[this inquisition, and may dispute the truth of it: which brings it to a kind of indictment, the most usual and effectual means of prosecution, and into which we will therefore inquire a little more minutely.

II. An indictment is a written accusation of one or more persons of a felony or misdemeanor, preferred to, and presented upon oath by, a grand jury (f). To this end the sheriff of every county is] directed by a precept, issued for the purpose, [to return to every session of the peace, and every commission of oyer and terminer, and of general gaol delivery, twenty-four good and loyal men of the county (g), -to inquire into, present, do, and execute all those things which, on the part of] our lady the queen, [shall then and there be commanded them (h).] At the sessions of the peace, their qualification is further regulated by stat. 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 1, and is the same as required for common jurors in the trial of civil causes (i). At courts of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery, their qualification is not absolutely defined by law: [they ought to be freeholders, but to what amount is uncertain (j). However, they are usually gentlemen of the best figure in the county (k). As many as appear upon this panel are sworn upon the grand jury, to the amount of twelve at the least, and not more than twenty-three, that twelve may be a majority (1). Which number, as well as the constitution itself, we find exactly described so early as the laws of King Ethelred (m):— "Exeant seniores duodecim thani, et præfectus cum eis, et jurent super sanctuarium quod eis in manus datur,

(f) In the case of a Quaker, Moravian or Separatist, the presentment of the grand juror may be upon solemn affirmation. (Vide sup. vol. 11. p. 353.) As to its being unnecessary in legal proceedings to state the fact that certain jurors made affirmation, see 6 & 7 Vict. c. 85, s. 2.

(g) Prior to the statute 6 Geo. 4, c. 50, the words "some out of every hundred" used to be added here. (h) 2 Hale, P. C. 154.

(i) Vide sup. vol. 111. p. 625.
(j) 2 Hale, P. C. 155.

(k) See 1 Chit. Cr. L. p. 238.
(1) R. v. Marsh, 6 Ad. & El. 236
(m) Wilk. LL. Angl. Sax. 117.

[quod nolint ullum innocentem accusare nec aliquem noxium celare." In the time of King Richard the first (according to Hoveden), the process of electing the grand jury, ordained by that prince, was as follows:-four knights were to be taken from the county at large, who chose two more out of every hundred; which two associated to themselves ten other principal freemen, and those twelve were to answer concerning all particulars relating to their own district. This number was probably found too large and inconvenient;] but the traces of this institution long remained: for until dispensed with by 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 13, it was held to be necessary that some of the jury should be summoned out of every hundred (n). [This grand jury are previously instructed in the articles of their inquiry, by a charge from the judge who presides upon the bench. They then withdraw to sit and receive indictments, which are preferred to them] in the name of the Queen, [but at the suit of any private prosecutor and they are only to hear evidence on behalf of the prosecution (o): for the finding of an indictment, is only in the nature of an inquiry or accusation, which is afterwards to be tried and determined; and the grand jury are only to inquire upon their oaths, whether there be sufficient cause to call upon the party to answer it (p). A

(n) 2 Hale, P. C. 154; 4 Bl. Com. 303.

(0) By 19 & 20 Vict. c. 54, the foreman is authorized to administer an oath, (or affirmation where such is allowed by law,) to all persons appearing before the grand jury to give evidence. Before this Act, such persons had to be sworn in open court.

(p) Upon an indictment for high treason against the Earl of Shaftesbury, in the year 1681, the evidence was given in public before the grand jury at the Old Bailey, and the gentlemen of the jury expressing

some doubts with regard to the

legality of the proceeding, Lord C. J. Pemberton and C. J. North both declared that it had always been the practice to examine the witnesses publicly before the grand jury, whenever it had been requested by those who prosecuted for the king. (3 Harg. St. Tr. 417.) But it is apprehended this is the last instance of such a procedure. (Christian's Blackstone.) It seems that an improper mode of swearing the witnesses before a grand jury, will not vitiate the indictment. R. v. Russel, 1 Car. & M. 247.

[grand jury, however, ought to be thoroughly convinced of the truth of an indictment, so far as their evidence goes: and not to rest satisfied merely with remote probabilities: a doctrine that might be applied to very oppressive purposes (q).] By a recent statute also, 22 & 23 Vict. c. 17, passed to prevent vexatious indictments, no bill of indictment shall be presented to the grand jury or found by them for offences of a certain description, unless there is such security given as in the Act mentioned against vexation in the proceeding, or unless it shall have been preceded by such circumstances as in the Act mentioned and therein considered as a check on vexation (r).

[The grand jury are sworn to inquire only for the body of the county, pro corpore comitatús,] but for no other part of the kingdom, [and therefore they cannot regularly inquire of a fact done out of the county for which they are sworn, unless particularly enabled by Act of Parliament. And to so high a nicety was this matter antiently carried, that where a man was wounded in one county and died in another, the offender was at common law indictable in neither, because no complete act of felony was done in any one of them:] but by statute 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 24, he might be indicted in the county where the party died; and by statute 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, (repealing that of Edward the sixth,) he is now indictable in either county. Also by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 10, if the felonious stroke, poisoning, or other hurt be in England or Ireland, and the death on the sea, or out of England or Ireland, or vice versâ—the offenders and their accessories may be indicted in the (q) St. Tr. iv. 183.

(r) The offences specified in the Act are the following: - Perjury, subornation of perjury, conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretences, keeping a gambling house, keeping a disorderly house, and any indecent assault. The security consists in the prosecutor being bound

by recognizance to prosecute, or give evidence, or the accused having been committed to or detained in custody, or bound by recognizance to appear, &c., or the indictment having been preferred by the direction of such court, judge, or public functionary as referred to in the Act.

county or place where either the death, stroke, poisoning, or hurt shall happen (r). [And so in some other cases; as particularly where treason is committed out of the realm, it may be inquired of] in the Queen's Bench, in any county where that court sits: or, under a special commission of oyer and terminer, [in any county within the realm, as the Crown shall direct, in pursuance of statutes 26 Hen. VIII. c. 13;] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 15; [35 Hen. VIII. c. 2, and 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 11 (s).] So, under 42 Geo. III. c. 85, all offences committed by persons employed by the Crown in any station abroad, in the exercise or under colour of their office, may be prosecuted in the Queen's Bench in England (t). So, also, offences committed at sea, or within the Admiralty jurisdiction made by 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 36, s. 22, and 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2 (u), may be inquired of and determined in our own courts of assize, oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery (x). To which we may add that by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 7, the offence of a person accessory to any felony, wholly committed within England or Ireland, may be tried by any court having jurisdiction to try the principal felony, or to try any felonies committed in any county or place in which the act making such person accessory was committed; and that in every other case, an accessory may be tried by any court with jurisdiction to try his principal, or to try any felonies in the place where the accessory was apprehended,-wherever the principal felony was com

(r) This provision re-enacts 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 8 (repealed by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 95). As to its construction, see Reg. v. Lewis, 1 Dears. & B. 182. By 23 & 24 Vict. c. 122, the colonies may make a similar enact

ment.

(s) Another Act of 33 Hen. 8, c. 23, is repealed by 9 Geo. 4, c. 31.

(t) And see 11 & 12 Will. 3, c. 12; and 8 East, 31.

(u) And see 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104,

s. 267, by which offences committed by British seamen, out of her majesty's dominions, are to be deemed to have been committed within the Admiralty jurisdiction.

(x) Vide sup. p. 392. In certain cases, however, by 12 & 13 Vict. c. 96, offences committed within the Admiralty jurisdiction, may be tried in the courts of the colony, (including India, see 23 & 24 Vict. c. 88,) where the person is charged.

mitted. Moreover any indictable offence, mentioned in any of the Acts passed in the year 1861 for the consolidation of the statute law relating to offences against the person, to larceny, to malicious injuries to property, to coinage offences, and to forgery, which shall be committed within the admiralty jurisdiction of England or Ireland, may be dealt with, inquired of, tried and determined in any county or place in which the offender shall be apprehended or be in custody (y). In addition to which, there are to be found in the statute book, a variety of other and more specific exceptions from the principle that an offender must be indicted and tried in the county in which the offence is committed, which have been introduced from time to time, to prevent the failure of justice, or to promote its convenient administration (2). There are also the following more general provisions. By 38 Geo. III. c. 52, where an offence has been committed within a county corporate (a), the indictment may be preferred to the jury of the next adjoining county (b). By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, s. 12, where any felony or misdemeanor shall be

(y) See 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 68; c. 96, s. 115; c. 97, s. 72; c.99, s 36; c. 98, s. 36.

() See as to the offences of extortion, 31 Eliz. c. 5, s. 4, (et 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 294, n.)-As to robberies, &c. in Newfoundland, 10 & 11 Will. 3, c. 25, s. 13.-As to burning ships, &c. out of the realm, 12 Geo. 3, c. 24, s. 2. As to misdemeanors in India, 13 Geo. 3, c. 63.-As to seducing soldiers, &c., 37 Geo. 3, c. 70, s. 2; 57 Geo. 3, s. 7.-As to offences against stamp Acts, 53 Geo. 3, c. 108, s. 24; 55 Geo. 3, c. 184, s. 8.-As to Foreign Enlistment Act, 59 Geo. 3, c. 69, s. 9. As to offences by pilots, & 2 Geo. 4, c. 75, s. 22.-As to escapes, prison breach, and rescue, 4 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 44.-As to offences against

the ercise, 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 53, s. 43. -As to offences committed in coaches or vessels, 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 13. (See Sharpe's case, 1 Dearsley's C. C. R. 415.)-As to offences against the Post Office, 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 36, s. 37.-As to offences against the customs, 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, s. 304.As to offences committed on British ships, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 21. (See The Queen . Lopez, 27 L. J. (M. C.) 48.)

(a) Vide sup. p 137. This enactment does not extend to London, Westminster or Southwark. (See 38 Geo. 3, c. 52, s. 10; 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 109.)

(b) As to the indictment in such cases, see 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, s. 23.