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DEATH, SENTENCE OF.

4 Geo. 4, c. 48.

Death,

Sentence of

An Act for enabling Courts to abstain from pronouncing 4 Geo. 4, c. 48. Sentence of Death in certain Capital Felonies.

WHEREAS it is expedient that in all cases of felony not within the benefit of clergy, except murder, the court before which the offender or offenders shall be convicted shall be authorized to abstain from pronouncing judgment of death, whenever such court shall be of opinion that, under the particular circumstances of any case, the offender or offenders is or are a fit and proper subject or fit and proper subjects to be recommended for the Royal mercy: be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of

the

sentence of

same, That from and after the passing of this Act, when- Court may ever any person shall be convicted of any felony, except abstain from murder, and shall by law be excluded the benefit of clergy in pronouncing respect thereof*, and the court before which such offender death on pershall be convicted shall be of opinion that, under the par- sons convicted ticular circumstances of the case, such offender is a fit and of any felonies, proper subject to be recommended for the Royal mercy, it shall except murder. and may be lawful for such court, if it shall think fit so to do, to direct the proper officer then being present in court to require and ask, whereupon such officer shall require and ask if such offender hath or knoweth any thing to say, why judgment of death should not be recorded against such offender; and in case such offender shall not allege any matter or thing sufficient in law to arrest or bar such judgment, the court shall and may and is hereby authorized to abstain from pronouncing judgment of death upon such offender; and instead of pronouncing such judgment to order the same to be entered

* Benefit of clergy, however, has been abolished by 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 28, s. 6.

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Death,

Sentence of

4 Geo. 4, c. 48.

Record of

judgment to have the same effect as if pronounced.

Act not to

extend to

Scotland.

of record, and thereupon such proper officer as aforesaid shall and may and is hereby authorized to enter judgment of death on record against such offender, in the usual and accustomed form, and in such and the same manner as is now used, and as if judgment of death had actually been pronounced in open court against such offender, by the court before which such offender shall have been convicted.

Sect. II. And be it further enacted, That a record of every such judgment, so entered as aforesaid, shall have the like effect to all intents and purposes, and be followed by all the same consequences, as if such judgment had actually been pronounced in open court, and the offender had been reprived by the court.

Sect. III. And be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend to that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland.

Deer and
Venison.

7 & 8 G.4.c.29.

Stealing, &c.

deer in any inclosed ground, felony.

The like in certain uninclosed ground punishable summarily.

DEER AND VENISON.

The 9 Hen. 3, st. 2, c. 10; 21 Edw. 1, st. 2; 1 Edw. 3, st. 1. c.8; 1 Hen. 7, c. 7; 2 Jac. 1, c. 27, as to deer; 5 Geo. 1, c. 28; 9 Geo. 1, c. 11; 10 Geo. 2, c. 32, as to deer; 16 Geo. 3, c. 30; 42 Geo. 3, c. 107; 51 Geo. 3, c. 120, repealed by 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 27.

7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 29.

Sect. XXVI. And be it enacted, That if any person shall unlawfully and wilfully course, hunt, snare or carry away, or kill or wound, or attempt to kill or wound, any deer kept or being in the inclosed part of any forest, chace, or purlieu, or in any inclosed land wherein deer shall be usually kept, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as in the case of simple larceny; and if any person shall unlawfully and wilfully course, hunt, snare or carry away, or kill or wound, or attempt to kill or wound, any deer kept

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Deer and
Venison.

7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29

or being in the uninclosed part of any forest, chace, or purlieu, he shall for every such offence, on conviction thereof before a justice of the peace, forfeit and pay such sum, not exceeding 501., as to the justice shall seem meet; and if any person, who shall have been previously convicted of any offence relating to deer for which a pecuniary penalty is by this Act imposed, Deer-stealing shall offend a second time, by committing any of the offences in uninclosed hereinbefore last enumerated, such second offence, whether ground after any other it be of the same description as the first offence or not, shall offence as to be deemed felony, and such offender being convicted thereof, deer, felony. shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as in the

case of simple larceny.

Sect. XXVII. And be it enacted that, That if any Suspected perdeer, or the head, skin, or other part thereof, or any

sons found in possession of snare or engine for the taking of deer, shall by virtue of venison, &c. a search warrant to be granted as hereinafter mentioned, and not satisbe found in the possession of any person, or on the factorily ac premises of any person with his knowledge, and such per- counting for it. son being carried before a justice of the peace, shall not satisfy the justice that he came lawfully by such deer, or the head, skin or other part thereof, or had a lawful occasion for such snare or engine, and did not keep the same for any unlawful purpose, he shall, on conviction by the justice, forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding 201.; and if any such person shall not, under the provisions aforesaid be liable to conviction, then, for the discovery of the party who actually killed In case they or stole such deer, it shall be lawful for the justice, at his cannot be condiscretion, as the evidence given and the circumstances of the justice may victed, how the case shall require, to summon before him every person through proceed. whose hands such deer, or the head, skin or other part thereof, shall appear to have passed; and if the person from whom the same shall have been first received, or who shall have had possession thereof, shall not satisfy the justice that he came lawfully by the same, he shall, on conviction by the justice, be liable to the payment of such sum of money as is hereinbefore last mentioned.

Deer and
Venison.

7 & 8 G. 4, c.29. Setting engines for taking deer, or pulling down park fences.

Deer-keepers, &c. may seize the guns, &c. of offenders who, on demand, do' not deliver up the same.

Resistance to keepers, &c. in the execution of their duty.

Sect. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That if any person shall unlawfully and wilfully set or use any snare or engine whatsoever, for the purpose of taking or killing deer, in any part of any forest, chace or purlieu, whether such part be inclosed or not, or in any fence or bank dividing the same from any land adjoining, or in any inclosed and where deer shall be usually kept, or shall unlawfully and wilfully destroy any part of the fence of any land where any deer shall be then kept, every such offender, being convicted thereof before a justice of the peace, shall forfeit and pay such sum of money, not exceeding 201. as to the justice shall seem meet.

Sect. XXIX. And be it enacted, That if any person shall enter into any forest, chace or purlieu, whether inclosed or not, or into any inclosed land where deer shall be usually kept, with intent unlawfully to hunt, course, wound, kill, snare or carry away any deer, it shall be lawful for every person entrusted with the care of such deer, and for any of his assistants, whether in his presence or not, to demand from every such offender any gun, fire-arms, snare or engine in his possession, and any dog there brought for hunting, coursing or killing deer, and in case such offender shall not immediately deliver up the same, to seize and take the same from him in any of those respective places, or, upon pursuit made, in any other place to which he may have escaped therefrom, for the use of the owner of the deer; and if any such offender shall unlawfully beat or wound any person entrusted with the care of the deer, or any of his assistants, in the execution of any of the powers given by this Act, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as in the case of simple larceny.

Note. The clause in the Black Act against hunting, wounding, &c. was considered, where the party did not go armed and disguised, to have been repealed by the introduction of pecuniary forfeitures under 16 Geo. 3, c. 30. And it was held, that no indictment lay for deer-stealing in tho first

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instance, although it was stated that the stolen deer had been reclaimed. (Heath's case, East. P. C. 609.)

Deer and

Venison.

It is obvious, that the capital felony of taking deer, armed and disguised, is done away with. A demand of the gun 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29. must be made under the 29th section, and under the old enactment a conviction was holden wrong when the underkeeper had seized a gun without a previous order to deliver it. (R. v. Amey, Russell & Ryan, 500.)

The question, whether an assistant keeper, not being appointed or apprized by the owner of the chace, was authorized to take the gun, unless the head keeper had been present, was not decided, because the point raised was in favour of the prisoner.

Indictment for coursing and killing Deer.

Hertfordshire,

The jurors for our lord the King, upon their to wit. Joath present, that A. late of the parish of in the county of

labourer, on

&c. with force and

arms, at the parish aforesaid *, in the county aforesaid, one
[fallow +] deer, of the price of +, then and there kept

and being in the inclosed part of a certain forest, called
[or chace] [or purlieu] [or certain inclosed land] of and be-
longing to one B. [or in the occupation of one B.] in which
said inclosed land deer had been usually and then were
kept] feloniously, unlawfully and wilfully, then and there
did, in the said forest, &c. course, [hunt] [snare] [kill]
[wound][or attempt to kill] [or wound], against the form of
the statute in that case made and provided, and against the
peace of our said lord the King, his crown and dignity.

Evidence.

The following proofs must be used to support the foregoing indictment:-That the deer in question was coursed, hunted, snared, &c. according to the fact; that the prisoner was the individual who did this, that the offence was committed in the forest, &c. and in the parish mentioned in the indictment, that the place was the inclosed part of a forest, chace, or purlieu, or inclosed land, according to the allegation (if an inclosed place, that it belonged to B.) that it had been usual to keep deer, and that deer were then kept in it, and lastly, that the deer belonged to B.

* Material. + As the case may be. + Immaterial. Omit these words where the deer were taken from a forest, chace, or purlieu.

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