CHAPTER III. PERSONS CAPABLE OF COMMITTING CRIME. The sovereign is not amenable to the criminal courts of his The sovekingdom for any act committed by him. This rule of law is reign. expressed by the constitutional maxim "The king can do no wrong." "The sovereign," says Blackstone (1), "is not under the coercive power of the law, which will not suppose him capable of committing a folly, much less a crime. We are, therefore, out of reverence and decency, to forbear any idle inquiries of what would be the consequence if the king were to act thus and thus; since the law deems so highly of his wisdom and virtue, as not even to presume it possible for him to do anything inconsistent with his station and dignity; and therefore has made no provision to remedy such a grievance." tions. Corporations may be indicted and fined for offences committed Corporain their corporate capacity, e.g. neglecting to repair a highroad (2), ordering a libel to be published (3). sories. Persons implicated in the commission of a crime are either Principals "principals," or "accessories." 1. Principals are either prin- and acces cipals in the first degree or principals in the second degree. Accessories are either accessories before the fact or accessories after the fact. The distinction between principals and accessories exists only in respect of felonies. In treasons, on account of the magnitude of the offence, and in misdemeanour, all the guilty parties are treated as principals. degree. A principal in the first degree is one who is the actor or Principals actual perpetrator of the fact, whether actually present at the in the first commission of the crime or not. Thus, A. lays poison, intending to kill B.; B. takes the poison and dies; A. is guilty of murder as a principal in the first degree. (1) Blackstone, vol. iv. ad init., citing Hale's Pleas of the Crown. (2) R. v. Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Co., 9 C. & P. 469; 2 Q. B. 47. (3) Eastern Counties Co. v. Broom, 6 Exch. 314. They can only be pro- Principals in the second degree. Accessory before the fact. Accessory after the fact. Illustra tion. A principal in the second degree is one who is present, aiding and abetting, at the commission of the fact. An accessory before the fact is he who, being absent at the time of the felony committed, "procures, counsels, commands or abets" another to commit the felony. An accessory after the fact is one who, knowing a felony to have been committed by another, "receives, relieves, comforts, or assists" the felon. A married woman, however, who receives, comforts, or relieves her husband, knowing him to have committed a felony, does not thereby become an accessory after the fact (1). Thus suppose A. and B. plan a burglary, A. takes C. with him to keep watch while the offence is being committed. A. commits the burglary; and D., with knowledge of the crime, conceals A. from the pursuit of justice. Here A. is principal in the first degree, C. is principal in the second degree, B. is accessory before the fact, and D. is accessory after the fact. Accessories before the fact may be indicted, tried, and convicted, and punished in all respects as if they were principal felons (2). Accessories whether before or after the fact may be tried as such together with the principal, or after his conviction, or may be charged with a substantive felony, whether the principal shall have been convicted or not (3). Every one who would have been an accessory whether before or after the fact if the principal offence had been a felony, is a principal in either treason or misdemeanour. Having thus briefly considered the general nature of crimes, their punishments, and the persons by whom they may be committed, we shall next proceed to consider crimes under the following classes :— 1. Treason and Offences against Government (post, p. 1173). (1) Stephen's Digest, 4th ed. p. 36. (2) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 1; c. 96, 8.98; c. 97, s. 56; c. 98, s. 49; c. 99, s. 35; c. 100, s. 67. (3) See 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, ss. 1, 2, 3; Reg. v. James, 24 Q. B. D. 439. CHAPTER IV. TREASON AND OFFENCES AGAINST GOVERNMENT. definition of treason. The earliest statutory definition of treason is contained in Statutory 25 Edw. 3, st. 5, c. 2 (passed in the year 1351, and intended to be declaratory of the then state of the common law), where treason is stated to be committed : "When a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the king (1), or of our lady his queen, or of their eldest son and heir; or if a man do violate the king's companion, or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's eldest son and heir; or if a man do levy war against our lord the king in his realm, or be adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere, and thereof be proveably attainted of open deed by people of their condition." The statute proceeds to enumerate other acts of treason, counterfeiting the king's great seal, bringing false coin into the realm, slaying any of the following persons, viz., the chancellor, treasurer, king's justices of either bench, justices in eyre, or justices in assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their offices. By statutes of Anne it is made treason to endeavour to deprive or hinder any person next in succession to the Crown according to the Act of Settlement from succeeding thereto (provided the same be directly or maliciously attempted by any overt act); or to maliciously, advisedly and directly, by writing or printing, maintain and affirm that any other person has any right or title to the Crown otherwise than according to the said Act; or to so maintain and affirm that Parliament may not make laws to bind the Crown and the descent thereof (2) ; finally, by 36 Geo. 3, c. 7 (made perpetual by 57 Geo. 3, c. 6), Treason. "if any person shall, within the realm or without, compass, imagine, or intend death, destruction, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim or wounding, imprisonment or restraint of the powers of the king, his heirs and successors; and shall express, utter, or declare such intention by publishing any printing or writing, or by overt act, he shall be adjudged a traitor." It should be observed that the king is the king de facto, and not the king de jure, and no person can be guilty of treason by adhering to and attending the king de facto, though he be not the king de jure (1). Although it is the "compassing and imagining" that constitutes the crime, yet the design must be evidenced by at least one overt act, and to justify a conviction there must be two witnesses to the same act, or separate acts of the same treason, unless the accused willingly confesses his guilt (2). The crime of treason by imagining the Queen's death has been thus defined. Every one commits high treason who forms and displays by any overt act, or by publishing any printing or writing, an intention to kill or destroy the Queen, or to do her any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, mayhem or wounding, imprisonment or restraint. Under this head fall intentions evidenced by overt act: (1) to depose the Queen; (2) to levy war against the Queen; (3) to instigate any foreigner with force to invade this realm or any other of the Queen's dominions. Levying war against the Queen may consist either in attacking the Queen's military forces in a warlike manner, or attempting by means of a violent insurrection to compel the Queen to change her measures, or to intimidate either House of Parliament (3). Words written and published expressing treasonable designs are overt acts of treason; the mere speaking of such words, unless spoken as words of advice, consultation, &c., connected with the execution of treasonable design (4), or accompanied by conduct connected with the execution of such a design, is not treason. By exception from the usual rule of criminal law, Nullum tempus occurrit regi, it is provided by statute (1) in the case of Treason. treason that no person shall be prosecuted but within three years after commission of the offence, except only in the case of a designed assassination of the sovereign. The punishment of treason is death by hanging. Treason is frequently spoken of as "high" treason to distinguish it from an old offence of petit treason, which was where a wife murdered her husband, a servant his master, or an ecclesiastical person his superior (2). But such crimes are now murder only (3). Side by side with the common law offence of treason Treason (regulated and defined as it has been by statute), the legisla- felony. ture has in the present reign created a new felony which covers much of the same ground. This is the crime constituted by 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12, and in common parlance called “treasonfelony." That Act provides that if any person shall, within the United Kingdom or without (4), compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend to deprive or depose the Queen, her heirs or successors, from the style, honour, or royal name of the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom, or of any of Her Majesty's dominions and countries; or to levy war against Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, within any part of the United Kingdom, in order by force or constraint to compel her or them to change her or their measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or to intimidate or overawe, both Houses or either House of Parliament (5); or to move or stir any foreigner or stranger with force to invade the United Kingdom, or any other of Her Majesty's dominions or countries under the obeisance of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors; and shall express, utter, or declare such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices or intentions, or any of them, by publishing any printing or writing, or by any overt act or deed, the person so offending shall be guilty of felony. The punishment is penal servitude for life or any term not less than five years, or () 7 & 8 Wm. 3, c. 3. (*) 25 Edw. 3, c. 2; 1 Hale, P. C. 380; 4 Bl. Com. 203. The punishment for petit-treason was for men, to be drawn on a hurdle and hanged; for women, to be drawn and burnt. (3) 9 Geo. 4, c. 31; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 8. (*) "Any person" means, of course, any person owing either natural or local allegiance. A foreigner never coming on to British territory in the course of doing acts, which in an (5) It is a "levying war" within |