Explanations.

1. CRIMES, TREASONS, FELONIES, MISDEMEANORS.

Crime is a violation or disregard of a public law, comprehending every species of delinquency cognizable by the judges and magistracy, under the legal description of Treason, Felonies, and Misde

meanors.

Treason includes not only offences directed against the person and authority of the sovereign, but also those crimes whose aim is, by alarming confederacies, the intimidation of established power, the forcible redress of public grievances, or the alteration of the laws and institutions of the State. It formerly consisted of two degrees, High Treason and Petty Treason. The latter offence was designated by Lord Coke as "murder and more;" it was, however, merely murder, aggravated by the relation subsisting between the murderer and the victim, such as that of servant and master, or wife and husband, which was supposed to give the crime the depravity of a breach of menial or nuptial allegiance. This distinction causing much embarrassment in judicial procedure, and not being founded on any substantive difference, has been abolished, and petty treason assimilated in all respects to murder.

The punishment of treason is death, with certain discretionary additions; forfeiture of real and personal estate; corruption of blood; or the lesser infliction of penal servitude for life, or not less than three years; or imprisonment for not less than two years.

Felony includes the higher class of offences, as murder, rape, burglary, arson; and may be either capital or not. Capital felonies prior to late mitigations were punishable with death; they are now, with the exception of murder, punishable by penal servitude for life, or not less than three years, or imprisonment above two years, with or without hard labour or solitary confinement to which, unless the offender be a female, whipping may be added. Minor felonies are punishable by penal servitude for fourteen, seven, or shorter term of years, or imprisonment not above two years, to which, if a male under sixteen years of age, whipping may be added. The repetition of a felony is in most cases liable to an aggravated punishment.

Private persons may arrest felons by a warrant from a justice of peace, or even by their own authority, and are bound to assist a peace officer in taking them into custody.

Misdemeanor is generally used in contradistinction to felony, and comprehends all offences which do not amount to felony; as perjury, battery, libel, conspiracy, attempts and solicitations to commit felonies, and various injuries to property from a spirit of wantonness or revenge. Every infringement of a statute which either prohibits a matter of public grievance, or commands an ob

servance of public convenience, though no penalty be mentioned in the statute, is a misdemeanor.

The punishment of misdemeanor is penal servitude for life, or shorter period, fine or imprisonment, or both, to which last hard labour, solitary confinement, or whipping, may, in many cases, be added.

The chief distinction subsisting between felony and misdemeanor was, till lately, that the former occasioned a total forfeiture of lands or goods, or both, at the common law; and to which capital or other punishment might be added, according to the degree of guilt. But it is proper to observe, that although forfeiture was an inseparable adjunct to felony, yet forfeiture of land only ensued where the punishment was capital; so that petty larceny, being a minor felony, did not occasion forfeiture of lands: every species of felony, however, was followed by forfeiture of goods and personal chattels.

The law, however, has been lately altered, and the 33 & 34 V. c. 23, now provides that from and after the passing of the Act no confession, verdict, inquest, conviction, or judgment of or for any treason or felony, or felo de se, shall cause any attainder or corruption of blood, or any forfeiture or escheat, provided that nothing in the Act shall affect the law of forfeiture consequent upon outlawry. But conviction for treason or felony is to be a disqualification for certain offices, &c. Persons convicted of treason or felony may be condemned in costs. Compensation is given to persons defrauded or injured by felony. A convict is disabled to sue for or to alienate property. The Crown may appoint administrators of any convict's property. Convicts' property is to vest in administrators on their appointment. Remuneration is provided for administrators, and they may let, mortgage, or sell the property, as they think fit. Administrator to pay out of property costs of prosecution and costs of executing the Act. Administrators may pay out of property, debts or liabilities of convict. Administrators may make compensation out of property to persons defrauded by criminal acts of convict. Administrators may make allowances out of property for support of family of convict. Subject as aforesaid, the property is to be preserved for convict, and to revert to him or his representatives on completion of sentence, pardon, or death. Administrators are not to be liable except for what they receive. If no administrator is appointed an interim curator may be appointed by justices of the peace. Proceedings may be taken to make administrator or interim curator accountable to convict when property reverts. Any property of convict acquired while lawfully at large is not to be subject to the operation of the Act.

The right of peremptory challenge by the accused, of jurors on trial, that is, the right of challenging, at mere pleasure, without assigning any cause, which exists in cases of treason and felony, is a peculiarity that distinguishes these classes of crimes from misde

meanors; and the right to challenge peremptorily to the number of thirty-five jurors in case of treason, and to the number of twenty only in cases of felony, is a distinguishing feature between treasons and felonies.

A difference between felony and misdemeanor till lately existed as to the right of restitution of stolen property; in felony the owner was entitled to the restitution of stolen goods, but not in misdemeanor. But this anomaly was removed by the 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, and the new act on larceny. The 24 & 25 V. c. 96, s. 100, provides, that of all property stolen or obtained by extorting, embezzling, converting, or disposing of, the owner, on prosecuting the thief or receiver to conviction, shall be entitled, by award of the court, before whom a felony or misdemeanor has been tried, to a restitution of his property. It is imperative on the court by writ, or in a more summary mode, to order restitution to the owner or his representative. In the case of summary convictions for theft of offenders under fourteen years of age, the justices, by the 10 & 11 V. c. 67, may order the restitution of stolen property.

The distinction between offences that are indictable, or subject to summary jurisdiction, forms a concluding noticeable division of crime. Besides treason, felonies, and misdemeanors, which are prosecuted by indictment and trial by jury, there is a numerous class of misdemeanors which are subject to the summary adjudication, without indictment or jury, of the magistracy, including, among others, petty thefts by juveniles, offences against the game laws, breaches of the peace, and disputes on wages.

By 8 & 9 V. c. 114, persons charged with, or indicted for, any felony or misdemeanor, and against whom no bill is found by the grand jury, or who on their trial have been acquitted or discharged by proclamation for want of prosecution, are no longer liable to the payment of any fee for their appearance under the accusations against them. Certain fees beretofore payable out of the county rates to clerks of assize, or clerks of the peace, are also discontinued.

II. TRANSPORTATION AND PENAL SERVITUDE.

By 10 & 11 V. c. 67, persons under sentence of transportation may be removed to any prison or penitentiary in Great Britain. The difficulty of finding colonies for the transport of offenders has rendered it necessary in certain cases to substitute other punishments; and by 16 & 17 V. c. 99, in lieu of transportation, penal servitude is substituted in the following proportions:-Instead of transportation for seven years, or not exceeding seven years, penal servitude for four years; instead of any term of transportation exceeding seven years, and not exceeding ten years, penal servitude for not less than four and not exceeding six years; instead of any term of transportation exceeding ten years, and not exceeding

fifteen years, penal servitude for not less than six and not exceeding eight years; instead of any term of transportation exceeding fifteen years, penal servitude for not less than six and not exceeding ten years; instead of transportation for life, penal servitude for life.

By s. 5, conditional pardons may be allowed with reference to the substituted punishments, as in cases of pardons on condition of transportation. Former acts concerning convicts sentenced to transportation made applicable to the purposes of this act. By s. 9, the crown may grant licenses, or tickets of leave, to convicts to be at large in the United Kingdom, or Channel Islands, or in part of the same. Licenses may be revoked and the convict apprehended.

By 20 & 21 V. c. 3, sentences of transportation are abolished, and in lieu of such sentences penal servitude of proportionate duration is to be substituted. Provisions of the act concerning transported offenders to apply to offenders under penal servitude. Persons under sentence of penal servitude may, during the term of their sentence, be conveyed to any place beyond the seas to which offenders under sentence of transportation might be conveyed, and the acts relative to transports to be applicable to them. Magistrates may recommit convicts whose licenses are revoked to any convict prison. In the acts passed prior to this statute the term transportation in some cases has been retained, and for which the equivalent term of penal servitude under the 16 & 17 V. c. 99 must be understood.

The preceding acts are amended by 27 & 28 V. c. 47, and no person sentenced to penal servitude for any offence committed after 1864 to be sentenced for a period of less than five years, and where under any act in force a period of less than five years is the utmost sentence of penal servitude that can be awarded, a period of five years shall be substituted for the less period; and where a period of either less or more than five years may be awarded, the least sentence shall be a period of five years. A former conviction for felony makes the least term of penal servitude seven years.

The conditions imposed on the holder of a license are, that he shall abstain from any violation of the law; shall not habitually associate with notoriously bad characters, as reputed thieves and prostitutes; shall not lead an idle and dissolute life; and if his license is revoked in consequence of a conviction for any offence, he will be liable to undergo a term of penal servitude equal to that unexpired when the license was granted. As the act has been interpreted by the Home Secretary to the Judges, steady and laborious industry alone, not general good conduct, can obtain any remission of the assigned punishment. See further, 32 & 33 V. c. 99.

III. JUVENILE AND OTHER OFfenders.

For the more speedy trial of juvenile offenders, and to avoid the evils of their long imprisonment before trial, it is enacted by 10 & 11 V. c. 82, that persons not exceeding fourteen years of age, guilty of any theft that the law considers simple larceny, or aiding in its commission, may be summarily convicted by two justices, and sentenced to imprisonment for not exceeding three calendar months, with or without hard labour, or to forfeit any sum not exceeding £3; and, if a male, shall be once privately whipped, either instead of or in addition to such punishment; or the whipping may be inflicted by a constable out of prison. Justices may dismiss the accused, if they deem it expedient not to inflict any punishment, with or without sureties for future good behaviour, giving the accused a certificate of such dismission as a bar to future proceedings. One police justice of the metropolis, or stipendiary magistrate elsewhere, has jurisdiction under this act. Justices may order restitution of stolen property.

The provisions of this act are extended by 13 & 14 V. c. 37, to juvenile offenders whose age does not exceed sixteen years; but offenders above fourteen not to be liable to the punishment of whipping. Justices acting under these acts are required to ask the accused if they wish the charge to be tried by a jury; if either accused or parents object to a summary conviction, justices to proceed with the case as before the passing of the acts.

By 25 V. c. 18, where the punishment of whipping is awarded for any offence by order of one or more justices, or in Scotland by the court of justiciary, or by any sheriff or magistrate, the conviction shall specify the number of strokes to be inflicted and the instrument to be used; and in the case of an offender whose age does not exceed fourteen years, the number of strokes not to exceed twelve, and the instrument used to be a birch rod. No offender to be whipped more than once for the same offence, and in Scotland no offender above sixteen years of age to be whipped for theft, or for crime committed against person or property.

IV. REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

The 17 & 18 V. c. 86, is intended to render more extensive the use of the Reformatory Schools for the better moral training of juvenile offenders which have been established in Britain, and are supported by voluntary contributions. Upon application to the home secretary from any such institution, an inspector of prisons will be directed to report on its rules and management, and if approved, it will be certified by the secretary to be a reformatory school, under the meaning of the act.