CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS ON INDICTMENT AND INFORMATION (IN ENGLAND AND WALES). CHAPTER I. CRIMINAL JURISDICTION -SCOPE OF THE LAW-PRIN CIPAL AND ACCESSORY-VENUE-TIME-VEXATIOUS INDICTMENTS ACTS. RULE 1.-Criminal proceedings (in respect of an offence against the Law of England) in the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice; Courts of the Commissioners of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery; the Central Criminal Court and Courts of County or Borough Quarter Sessions are commenced by (1.) Information. (2.) Coroner's inquisition. A "crime" is defined by Blackstone as a public wrong which affects the whole community, but the definition in Austin's Jurisprudence (Vol. I. p. 405) is scientifically more correct. "An offence which is pursued at the discretion of the injured party is a Civil Injury. An offence which is pursued by the Sovereign, or by the subordinates of the Sovereign, is a Crime." It might be possible to improve upon this definition, and attempts have been made to do so, but to my mind it seems sufficiently exact. Sir James Stephen, in his Digest of Criminal Procedure, enumerates the superior Criminal Courts as: The House of Lords: The Court of the Lord High Steward: The High Court B.R. B of Justice (King's Bench Division): The Courts of the Commissioners of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery: The Central Criminal Court, and the Court of the Lord High Admiral of England. As to the House of Lords; it has an appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases, in appeals from the Appeal Court on a writ of error (see Chap. XV., infra), and also an original criminal jurisdiction. Every peer impeached or indicted for treason and misprision of treason, or for felony, must be tried (if Parliament is sitting) by the House of Lords, and if Parliament is not sitting, by the Court of the Lord High Steward—which is practically the same thing (R. v. Audley, 3 Cobbett's State Trials, 402). In the case of an indictment, it is found in the ordinary way in the appropriate Criminal Court and moved by writ of certiorari into the House of Lords for trial (see The Trial of Earl Russell before the King in Parliament, L. R., (1901) A. C. 446; 70 L. J. K. B. 998; 85 L. T. 252; 20 Cox, 51). The House of Lords has also jurisdiction to try anyone impeached by the House of Commons for misdemeanour, but not, it seems, for felony (Steph. Com. Vol. 4, Bk. VI. c. 10, 284). The formalities of the trial, in so far as they are unlike those of an ordinary Criminal Court, are unimportant. The King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice has jurisdiction in respect of all offences. Indictments may be found and indictments may be removed from other Courts for trial therein, "at Bar," at Nisi Prius, or otherwise. This subject will be fully dealt with subsequently. The Courts of the Commissioners of Assize (which are part of the High Court of Justice) are established by commission or warrant, and are held by commissioners sitting under a commission of-(1) Oyer and Terminer: (2) Gaol Delivery: (3) Assize and Nisi Prius: (4) The Peace. The Central Criminal Court is a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery established by 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36 (see also 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 77, ss. 1, 3—7). The Court of the Lord High Admiral, which had jurisdiction over all offences committed on the high seas, or in ports, or havens, creeks and rivers, below bridges where great ships go, is practically now non-existent, as by various statutes (including 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36, s. 22; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2; the Consolidation Acts of 1861; and 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60, s. 687) the ordinary criminal courts were given jurisdiction over the offences triable therein (see R. v. Anderson, L. R. 1 C. C. R. 161; 38 L. J. M. C. |