The author or publisher of a work of a libellous or immoral tendency can have no legal property in it and no action can be maintained for printing such work, (the book in question was the History or Amours of a Courtezan.) It is no answer to such objection that the defendant is a wrong-doer in publishing the work, and that, therefore, he ought not to act upon it immediately. Stockdale v. Onwhyn, 7 D. & R. 625; 5 B. & C. 173; 2 C. & P. 163.

And it makes no difference whether the offensive matter be represented in prints, 4 Esp. 97, or pictures, 2 Campb. 511, or expressed in books.

Assignments of copyright under the 8 Ann. must be in writing. 3 M. & S. 7.

Evidence that the defendant acted a piece on the stage, of which the plaintiff had bought the copyright, is not evidence of a publication by the defendant, within the meaning of the statute. 5 T. R. 245.

And if the author has published a tragedy, it is no piracy to act it abridged at a theatre without his consent. 5 B. & A. 657.

But no one has a right to take down a play in short-hand, and to print it before it is published by the author. Ambl.

694.

And now by the 3 Will. 4. c. 15. dramatists have been placed on an equal footing with other authors. See tit. Dramatic Literary Property.

Previous to the union there was no statute in Ireland to protect the copyright of authors, but immediately after that event an act was passed (41 Geo. 3. c. 10.) enacting similar provisions with respect to that country as those contained in the 8 Ann. and 15 Geo. 2. The 54 Geo. 3. c. 156. extends to the whole of the United Kingdom, as well as the Isles of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, and all other parts of the British dominions.

The right of printing books given or bequeathed to Trinity College, Dublin, is secured to that college by 41 Geo. 3. c. 107. § 3.

No person shall import into any part of the United Kingdom for sale any book first written or printed and published within the United Kingdom, and reprinted elsewhere, on penalty of forfeiture of the books, 101. and double the value of each copy so imported.-Books may be seized by officers of customs and excise, who shall be rewarded by their respective commissioners.-These penalties do not extend to books not having been printed in the United Kingdom within twenty years; nor to books reprinted abroad, and inserted among other books or tracts for the most part foreign. 41 Geo. 3. c. 107. § 7.

Whether an author, by publishing a book abroad, makes his work publici juris, is not decided; but it is clear he does so, unless he take prompt measures to publish it also in England. And where an author published his work in 1814 in Paris, and soon after sold the right of publishing to the plaintiff here, but without writing, and the plaintiff thereupon published it, and in 1818 the defendant published the work in England, and in 1822, the author, by writing, assigned the right of printing to the plaintiff, it was held, that the publication by the defendant was lawful and not actionable, -for the work has been published in England by the author, nor was the publication in 1814, by his legal assignee, for want of writing, and the author could not, by the valid assignment in 1822, enable the plaintiff to maintain an action for selling a copy after that assignment was executed. 2 B. & C. 861.

All actions, indictments, &c. for offences must be commenced within six months after commission of the offence, 41 Geo. 3. c. 107. §8; within twelve months, 5 Geo. 3. c. 156.

been one great means of increasing both. Few books are now republished without considerable alterations, additions, or annotations, by means of which they become, in fact, new works; and it is not worth any body's while then to pirate them in their original state. And an action lies to recover damages for pirating the new corrections and additions to an old work. 1 East, 358, 361, 363, in n.

1

This has proved a spur to the industry of authors, and the liberality of booksellers; and perhaps no period ever produced so many publications of acknowledged utility, as that which has elapsed since the memorable decision above alluded to, which for the moment cast a melancholy gloom over those who now enjoy its beneficial effects.

The following are the principal features and distinctions of the three statutes relative to prints and engravings. The 8 Geo. 2. c. 13, gives an exclusive privilege of publishing, to those who invent or design any print, for fourteen years only. The 7 Geo. 3. c. 28, extends the term to twenty-eight years absolutely, to all who either invent the design, or make a print from another's design or picture; and those who copy such prints within that time, forfeit all their copies to be destroyed; and 5s. for each copy. Maps, charts, or plans, are among the prints enumerated in the above act. The 17 Geo. 3. c. 57. gives the proprietor an action on the case to recover damages, and double costs for the injury he has sustained by the violation of his right.

Actions under the two former statutes must be brought within six months, but no limitation is imposed by the 17 Geo. 3.

The assignee of a print may maintain an action on this last statute against any person who pirates it; and in such an action it is not necessary to produce the plate itself in evi dence; one of the prints taken from the original plate is good evidence. The date must always appear on the print. 5 T. R. 41.

The statutes only apply to engravings taken from pirated plates, and not engravings struck off illegally from a lawful plate. Therefore, where Heath was employed by Murray to engrave plates from drawings belonging to Murray, and H. took off proof impressions for his own use, and then became bankrupt, and his assignees sold them, it was held that neither H. nor his assignees were liable to an action on the 17 Geo. 3. c. 57. His act was a breach of contract, not a piracy. Murray v. Heath, 1 B. & A. 804.

The mere seller or publisher of a pirated copy of a print is liable to an action under 17 Geo. 3. c. 57. although it be not an exact copy of the original, and though the seller did not know it to be a copy. 1 D. & R. 400; 5 B. & A. 737. It is no piracy of one engraving to make another from the original picture. Berenger v. Wheble, 2 Stark. 548.

In analogy also to the above doctrine of literary property, the 27 Geo. 3. c. 38. (which was enacted for one year, and afterwards extended by the 29 Geo. 3. c. 19. and made perpe tual by the 34 Geo. 3. c. 23.) gives to the proprietors of new patterns in printed linens, cottons, muslins, &c. the sole right of printing them for two months, (enlarged to three months by the 29 Geo. 3. c. 19.) and gives the proprietor injured his remedy by an action for damages.

The jurisdiction of the Courts of Equity is not excluded' by the special remedy given by the 34 Geo. 3. c. 23. Russ. & M. 159.

There is also a kind of prerogative copyright subsisting in certain books, which is held to be vested in the crown upon several reasons. Thus, 1. The king, as the executive magistrate, has the right of promulgating to the people all acts and state of government. This gives him the exclusive privilege of printing at his own press, or that of his grantees, all acts of parliament, proclamations, and orders of council. 2. As supreme head of the church, he hath a right to the publication of all Liturgies and books of Divine service. 3. He is also said to have a right by purchase to the copies

of such law books, grammars, and other compositions, as were compiled or translated at the expense of the crown. And upon these two last principles combined, the exclusive right of printing the translation of the Bible is founded. See 2 Comm. c. 27. p. 410, n.

For the acts giving a property in sculpture, models, &c. see tit. Sculpture.

LITH OF PICKERING. In the county of York, viz. the liberty, or a member of Pickering, from the Saxon, lid, i. e. membrum.

LITIGIOUS. The litigiousness of a church is where several persons have, or pretend to, several titles to the patronage, and present several clerks to the ordinary; it excuses him from refusing to admit any of them, till a trial of the right by jure patronatus, or otherwise. Jenk. Cent. 11.

LITTERA. Litter;-Tres carectas litteræ, three cart loads of straw or litter. Mon. Angl. 2. par. fol. 33. b. LITTLETON. Was a famous lawyer in the days of the reign of Edward IV., as appeareth by Staundf. Prær. c. 21. fol. 72. He wrote a book of great account, called Littleton's Tenures. See tit. Law Books.

LIVERY [From livre, i. e. insigne gestamen; or livrer, tradere.] Hath three significations. In one sense, it was used for a suit of clothes, cloak, gown, hat, &c. which a nobleman or gentleman gave to his servants or followers, with cognizance or without; mentioned in 1 Rich. 2. c. 7. and divers other statutes. Formerly great men gave liveries to several who were not of their family, to engage them in their quarrels for that year; but afterwards it was ordained, that no man of any condition whatsoever should give any livery but to his domestics, his officers, or counsel learned in the law. By 1 Rich. 2. it was prohibited on pain of imprisonment; and the 1 Hen. 4. c. 7. made the offenders liable to ransom at the king's will, &c. which statute was farther confirmed and explained annis 2 & 7 Hen. 4. and by 8 Hen. 6. c. 4; and yet this offence was so deeply rooted that Edward IV. was obliged to confirm the former statutes, and further to extend the meaning of them, adding a penalty of 5. to every one who gave such livery, and the like on every one retained for maintenance, either by writing, oath, or promise, for every month. 8 Edw. 4. c. 2. But most of the above statutes are repealed by 3 Car. 1. c. 4.

Livery, in the second signification, meant a delivery of possession to those tenants who held of the king in capite, or knights service; as the king by his prerogative hath primer seisin of all lands and tenements so holden of him. Staundf. Prærog. 12.

In the third sense, livery meant the writ which lay for the heir of age, to obtain the possession of seisin of his lands at the king's hands. F. N. B. 155. By the 12 Car. 2. c. 24. all wardships, liveries, &c. are taken away. See Tenures. LIVERY [i. e. DELIVERY, OF SEISIN; Liberatio seisina.] A delivery of possession of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, unto one that hath a right to the same; being a ceremony in the common law used in the conveyance of lands, &c. where an estate of fee-simple, fee-tail, or other freehold passeth, Bract. lib. 2. c. 18. And it is a testimonial of the willing departing of him who makes the livery, from the thing whereof the livery is made; and of willing acceptance of the other party receiving the livery; first invented that the common people might have knowledge of the passing or alteration of estates from man to man, and thereby be better able to try in whom the right of possession of lands and tenements were, if the same should be contested, and they should be impanelled on juries, or otherwise have to do concerning the same. West. Symb. par. 1. lib. 2.

The common-law conveyance by feoffiment is by no means perfected by the mere words of the deed; this ceremony of livery of seisin is very material to be performed, for without this the feoffee has but a mere estate at will. Lit. § 66. This

VOL. II.

livery of seisin is no other than the pure feodal investiture or delivery of corporeal possession of the land or tenement, which was held absolutely necessary to complete the donation. 2 Comm. c. 20. p. 311. See Conveyance, Deed, Estate, Feoffment, III., Tenures.

Investitures, in their original rise, were probably intended to demonstrate in conquered countries, the actual possession of the lord, and that he did not grant a bare litigious right, which the soldier was ill qualified to prosecute, but a peace able and firm possession. And at a time when writing was seldom practised, a mere oral gift, at a distance from the spot that was given, was not likely to be either long or accurately retained in the memory of the by-standers, who were very little interested in the grant. Afterwards they were retained as a public and notorious act, that the country might take notice of and testify the transfer of the estate; and that such as claimed title by other means might know against whom to bring their actions. 2 Comm. 311.

In all well-governed nations some notoriety of this kind has ever been held requisite in order to acquire and ascertain the property of lands. And even in ecclesiastical promotions, where the freehold passes to the person promoted, corporeal possession is required at this day to vest the property completely in the new proprietor, who, according to the canonists, acquires the jus ad rem, or inchoate and imperfect right by nomination and institution; but not the jus in re, or complete and full right, unless by corporeal possession. Therefore in dignities possession is given by instalment; in rectories and vicarages by induction; without which no temporal rights accrue to the minister; though every ecclesiastical power is vested in him by institution. So also even in descents of lands by our law, which are cast on the heir by act of the law itself, the heir had not until recently plenum dominium, or full and complete ownership, till he had made an actual corporeal entry into the lands; for if he died before entry made, his heir was not entitled to take the possession, but the heir of the person who was last actually seised. 2 Comm. 312. See Descent. The corporeal tradition of lands being sometimes inconvenient, a symbolical delivery of possession was in many cases anciently allowed, by transferring something near at hand, in the presence of credible witnesses, which by agreement should serve to represent the very thing designed to be conveyed; and an occupancy of this sign or symbol was permitted as equivalent to occupancy of the land itself. With our Saxon ancestors the delivery of a turf was a necessary solemnity to establish the conveyance of lands. And. to this day the conveyance of our copyhold estates is usually made from the seller to the lord or his steward, by delivery of a rod or verge; and then from the lord to the purchaser, by delivery of the same in the presence of a jury of tenants. 2 Comm. 313.

Conveyances in writing were the last and most refined improvement. The mere delivery of possession, either actual or symbolical, depending on the ocular testimony and remembrance of the witnesses, was liable to be forgotten and misrepresented, and became frequently incapable of proof. Besides, the new occasions and necessities, introduced by the advancement of commerce, required means to be devised of charging and incumbering estates, and of making them liable to a multitude of conditions and minute designations, for the purposes of raising money without an absolute sale of the land; and sometimes like the proceedings were found useful in order to make a decent and competent provision for the numerous branches of a family, and for other domestic views; none of which could be effected by a mere simple corporeal transfer of the soil from one man to another, which was principally calculated for conveying an absolute unlimited dominion. Written deeds were therefore introduced in order to specify and perpetuate the peculiar purposes of the party who conveyed; yet still, for a very long series of years, they were never made use of but in company with the more an

cient and notorious method of transfer by delivery of corporeal possession. 2 Comm. 314.

Livery of Seisin, by the common law, is necessary to be made upon every grant of an estate of freehold in hereditaments corporeal, whether of inheritance or for life only. In hereditaments incorporeal it is impossible to be made, for they are not objects of the senses; and in leases for years, or other chattel-interests, it is not necessary; the solemnity being appropriated to the conveyance of a freehold. And this is one reason why freeholds cannot be made to commence in futuro, because they cannot at the common law be made but by livery of seisin; which livery, being an actual manual tradition of the land, must take effect in præsenti, or not at all. 2 Comm. 314. See Feoffment, III., Limitation of Estate, Remainder.

On the creation of a freehold remainder at one and the same time with a particular estate for years at the common law, livery must be made to the particular tenant, without which nothing passeth to him in remainder, it being for the benefit of him in remainder, and not the lessee, who hath only a term; and if the lessee entereth, before livery and seisin made to him, the livery shall be void. Lit. 60; 1 Inst. 49. But if such a remainder be created afterwards, expectant on a lease for years now in being, the livery must not be made to the lessee for years, for then it operates nothing; nam quod semel meum est, amplius meum esse non potest; but it must be made to the remainder-man by consent of the lessee for years; for without his consent no livery of the possession can be given; partly because such forcible livery would be an ejectment of the tenant from his term, and partly for reasons connected with the doctrine of attornments. 2 Comm. 314, 315. See 1 Inst. 48, 49.

A man may make a letter of attorney to deliver seisin by force of the deed, which may be contained in the same deed; and a letter of attorney may be likewise made to receive livery and seisin. 5 Rep. 91; 1 Inst. 49, 52.

This livery of seisin is either in deed or in law; the distinctions between which are stated and explained ante, Feoffment, III. Anciently this seisin was obliged to be delivered coram paribus de vicineto, before the peers or freeholders of the neighbourhood, who attested such delivery in the body or on the back of the deed; according to the rule of the feodal law, pares debent interesse investituræ feudi, et non alii; for which this reason is expressly given; because the peers or vassals of the lord, being bound by their oath of fealty, will take care that no fraud be committed to his prejudice, which strangers may be apt to connive at. And though afterwards the ocular attestation of the pares was held unnecessary, and livery might be made before any credible witnesses, yet the trial, in case it was disputed, (like that of all other attestations) was still reserved to the pares, or jury of the county; and this is the reason why, if lands conveyed by feoffment lie in several counties, there must be as many liveries of seisin as there are counties. 2 Comm. 315, 316. See Feoffment, III. In addition to what is there said, the following determinations afford information on the subject.

Where a house and lands are conveyed, the house is the principal, and the lands accessory; and there the livery must be made, and not upon the land. 2 Rep. 31; 4 Leon. 374.

If a house or lands belong to an office, by grant of the office by deed, the house or land passeth without livery; and by a fine, which is a feoffment of record, by a lease and release, bargain and sale by deed inrolled, exchange, &c. a freehold passeth without livery; and so in a deed of feoffment to uses, by virtue of the statute of uses. 1 Inst. 49. So that livery and seisin is not so commonly used as formerly; neither can an estate be created now by livery and seisin only, without writing. 29 Car. 2. c. 3. See Convey ance, Estate.

If a deed of feoffment be delivered upon the land," in the name of seisin of all the lands," it will be a good livery and

seisin; but the bare delivery of a deed upon the land, though it may make the deed, it shall not amount to livery and seisin, without those words. 1 Inst. 52, 181. If one makes a feoffment to four persons, and seisin is delivered to three of them in the name of all, the estate is vested in all of them. 3 Rep. 26.

No person ought to be in the house, or upon the land, when livery is made, but the feoffor and feoffee; all others are to be removed from it; if the lessor feoffor makes livery and seisin, the lessee being upon the land contradicting it, the livery is void. Cro. Eliz. 321; Dalis. Rep. 94. But livery of seisin is not invalidated by omitting to remove from the house a child found there, unless such child be part of the family of a person having an immediate estate or interest in the premises, and has been placed there for the purpose of continuing his possession. 2 N. & M. 508.

Form of livery and seisin indorsed on the deed. MEMORANDUM. That on the day and year within written, full possession and seisin was had and taken of the messuage or tenement, and premises within granted, by A. B. one of the attornies within named, and by him delivered over unto the within named C. D. To hold to him, his heirs, &c. according to the contents and true meaning of the within written indenture, in the presence of, &c.

LIVERY and OUSTER-LE-MAIN. Where by inquest before the escheator, it was found that nothing was held of the king, then he was immediately commanded by writ to put from his hands the lands taken into the king's hands. 29 Edw. 1 ; 28 Edw. 3. c. 4. See Ouster-le-Main.

LIVERYMEN OF LONDON. In the companies of London, liverymen are chosen out of the freemen, as assistants to the masters and wardens, in matters of council, and for better government; and if any one of the company refuse to take upon him the office, he may be fined, and an action of debt will lie for the sum. 1 Mod. 10. See London.

LOAN. A contract by which the use of any thing is given under condition of its being returned to the owner. See Bailment. As to loans of money, see Usury; and as to public loans, see National Debt.

LOBBE. A large kind of North-sea fish. See 31 Edw. 3. st. 3. c. 2. And loich comprehends lob, ling, and cod.

LOBSTERS. May be imported by natives or foreigners, and in any vessels, notwithstanding 10 & 11 Wm. 3. c. 24; 1 Geo. 1. st. 2. c. 18. No person shall with trunks, hoop-nets, &c. take any lobsters on the sea-coast of Scotland, from the first of June to the first of September yearly, on pain of 51. to be recovered before two justices. 9 Geo. 2. c. 33. See Fish, Navigation Acts.

LOCAL [localis.] Tied or annexed to a certain place. Real actions are local, and to be brought in the county where the lands lie; but a personal action, as of trespass or battery, &c. is transitory, not local; and it is not material that the action should be tried or laid in the same county where the fact was done; and if the place be set down, it is not needful that the defendant should traverse the place, by saying he did not commit the battery in the place mentioned, &c. Kitch. See Action, Venue. A thing is local that is fixed to the freehold. Kitch. 180.

230.

son.

LOCATION. A contract by which a hire is agreed to be given for the use of any thing, or for the labour of any perSee Bailment, Master and Servant. LOCKMAN. In the Isle of Man the lockman is an officer to execute the order of the governor, much like our undersheriff. King's Descrip. Isle of Man, 26.

LOCKS, in navigation. See Malicious Injuries. LOCUS IN QUO. The place where any thing is alleged to be done in pleadings, &c. 1 Salk. 94. See Trespass. LOCUS PARTITUS. A division made between two towns or counties, to make trial where the land or place in question lieth. Flet. lib. 4. c. 15.

ought to belong, may seize and carry them to the Guildhall, and have the goods tried by a jury; and if found defective, they may break them, &c. Trin. 34 Car. 2. B. R. A person must be a freeman of London to be entitled to carry on merchandise there.' 'Chart. Car. 1.

By charter Henry 1. all the men of London, and all their goods, shall be free from scot and lot, dane-gilt and murder; and from all toll, passage and lestage, and all other customs through all England, and the ports of the sea. So by charters 11 Hen. 3. and 50 Hen. 3. See 4 Inst. 252. But he who claims these privileges must not only be a freeman, but inhabitant of London. 1 H. Black. 206; 4 T. R. 144. There are three ways to be a freeman of London: by servitude of an apprenticeship; by birthright, as being the son of a freeman; and by redemption, i.e. by purchase, under an order of the Court of Aldermen. 4 Mod. 145.

an inhabitant

a

The child of a freeman, when of age, may, in consideration present fortune, bar herself of her customary part. 2 Strange, 947. An agreement on marriage, that the husband shall take up the freedom of London, binds the distribution of his effects. 1 Strange, 455. See tit. Executor, V. 9. The city of London is entitled to a fine, imposed for a misdemeanor committed within the city, though it be adjudged by the Court of King's Bench at Westminster. (Charters of 23 H. 6; 20 H. 7; 14 Car. 1; and 15 Car. 2.) 1 C. M. & R. 1.

The customs of London are many and various.-They are against the common law, but made good by special usage, and confirmed by act of parliament. 4 Inst. 249; 8 Rep. 126. In setting forth a custom or usage in the city of London, it must be said antiqua civitas, or it will not be good. 2 Leon. 99.

There is a custom in London to punish by information in the Mayor's Court, in the name of the common serjeant of the city, assaults on aldermen, and affronting language, &c. 7 Mod. 28, 29.

Where a woman exerciseth a trade in London, wherein her husband doth not intermeddle, by the custom she shall have all advantages, and be sued as a feme sole merchant; but if the husband meddle with the trade of the wife, or carry on the same trade, it is otherwise. 1 Cro. 63; 3 Keb. 902. See titles Bankrupt, Baron and Feme."

An arrest may be made in London on the plaintiff's entering his plaint in either of the compters, and a serjeant of London need not show his mace when he arrests one; and the liberties of the city extend to the suburbs and Temple Bár. Jenk. Cent. 291.

The customs of the city of London shall be tried by the certificates of the mayor and aldermen, certified by the mouth of their recorder, upon a surmise from the party alleging it, that the custom ought to be thus tried; else it must be tried by the county. 1 Inst. 74; 4 Burr. 248; Bro. Abr. title Trial, pl. 96. As the custom of distributing the effects of freemen deceased; (see title Executor, V. 9.) of enrolling apprentices; or that he who is free of one trade may use another; if any of these or other similar points come in issue. But this rule admits of an exception where the corporation of London is party, or interested in the suit; as in action brought for a penalty inflicted upon by the custom; for there the reason of the law will not endure so partial a trial; but this custom shall in such case be determined by a jury. Hob. 85. In some cases the sheriff of London's certificate shall be the final trial; as if the issue be whether the defendant be a citizen of London or foreigner, in case of privilege pleaded to be sued only in the city Courts. 1 Inst. 714. See title Customs of London.

Upon the customs of London concerning the payment of the wharfage, &c. by every freeman to the corporation, the trial shall not be by the mouth of the recorder, as customs generally are, but by the country, and a jury from Surrey adjoining. Moor, c. 129.

The mayor of London is to cause errors, , defaults, and misprisions there to be redressed, under the penalty of 1000 marks; and the constable of the Tower shall execute process against the mayor for default, &c. 28 Edw. 3. c. 10. See 17 Ric. 2. c. 12; 1 Hen. 4. c. 15. by which latter the fine is to be at the discretion of the justices.

The several Courts within the city of London (and other cities and corporations throughout the kingdom) held by prescription, charter, or act of parliament, are of a private and limited species. The chief of those in London are the Sheriffs' Court, holden before their steward or judge; from which a writ of error lies to the Court of Hustings, before the mayor, recorder, and sheriffs; and from thence to justices appointed by the king's commission, who used to sit in the church of St. Martin-le-Grand. F. N. B. 32. And from the judgment of those justices a writ of error lies immediately to the House of Lords. 3 Comm. 80, n. See titles Courts, Court of Hustings, Inferior Courts, &c.

The Court of Requests, or Court of Conscience for the recovery of debts not exceeding 40s. was first established in London so early as the reign of Henry VIII. by an act of their Common Council; which was, however, certainly insufficient for that purpose, and illegal, till confirmed by the 3 Jac. 1. c. 15. explained and amended by the 14 Geo. 2. c. 10. By the 39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 104. further amendments have been made in these statutes, and the jurisdiction of the Court extended to £5. See title Courts of Conscience.

The gaol-delivery for the county of Middlesex, as well as that for London, was until recently held at the Old Bailey, in the city of London, eight times in the year; and it was by 25 Geo. 3. c. 18, provided, that when such session should have begun before the essoin-day of any term, it might continue to be held, and be concluded notwithstanding the sitting of the Court of King's Bench. And this act, by 32 Geo. 3. c. 48. was extended to the Middlesex sessions.

And see the 9 Geo. 4. c. 9. providing for the holding of the sessions of the peace at Westminster, notwithstanding the sittting of the King's Bench.

Now by the 4 & 5 W. 4. c. 36. after reciting that "it is expedient, for the more effective and uniform administration of justice in criminal cases, that offences committed in the metropolis and certain parts adjoining thereto, should be tried by justices and judges of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery in the city of London," it is enacted,

§ 1. That the lord mayor of London, the lord chancellor, the judges of the courts of law and of bankruptcy, and of the admiralty, the dean of the arches, the aldermen, recorder, and common serjeant of London, &c. and such others as his majesty may appoint, shall be judges of a court to be called the "Central Criminal Court," to which his majesty may direct his general commission as after mentioned; and which court shall have jurisdiction to hear, try, and determine all offences as after specified.

§ 2. His majesty may issue commissions of oyer and terminer to inquire of, hear, and determine all treasons, murders, felonies, and misdemeanors committed within the city of London and county of Middlesex, and certain parts of the counties of Essex, Kent, and Surrey; and also commissions of gaol delivery to deliver his majesty's gaol of Newgate of the prisoners therein charged with any of the offences aforesaid, committed within the limits aforesaid; and it shall be lawful for the justices and judges of the Central Criminal Court aforesaid, or any two or more of them, to inquire of, hear, determine, and adjudge all such treasons, murders, felonies, and misdemeanors, and all treasons, murders, felonies, and misdemeanors which might be inquired of, heard, and determined under any commission of oyer and terminer for the city of London or county of Middlesex, or commission of gaol delivery to deliver the gaol of Newgate, or which, in case the parts of the counties of Essex, Kent, and Surrey, respectively comprised within the limits aforesaid had been