with the principal felon either as a principal or as an accessory.

24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, ss. 1, 2.

It is, therefore, quite proper to indict an accessory before the fact as an accessory, and the following is the form of an indictment where the accessory is charged as an accessory before the fact, as for a substantive felony.

The jurors for our Lord the King upon their oath to wit. present that some person or persons, to the jurors aforesaid unknown [or that A. B.], on the

, in the year of our Lord

day of

-, feloniously, wilfully, and of his [or their] malice aforethought, did kill and murder one C. D. against the peace of our Lord the King, his crown and dignity: And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present that E. F., before the said felony and murder was committed in form aforesaid, to wit, on the day of, in the year aforesaid, did feloniously and maliciously incite, move, procure and counsel, hire and command the said person or persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown [or the said A. B.], the said felony and murder in manner and form aforesaid to do and commit . . .

The form differs very little from the above where the accessory is indicted with the principal as an accessory.

RULE 15.-An accessory after the fact may be indicted and convicted either as accessory after the fact to the principal felony, together with his principal, or after the conviction of the latter, or may be indicted and convicted of a substantive felony, whether the principal felon shall or shall not have been previously convicted.

24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 3.

The form of indictment of an accessory after the fact, where the principal is unknown, is as follows:

The jurors for our Lord the King upon their oath to wit. present that some person or persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown, on the

day of, feloniously

did steal, take and carry away [ten boxes] of the goods and chattels of C. D.: And the jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid, do further present that E. F., well knowing the said person or persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown to have done and committed the said felony as aforesaid, afterwards did feloniously receive, harbour and maintain the said person or persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown and against the peace of our Lord the King, his crown and dignity.

This form, with the few necessary variations, may be used where the accessory is charged with the principal.

RULE 16. In treason and misdemeanours, all participants in the offence are principals, and may be charged as such, or as aiders and abettors (1 Hale, 611; R. v. Crisham, C. & Mar. 187; R. v. Greenwood, 2 Den. C. C. 453; 21 L. J. M. C. 127; 16 Jur. 390; 5 Cox, 521).

By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 8, it is enacted that-"Whosoever shall aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of any misdemeanour, whether the same be a misdemeanour at Common Law, or by virtue of any Act passed or to be passed, shall be liable to be tried, indicted and punished as a principal offender." See also R. v. Waudby, (1895) 2 Q. B. 482; 64 L. J. M. C. 251; 15 R. 564; 73 L. T. 352; 44 W. R. 64; 18 Cox, 194; 59 J. P. 505; R. v. Burton, 32 L. T. 539; 13 Cox, 71.

It seems to be the law that a person who shields or receives a misdemeanant is not liable to any punishment, unless he brings himself within the law by committing a substantive offence, e.g., if his conduct amounts in law to rescue. In 2 Hawk. c. 29, s. 4, it is laid down that, "If a man knowing that there is a warrant against such offender," i. e., in cases less than felony, "advise and persuade him to absent himself; perhaps he may be indictable for a contempt of the law in hindering the due course of justice." It is submitted that he might be indicted with the misdemeanant for a conspiracy at Common Law.

Venue.

RULE 17.—An indictment, information, or coroner's inquisition must, at Common Law, be laid, preferred

or presented in the district in which the offence alleged was committed.

Upon this rule there have been engrafted many exceptions, which are summarised below. As an information now only lies in the King's Bench Division, the venue is invariably Middlesex. In the first instance the local venue is inserted, but it is changed exactly as the venue of a civil action (Ord. XXXVI. r. 1, R. S. C.).

RULE 18. The district in which the alleged offence was committed, and where it is proposed to try the accused, must be indicated in the margin of the indictment or inquisition, and is termed the venue.

I shall give later the methods of altering the place of trial as fixed by the venue.

RULE 19. The district may either be a county, or portions of a county, or counties (i.e., the Cinque Ports), or in the case of winter and spring assizes and the Central Criminal Court, more than a county, or an area defined by Order in Council, under the Judicature Act, 1875, or a borough.

See 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77, s. 23; 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 248.

RULE 20.-The jurisdiction of the Court of the Lord High Admiral, which applied to all offences, to which the Law of England extends, committed on the high seas, or in ports, harbours and creeks, and rivers where great ships go, either within the body of an English county or a foreign country, or under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, or under the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 1878, is exercisable by

(a) The justices and judges of the Central Criminal Court (4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36, s. 22); (b) The commissioners of assize, oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery (7 & 8 Vict. c. 2, s. 1);

(c) Justices in quarter sessions s;

(d) Recorders in borough quarter sessions,

and the venue is the district in which the trial is had.

See 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2, s. 1; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 9; and the Consolidation Acts of 1861.

The last two have only the jurisdiction conferred by particular statutes, which are:-The Larceny Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 115); The Malicious Damage Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 72); The Forgery Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 50); The Coinage Offences Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 36); The Offences against the Person Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 60). There are also certain provisions conferring jurisdiction in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60, ss. 686, 687); and the jurisdiction is further extended to accessories to felony by the Accessories and Abettors Act (24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 9). (See R. v. Peel, 32 L. J. M. C. 65; 7 L. T. N. S. 336; 9 Cox, 220; 11 W. R. 40; 8 Jur. N. S. 1185; 26 J. P. 757; L. & C. 231.)

It is not necessary to go fully into the history of Admiralty jurisdiction, as it is now of little more than antiquarian interest; but it may be shortly said that, to a great extent-save as to offences committed on the high seas and in foreign ports-the Common Law had a concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of the Lord High Admiral as to offences within the scope of the latter.

Blackstone states that the said Court had jurisdiction over all offences committed either on the sea or on the coasts out of the body of an English county. The statute 15 Rich. 2, however, gives the Court special jurisdiction in murder and manslaughter and mayhem occurring on great ships in navigable rivers. See also R. v. Bruce, 2 Leach, 1093, as to the admiral's jurisdiction in Milford Haven, which is a part of the sea, and yet landlocked and in the body of the county of Pembroke.

RULE 21.-The venue in respect of any offence committed on the boundary of two or more counties or within five hundred yards in a direct line of the boundary, or begun in one county and completed in another, may be laid in either of the said counties (7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 12).

See R. v. Welsh, 1 Mood. C. C. 175; R. v. Piller, 7 C. & P. 337, as to limitations of this rule.

RULE 22.-The venue in respect of an offence committed in a detached part of one county locally included in another county may be laid in the latter.

2 & 3 Vict. c. 82, s. 1. See 7 & 8 Vict. c. 61, s. 1; R. v. Loader, 1 Russ. Cri., 6th ed., p. 7.

RULE 23. With certain exceptions, e.g., the City of London, the venue in respect of an offence committed in the county of a city or town corporate may be laid in the adjoining county, and tried

there.

38 Geo. 3, c. 52, s. 2; R. v. Miller, R. & R. 144. See also 14 & 15 Vict. c. 55, s. 19, as to committal of prisoners in certain circumstances to assizes of adjoining county.

RULE 24.—The venue in respect of offences committed on persons or property in any coach, waggon, cart, or other carriage whatever employed in any journey, or on any vessels employed on any journey on a navigable river, canal, or inland navigation, may be laid in any county through which the conveyance passed on its journey during which the offence was committed, or if any part of the highway or river or canal, or its side, bank or centre forms the boundary of two counties, then in either county.

7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 13; R. v. Sharpe, 2 Lewin, 233; R. v. Pierce, 6 Cox, 117.

RULE 25.-The venue in respect of high treason or conspiracy may be laid in any county in which any overt act charged in the indictment can be proved to have been done.

Steph. Dig. Cr. Proc., p. 48.

RULE 26.-Where any person being feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt upon the sea, or out of England and Ireland, thereby dies, or being so stricken or poisoned or hurt in England or Ireland dies, out of England or Ireland, or at