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Delivery of recognizances, &c., to the court.

reasonable sum for the same, not exceeding three halfpence for each folio of ninety words (). And at the time of trial he may inspect the depositions without any fee (m). The same rules apply also to depositions on behalf of the prisoner (n).

The recognizances whereby the prosecutor and witnesses are bound over to appear at the trial, together with the written information (if any); the depositions ; the statement of the accused; the recognizances of bail (if any); are to be delivered to the proper officer of the court where the trial is to be had (0).

(l) 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 114, 8. 3; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 27. (m) 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 114, s. 4.

(n) 30 & 31 Vict. c. 35, s. 4.

(0) 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 20; 30 & 31 Vict. c. 35, s. 3.

CHAPTER V.

MODES OF PROSECUTION.

prosecution.

THE accused has either been committed to prison for Modes of
safe custody, or has been left at liberty in virtue of his
having found sureties for his appearance. The next
point to be considered is the prosecution (p), or manner
of formal accusation. This may be either (9)

A. Upon a previous finding of the fact by an
inquest or grand jury.

B. Without such previous finding.

A. The most usual mode is by indictment, though After a finding it will be necessary in the first place to say a few by the grand

words on

jury.

Presentment. This term, taken in a wide sense, Presentment. includes both indictments by a grand jury and inquisitions of office. In a narrow sense it refers to the former only, and is the notice taken by a grand jury of any matter or offence from their own knowledge or observations, without any bill of indictment laid before them at the suit of the Crown, as the presentment of a libel, &c., upon which the officer of the court must afterwards frame an indictment before the party prosecuted can be put to answer it (r). So that it differs from

(p) In a wide sense the term "prosecution" is applied to the whole of the proceedings for bringing the offender to justice.

(q) Bl. 301.

(r) Ibid.

Inquisition.

Indictment, when it lies.

Indictment, its form.

the ordinary proceedings merely inasmuch as no bill is delivered by an individual prosecutor, but the grand jury initiate the proceedings.

An Inquisition of office is the act of a jury summoned to inquire of matters relating to the Crown upon evidence laid before them. The most common kind of inquisition is that of the coroner, which is held with a view to find out the cause of death. The accused is arraigned upon the inquisition (s).

An Indictment is a written accusation of one or more persons of a crime, preferred to, and presented on oath by, a grand jury. It lies for all treasons and felonies, for misprisions of either, and for all misdemeanors of a public nature at common law (t). If a statute prohibits a matter of public grievance, or commands a matter of public convenience (such as the repairing of highways, or the like), all acts or omissions contrary to the prohibition or command of the statute, being misdemeanors at common law, are punishable by indictment if the statute specifies no other mode of proceeding (u). If the statute specifies a mode of proceeding different from that by indictment, then, if the matter was already an indictable offence at common law, and the statute introduces merely a different mode of prosecution and punishment, the remedy is cumulative, and the prosecutor has still the option of proceeding by indictment at common law, or by the mode pointed out by the statute (x).

We shall presently deal with the preferment of an indictment to the grand jury; but first we must examine into the nature of such form of accusation.

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And for this purpose it will be well to give an example
of an indictment, say for larceny at common law :-

Suffolk, to wit: The jurors for our Lady the Queen
upon their oath present that ¶ John Styles, on
the 1st day of June, in the year of our Lord
1876, three pairs of shoes, and one waistcoat, of
the goods and chattels of John Brown, feloniously
did steal, take, and carry away; ¶ against the
peace of our Lady the Queen, her crown and
dignity."

Three parts marked off in the above form are to be distinguished: (a) the Commencement; (b) the Statement; (c) the Conclusion.

mencement of an indictment.

(a.) The Commencement.—In this the only part which The comrequires comment is the venue, or the statement of the county or other division from which the grand jury by whom the indictment was found have come. In other words, it is the index of the place where, in regular course, the trial is to be had (y). The consideration of this matter will be reserved for a separate chapter.

(b.) The Statement.-This, the principal part of the The statement. indictment, must set forth with certainty all the facts and circumstances essential to constitute the crime; and must directly charge the accused with having committed it.

defendant.

The defendant's name must be given correctly; or, if Name of it is not known, he must be described as a person unknown. So also with regard to the name of the person against whom the crime has been committed.

The ownership of any property in respect of which Ownership of the offence was committed must be rightly laid.

The

property.

(y) v. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, s. 23.

Y

Time of offence.

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property in goods (a) of a deceased person must be laid
in the executors or administrators; (b) of a married
woman in her husband, unless there is separate pro-
perty, or the proceedings are instituted under the
Married Women's Property Act, 1882, in which case
the property must be laid in the wife (2), or there
has been a judicial separation, or a protection order
(a). If the goods belong to partners or joint-owners,
one only need be named, and "another" or "others
added, as the case may be (b). So property vested
in a body of persons must not be described as the
property of the body, but of all or some individuals
of the body, unless it is incorporated.
The pro-
perty of joint-stock banking co-partnerships may be
laid in any one of the public officers (c). Bridges,
asylums, &c., must be described as the property of the
inhabitants of the county, without specifying any
names. If goods are stolen, &c., from a bailee, they
should be described as the property either of the bailor
or of the bailee, unless they were stolen by the bailor
himself. If at the trial it appears that the property
has been incorrectly laid, or the person against whom
the offence was committed misnamed, unless such error
be amended, the defendant must be acquitted. But,
as we shall see (d), the court has extensive powers of
ordering amendment in case of such variance between
the indictment and the evidence.

As to the statement of time.-No indictment will be held insufficient because it omits to state the time at which the offence was committed in any case where time is not of the essence of the offence; nor because it states the time imperfectly, or states the offence to have been committed on a day subsequent to the finding of the indictment, or on an impossible day, or on a

(2) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 75, s. 12; see also 33 & 34 Vict. c. 93, s. II. (a) 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, ss. 21, 25.

(b) 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, 8. 14.

(c) Ibid. s. 9.

(d) v. p. 351.

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