intended, or his advertisement indicated) have been disappointed in his execution of that design.

"In conformity with their admonitions it is that he now trespasses on the public attention with another edition; in which he has endeavoured, in a certain degree, to fulfil their expectations, by the admission of much additional matter, so arranged, as, without superseding his original purpose, to compose a sort of compendium of sessions' law, as well as of practice; which he trusts may present something useful to every description of persons, whose pursuits, or duties, may invite them to attend upon Courts of Sessions of the Peace.

"He feels it, however, again necessary to give a caution against any misapprehension of the purpose of his book, even in its enlarged form; by observing, that it by no means aspires to the distinction of superseding more voluminous works on the same, or similar subjects: that he scarcely presumes to expect for it a place on the shelf of a lawyer's library; its legitimate office, and true design, being merely that of a compendious digest, a sort of manual, or vade mecum; principally adapted to momentary reference, during the immediate pressure of forensic discussions in the business of a session; or, at most, for usual consultation by country practitioners at a distance from the great source of voluminous information, the metropolis.

"In the prosecution of this design, it has been suggested to him, by several gentlemen of the first consideration in sessions' practice, that a good selection of approved precedents, respectively applicable to the diversified occasions of Courts of Session, would be eminently serviceable. Of this suggestion he has availed himself, by the introduction of forms adapted to most of the ordinary occurrences in country practice."

It appears that the objects which Mr. Dickinson thus proposed to himself, were, in a great measure, accom

plished; for a considerable edition of the extended treatise was sold; and the work having, in consequence of the death of its Author, remained long out of print, has often been inquired for by gentlemen of the classes for whose use it was designed. The delay has been, in one respect, advantageous, as it has given opportunity for the incorporation in the present edition of all the numerous alterations recently made in the law, which are applicable to the ordinary practice of the Courts of Session of the Peace.

The changes which have taken place in the law during the interval between the last and present edition, were found so numerous, and so extensive in their operation, as to preclude the preservation of Mr. Dickinson's text entire in any part of the work relating to the criminal law. As, therefore, the Editor found it necessary to exclude altogether a large portion of the original text, and to supply its place with new matter, he did not scruple to introduce a new arrangement of the whole work, which seemed to him calculated to render it more practically useful. It becomes, therefore, his duty to give a summary account of the alterations he has ventured to make, and for which he is responsible.

The last edition of this work was divided only into six chapters, without any sub-divisions into sections. The first, second, and third chapters, which were short, were in outline the same with those which occupy a similar place in the present edition. The third, occupying 386 pages, embraced the whole "Criminal Business of the Sessions," including offences, trials, evidence, and a great number of precedents of indictments, indiscriminately relating to felonies and misdemeanors, some to offences rarely prosecuted at sessions, and some even to the offence of perjury at common law, which cannot be prosecuted there at all. The fifth chapter, occupying 344 pages, in like manner embraced "the Civil Business of the Ses

sions," and included, according to its title, "those matters in which the justices of session have an original jurisdiction, as well as those which come before them by way of appeal; apprentices, bastardies, articles of the peace, vagrancies, convictions, and such other subjects as are submitted to their judgment without the intervention of a jury." The subjects of these two chapters are arranged in nine chapters of the present edition. The last chapter, relating to matters incidental to the jurisdiction of the sessions, was the same in outline before as at present. The whole has been further sub-divided into sections for the purposes of convenient perusal and reference.

The First Chapter of this edition treats of the jurisdiction and incidents of the various Sessions of the Peace; of the sources whence they derive their authority; of Petty Sessions, and the occasions when they are requisite and proper; of Special Sessions, with the recent determinations as to the mode in which they should be convened, and the provisions of the 9 Geo. 4. c. 61. as to the General Annual Licensing Meeting, and its subordinate Special Sessions; of General Sessions; and generally of the Quarter Sessions, and of the periods when they should or may be holden.

The Second Chapter treats of the several parties attendant on the sessions. In some parts this chapter has been curtailed, as in the portion allotted to the Coroner, whose duties have but slender connexion with the sessions, while, on the other hand, under the section of "Justices," a comprehensive view of the rights, liabilities, and protection of magistrates in and out of session is inserted; and, under the head "Jurors," the substance of the provisions of the 6 Geo. 4. c. 50. is given. In other respects, this chapter has been much condensed in points which have not been found practically useful.

The Third Chapter marks out the limits of the jurisdiction of the Court of Quarter Sessions to try offences:

describes the proceedings preliminary to its judicial business, as taking oaths; gives a summary of the law relating to the grand jury, and considers their duties; and introduces, in the consideration of their jurisdiction to present, the law relating to venue, modified in the cases of larceny, &c. by the recent statutes.

as now

The Fourth Chapter, on the modes of prosecuting offences at sessions, is almost entirely new. Its chief object is to give a concise and intelligible summary of the law of indictments, as altered by the latest statutes, and interpreted by the most recent decisions; and it accordingly embraces a consideration of the joinder of parties; the introduction of several charges varying either in fact or in form; the necessity of discriminating the degree of offence to be charged; the general requisites of an indictment; the various parts of an indictment, with the consequences of error; and the practical points relative to engrossing, preferring, and returning the bills when found. The other modes of prosecution by presentment and information being rarely adopted, are more concisely treated.

The Fifth Chapter treats of felonies prosecuted at sessions, and gives forms of indictments applicable to them. The offences particularly considered in this chapter are those which consist in the felonious abstraction of property; those being, in practice, the only felonies usually prosecuted at sessions. This chapter contains, besides a concise view of the law of simple larceny, an abstract of all the provisions of 7 and 8 Geo, 4. c. 29. with forms applicable to its several clauses. The whole of this chapter, with the exception of some passages relative to simple larceny, in which Mr. Dickinson had supplied cases, arising within his own experience, as illustrative of legal distinctions, and which it was thought right to preserve, is re-written; and the forms, which are

arranged under the several sections which treat of the law to which they are related, have been framed on the provisions of the statute.

The Sixth Chapter embraces the whole subject of misdemeanors indictable at sessions. After shortly discussing the principles on which offences have been holden indictable, and stating the jurisdiction of the sessions over them, it presents the misdemeanors most frequently indicted at sessions in alphabetical order, each section containing a brief summary of the law relating to the offence under consideration, and precedents of indictment or indictments applicable to such offence. The precedents collected by Mr. Dickinson have been generally used for the purposes of this chapter; but they have been greatly curtailed and compressed. The summaries of the law which introduce the precedents are entirely new, except in one or two instances, where notes, appended to the precedents in the former edition, have been used in framing them.

The Seventh Chapter treats of proceedings on indictments, of every description, from the time they are found to judgment. It treats shortly of compromises; of pleas; of the law of traverse and postponement of trial; of the preliminary forms of trial; of the right and mode of challenge; and of the conduct of the trial; of the verdict; and the judgment. It has been the object of the Editor to render this chapter as useful in practice as its space. would allow, and therefore he has selected for notice those points which, in his own experience at sessions, he has found most likely to arise. As counsel usually begin to practise at sessions at the very commencement of their professional career, it has seemed not impertinent to intersperse in this chapter brief considerations of their rights and duties in the various stages of a criminal trial, whether for misdemeanor or felony. This chapter includes a brief compendium of such parts of the law of evidence.