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some point material to the question in dispute; for if it only be in some trifling collateral circumstance, to which no regard is paid, it is no more penal than in the voluntary extrajudicial oaths before mentioned.

Subornation of Perjury.

Subornation of perjury is the offence of procuring another to take such a false oath as constitutes perjury in the principal. The punishment of perjury and subornation at common law has been various. It was anciently death: afterwards banishment or cutting out the tongue: then forfeiture of goods: and now it is fine and imprisonment, and never more to be capable of bearing testimony. But the statute 5 Eliz. c. 9 (if the offender be prosecuted thereon), inflicts the penalty of perpetual infamy, and a fine of 40l. on the suborner; and, in default of payment, imprisonment for six months, and to stand with both ears nailed to the pillory. Perjury itself is thereby punished with six months' imprisonment, perpetual infamy, and a fine of 20l., or to have both ears nailed to the pillory. But the prosecution is usually carried on for the offence at common law; especially as to the penalties before inflicted, the statute 2 Geo. II. c. 25, superadds a power for the court to order the offender to be sent to the house of correction for a term not exceeding seven years, or to be transported for the same period, and makes it felony without benefit of clergy to return or escape within the time.

Bribery.

17. Bribery is the next species of offence against public justice; which is when a judge, or other person concerned in the administration of justice, takes any undue reward to influence his behaviour in his office. In England this offence of taking bribes is punished in inferior offices with fine and imprisonment; and in those who offer a bribe, though not taken, the same. But in judges, especially the superior ones, it has been always looked upon as so heinous an offence that the chief justice Thorpe was hanged for it in the reign of Edward III. By a statute 11 Hen. IV., all judges and officers of the king, convicted of bribery, shall forfeit treble the bribe, be punished at the king's will, and be discharged from the king's service forever.

Embracery.

18. Embracery is an attempt to influence a jury corruptly to one side by promises, persuasions, entreaties, money, entertainments, and the like. The punishment for the person embracing is by fine and imprisonment; and for the juror so embraced, if it be by taking money, the punishment is (by divers statutes of the reign of Edward III.) perpetual infamy, imprisonment for a year, and forfeiture of the tenfold value.

False Verdict.

19. The false verdict of jurors, whether occasioned by embracery or not, was anciently considered as criminal, and therefore exemplarily punished by attaint, in the manner formerly mentioned.

Negligence of Public Officers.

20. Another offence of the same species is the negligence of public officers intrusted with the administration of justice, as sheriffs, coroners, constables, and the like, which makes the offender liable to be fined; and in very notorious cases will amount to a forfeiture of his office, if it be a beneficial one. Also, the omitting to apprehend persons offering stolen iron, lead and other metals to sale is a misdemeanour, and punishable by a stated fine, or imprisonment, in pursuance of the statute 29 Geo. II. c. 30.

Oppression of Magistrates.

21. There is yet another offence against public justice which is a crime of deep malignity; and so much the deeper, as there are many opportunities of putting it in practice, and the power and wealth of the offenders may often deter the injured from a legal prosecution. This is the oppression and tyrannical partiality of judges, justices and other magistrates, in the administration and under the colour of their office. However, when prosecuted, either by impeachment in parliament, or by information in the court of king's bench (according to the rank of the offenders), it is sure to be severely punished with forfeiture of their offices (either consequential or immediate), fines, imprisonment, or other discretionary censure, regulated by the nature and aggravations of the offence committed.

Extortion.

22. Lastly, extortion is an abuse of public justice, which consists in any officer's unlawfully taking, by colour of his office, from any man any money or thing of value that is not due to him, or more than is due, or before it is due. The punishment is fine and imprisonment, and sometimes forfeiture of the office.

Chapter XI.

OF OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC PEACE.

142-154.

We are next to consider offences against the public peace. These offences are either such as are an actual breach of the peace; or constructively so, by tending to make others break it. Both of these species are also either felonious, or not felonious. The felonious breaches of the peace are strained up to that degree of malignity by virtue of several modern statutes; and particularly:

Riotous Assembling and Unlawful Hunting.

I. The riotous assembling of twelve persons or more, and not dispersing upon proclamation.

2. By statute I Hen. VII. c. 7, unlawful hunting in any legal forest, park, or warren, not being the king's property, by night, or with painted faces, was declared to be single felony.

3. Also, by the statute, 9 Geo. I. c. 22, amended by statute 27 Geo. II. c. 15, knowingly to send any letter without a name, or with a fictitious name, demanding money, venison, or any other valuable thing, or threatening (without any demand) to kill any of the king's subjects, or to fire their houses, out-houses, barns, or ricks, is made felony without benefit of clergy. This offence was formerly high treason, by the statute 8 Hen. V. c. 6.

Destroying Locks, etc.

4. To pull down or destroy any lock, sluice or floodgate, erected by authority of parliament on a navigable river, is, by statute I Geo. II. st. 2, c. 19, made felony, punishable with transportation for seven years.

Affrays.

5. Affrays (from affraier, to terrify) are the fighting of two or more persons in some public place, to the terror of his majesty's subjects; for if the fighting be in private it is no affray, but an assault. Affrays may be suppressed by any private person present, who is justifiable in endeavouring to part the combatants, whatever consequence may ensue. But more especially the constable or other similar officer, however denominated, is bound to keep the peace, and to that purpose may break open doors to suppress an affray or apprehend the affrayers, and may either carry them before a justice or imprison them by his own authority for a convenient space, till the heat is over, and may then perhaps also make them find sureties for the peace. The punishment of common affrays is by fine and imprisonment, the measure of which must be regulated by the circumstances of the case. Two persons may be guilty of an affray: but,

Riots.

6. Riots, routs, and unlawful assemblies must have three persons at least to constitute them. An unlawful assembly is when three or more do assemble themselves together to do an unlawful act, as to pull down enclosures, to destroy a warren, or the game therein, and part without doing it or making any motion towards it. A rout is where three or more meet to do an unlawful act upon a common quarrel, as forcibly breaking down fences upon a right claimed of common or of way, and make some advances towards it. A riot is where three or more actually do an unlawful act of

violence, either with or without a common cause or quarrel; as, if they beat a man or hunt and kill game in another's park, chase, warren, or liberty, or do any other unlawful act with force and violence, or even do a lawful act, as removing a nuisance, in a violent and tumultuous manner. The punishment of unlawful assemblies, if to the number of twelve, may be capital, according to the circumstances that attend it; but from the number of three to eleven is by fine and imprisonment only. The same is the case in riots and routs by the common law; to which the pillory, in very enormous cases, has been sometimes superadded.

Tumultuous Petitioning.

7. Nearly related to this head of riots is the offence of tumultuous petitioning, which was carried to an enormous height in the times preceding the grand rebellion.

Forcible Entry or Detainer.

8. An eighth offence against the public peace is that of a forcible entry or detainer, which is committed by violently taking or keeping possession of lands and tenements with menaces, force, and arms, and without the authority of law. This was formerly allowable to every person disseised, or turned out of possession, unless his entry was taken away or barred by his own neglect, or other circumstances, which were explained more at large in a former book. But this being found very prejudicial to the public peace, it was thought necessary by several statutes to restrain all persons from the use of such violent methods, even of doing themselves justice, and much more if they have no justice in their claim. So that the entry now allowed by law is a peaceable one; that forbidden is such as is carried on and maintained with force, with violence and unusual weapons.

Going Armed.

9. The offence of riding or going armed with dangerous or unusual weapons is a crime against the public peace, by terrifying the good people of the land, and is particularly prohibited by the statute of Northampton, 2 Edw. III. c. 3, upon pain of forfeiture of the arms and imprisonment during the king's pleasure. Spreading False News.

10. Spreading false news, to make discord between the king and nobility, or concerning any great man of the realm, is punishable by common law with fine and imprisonment, which is confirmed by statutes.

False Prophecies.

II. False and pretended prophecies, with intent to disturb the peace, are equally unlawful, and more penal, as they raise enthusiastic jealousies in the people and terrify them with imaginary fears.

Challenges.

12. Besides actual breaches of the peace, anything that tends to provoke or excite others to break it is an offence of the same denomination. Therefore, challenges to fight, either by word or letter, or to be the bearer of such challenge, are punishable by fine and imprisonment, according to the circumstances of the offence. Libels.

13. Of a nature very similar to challenges are libels, libelli famosi, which taken in their largest and most extensive sense, signify any writings, pictures, or the like, of an immoral or illegal tendency; but, in the sense under which we are now to consider them, are malicious defamations of any person, and especially a magistrate, made public by either printing, writing, signs, or pictures, in order to provoke him to wrath or expose him to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule. The direct tendency of these libels is the breach of the public peace by stirring up the objects of them to revenge, and perhaps to bloodshed. The communication of a libel to any one person is a publication in the eye of the law; and therefore the sending of an abusive letter to a man is as much a libel as if it were openly printed, for it equally tends to a breach of the peace. For the same reason, it is immaterial, with respect to the essence of a libel, whether the matter of it be true or false, since the provocation, and not the falsity, is the thing to be punished criminally; though, doubtless, the falsehood of it may aggravate its guilt and enhance its punishment. In a civil action, we may remember, a libel must appear to be false as well as scandalous; for, if the charge be true, the plaintiff has received no private injury, and has no ground to demand a compensation for himself, whatever offence it may be against the public peace; and, therefore, upon a civil action, the truth of the accusation may be pleaded in bar of the suit. But, in criminal prosecution, the tendency which all libels have to create animosities and to disturb the public peace is the whole that the law considers. And, therefore, in such prosecutions the only points to be inquired into are, first, the making or publishing of the book or writing, and secondly, whether the matter be criminal; and if both these points are against the defendant, the offence against the public is complete. The punishment of such libellers, for either making, repeating, printing, or publishing the libel, is fine and such corporal punishment as the court in its discretion shall inflict, regarding the quantity of the offence and the quality of the offender.

Liberty of the Press.

In this and the other instances which we have lately considered, where blasphemous, immoral, treasonable, schismatical, seditious, or scandalous libels are punished by the English law, some

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