court not only of civil, but also of criminal jurisdiction, but this latter branch is now usually exercised by other criminal courts, pursuant to divers statutes. By a recent statute, all offences alleged to have been committed on the high seas and other places within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England, may be inquired of, heard, and determined by the justices of assize, oyer and terminer, and general gaol delivery, who may deliver the gaol in every county and franchise within the limits of their several commissions of every person committed to or imprisoned therein for any offence alleged to have been committed upon the high seas.*

V. Court for Crown Cases Reserved.

This court was constituted by stat. 11 & 12 Vict., c. 78, for the further amendment of the administration of the Criminal Law, which enacts that when a person has been convicted of any treason, felony, or misdemeanor before any court of oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery, or court of quarter-sessions, the judge, or commissioner, or justice of the peace before whom the case was tried, may reserve any question of law for the consideration of the judges, and thereupon may respite execution of the judgment on such conviction, or postpone judgment until such question shall have been decided.†

VI. Courts of Oyer and Terminer.

The Courts of Oyer and Terminer and general gaol delivery are held before the Queen's commissioners, among whom are usually two judges of the Courts at Westminster, twice at least in the year in every county of the kingdom, with an exception as to the metropolis and parts of the adjacent counties. The judges sit by virtue of four several authorities, viz., the commission of the peace, the commission of oyer and terminer, the commission of general gaol delivery, and the commission of nisi prius.‡ All the justices of the peace of the county wherein the assizes are held are bound by law to attend them, or else are liable to a

* See 30 & 31 Vict., c. 124.

† See Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts, 24 & 25 Vict., cc. 96-100.

See page 209.

fine, in order to return recognizances, &c., and to assist the judges in such matters as lie within their knowledge and jurisdiction, and in which some of them have most probably been concerned in their committal of prisoners. The commission of oyer and terminer gives the judges authority to hear and determine all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanors committed within the county. They have besides a commission of general gaol delivery, which empowers them to try and deliver every prisoner who shall be in the gaol when they arrive at the circuit town, whenever or before whomsoever indicted, or for whatever crime committed. So that, one way or other, the gaols are in general cleared, and all prisoners tried, punished, or delivered, at least twice in every year. Sometimes, upon urgent occasions, the Crown issues a special or extraordinary commission of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery confined to the offences therein particularly mentioned.

VII. Central Criminal Court.

This is another important court of criminal jurisdiction, established by stat. 4 & 5 Wm. IV., c. 36. It must sit at least twelve times a year, and oftener if need be, and has cognizance of all offences committed in London and Middlesex, and in certain specified portions of the adjacent counties of Essex, Kent, and Surrey, and now by statute has criminal jurisdiction in Admiralty cases for offences committed on the high seas. An indictment for felony or misdemeanor committed out of the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, and removed into the Queen's Bench by certiorari, may by the latter court be ordered to be tried there.*

VIII. Court of Quarter Sessions.

The Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace is a court that must be held in every county once in each quarter of the year. By stat. 1 Wm. IV., c. 70, s. 35, the quarter sessions are appointed to be held in the first week after the 11th of October, the 28th of December, the 31st of March, and the 24th of June in every year. They are held before two or more justices of the peace, one of whom must be of the Quorum. The jurisdiction is

* See 19 & 20 Vict., c. 16, an Act to empower the Court of Queen's Bench to order certain offenders to be tried at the Central Criminal Court.

not circumscribed, but it is expressly provided by stat. 5 & 6 Vict., c. 38, that neither the justices for any county, nor the recorder of any borough at any general or quarter sessions, shall try any prisoner for treason, murder, or capital felony, nor for any of the particular offences enumerated in the Act. They are also restrained from trying persons charged with fraudulent practices as agents, trustees, bankers, or factors under the Larceny Act of 1861.

There are also, in most municipal boroughs, Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, having in general the same authority in cases arising within the limits of the borough as the Quarter Sessions within the county. Of these the several Recorders are the presiding judges.

IX. Middlesex Sessions.

For the county of Middlesex it has lately been enacted by 7 & 8 Vict., c. 71, amended by 22 & 23 Vict., c. 4, that there shall be holden for that county two sessions or adjourned sessions of the peace in every calendar month; and that the first sessions, in January, April, July, and October respectively, shall be the general quarter sessions of the county; and that the second sessions in January, April, July, and October shall be adjournments of the general quarter sessions.

X. The Court of the Coroner.

The Court of the Coroner is also a Court of Record to inquire, when any one dies in prison or comes to a violent or sudden death, by what manner he came to his end; and this the coroner and the jury must do super visum corporis.

XI. Chancellors' Courts of Oxford and Cambridge. The Chancellors' Courts of Oxford and Cambridge, already mentioned,* have also criminal jurisdiction over persons having the privileges of the University for offences or misdemeanors under the degree of treason, felony, or mayhem. By 17 & 18 Vict., c. 45; and 25 & 26 Vict., c. 26, the Chancellors' Court of the University of Oxford is governed by the statute law of the realm, and no longer by the rules of the civil law. As to Cambridge, the privilege is now practically obsolete.

* See page 221.

CHAPTER XIV.

"SUMMARY" AND "REGULAR" CONVICTIONS.

We have next to take into consideration the proceedings of Criminal Courts for the punishment of offenders. These proceedings are divisible into two kinds-summary and regular.

Explain briefly "Summary" proceedings in Criminal Courts; then the "Regular" proceedings.

By a summary proceeding is meant principally such as is directed by several Acts of Parliament for the conviction of offenders, and infliction of certain penalties created by those Acts. In these there is no intervention of a jury; but the party accused is acquitted or condemned by the judgment of such person only as the statute has appointed for his judge, an institution designed professedly for the greater convenience of the subject, by doing him speedy justice, and by not harassing a jury with frequent and troublesome attendances to try every minute offence.*

Of this summary nature are trials of offences and frauds against the laws of the excise, the customs, and other branches of the revenue, which are determined by the commissioners of revenue or before justices of the peace in the country.

Another branch of summary proceedings is that which takes place before justices of the peace in respect of a variety of minor offences. The practice of proceeding upon summary convictions in general is regulated by stat. 11 & 12 Vict., c. 43, which consolidates and amends the previous provisions on the subject.

* A summary conviction is a bar to all further or other proceedings for the same

cause.

+ See Summary Jurisdiction Act, 13 & 14 Vict., c. 37; also 24 & 25 Vict., cc. 96, 100.

By stat. 20 & 21 Vict., c. 43-(an Act to improve the administration of the law respecting summary proceedings before justices of the peace)-after the hearing and determination of any information or complaint by a justice in a summary way, either party dissatisfied with the decision, as being erroneous in point of law, may apply for the opinion thereon of one of the superior courts of law. To prevent the abuse of such privilege, security for costs will have to be given by the appellant.

Explain briefly the "Regular" and "Ordinary" Methods of proceedings in Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction, where the offence charged amounts to a felony or indictable misdemeanor.

This subject may be distributed under these general heads : -1. Arrest.- -2. Commitment and bail.- -3. Prosecution. 4. Process and Arraignment.—5. Plea and issue.6. Trial and conviction.- -7. Proceedings after the Trial.8. Judgment.-9. Reprieve or pardon.-10. Execution.

I. Arrest.

First, then, of an arrest, which is apprehending or restraining a person, in order that he shall be forthcoming to answer an alleged or suspected crime. To this arrest all persons are, without distinction, equally liable in criminal cases, and it may be made either with or without a warrant.

Warrants are ordinarily issued by justices of the peace out of sessions ;* but a warrant may be granted in cases of treason or other offence affecting the Government by the Privy Council or one of the Secretaries of State, and by any judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, to bring before him for examination a person charged with felony.

A warrant of the Chief Justice or other Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench extends all over the kingdom; but a warrant of a justice of the peace in one county must be endorsed by a justice of the peace of the county in which it is intended to be executed. Arrests by officers without warrant may be executed by a justice

* See 11 & 12 Vict., c. 42.