Queen's evidence. made to any other person, is merely evidence (though if undisputed no other evidence may be needed); and is to be widely distinguished from the confession in court or plea of guilty. In connection with this subject we must advert to the case of one of several co-defendants turning Queen's evidence. When sufficient evidence of a felony cannot be obtained from other quarters, and when it is perceived that the testimony of one of the accused would supply this defect, it is usual for the committing magistrate to hold out hope to this one that if he will give evidence so as to bring the others to justice, he himself will escape punishment. The approval of the presiding judge will have to be obtained (). Even during the trial it sometimes happens that the counsel for the prosecution, with the consent of the court, when such a course is necessary to secure a conviction, takes one of the defendants out of the dock and puts him in the witness-box; such prisoner, of course, obtaining a verdict of acquittal (). But, as we shall see hereafter more fully, the evidence of an accomplice is to be regarded with suspicion, and requires corroboration (m). (k) R. v. Rudd, 1 Leach, 115. (m) v. p. 412. CHAPTER XI. PLEAS. The IF the defendant neither stands mute nor confesses, he Pleas. pleads, that is, he alleges some defensive matter. learning on the subject of the different pleas has become to a great extent a matter of history rather than of practice, on account of the comprehensive character of the plea of the general issue of not guilty, and also on account of the right to move in arrest of judgment. The following are the names of the pleas in the order Their order. in which they should be pleaded: i. Plea to the jurisdiction, ii. Plea in abatement, iii. Special pleas in bar, (a.) Autrefois acquit. (b.) Autrefois convict. (c.) Autrefois attaint. (d.) Pardon. iv. General issue of not guilty. termed "dilatory Each of these will be considered separately. In the next chapter demurrers will be noticed. These Blackstone treats as pleas, whereas in truth they are rather in the nature of objections that there is not sufficient case in point of law to oblige the accused to plead. It is not to be understood that a defendant may in How many turn go through the whole of these pleas, resorting to resorted to. pleas may be Plea to the jurisdiction. Why seldom pleaded. the subsequent plea as a previous one fails. The rule is that not more than one plea can be pleaded to an indictment for misdemeanor, or a criminal information. In felonies if the accused pleads in abatement, he may afterwards, if the plea is adjudged against him, plead over to the felony, that is, plead the general issue of not guilty. i. Plea to the jurisdiction.-When an indictment is taken before a court which has no cognizance of the offence, the defendant may plead to the jurisdiction, without answering at all to the crime alleged. This want of jurisdiction may arise either from the fact that the offence was not committed within the district of the jurisdiction, for example, if a person be indicted in Kent for stabbing a person in Sussex; or because the tribunal in question has not cognizance of that class of crimes, for example, if a person be indicted at the sessions for murder. But this plea is very seldom resorted to, inasmuch as relief can be obtained in other ways. Thus the objection that the offence was committed out of the jurisdiction may generally be urged under the general issue, or, in certain cases, by demurrer, or by moving in arrest of judgment, or by writ of error. If the objection is that the crime is not cognizable in a court of that grade, though committed within the jurisdiction, the defendant may demur, or have advantage of it under the general issue, or by removing the indictment to the Queen's Bench Division and there quashing it. The clerk of the peace or of the arraigns may make replication, shewing that the offence is triable by the And to this the defendant may rejoin (n). court. (n) This pleading is done out of court, and must be distinguished from the objections taken under the general issue by the prisoner in court. ment. ii. Plea in abatement. This is another dilatory plea, Plea in abateformerly principally used in the case of the defendant being misnamed in the indictment; for example, if a wrong Christian name or addition were given. But even if the defendant was successful on this plea, a new bill of indictment with the correction might at once be framed. The plea is now, however, virtually obsolete. It has been enacted that no indictment or information shall be abated by reason of any dilatory plea of misnomer, or of want of addition, or of wrong addition, if the court be satisfied of the truth of the plea. The court will cause the indictment or information to be amended, and will call upon the party to plead thereto, and will proceed as if no such dilatory plea had been pleaded (o). And no indictment is to be held insufficient for want of, or imperfection in, the addition of any defendant (p). in bar. iii. Special pleas in bar.-These are termed "special" Special pleas to distinguish them from the general issue; and "in bar" because they shew reason why the defendant ought not to answer at all, nor put himself upon his' trial for the crime alleged, and thus they are distinguished from dilatory pleas which merely postpone the result. All matters of excuse and justification may be given in evidence under the general issue; therefore it is hardly ever necessary to resort to a special plea in bar, except in the four cases to be examined more in detail (g). If judgment on a special plea in bar is given against Judgment on (0) 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 19. (p) 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, s. 24. We have already adverted to the large powers of amendment which are given to the court by this statute. (q) "In fact, the only instance in which a special plea in bar seems requisite in criminal cases is, where a parish or county is indicted for not repairing a road or bridge, &c., and wishes to throw the onus of repairing upon some person or persons not bound of common right to repair it."-Arch. 140. such special pleas. Plea of autrefois acquit. the defendant in a felony, it is to the effect that he make further answer (respondeat ouster); but as he generally pleads at the same time the general issue, when such judgment is given against him the jury proceed to inquire into his guilt, as if the special plea had not been pleaded. If the plea is established in his favour, he is discharged. In misdemeanors the judgment is final, so that if it is against the defendant he is considered guilty of the offence; if for him, he is discharged. (a.) Autrefois acquit.-When a person has been indicted for an offence and regularly acquitted, he cannot afterwards be indicted for the same offence, provided that the indictment were such that he could have been law fully convicted on it. It is against the policy of the English law that a man should be put in peril more than once for the same offence. And therefore if he is indicted a second time, he may plead autrefois acquit, and thus bar the indictment. It is frequently a difficult matter to determine whether the second indictment bears such a relation to the first, that the latter is a bar to the former. The true test seems to be this -whether the facts charged in the second indictment would, if true, have sustained the first (r). An acquittal for murder may be pleaded in bar of an indictment for manslaughter, and vice versa. So with larceny and embezzlement; robbery, and assault with intent to rob; felony, and an attempt to commit the felony. But an acquittal for larceny is no bar to an indictment for false pretences; nor will an acquittal as accessory bar an indictment as principal, and vice versa. Nor, again, is an acquittal on a charge of stealing "certain goods" on the ground that such goods are a fixture in a building, a bar to an indictment for stealing the fixture (s). (r) R. v. Vandercomb, 2 Leach, 708. |