J House of Commons Costs.→Law Association for the Relief of Widows and Families. 293 HOUSE OF COMMONS COSTS. FEES ON TAXATION. Tidd, Esq., the eminent author of the Book on Practice. "Since the last report, one new case has come before the board, of a member of the society dying and leaving his family unprovided for. He had filled an important official situation, and it may be assumed that it had never come within his contemplations that his surviving family would derive any benefit from his subscription to the fund. "Three new cases have during the year been 1 0 o added to the list of non-members' families receiving relief. 1 1 "The relief to this latter class of applicants 1 Oo has now been divided into two distinct 00 branches-the casual, and the permanent; the first embracing cases where temporary assistance has appeared to be necessary; the latter 00 including those which come before the directors annually for consideration. 1 0 0 0 "The permanent cases of this description are again divided into two classes the one consisting of the families of those who have never 1o been members; and the latter of those who having once been members had ceased to be so, possibly from inability to continue their subscription. A preference in the scale of allowance, is shown to the latter over those who have never subscribed at all. That the same fees be paid in case Mr. Speaker shall refer to the taxing officer any bill of costs, under the authority of an Act of the Sixth year of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, "To establish a Taxation of Costs on Private Bills in the House of Commons." That the said fees be paid and applied in the same manner as the other fees which are charged at the House of Commons. THE following is the 30th Annual Report of the Directors of this excellent Society, which which was read to the Annual General Court held on the 11th May, at the Hall of the Incorporated Law Society. T.J. Burgoyne, Esq, in the Chairl This association has now been established 30 years, during which period a sum amounting to nearly 16,000l, has been appropriated to the families of members of the profession, But while this large amount of relief has been afforded, the directors have been enabled to accumulate a fund of upwards of 20,000l., thus placing the society upon such a footing of security, as to ensure the continuance of its benefits to those families of d deceased members who may hereafter require assistance, ༢.,, In addition to the income arising from stock, the annual subscriptions form an important item in the account. These have amounted in the past year to 5897. 1s.; and it is satisfactory to know that in every year since the first establishment of the association, the receipts have exceeded the expenditure. Within the last few days the directors have received information of a bequest of 100l. to the funds of the association, by the late William "The cases now on the books of the association, and receiving relief during the past year, are as follow: !ཝཱ Primary cases, consisting of those who are entitled to the full benefits of the association Secondary, comprising the families of non-members, and to whom relief, when extended at all, is imparted in very different measure "The entire number of cases relieved since the year 1823, when relief was first granted by the association, has been 20 22 ... 117 operations of the society during a period of 30 years, without at the same time recording their regret at the loss which the association has recently sustained in the death of the gentleman (the late Charles Murray, Esq.) in whom the design appears, from an early minute of its meetings, to have originated, who was one of the committee by whom its regulations were framed, and who officiated as its secretary for the first 17 years; and they remember with pleasure, that at the last general meeting of the association, 12 years after the termination of his official connexion with it, Mr. Murray attended, and, at his then advanced period of life, exhibited the same intelligence and solicitude for its well-being, which had characterized all his earlier exertions. The directors cannot refer to the successful WE understand that this society is proceeding prosperously. In some counties nearly one-half the solicitors have joined it, and other districts are also well represented. In London many of the most eminent firms have sent in their adhesion, and new names are constantly arriving. The Yorkshire Law Society, like that of Leeds, has come to resolutions approving of the objects of the association, and appointing a deputation to submit the address of the committee of management to the candidates at the ensuing general election for the several ridings of that important county, with a view to the consideration of the topics therein set forth, preparatory to the state of the profession being brought before parliament. As a substantial proof of cordial support, the Yorkshire Law Society has voted a donation of 251. in aid of the funds of the association. Association.-Analytical Digest. ANALYTICAL DIGEST OF CASES, Criminal Law. ABORTION. On the trial of an indictment on the statute 1 Vict. c. 85, for using an instrument with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, it is immaterial whether the woman was actually pregnant or not. Reg. v. Goodchild, 2 C. & K. 293. ADMISSIONS. See Evidence, 3. ASSAULT. Abusing female child.-Semble, that an indictment for carnally knowing and abusing a female child under the age of 10 years, which not be convicted of an assault under the 11th does not charge any assault, the prisoner cansection of the stat. 7 W. 4, and 1 Vict. c. 85. Reg. v. Holcroft, 2 C. & K. 341. Case cited in the judgment: Reg. v. M‘Rue, 8 And see Robbery. BANKRUPT. Not surrendering.-Venue.-Town corporate. -The felony of not surrendering at a district court to a fiat in bankruptcy, under the stat. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 122, s. 32, is committed at the place where the district court is situate; and an indictment for this offence cannot be sus tained in a different county in which the person was a trader, or in which he committed an act of bankruptcy. If the examples thus set be followed throughout the country, there can be no doubt that due attention will be given in The stat. 38 Geo. 3, c. 52, s. 2, which relates the next session to the several grievances to the trial of offences in an adjoining county, under which the profession labours. But only applies to cities and towns corporate which no time should be lost in bringing the are counties of themselves, and not to towns topics to the notice of the candidates. corporate which are not counties of themselves. The time chosen for the formation of the Reg. v. Milner, 2 C. & K. 310. BATTERY. person escapes, is not a beating of the deer-keeper within the stat. 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 29. A mere battery is not sufficient to come within this enactment. There must be a beating in the popular sense of the word. Reg. v. Hale, 2 C. & K. 326. new association has been most judiciously made, and we trust that the exertions of Beating a deer-keeper.-Pulling a deer-keeper the committee will be seconded by the pro- to the ground and holding him there while anfession in general. other Although a large number have subscribed their names, it is evidently important-towards giving all possible weight to the undertaking,-that the majority of the whole body should enrol themselves forthwith. Let there be no waiting for "the order of their coming, but come at once." BURGLARY. Dwelling-house.-On the trial of an indictment for a burglary, it appeared that adjoining It may be again mentioned, that this as- to the prosecutor's dwelling-house was a kiln, sociation is designed to unite the town and one end of which was supported by the end wall country solicitors. Their interests are the of the dwelling-house; and that adjoining to same, and they should act together. the kiln was a dairy, one end of which was supMoreover, important objects are to be ported by the end wall of the kiln. There was effected, not within the charter of the In-house to the dairy, and the roofs of the dwellno external communication from the dwellingcorporated Society, and some of the essen- house, kiln, and dairy were of different heights: tial means of effecting those objects can be Held, that the dairy was not a part of the pursued only by individual association. dwelling-house, and that a burglary could not be committed by breaking into it. Reg. v. Higgs, 2 C. & K. 322. Analytical Digest of Cases: Criminal Law. CORONER. See Manslaughter, 1. DEPOSITIONS. 1. Mode of taking.-It would be always desirable, when a person of weak intellect is examined before a magistrate in a case of felony, that the magistrate's clerk should take down in the depositions the questions put by the magistrate, and the answers given by the witness, as to the witness's capacity to take an oath. Reg. v. Painter, 2 C. & K. 319. 2. Deceased witness.-In order to make the depositions of a deceased witness admissible in evidence against a prisoner charged with a felony, such deposition need not have a separate caption. If there be a caption at the head of the body of the depositions taken in the case, that is sufficient. Reg. v. Johnson, 2 C. & K. 355. 3. Mode of taking.-On a charge of felony, the witnesses who make the depositions on which the prisoner is committed should be examined in the prisoner's presence, and he should hear all the questions put and answered; and if the magistrates' clerk, before the arrival of the magistrates and of the prisoner, examine the witnesses, and take down what they state, and when the magistrates and prisoner arrive the depositions so taken are read over to the witnesses in the presence of the magistrates and the prisoner, and the latter be asked whether he has any question to put to any of them, this is wrong. Reg. v. Johnson, 2 C. & K. 394. EMBEZZLEMENT. 1. Brewer's drayman.-A., a brewer, sent his drayman B. out with porter, with authority to sell it at fixed prices only. B. sold some of it to C. at an under price, and did not receive the money at the time. A. heard of this, and, unknown to B., told C. to pay B. the amount, which C. did, and B., when asked for it by A., denied the receipt of the money: Held to be sufficient evidence of embezzlement. Reg. v. Aston, 2 C. &. K. 413. 2. Treasurer to guardians under local poor act. -Appointment.-Stamp.-The treasurer to the guardians of the poor of Birmingham, appointed under the stat. 1 & 2 W. 4, c. lxvii, (local and · personal,) is a servant of the guardians, and as such is indictable for embezzlement. The appointment in writing of a person to be such treasurer, at a yearly salary, requires a stamp. But if such appointment be not receivable in evidence for want of a stamp, a recital in a bond executed by him is sufficient evidence of his appointment, and his duties may be shown from the clauses of the local act of parliament under which he is appointed. Reg. v. Welsh, 2 C. & K. 296. 295 does not render it inadmissible if the evidence be otherwise receivable. A. was indicted for wilfully setting fire to a rick, by firing a gun close to it, on the 29th of March: Held, that evidence that the rick was also on fire on the 28th of March, and that the prisoner was then close to it, having a gun in his hand, is receivable to show that the fire on the 29th was not accidental. Reg. v. Dossett, 2 C. & K. 306. 2. Transcripts of parish registers. In ejectment, it being proved by the rector of the parish of C., that no parish registers existed there of earlier date than 1733, the transcripts of the registers of that parish for 1705 and 1706, returned under the 70th canon of 1603, were produced by the registrar of the diocese from the bishop's registry, and received as evidence of a marriage in 1705, and a baptism in 1706, of persons through whom the lessor of the plaintiff traced his title. Doe d. Wood v. Wilkins, 2 C. & K. 328. 3. Admissions.-On a trial for murder by poisoning, statements made by the deceased in conversation shortly before the time at which the poison is supposed to have been adminis tered, are evidence to prove the state of his health at that time. Reg. v. Johnson, 2 C. & K. 354. 4. Proof of sentence at assizes.-The proper proof that a prisoner was in lawful custody under a sentence of imprisonment passed at the assizes, is by the proof of the record of his conviction; and neither the production of the calendar of the sentences, signed by the clerk of the assize, and by him delivered to the governor of the prison, nor the evidence of a person who heard sentence passed, is sufficient for this purpose. Reg. v. Bourdon, 2 C. & K. 366. See Depositions; False Imprisonment. FALSE IMPRISONMENT. Justification.- Felony. - Suspicion. — Evidence. - In an action for false imprisonment, the defendant pleaded that his goods had been stolen, and having cause to suspect the plaintiff of the felony, he gave her into custody, the plea stating several grounds of suspicion. The plaintiff called a policeman to prove that the defendant directed him to take the plaintiff into custody; and in his cross-examination the policeman said, that at the same time, and in the presence of the plaintiff, the defendant stated that the goods had been stolen, and also stated some of the grounds of suspicion mentioned in the plea: Held, that this was evidence for the jury to consider, and upon which they might find, that the felony had been committed; and that the defendant had good cause to suspect the plaintiff, if this evidence satisfied them that the facts really were so. Held also, that although in this plea the defendant ought to set out his grounds of suspicion, yet that he would be entitled to a verdict without proof of the whole of them, if he proved that a felony was in fact committed, and proved so much of the grounds of suspicion as 296 Analytical Digest of Cases; Criminal Law. satisfied the jury that he had reasonable cause to suspect the plaintiff. Williams y. Cresswell, 2 C. & K. 422. FORGERY. VRED DRA Seton HIGHWAY. Plea of guilty. Costs. If an indictment be preferred against the inhabitants of a parish under the Highway Act, 5 & 6 W. 4, c‹ 50, 8. will not direct the prosecutor's costs to be paid under that section, as the indictment was not tried before him. Reg, v. Inhabitants of Vow church, 2 C. & K. 393. i 2 1. Certificate of a pretended marriage, utter-95, and the defendants plead guilty, the judge ing.-If A. gives to B. a forged certificate of a pretended marriage between himself and B., in order that B. may give it to a third party, A. is not guilty of an "uttering" within the 11 G. 4, and W. 4, c. 66, s. 20. Reg. v. Heywood, 2 C. & K. 352. 2. Intent to defraud.-In a case of forgery it is not required, in order to constitute, in point of law, an intent to defraud, that the party committing the offence should have had present in his mind an intention to defraud a particular person, if the consequences of his act would necessarily or possibly be to defraud any person; but there must, at all events, be a possibility of some person being defrauded by the forgery. 4. was indicted for forging and uttering a deed of transfer of 10 shares in the London and Croydon Railway Company, with three to be transferred to W. B. The name of D. L. JURISDICTION.' See Bankrupt; Manslaughter, 1.. PALARCENY, Gotha stolen from an ancient poor's box fixed up in a 1. Poor's box. Property, Money was church. Held, that in an indictment for stealthe vicar and churchwardens, and that an ining it, the property would be properly laid in be that of "J. N. and others," J. N. being the dictment in which the property was stated to be the vicar, or the "others" to be the churchvicar, was correct, without alleging " J. N." to wardens. Reg. v. Wortley, 2 C. & K. 283. 2. Servant. Where a servant received the book in which the account of the money money from his master in order to pay the wages of certain work-people therewith, and in so paid was kept by the servant, entries were than the servant had actually disbursed, but found charging the master with more money there was no proof that he had ever delivered this account to the master: Held, that this did not amount to larceny in the servant. Reg, v. Butler, 2 C. & K. 310, sacks of oats, the property of J., from a vessel 3. Principal.-J. had employed M. to load was signed to all these deeds by A., without on to the trams of K., who was to convey them the authority or knowledge of D. L. On these on the trams to the warehouse of J. By preseven transfers there was a profit, which D. L. taken by M. from two of the sacks, and put into vious concert between M. and K. oats were refused to receive from A., and it did not appear that any further call on, these shares could a nose-bag in the absence of K., and hidden be made: Held, that on these facts, A. was en- and took the nose-bag and its contents from under a tram. K., returned in a few minutes titled to be acquitted, as neither the company, under the tram and took them away, M. being nor D. L., nor W. B. could be defrauded, then within 3 or 4 yards of him: Held, that Reg. v. Marcus, 2 C. & K. 356. 3. Undertaking for payment of money.—AK. was not a receiver; and that, as it was all both were principals in the larceny, and that forged instrument, by which the s makers of it, in consideration of goods to be and both had been present at some parts of the supposed one transaction, and both had concurred in it, sold to R. P., undertakes to guarantee to the vendor the due payment for all such goods so transaction, both could be convicted as printo be sold to R. P, but so that the supposed cipals in the larceny. Reg. v. Kelly, 2 C, & K. maker should not be liable beyond 10l., is a forged undertaking for the payment of money within the stat. 1 W. 4, c. 66, s. 3. Reg. V Stone, 2 C. & K. 364.b 7.7 4. Pretended authority to indorse per procuration.-E. W came to a banking house, and asked to have a bill discounted, stating that he came from Mr. Tomlinson, (who was known to the banker's clerk,) and on one of the bankers saying that Mr. Tomlinson h had not indorsed the bill, E. W. said that he would dorse it for him. The banker then wrote in the back of the bill, "Per procuration, Thomas Tomlinson," and the prisoner signed his name, E. W., to it. Held, not to be a forgery Reg. v. White, 2 C. & K. 404. 379 two 54, notes to Mrs. D., the wife of the post4. Taking-Felonious intent.-S. delivered master of C., at which post-office orders were the letter-carrier from C. to W., in order that not granted, and asked her to send them by G., he might get two 51. money orders at the W G., and put the notes by his desire into his post-office, Mrs. D. gave these instructions to bag Gafterwards took the notes out of the bag, and pretended when he got the W. post-office that he had lost them, I to as foun by the jury that G. had no intention to steal the notes when they were given to him by Mrs. Held, by the 15 judges, that this taking of the notes by G, was not a larceny, the notes, Analytical Digest of Cases: Criminal Law.. 1/ 297 not being in his possession in the course of his tion; and if it was his plain and ordinary duty duty as a post-office servant. Reg. v. Glass, to have caused an air-heading to have been 2 C & K. 395. made, and a man using reasonable diligence would have done it. It is no defence in a case of manslaughter that the death of the deceased was caused by the negligence of others, as well as by that of the prisoner; for, if the death of a deceased be caused partly by the negligence of the prisoner, and partly by the negligence of others, the prisoner and all those others are guilty of manslaughter. Reg. v. Haines, 2 C. & K. 368. 5. Servant of the post-office-The president of a department in the post-office put a halfsovereign into a letter, on which he wrote a fictitious address, and dropped the letter with the money in it into the letter-box of a postoffice receiving house where the prisoner was employed in the service of the post-office. The prisoner stole the letter and money: Held, that this was a stealing of a "post letter" containing money within the stat. 1 Vict. c. 36, s. 26. and that this was not the less a 66 'post letter" within that enactment because it had a fictitious address. Reg. v. Young, 2 C. & K. 466. LIBEL. 3. Jurisdiction of coroner-Inquisition.—In a case of manslaughter, the cause of the death, and the death occurred in the county of S., and the body was removed to the city of L.; the coroner of L. held the inquest, and J. E. was tried for the manslaughter on the inquisition: Semble, that the inquest was properly held under the stat. 6 & 7 Vict. c. 12, although that statute is a little obscurely worded. Reg. v. Ellis, 2 C, & K. 470. 11, Privileged communication.Church discipline act.-A letter written to a bishop, informing him of a report current in a parish of his diocese, that the incumbent of a district in that parish had collared the schoolmaster, and that 4. Indictment An indictment against a mea fight ensued between them, is a privileged dical practitioner charged that he made divers communication if such letter was written to the assaults on the deceased, (a patient,) and apbishop honestly, to call his attention to a rumour in the parish which was bringing scandal on the church, and not from any malicious motive; and it is not material that the writer of the letter did not live in the district, to the incumbent of which the letter refers. James v. Boston, 2 C. & K. 4. See Lake v. King, 1 Wms. Saund. 130; Gathercole v. Myall, Exch. 21 Apl. 1846. 2. Queen's counsel. — License to plead.-On the trial of a criminal information, a Queen's Counsel ought not to be of counsel for the defendant without a license from the Queen, or at the least a letter from the Secretary of State; and it is not enough that an application for a license has been sent to the Secretary of State from an assize town in the country, to which no answer has been received at the time of the case being tried. Reg. v. Bartlett, 2 C. & K. 321. MANSLAUGHTER. 4. Negligence. — Ventilation of a mine. Where an engineer, who had charge of an engine which was worked for the purpose of keeping up a supply of pure air in a mine neglected his duty, so that the engine stopped and the mine thereby became charged with foul air, which afterwards exploded and caused the death of one of the miners: Held, that in such a case the engineer could not be convicted of manslaughter on an indictment which did not allege a duty in him which he had neglected to perform. Reg. v. Barrett, 2 C. & K. 343. plied wet cloths to his body, and caused him to be put into baths: Held, that this was a proper mode of laying the offence, although all that was done was by the consent of the deceased; and that an indictment need not charge an undertaking to perform a cure, and a feloni ous breach of duty. Reg. v, Ellis, 2 C. & K. 470. 5. Indictment. An indictment for manslaughter charged, that J. E. caused R. D. to become mortally sick, of which mortal sickness, especially of a mortal congestion of the lungs and heart, occasioned by the means aforesaid, he died: Held, that this properly charged a death from a mortal congestion caused by those means, Reg. v. Ellis, 2 C. & K. 470. MURDER. Indictment.-Verdict.-Two prisoners were indicted for murder. The 1st count of the indictment charged, that P. D. and C. P., on, &c,, at, &c., in and upon one W. C., did make an assault, and that P. D. with a gun shot W. C., giving him a mortal wound, &c., of which he died, and that C. P. was feloniously present aiding and abetting; and so the jurors, &c., do say, that the said P. D. and C. P, feloniously, &c., did murder W. C. The 2nd count charged, that both the prisoners "afterwards, to wit, upon the same day, in the year aforesaid, with force and arms, at the parish aforesaid, in and upon the said W. C, did nake an assault," and that C. P. with a gun shot W. C., giving him a mortal wound of which he 2. Negligence. Ventilation of a mine. If it died; and so, &c. P. D. and C. P. did murder be the duty of a person, as ground bailiff of a the said W. C. The jury found both the primine, to cause the mine to be properly venti soners guilty, but were not satisfied which fired lated by causing air-headings to be put up the gun: Held, that the conviction was right; where necessary, and by reason of his omission and that as each count was good, and the same in this respect another be killed by an explosion evidence would support either count, it was not of fire-damp, such person is guilty of man-essential that the jury should find, which of the slaughter; if, by such omission, he was guilty prisoners fired the gun, Reg, v. Downing, 2 of a want of ordinary and reasonable precau C, & K. 382. ھے |