Offences by those who have been

twice convicted.

Acts conducing to crime.

Search for stolen property.

Evidence in trial for receiving.

iii. Persons who have been twice convicted of crime may be punished in certain cases, within seven years from the last conviction, by imprisonment not exceeding one year, e.g., for appearing to obtain their livelihood by dishonest means, refusing to give their names when asked by a court of summary jurisdiction. They may be subjected to police supervision for seven years or less (p).

iv. Penalties are prescribed for harbouring thieves, assaulting the police, purchasing less than specified quantities of old metal, &c. (g).

v. Power is given to constables authorized by a chief officer of the police to enter houses, &c., to search for stolen property in premises which, within the last twelve months, have been in the occupation of persons who have been convicted of receiving stolen property, or harbouring thieves; or are in occupation of persons who have been convicted of offences involving fraud or dishonesty, and punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment (?).

vi. At a trial for receiving stolen goods certain evidence, not usually allowed, may be given (s).

CHAPTER II.

COURTS OF A CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.

able crimes.

In this chapter we shall treat of courts taking cog- Courts dealing nizance of indictable crimes, reserving for a subse- with indict. quent chapter the consideration of courts of a summary jurisdiction (). These courts are either of general, or of local and special jurisdiction. We are concerned chiefly with the former, and to them we now turn, and notice the several tribunals as far as possible in the order of their dignity.

THE HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT.

This assembly proceeds to the punishment of offenders Court of either in a legislative or a judicial capacity.

Parliament.

attainder or of

pains and

When acting in the former of these capacities it Bills of cannot strictly be termed a court. It does not then sit to execute existing laws, but to make new ones. penalties. The occasions when its legislative functions are exercised to punish offenders are when bills of attainder or bills of pains and penalties are passed to punish particular persons for treason or felony, beyond and contrary to the common law, to serve a special purpose. They pass through the same stages as any other bill, though usually commencing with the Lords.

When sitting in a judicial capacity the jurisdiction

(t) v. p. 478. As to Court for Crown Cases Reserved, v. p. 471.

Impeachment.

Pardon cannot

of this, the highest court of the kingdom, is exercised in one of two modes:

i. Impeachment.

ii. Indictment.

i. Impeachment before the Lords by the Commons. The Commons act as prosecutors, inasmuch as it is the people, whom they represent, who are injured; the Lords form the tribunal. In place of an ordinary bill of indictment the charge against the offender is contained in the articles of impeachment. A peer may be impeached for any crime; a commoner may be impeached, at any rate for a misdemeanour, and, according to the better authorities, for any crime (u).

It should be remembered that it was provided by be pleaded to the Act of Settlement that no pardon under the Great impeachment. Seal is pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament. That is, the proceedings cannot be suppressed by the sovereign interfering with a pardon; though, when the matter has been inquired into, and judgment given, he may then exercise his royal prerogative of pardon. The proceedings on an impeachment are not brought to a termination by the prorogation or dissolution of Parliament (x).

Proceedings on The proceedings are shortly the following (y). A impeachment. member of the House of Commons charges the accused with the offence, and moves that he be impeached. On the House agreeing, the member is sent up to the bar of the House of Lords to impeach the accused in the name of the House of Commons and the Commons of the United Kingdom. A committee is appointed to draw up articles, which, on being agreed to, are

delivered to the Lords. The accused makes answer to
these articles, and to his answer, which is communi-
cated by the Lords to the Commons, replication, if
necessary, is returned.
The Lords then appoint a day

for trial, the accused meanwhile being retained in
custody, unless admitted to bail by the House of Lords.
The Commons desire the Lords to summon witnesses,
and they (the Commons) appoint managers to conduct
the proceedings. The trial usually takes place in The trial.
Westminster Hall, under the presidency of the Lord
High Steward. But in cases other than impeachment
of peers for high treason the Lord Chancellor or Lord
Speaker presides. The president is not a judge, but
only chairman, and has a vote with the rest in right
of his peerage. The collective body of peers are the
judges both of law and of fact. The Commons attend
with the managers as a committee of the whole House.
When the managers have made their charge they
adduce evidence; and as to this, though a doubt was
raised on the trial of Warren Hastings whether the
Lords were bound by the same rules of evidence which
prevail in ordinary criminal tribunals, that they are
so bound is now established.
The accused, who may

be defended by counsel, answers the charge, and the managers reply. The president then puts to each peer, beginning with the junior baron, the question upon the first article, whether the accused be guilty of the crime charged therein. The peers in succession rise in their places when the question is put, and standing uncovered, and laying their right hands upon their breast, answer "Guilty," or "Not guilty, upon iny honour." Each article is proceeded with separately; the president giving his opinion last. The numbers being ascertained, are delivered by the president. The Commons demand judgment, and this is pronounced by the president.

ii. Indictment before the House of Peers.-In this court Indictment. are tried peers and peeresses against whom an indictment

The trial.

for treason or felony, or for misprision of either, is found during a session of Parliament. The indictment, that is, a true bill, is found in the ordinary way by a grand jury in the Queen's Bench Division, or at the assizes; the indictment being removed to the House of Peers by writ of certiorari (z). The peer may plead a pardon before the Queen's Bench Division, so as to avoid the trouble of appointing a high steward, &c., merely to receive that plea; but no other plea, as "guilty" or "not guilty," can be pleaded in the inferior court.

The court is presided over by a Lord High Steward, appointed by commission under the great seal. He is not a judge, but chairman, and votes with the other peers. The privilege of being tried by this court depends upon nobility of blood, rather than upon the right to a seat in the House, as will appear from the considerations following. This kind of trial might have been claimed by a Popish peer at a time when he was incapable of sitting in the House; by a peer under age; by Scotch and Irish peers, though they be no representative; by females, namely, peeresses by birth, and those by marriage, unless when dowagers they have disparaged themselves by taking a commoner for a second husband (a). Also the bishops are not tried in this court, but in courts which have jurisdiction over commoners. As to the right of bishops to take part in the trials in the House of Peers, a resolution of the House in Danby's case has ever since been adhered to, "that the lords spiritual have a right to stay and sit in court in capital cases till the court proceeds to the vote of guilty or not guilty" (b). They then retire voluntarily, but not without entering a protest declaring their right to stay.