also that accumulation of guilt which arises whenever a superior reposes a confidence in a subject or inferior, between whom and himself there subsists a natural, a civil, or even a spiritual relation; and the inferior so abuses that confidence, so forgets the obligations of duty, subjection, and allegiance, as to destroy the life of any such superior or lord.

3. What is high treason?—75.

When disloyalty attacks even majesty itself, it is called, by way of eminent distinction, high treason, alta proditio; being equivalent to the crimen læsæ majestatis of the Romans.

4. What statute defines treasonable offenses?—76.

The statute 25 Edward III, c. 2, which defines what offenses for the future shall be held to be treason.*

5. What is meant by compassing or imagining the death of the king?-78.

To purpose or design his death.

6. How must this act of the mind be demonstrated before it can possibly fall under any judicial cognizance ?-79.

By some open or overt act.

7. What are held to be such overt acts?—79.

To provide weapons or ammunition for the purpose of killing the king. To conspire to imprison him by force, and move toward it by assembling company. And, also, taking any measures to render such treasonable purposes effectual, as assembling and consulting on the means to kill the king.

The provisions of this act are confirmed by the 36 George III., c. 7, which is made Derpetual by the 57 George III., c. 6.

8. Are words spoken treason?—80.

Both by common law and statute, they are not.

9. Are words written treason?-80.

The bare words are not treason, but the deliberate act of writing them has been held to be treason.

10. What if two subjects quarrel, and levy war against each other? -82.

It is no treason, but a great riot and contempt.

11. When does a bare conspiracy to levy war amount to high treason?-82.

If particularly pointed at the king and his government.

12. When shall a man's joining with rebels or enemies in the king. dom be excused ?—83.

If he be under circumstances of actual force and constraint, provided he leaves them when he has a safe opportunity.

13. Of what does the punishment of high treason consist ?—92, 93. The punishment is: 1. That the offender be drawn to the gallows. 2. That he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive. 3. That his entrails be taken out and burned while he is yet alive. 4. That his head be cut off. 5. That his body be divided into four parts. 6. That his head and quarters be at the king's disposal. But the king may discharge all the punishment except beheading.

14. Is the punishment milder for offenders in the case of coining?

-93.

In the case of coining, which is a treason of a different complexion from the rest, the punishment is milder for male offenders, being only to be drawn, and hanged by the neck till dead.

15. What is the punishment of women for treason of every kind?

-93.

It is to be drawn to the gallows, and there to he burned alive.

CHAPTER VII.

OF FELONIES INJURIOUS TO THE KING'S PRE

ROGATIVE.

1. What is felony, in the general acceptation of the English law? -94, 95.

It comprises every species of crimes which occasioned, at common law, the forfeiture of lands or goods.

2. Is treason felony ?—94.

All treasons, strictly speaking, are felonies.

3. What other offenses are felonies ?—95.

All offenses now capital are, in some degree or other, felony, but this is likewise the case with some other offenses which are not punished with death; as suicide; homicide by chancemedley, or in self-defense; and in petit larceny or pilfering, all which are (strictly speaking) felonies, as they subject the committers of them to forfeitures.

4. What is probably the origin of the term "felony" ?-95.

Fe-lon, according to Sir Henry Spelman, is derived from the northern words, fee, which signifies the fief, feud, or beneficiary estate; and lon, which signifies price or value. Felony is, therefore, the same as pretium feudi, the consideration for which a man gives up his fief; as we say in common speech, such an act is as much as your life, or estate, is worth. Felony, and the act of forfeiture to the law, were thus synonymous terms in the. feudal law.

5. Does capital punishment enter into the true idea and definition of felony ?-97.

It does not; the idea of felony, however, is so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that we find it hard to separate them; and to this usage the interpretations of the law now conform.

6. What follows from this usage ?-98.

If a statute makes any new offense felony, the law implies that it shall be punished with death, viz., by hanging, as well as with forfeiture; unless the offender prays the benefit of clergy; which all felons are entitled once to have, provided the same is not expressly taken away by statute.

7. What felonies are more immediately injurious to the king's prerogative?-98.

They are 1. Offenses relating to the coin, not amounting to treason. 2. Offenses against the king's council. 3. The offense of serving a foreign prince. 4. The offense of embezzling or destroying the king's armor or stores of war. 5. Desertion from the king's armies in time of war.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF PRÆMUNIRE.

1. Why is the offense of præmunire so called, and what was its origin ?-103.

It is so called from the words of the writ preparatory to the prosecution thereof. It took its original from the exorbitant power claimed and exercised in England by the Pope.

2. In what year was made the first statute against papal provisions?-110.

In the thirty-fifth year of Edward I. was made the first statute against papal provisions, being, according to Sir Edmund Coke, the foundation of all the other statutes of præmunire.

3. Is præmunire an offense against the king ?—111.

It is ranked as such, because every encouragement of the papal power was deemed a diminution of the authority of the

crown.

4. What statute is generally referred to as the "statute of præmu nire"?—112.

The statute 16 Ric. II. c. 5. It is generally referred to in all subsequent statutes by that designation.

5. What is the original meaning of this offense?-115.

Introducing a foreign power into the land, and creating imperium in imperio, by paying that obedience to papal process which constitutionally belonged to the king alone.

6. Were the penalties of præmunire extended beyond the object of their original institution, to other offenses?-116.

Up to the statute 1 and 2 Ph. and Mar., c. 8, the penalties of præmunire were kept within the bounds of their original institution, that of depressing the power of the pope. By that statute, and afterwards, it was thought fit to apply the same to other offenses of a heinous character, some of which bear more, and some less, relation to this original offense, and some no relation at all.

7. What was the punishment of præmunire?-118, 119.

From conviction, the defendant was out of the king's protection, his lands and tenements, goods and chattels, were forfeited to the king, and his body remained in prison at the king's pleasure, or during life.

8. Was one convicted of this offense, out of the law's protection?

-118.

He was though protected from public wrongs, he could bring no action for any private injury, how atrocious soever, being so far out of the protection of the law that it would not guard his civil rights, nor remedy any grievance which he, as an individual, might suffer.