ADDENDA TO THE FIRST VOLUME. - SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. The punishment of solitary confinement having fallen into disuetude, the sections relating to it (7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 28, s. 9, and 1 Vict. c. 90, see p. 66; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 119, c. 97, s. 75, c. 98, s. 53, c. 99, s. 40, and c. 100, s. 70, see p. 83; and 1 Vict. c. 91, s. 2, see p. 258) have been repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1893, 56 & 57 Vict. c. 54. The power to give it as an additional punishment contained in many sections of the Consolidation Acts has also been repealed by the same statute. The Penal Servitude Act, 1891 (see p. 79), having provided that in all cases where a sentence of penal servitude may be awarded, a period of not less than three years and not more than five years, or any longer period fixed by the special enactment, may be given, or, in lieu thereof, imprisonment for not more than two years, with or without hard labour; the provisions to this effect in the Coining Act, 24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, and the other Consolidation Acts, have been repealed, as also the words, 'at the discretion of the Court' in several sections, by the Statute Law Revision Acts, 1892 and 1893. P. 18, note a. The 56 & 57 Vict. c. 23, has been repealed and substantially re-enacted by 57 & 58 Vict. c. 21. Pp. 18, 19. The 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, and the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, and the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 124, are repealed by the Merchant Shipping Consolidation Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60), and substantially re-enacted by secs. 684-687. By sec. 689, power is given to a British consular officer to detain any master, seaman, or apprentice employed on any British ship, on complaint that any offence against property or person has been committed by him, at any place, ashore or afloat, out of Her Majesty's dominions or on the high seas, and may send him in custody to the United Kingdom or to any British possession, in which there is a court capable of taking cognizance of his offence. P. 154. R. v. Lord Mayor of London, 16 Q. B. D. 772, not 18 Q. B. D. 772. P. 206. Where an accused person, summoned before justices in respect of an offence triable summarily, elects, under sec. 17 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, to be tried by a jury, the subsequent procedure before justices is the same as that which is applicable to the case of indictable offences, and not that applicable to summary proceedings. The accused person may therefore be committed to take his trial in respect of any indictable offence disclosed by the depositions, and, in cases not falling within the Vexatious Indictments Act, or in which the operation of that Act is limited by 30 & 31 Vict. c. 35, s. 1, counts may be added to the indictment in respect of any indictable offence disclosed by the depositions, although the accused was not summoned before the justices in respect of such offence. R. v. Brown, (1895), 1 Q. B. 119. P. 315. All false statements wilfully and corruptly made by a witness as to matters which affect his credit are material, and he is liable to be convicted of perjury in respect of them. So where a person charged with selling beer without a licence, falsely swore that, when previously convicted of a similar offence, he had not authorised his solicitor to plead guilty, it was held that such a statement was material, as it affected his character as a witness, and that he was rightly convicted of perjury. R. v. Baker, (1895), 1 Q. B. 797. The case was not argued, and is therefore not entirely satisfactory. It would seem, however, that evidence was called on the second charge of selling beer without a licence, which shewed that the defendant had authorised his solicitor to plead guilty on the previous occasion, and therefore the defendant's denial that he had done so was material and relevant to the issue as affecting the defendant's credit as a witness. It is difficult to see otherwise how such a statement could be material, as the previous conviction itself could only affect the punishment, and not the second charge. P. 324. By the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 41), sec. 15, power is given to receive the unsworn evidence of a child of tender years in any proceeding for certain offences therein named (see Vol. III.), and by subsec. (b) 'Any child whose evidence is received as aforesaid, and who shall wilfully give false evidence, shall be liable to be indicted and tried for such offence, and on conviction thereof may be adjudged such punishment as is provided for by sec. 11 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879.' The effect of this section is to give the Court power to order the child, if convicted, either to pay a fine not exceeding £10, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for not more than three months, or if the child is a boy, and in the opinion of the Court under fourteen years of age, to be whipped with not more than twelve strokes of a birch rod. P. 444. -The 46 & 47 Vict. c. 41, is repealed by 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60. P. 455. By the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c. 40), sec. 1: 'Any person who, or the directors of any body or association corporate which, before or during any parliamentary election shall, for the purpose of affecting the return of a candidate at such election, make or publish any false statement of fact in relation to the personal character or conduct of such candidate, shall be guilty of an illegal practice within the meaning of the provisions of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, and shall be subject to all the penalties for the consequences of committing an illegal practice in the said Act mentioned, and the said Act shall be taken to be amended as if the illegal practice defined by this Act had been contained therein. 6 Sec. 2. No person shall be deemed to be guilty of such illegal practice if he can shew that he had reasonable grounds for believing, and did believe, the statement made by him to be true. 'Any person charged with an offence under this Act, and the husband or wife of such person, as the case may be, shall be competent to give evidence in answer to such charge.' By the principal Act, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 10, an illegal practice is punishable on summary conviction, but an appeal lies, by sec. 54, to Quarter Sessions. P. 648, note to sec. 5 of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 96. An indictment charged the defendant with unlawfully' publishing a defamatory libel, but omitted to aver that it was published 'maliciously'; the Court (Lord Russell, C. J., Pollock, B., Wills, Charles, and Lawrance, JJ.) held the indictment to be good on the ground that the section merely fixed the punishment to be awarded to an existing common-law offence, and that as in an indictment for the common-law offence an averment of malice was unnecessary, the section did not make it so. R. v. Munslow, (1895), 1 Q. B. 758; see R. v. Harvey, 2 B. & C. 257, ante, 643; Bromage v. Prosser, 4 B. & C. 247; Lord Russell, C. J., and Charles, J., also thought that if the absence of the word was a defect, it was cured by the verdict. P. 746. In order to convict on an indictment under 16 & 17 Vict. c. 119, s. 1, it is unnecessary to prove that persons have physically resorted to the premises; and the offence may be proved by shewing that the house was opened and advertised as a betting house, although no proof is given that any person actually resorted to it. But when the only evidence offered is that persons did resort to the house for the purpose of betting, it is insufficient to shew that letters and telegrams were sent there by persons wishing to bet; but an actual physical resorting must be proved. R. v. Brown, (1895), 1 Q. B. 119. P. 746, add to note (s). a bona fide club make bets son, (1895), 2 Q. B. 203. VOL. I. 62 The section does not apply where members of with each other in the club. Downes v. John P. 746, add to note (t). — If a man uses the bar of a public house for the purpose of meeting with persons with whom he intends to bet, he is guilty of an offence under the section, although the actual money is always handed over to him outside the house. R. v. Worton, (1895), 1 Q. B. 227. INDEX ΤΟ THE FIRST VOLUME. A. ABANDONING CHILDREN, 196. ABATEMENT, pleas in, 38. of nuisance, 755. undue, of price of native commodities, indictable, 476. the same person may be such accessory, and also a principal, 170. but not so chargeable in one indictment, 170 n. how he differs from a principal in the second degree, 171. if a man be indicted as, he cannot be convicted on evidence of his after an acquittal on such objection, he may be indicted as description of, in different statutes, 171. if a person be present, he is not an accessory but a principal, 171, 172 n. he who procures a felony to be done is a felon, 172. in what crimes there may be, 172. in murder, 172. See MURDER. in manslaughter, 172. in forgery, 173. cannot be in a misdemeanor, 174. in misdemeanors all are principals, 174. felonies created by statute, 174. accessorius sequitur naturam principalis sui, 174. how far an accessory is implicated when the principal varies from the when he commits a different crime, 175. when the accessory repents and countermands the principal, 176. accessory before the fact to felo de se was not triable, 185. indictment against accessory before conviction of principal, 186. joinder of counts in indictment against accessories, 186. |