rightly convicted of unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. (i) Unlawfully and maliciously wounding or inflicting any grievous bodily harm upon any other person, with or without any weapon or instrument, is a misdemeanor, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of five years. (k) If any person (a) wound (b), cause grievous bodily harm (c), shoot at, or (d) attempt to shoot at any other person, with intent to (a) maim (b), disfigure, or (c) disable any person, or (d) to do some other grievous bodily harm to him, or (e) to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension of any one, he is guilty of a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of life. (1) To constitute a wounding, the continuity of the skin must be broken. The nature of the instrument is immaterial, whether it be a stab by a knife, a kick, or a gunshot wound, etc. (m) To maim is to injure any part of a man's body, which may render him less capable of fighting. The injury is termed mayhem. The term "disfigure" explains itself. To disable, refers to the causing of a permanent, and not merely a temporary disablement. (n) The grievous bodily harm need not be either permanent or dangerous, so long as it seriously interferes with health or comfort. (0) The intent can of course only be proved by presumptive evidence gathered from the facts of the case. The intent need not be to maim, etc., the particular person who is injured; thus, if a person intending to inflict grievous bodily harm on A., wounds B., he is guilty of wounding with intent, etc. (p) ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO COMMIT A FELONY. This crime is a misdemeanor, punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years. If the intent can not be proved, the defendant may be convicted of a common assault. (q) ADMINISTERING POISON, ETC. To administer, etc., any poison, or other destructive or noxious thing, so as thereby to endanger life or to inflict grievous bodily (i) R. v. Martin, L. R. 8 Q. B. D. 54; 51 L. J. (M. C.) 36; 45 L. T. N. S. 444; 30 W. R. 106. (k) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, ? 20. (7) Ibid., 18. R. v. Briggs, Ibid., 318. (0) v. R. v. Ashman, 1 F. & F. 88. (g) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, § 38. harm, is a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of ten years. (r) If the administering, though it does not so endanger life or inflict harm, is with intent to injure, aggrieve, or annoy the person, the offense is a misdemeanor, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of five years. (8) A person indicted for the first offense may be found guilty of the second. (t) EXPLOSIVE OR CORROSIVE SUBSTANCES. By explosion of gunpowder or other explosive substance, to burn, maim, disfigure, disable, or do and grievous bodily harm to any person, is a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of life. (u) The same punishment is awarded for causing any gunpowder, or other explosive substance, to explode, or sending or delivering to, or causing to be taken or received by, any person, any explosive or other dangerous or noxious thing, or putting or laying at any place, or throwing at or upon, or otherwise applying to any person any corrosive fluid or any destructive or explosive substance, with intent to burn, maim, disfigure, or disable, or do any grievous bodily harm to any person, and this whether any bodily injury be effected or not. (v) If the gunpowder or other explosive substance is placed in, thrown in, into, upon, against, or near any building, ship, or vessel, with intent to do any bodily injury to any person, whether such purpose be effected or not, the offender is guilty of a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of fourteen years. (w) ENDANGERING SAFETY OF RAILWAY PASSENGERS. The following acts are. felonious, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of life: To put or throw upon or across any railway any wood, stone, or other thing; (ii.) to take up, remove, or displace any rail, sleeper, or other thing belonging to a railway; (iii.) to move or divert any points or other machinery belonging to any railway; (iv.) to make, or show, hide, or remove any signal or light upon or near to any railway; (v.) to do or cause any other thing to be done with intent to endanger the safety of passengers; (x) or (vi.) to throw against or into any railway engine, carriage, or truck, any wood, stone, or other thing, with intent to injure or endanger the safety of any person in the train. (y) It is a misdemeanor, punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years, by any unlawful act, or by any willful omission or neglect, to endanger the safety of any person conveyed or being in or upon a railway, or to aid or assist therein. (a) As to injuries from furious driving, v. p. 120. ASSAULTS, ETC., CONNECTED WITH WRECKS. To impede any person endeavoring to escape from a wreck or vessel in distress, or endeavoring to save another, is a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of life. (b) ASSAULTS ON OFFICERS. To assault, resist, or willfully obstruct any peace officer in the due execution of his duty, or any person acting in aid of such officer, or to assault any person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension of oneself or of any other person for any of fense, is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment not exceeding two years. (c) ASSAULTS ON THOSE IN A DEFENSELESS POSITION. Apprentices or servants.-Whosoever, being legally liable, either as master or mistress, to provide for any apprentice or servant necessary food, clothing, or lodging, willfully and without lawful excuse refuses or neglects to do so, or (b) unlawfully or maliciously does, or causes to be done, any bodily harm, so that the life of the apprentice or servant is likely to be permanently injured, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable by penal servitude to the extent of five years. (d) Lunatics.-Abusing, ill-treating, or willfully neglecting a patient in a private asylum, by any person employed therein, or any single patient by any one having charge of, or attending upon, such lunatic, is a misdemeanor, or punishable, on summary conviction, by forfeiture not exceeding £20. (e) So, also, is the striking, wounding, illtreating, or willful neglect of any lunatic confined in a county or (y) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, ? 33. (b) Ibid., ? 17. (c) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, ? 38. (a) Ibid., ? 34. v. also 34 and 35 Vict., c. 112, 12. For assaulting, etc., officers of the custom, v. p. 105. (d) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 100, 26. (e) 16 and 17 Vict., c. 96, ? 9. public asylum by any person employed therein.(m) A similar provision is made with regard to persons confined in asylums for criminal lunatics.(n) FALSE IMPRISONMENT. False imprisonment is a misdemeanor at common law, punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. All that the prosecutor has to prove is the imprisonment; it is for the defendant to justify what he did.(o) A count for a common assault is usually added. Every confinement or restraint of the liberty of a person is an imprisonment; for example, by detaining a man in the streets. Though a party, on being shown a magistrate's warrant, goes willingly, at the desire of a constable, this is an imprisonment which the constable may be called upon to justify.(p) We have seen, under the title "Arrest," in what cases one person is justified in detaining another.(q) (m) 16 and 17 Vict., c. 97, 8 123. (0) Arch. 728. (9) As to indecent assault, v. p. 149; assaults in violation of trade V. p. 108. PART III. OFFENSES AGAINST INDIVIDUALS-THEIR PROP ERTY. CHAPTER I. LARCENY. LARCENY or theft may be defined as "the willfully wrongful taking possession of the goods of another with intent to deprive the owner of his property in them."(r) Larceny is either simple or compound. Compound, or as it is termed "mixed" or "complicated" larceny, differs from simple larceny merely in that the former is accompanied with circumstances of aggravation. We shall defer the consideration of these aggravated cases until the simple crime has been dealt with. The existing statute law on the subject of larceny and kindred offenses is contained in one of the criminal consolidation acts, 1861.(s) (r) Rosc. 622; Fitz. St. 126. This definition, taken from Roscoe's Evidence in Criminal Cases, with a modification suggested by Sir James Stephen, may not, at first sight, appear to indicate all the elements of larceny. An ordinary definition is something of this sort: "A taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another of any value, against the will or without the consent of the owner, without any bona fide claim of right, with a felonious intent."-Arch. Quarter Sessions. But the definition in the text, besides avoiding certain defects, contains all the essentials set out in the second definition. Thus "without any claim of right by the taker" is included in the part relating to the intent; "against the will of the owner" in "wrongful;" "carrying away" in "taking possession." (s) 24 and 25 Vict., c. 96. In the present chapter, the quotation merely of a section must be understood to refer to that act. |