Sec. 219. "Peaching" on accomplices. "Fal. Go, hang thyself in thy own heir-apparent garters: If I be ta'en I'll peach for this." In Hamlet, also, Shakespeare names the "Law's delay" as one of the ills of life rather to be borne "than fly to others we know not of." "Hamlet. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, (Hamlet, Act III, Scene I.) Thus, the "law's delay" was one of the social evils recognized in the time of Shakespeare. King Henry thus tells Exeter, in 3' Henry VI: “K. Hen. I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands, Nor posted off their suits with slow delays." (Act IV, Scene VIII.) Complaining of the delay in securing his divorce, from Katherine, King Henry VIII, said: "K. Hen. These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor the dilatory sloth, and tricks of Rome." (Act II, Scene IV.) Cardinal Campeius, in King Henry VIII, urged speedy trial and argument of the divorce suit, between Henry and Catherine, as follows: "Cam. And that, without delay, their arguments, Be now produc'd and heard." (Act II, Scene IV.) Speaking of the delayed justice of the Gods, in Antony and Cleopatra, Menecrates is made to say, to Pompey: "Mene. Know, worthy Pompey, That what they do delay, they not deny. Pom. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays The thing we sue for." (Act II, Scene I.) In King Lear, Albany speaks of the "nether crimes," that can "so speedily" be venged. (Act IV, Scene II.) The King, in Hamlet, speaks of the law's delays as follows: "We should do when we would; for this would changes, And hath abatements and delays as many, As there are tongues, are hands are accidents." '1' Henry IV, Act II, Scene II. (Act IV, Scene VII.) "Peaching" is the common term applied, at criminal law, to the act of turning informer against one's accomplices, or co-conspirators, in the commission of a crime, to free the one giving the evidence from the punishment for the crime committed. The same act is ofttimes spoken of as "turning state's evidence," whereby is meant that the criminal who divulges the evidence to the State, does so, in consideration of his acquittal, thus enabling the State to convict his accomplices, or associates in crime. Sec. 220. Righting grandjurors.— "Fal. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye undone? No, ye fat chuffs; I would your store were here: On, bacons, on: What, ye knaves: young men must live. You are grandjurors, are ye? we'll jure ye, i'faith."2 A grandjuror, in the time of Elizabeth, had to be possessed of a freehold estate, of the yearly value of four pounds and Falstaff's calling the travelers by this name is a recognition that he considered them men qualified to sit upon the grand-jury and indict him and his associates for the offense they were committing. Jurors are those citizens selected to enforce the "rights" of litigants in courts, and grand-jurors are those men selected by the English courts, to take cognizance of the higher crimes and prefer indictments charging the offenders therewith in open court." "Jure" is the Latin word for "right," and Falstaff's play upon the word, meaning that he'd The above line is the illustration, used by Mr. Webster, by way of illustration of the meaning of the term defined in his dictionary. 21' Henry IV, Act II, Scene III. Doctor Rolfe thinks he intentionally misunderstood the trav elers when they said "we are undone, we and ours forever," but this is not apparently borne out by the language or context of the reply by Falstaff. (Rolfe's 1' part of King Henry IV, p. 191.) "right" the travelers, by robbing them, is a declaration that their functions as such court officers, could not be performed around him. Sec. 221. Audi alteram partem. "P. Hen. Mark now, how plain a tale shall put you down." To those accustomed by experience and discipline to a patient examination of both sides of a controversy, before reaching a conclusion, the above line, suggests the maxim -audi alteram partem-hear the other side, for the story of the robbery, as detailed by Falstaff, had two sides, and the version as given by Sir John could not stand alongside that of the Prince. This line suggests the natural bent of the lawyer's mind, for, as observed by Ram, on Facts: "A tendency to suspend his judgment on hearing one side only of a case, can scarcely fail to be the result of an advocate's practice. On any question, in any transaction of life, in which there may be opposite sides taken, he, having heard one side only, is sure to enquire what can be said on the other; it instantly occurs to him to say audi alteram partem."2 Sec. 222. Term of apprentice.— "P. Hen. How long hast thou to serve Francis? Fran. Forsooth, five year, and as much as to P. Hen. Five years: by'r lady, a long lease for the clinking of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be so valiant as to play the coward with thy indenture, and to show it a fair pair of heels, and run from it?"3 That the above colloquy has reference to the common law contract of apprenticeship, there can be no doubt. By '1' Henry IV, Act II, Scene IV. 2 Ram, on Facts, (Am. Ed.) p. 270. 1' Henry IV, Act II, Scene IV. such a contract the person bound himself in due form of law to a master to learn from him his art, trade or business, and to serve him during the time of his apprenticeship. At the common law, because the contract was deemed for the benefit of the infant, even an infant, who was otherwise held incompetent to make a valid or binding contract, was held bound by his contract of apprenticeship. The apprentice was bound at law, to obey the master, during his service and could not legally leave his service during the term for which he was apprenticed. Such contracts were generally in the form of an indenture, and the Prince in urging Francis to "play the coward with thy indenture," was an attempt to get him to violate the law and leave during his term of service as an apprentice. 1 Bacon, Abr., Master and Servant; 2 Kent's Comm. 261-266. * Coke, 2' Inst., 214; 1 Bl. Comm. 426. 36 Johns (N. Y.) 274. Both in England and in the United States, at the present day, on account of the abuse resulting from such contracts, they are not generally upheld, without the ratification or consent of the parent or guardian of the infant apprentice. Speaking of the descent from a Prince to an Apprentice, Prince Henry, in 2' Henry IV (Act II, Scene II) observed: "P. Hen. From a god to a bull? a heavy descension: it was Jove's case. From a prince to a 'prentice? a low transformation-that shall be mine." Replying to the accusation of his apprentice, Horner said, in 2' Henry VI: "Hor. . . My accuser is my 'prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me." (Act I, Scene III.) The Prince may have referred to the statute, 23 Edw. III, c. 2, making it a crime for any apprentice, workman or servant, to depart from his service before the time agreed upon. (III Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 129.) Sec. 223. Arrest upon "hue and cry." "Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and cry hath followed certain men into this house." A "hue and cry" was the pursuit of one who had committed felony, by the highway and the right of private citizens to arrest the felon, on "hue and cry" was established at common law. A person engaged in the “hue and cry" apprehending the felon, on his conviction, was entitled to forty pounds, on certificate of the judge or justice where the trial was had, as well as to the goods, horse, or money, taken with the felon, subject to the rights of other persons in the property claimed.3 The offense committed here, i. e., that of robbery, was the first offense mentioned in the statute wherein arrest upon "hue and cry" was authorized.* Sec. 224. Robbery.— "Sher. I will, my lord: There are two gentlemen have in this robbery lost three hundred marks. '1' Henry IV, Act II, Scene IV. 22 Hale, 100. Wood, Inst., 370-373. There is mention of the "hue and cry" as early as the reign of Edward I and by the statute of Winchester (13 Edw. I) it was provided that: "Immediately upon robberies and felonies committed, fresh suit shall be made, from town to town, and county to county, by horsemen and footmen, to the seaside. The constable is to call upon the parishioners to assist him in his precinct and to give notice to the next constable, who is to do the same as the first, etc., and if the counties will not answer the bodies of the offenders, the whole hundred shall be answerable for the robberies there committed." The former statutes as to "hue and cry," because of the abuse and hardships resulting from the enforcement of the penalty against the hundred made liable for the failure to arrest the felon, were amended during the reign of Elizabeth, by 27 Elizabeth, c. 13, so as to make the inhabitants of the hundred where there was any negligence, in making the arrest, liable for a moiety of the damages, to be recovered by the clerk of the peace. (V Reeve's Hist. Eng. Law, pp. 355-361.) |