demeanor in a court room during the progress of a trial, lies at the very foundation of the administration of justice. Without it there can be no law and no justice, for if the law will not authorize the means necessary to insure its observance and proper administration, it must remain a dead letter. This inherent power to preserve order and respect for the court when in session is independent of any statute, and exists in every court from the highest to the lowest. From this action of the court in summarily preserving order and inflicting such punishment as is necessary for that purpose, there is no appeal nor remedy outside of the court making the sentence; unless it be by appeal to the pardoning power, which would interfere only in the grossest case. When, however, a court undertakes by process of contempt to punish a man for refusing to obey an order which the court had no power to make, the contempt order is as void as the original, and the prisoner will be released on habeas corpus from a superior court. But in matters that arise at a distance, and of which the court cannot have so perfect a knowledge, unless by the confession of the party or the testimony of others, if the judges see sufficient ground by affidavit or otherwise to suspect that a contempt has been committed, they either make an order that the suspected party show cause why an attachment should not issue against him; or, in very flagrant cases of contempt, the attachment may issue in the first instance, with opportunity to obtain discharge on cause shown; and upon the hearing the court either discharges the rule, makes it absolute, or modifies it as the case may require.

CHAPTER XII.

TREASON AND PIRACY.

§ 183. Treason. In the early days of the common law trials for treason occupied a prominent place; but with the advance of civilization and political liberty, such prosecutions have become almost unknown. In this country the United States Constitution declares that "treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court" (1). There have been only a few prosecutions for treason in the whole history of this country, of which the most celebrated was the trial of Aaron Burr.

§ 184. Piracy. Piracy is robbery or forcible depredation on the high seas without lawful authority, the same offense which would be highway robbery if committed on land, perpetrated in general hostility to all mankind, and is an offense against the laws of nations, punishable by any government which may apprehend the criminals. The common idea of a pirate is one who roves the sea in an armed vessel, on his own authority, without commission from any government, for the purpose of seizing by force

and appropriating to himself, without discrimination, any vessel he meets. The crime may also be committed by the crew or passengers on any vessel by violently dispossessing the master and then carrying away the vessel or any of the goods on it. The development of modern commerce, the rapidity of communication, the vigilance of the commercial nations, and the immense floating citadels that carry the ocean commerce of today, have practically put an end to the roving pirate, who could neither equip and secretly man a craft able to cope with modern great ships; nor if he could take them could he escape with his plunder before he in turn would be captured and executed.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

BY

JOHN FICKEY GEETING,
LL. B. (Union College of Law)

Editor of American Criminal Reports.

§ 1. Introduction. To trace the development of our system of precedure to its present stage would be a task too extensive for this brief article. We may assume that the earliest organized human society had laws, written or unwritten, for the suppression of crime,and that, whether by custom, judicial precedent, or legislation, systems of procedure gradually developed, crude, but having rules acknowledged and followed. Many of these were unjust, arbitrary, or cruel, and although their vicious features are now abandoned, yet they have generally left an imprint on succeeding systems.

The Saxons brought to England laws which were the result of many centuries of development on the continent.