Section 406 of the Criminal Code enacts that :— Every one is guilty of an indictable offence, and liable to imprisonment for seven years who (a.) with intent to extort or gain anything from any person accuses or threatens to accuse either that person or any other person of any offence other than those specified in the last section, whether the person accused or threatened with accusation is guilty or not of that offence; or (b.) with such intent as aforesaid, threatens that any person shall be so accused by any person; or (c.) causes any person to receive a document containing such accusation or threat knowing the contents thereof; or (d.) by any of the means aforesaid, compels or attempts to compel any person to execute, make, accept, endorse, alter, or destroy the whole or any part of any valuable security, or to write, impress or affix any name or seal upon or to any paper or parchment, in order that it may be afterwards made or converted into, or used or dealt with as, a valuable security. HALIFAX, November 12, 1895. H. McInnes, moved for a writ of prohibition to prevent the stipendiary magistrate from trying the information.-The word "offence" means offence under the Code. A violation of the Liquor License Act is not an offence known to the Code. (HENRY, J.-Must you not show that there is something in the Code to exclude the idea of criminality outside the offences specifically mentioned ?) A. McKay, contra.-The word "offence" has been used as applicable peculiarly to violations of provincial laws. The gravamen of the charge is making a threat as a means of extorting money; Tashereau, Cr. Code 455. Section 406 of the Code is new, and was intended to cover offences not included in the preceding section. There is a distinction between offences and indictable offences. In section 872 of the Code the word offence is used to cover a violation of a local statute; see also sections 93 to 96, 105 to 113, and 117 to 119; Queen v. Shepheard, 20 N.S.R., 476; Queen v. Calhoun, 20 N.S.R. 395. (HENRY, J. -Under sec 92, sub-sec. 15, the local legislature can fine and imprison. MEAGHER, J.-The word "indictable" was probably left out to meet just that class of cases.) As to construction; Hardcastle on Statutory Law, 198. H. McInnes in reply. RITCHIE, J. The Court are of opinion that the word "offence" as used in section 406 of the Criminal Code, applies to offences against local as well as against Dominion Acts, and is not confined to offences against the Code. The motion will therefore be dismissed. Writ of prohibition refused. [COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, QUEBEC.] BEFORE OUIMET, J. Ex Parte CORRIGAN. Habeas Corpus-Commitment-Identity of accused-Objection to wrong name-Time for stating-Amendment before plea-Alias name. 1. A person who is charged under a wrong name, and who pleads without objection to same, is not entitled after conviction to be released under a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that she is not the person against whom the commitment was issued. 2. The proper time to take objection to a wrong name under which an accused is charged is before pleading to the charge, at which time the mistake may be corrected by an amendment. MONTREAL, August 30, 1899. OUIMET, J. The petitioner, Bridget Corrigan, is brought before me on a writ of habeas corpus. She claims that she is unlawfully detained in jail on the authority of a commitment issued against one Kate Wilson, of the City of Montreal, while she is Bridget Corrigan, wife of Godfrey Filiatrault, of the same place. Kate Wilson was convicted of selling liquor without a license, fined and committed to jail on default of payment. From the affidavits and other documents filed before me, I find that the main allegation of her petition is true and that her real name is Bridget Corrigan. I also find that before being arrested she was known and kept house by herself under the name of Kate Wilson. She was arrested under that name. When called upon to plead she entered a plea of not guilty; she was tried and convicted under the same name without ever protesting that it was not her name. It is conclusively established that the petitioner and Kate Wilson are one and the same person. It is now too late for her to complain of a mistake, which, if availed of in the proper time, i.e., before pleading, could have been remedied The writ of habeas corpus is therefore set aside. at once. Petition refused. L. H. Demers, for petitioner. APPENDIX. CRIMINAL LAW AMENDMENTS. 1897 to 1899 inclusive. THE CUSTOMS TARIFF, 1897. (Statutes of Canada, 60-61 Vict., chapter 16.) 14. Blank invoice with certificate of correctness. Any person who, without lawful excuse, the proof of which shall be on the person accused, sends or brings into Canada, or who, being in Canada, has in his possession, any bill-heading or other paper appearing to be a heading or blank capable of being filled up and used as an invoice, and bearing any certificate purporting to show, or which may be used to show, that the invoice which may be made from such bill-heading or blank is correct or authentic, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars, and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, in the discretion of the court, and the goods entered under any invoice made from any such bill-heading or blank shall be forfeited. THE INLAND REVENUE ACT. By the Statutes of Canada 1897 (60-61 Vict., chapter 19) subsection 4 of sec. 113 of The Inland Revenue Act, R.S.C. 1886, c. 34, as amended 1889, c. 15, s. 2, is repealed, and the following subsection is substituted therefor : 113 (4). Limitation of time for prosecution.-Any information or complaint with respect to any offence against the provisions of this Act or any other law relating to the inland revenue, may, whenever the prosecution, suit or proceeding is instituted under the Act respecting summary proceedings before Justices of the Peace, be laid or made within two years of the time when the matter of the information or complaint arose. Section 159 of the Inland Revenue Act, R.S.C. 1886, c. 34, is amended to read as follows (1897, c. 19, s. 6, and 1898, c. 27, s. 3): 159. Penalty for distilling without a license.-Every person who, without having a license under this Act, then in force(a.) Distils or rectifies any spirits, or makes or ferments any beer, or (b.) Assists in distilling or rectifying any spirits, or in making or fermenting any beer or wash in any unlicensed place, or (c.) Imports, makes, commences to make, sells, offers for sale or delivers any still, worm, rectifying or other apparatus suitable for the manufacture of wash, beer or spirits, or for the rectification of spirits, or any part of such apparatus, or (d.) Completely or partially sets up or assists in setting up, prepares or partially prepares for working, any such still, worm, rectifying or other apparatus, or— (e.) has in his possession, in any place, any such still, worm, rectifying or other apparatus or any part or parts thereof, or any beer or wash suitable for the manufacture of spirits, without having given notice thereof as required by this Act, except in case of registration provided for by section 125 of this Act, or in whose place or upon whose premises such things are found; or (f.) conceals or keeps, or allows or suffers to be concealed or kept, in any place or premises owned or controlled by him, any such still, worm, rectifying or other apparatus, or part thereof, or any beer or wash suitable for the manufacture of spirits; or |