14 & 15 Vict. c. 100.

Venue in the margin sufficient except where local description is necessary.

What defects shall not vitiate an indictment.

Formal

objections to indictment shall be taken before jury

verdict upon such trial, and to direct such person to be indicted for felony, in which case such person may be dealt with in all respects as if he had not been put upon his trial for such misdemeanor.

23 It shall not be necessary to state any venue in the body of any indictment, but the county, city, or other jurisdiction named in the margin thereof shall be taken to be the venue for all the facts stated in the body of such indictment; provided that in cases where local description is or hereafter shall be required, (x) such local description shall be given in the body of the indictment, and provided also that where an indictment for an offence committed in the county of any city or town corporate shall be preferred at the assizes of the adjoining county, such county of the city or town shall be deemed the venue, and may either be stated in the margin of the indictment, with or without the name of the county in which the offender is to be tried, or be stated in the body of the indictment by way of venue.

24 No indictment for any offence shall be held insufficient for want of the averment of any matter unnecessary to be proved, nor for the omission of the words " as appears by the record," or of the words "with force and arms," or of the words "against the peace," nor for the insertion of the words "against the form of the statute," instead of "against the form of the statutes,” or vice versâ, nor for that any person mentioned in the indictment is designated by a name of office, or other descriptive appellation, instead of his proper name, nor for omitting to state the time at which the offence was committed in any case where time is not of the essence of the offence, nor for stating the time imperfectly, nor for stating the offence to have been committed on a day subsequent to the finding of the indictment, or on an impossible day, or on a day that never happened, nor for want of a proper or perfect venue, nor for want of a proper or formal conclusion, nor for want of or imperfection in the addition of any defendant, nor for want of the statement of the value or price of any matter or thing, or the amount of damage, injury or spoil, in any case where the value or price, or the amount of damage, injury, or spoil, is not of the essence of the offence.

25 Every objection to any indictment for any formal defect apparent on the face thereof shall be taken, by demurrer or motion to quash such indictment, before the jury shall be sworn, and not afterwards; and every Court before which any such objection shall be taken for any formal defect may, if it be thought necessary, cause the indictment to be forthwith amended in such particular by some officer of the Court or other person, and thereupon the trial shall formal defect. proceed as if no such defect had appeared.

are sworn.

Court may amend any

(x) For cases in which local description is required, see Arch

bold's Crim nal Pleading, 22nd ed., p. 60.

VEXATIOUS INDICTMENTS ACT, 1859.

22 & 23 VICT. C. 17.

1(y) After the first day of September One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, no bill of indictment for any of the offences following,

viz.:

Perjury,

Subornation of perjury,

Conspiracy,

Obtaining money or other property by false pretences,
Keeping a gambling house,

Keeping a disorderly house, and

Any indecent assault,(z)

shall be presented to or found by any grand jury, unless the prosecutor or other person presenting such indictment has been bound by recognizance to prosecute or give evidence against the person accused of such offence, or unless the person accused has been committed to or detained in custody, or has been bound by recognizance to appear to answer to an indictment to be preferred against him for such offence, or unless such indictment for such offence, if charged to have been committed in England, be preferred by the direction or with the consent in writing of a judge of one of the Superior Courts of Law at Westminster, or of Her Majesty's Attorney-General or Solicitor-General for England, or unless such indictment for such offence, if charged to have been committed in Ireland, be preferred by direction or with the consent in writing of a judge of one of the Superior Courts of Law in Dublin, or of Her Majesty's Attorney-General or Solicitor-General for Ireland, or (in the case of an indictment for perjury) by the direction of any Court, judge, or public functionary authorised by an Act of the Session holden in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her Majesty, chapter one hundred, to direct a prosecution for perjury.

2 That where any charge or complaint shall be made before any one or more of Her Majesty's justices of the peace that any

(y) This section is amended by 30 & 31 Viet. c. 35, s. 1, which provides that nothing in this section shall prevent (1) a bill of indictment containing counts for any of the offences mentioned above, if the counts are such as may be lawfully joined with the rest of the indictment, and are in the opinion of the Court founded upon the facts disclosed in the depositions; (2) the presentment of any indictment, provided such indictment is presented

with the consent of the Court.before
which the same may be preferred.
(z) To these offences others have
subsequently been added, and
amongst these are all misdemeanors
under the Criminal Law Amend
ment Act, 48 & 49 Vict. c. 69 (see
sec. 17 of that Act, ante, p. 178),
and all misdemeanors under the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Acts, 1894 and 1904 (see sec. 25 of
the latter Act, ante, p. 86).

22 & 23 Vict. c. 17.

person has committed any of the offences aforesaid within the jurisdiction of such justice, and such justice shall refuse to commit or to bail the person charged with such offence to be tried for the same, then in case the prosecutor shall desire to prefer an indictment respecting the said offence, it shall be lawful for the said justice and he is hereby required (a) to take the recognizance of such prosecutor to prosecute the said charge or complaint, and to transmit such recognizance, information, and depositions, if any, to the Court in which such indictment ought to be preferred, in the same manner as such justice would have done in case he had committed the person charged to be tried for such offence.

Regulation as to the whipping of juvenile offenders.

Restriction as
to whippings
in Scotland,
&c.

WHIPPING ACT, 1862.

25 & 26 VICT. c. 18.

1 When the punishment of whipping is awarded for any offence by order of one or more justice or justices made in exercise of his or their power of summary conviction, or in Scotland by the Court of Justiciary, or by any sheriff or magistrate, the order, sentence, or conviction awarding such punishment shall specify the number of strokes to be inflicted and the instrument to be used in the infliction of them, and in the case of an offender whose age does not exceed fourteen years, the number of strokes inflicted shall not exceed twelve, and the instrument used shall be a birch rod.

2. No offender shall be whipped more than once for the same offence, and in Scotland no offender above sixteen years of age shall be whipped for theft, or for crime committed against the person or property.

As to care of children of

women convicted of crimes.

PREVENTION OF CRIMES ACT, 1871.

34 & 35 VICT. C. 112.

14 Where any woman is convicted of a crime,(b) and a previous conviction of a crime is proved against her, any children (c) of such

(a) But, if no indictable offence is disclosed in the information, a justice has a discretion to refuse to take the recognizance of the prosecutor (Ex parte Wason, L. R. 4 Q. B. 573).

(b) "Crime" is defined by sec. 20 as meaning, in England and Ireland, any felony, or the offence of uttering false or counterfeit coin, or of possessing counterfeit gold or

silver coin, or the offence of obtain ing goods or money by false pretences, or the offence of conspiracy to defraud or any misdemeanor under 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, 8. 58.

(c) The child of a female prisoner may be received into prison with its mother providing it is at the breast; an authority from the committing magistrate should accompany the prisoner on reception.

woman under the age of fourteen years who may be under her care 34 & 35 Vict. and control at the time of her conviction for the last of such crimes, c. 112. and who have no visible means of subsistence, or are without proper guardianship, shall be deemed to be children to whom in Great Britain the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, (d) and in Ireland the provisions of the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act, 1868, apply, and the Court by whom such woman is convicted, or two justices or a magistrate, shall have the same power of ordering such children to be sent to a certified industrial school as is vested in two justices or a magistrate by the fourteenth section of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and by the eleventh section of the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act, 1868, in respect of the children in the said sections described.

SUMMARY JURISDICTION ACT, 1879.

42 & 43 VICT. c. 49.

8 Where a fine adjudged by a conviction by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction to be paid does not exceed five shillings, then, except so far as the Court may think fit to expressly order otherwise, an order shall not be made for payment by the defendant to the informant of any costs; (e) and the Court shall, except so far as they think fit to expressly order otherwise, direct all fees payable or paid by the informant to be remitted or repaid to him; the Court may also order the fine or any part thereof to be paid to the informant in or towards the payment of his costs.

a

9 (1) Where a recognizance is conditioned for the appearance of a person before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, or for his doing some other matter or thing to be done in, to, or before Court of Summary Jurisdiction, or in a proceeding in a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, such Court, if the said recognizance appears to the Court to be forfeited, may declare the recognizance to be forfeited, and enforce payment of the sum due under such recognizance in the same manner as if the sum were a fine adjudged by

Before

When the child is nine months old,
the prison surgeon is to report
whether it should be retained; but
except under special circumstances
no child is to be kept in prison
after twelve months of age.
the discharge of any such child, the
governor is to ascertain from the
relations whether they are willing,
and in a position to receive it; in
the event of their being unable to

do so, he is to cause it to be sent to
the workhouse of the union in which
the woman was apprehended (Prison
Rules, 1899, r. 19).

(d) 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118, ante,
p. 139.

(e) Where a child or young person is ordered to pay costs this provision is modified by sec. 3 of the Youthful Offenders Act, 1901 Edw. 7, c. 20, post, p. 244.

Provision as to

costs in the case of small

fines.

Enforcing of recognizances by Court of Summary Jurisdiction.

42 & 43 Vict. c. 49.

Summary trial of children for indictable offences, unless

such Court to be paid which the statute provides no means of enforcing, and were ascertained by a conviction :

Provided that at any time before the sale of goods under a warrant of distress for the said sum, the said Court of Summary Jurisdiction, or any other Court of Summary Jurisdiction for the same county, borough or place, may cancel or mitigate the forfeiture, upon the person liable applying, and giving security to the satisfaction of the Court for the future performance of the condition of the recognizance, and paying or giving security for payment of the costs incurred in respect of the forfeiture, or upon such other conditions as the Court may think just.

(2) Where a recognizance conditioned to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour, or not to do or commit some act or thing, has been entered into by any person as principal or surety before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, that Court or any other Court of Summary Jurisdiction acting for the same county, borough, or place, upon proof of the conviction of the person bound as principal by such recognizance of any offence which is in law a breach of the condition of the same, may by conviction adjudge such recognizance to be forfeited, and adjudge the persons bound thereby, whether as principal or sureties, or any of such persons, to pay the sums for which they are respectively bound.

(3) Except where a person seeking to put in force a recognizance to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour, by notice in writing requires such recognizance to be transmitted to a Court of General or Quarter Sessions, the recognizances to which this section applies shall be dealt with in manner in this section mentioned, and, notwithstanding any enactment to the contrary, shall not be transmitted nor shall the forfeiture thereof be certified, to general or quarter sessions.

(4) All sums paid in respect of a recognizance declared or adjudged by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction in pursuance of this section to be forfeited shall be paid to the clerk of such Court, and shall be paid and applied by him in the manner in which fines imposed by such Court in respect of which fines no special appropriation is made, are payable and applicable.

10 (1) Where a child (ƒ) is charged before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction with any indictable offence other than homicide, the Court, if they think it expedient so to do, and if the parent or objected to by guardian (g) of the child so charged, when informed by the Court

parent or guardian.

(f) By sec. 49 the expression "child" is defined as meaning "a person who in the opinion of the Court before whom he is brought is under the age of twelve years"; and see sub-sec. (5) of this section.

(g) "Guardian" is defined id, as

meaning in relation to a child, "any person who, in the opinion of the Court having cognizance of any case in which a child is concerned, has for the time being the charge of or control over such child."