liable to the payment thereof, or, being a negotiable instrument, shall have been bonâ fide taken or received, by transfer or delivery, by some person or body corporate for a just and valuable consideration, without any notice, or without any reasonable cause to suspect that the same had by any felony or misdemeanor been stolen, taken, obtained, or converted as aforesaid, in such case the court shall not award or order the restitution of such security. WHERE THE CONVICT IS ALREADY UNDER A PREVIOUS SENTENCE.-The 7 & 8 G. 4. c. 28. s. 10. enacts, that wherever sentence shall be passed for felony on a person already imprisoned under sentence for another crime, it shall be lawful for the court to award imprisonment for the subsequent offence, to commence at the expiration of the imprisonment to which such person shall have been previously sentenced; and where such person shall be already under sentence, either of imprisonment or of transportation, the court, if empowered to pass sentence of transportation, may award such sentence for the subsequent offence, to commence at the expiration of the imprisonment or transportation to which such person shall have been previously sentenced, although the aggregate term of imprisonment or transportation respectively may exceed the term for which either of those punishments could be otherwise awarded. WHIPPING IN CASE OF FEMALE OFFENDERS.- By the 1 G. 4. c. 57. s. 2. the punishment of whipping is abolished in the case of female offenders; and the 3d sect. of the same stat. enacts the power of awarding, in lieu thereof, whenever such whipping has hitherto formed the whole or part of a sentence, imprisonment with hard labour for any space of time not exceeding three, nor less than one month; or solitary confinement not exceeding seven days at any one time. PUNISHMENT OF PEERS. The 4 & 5 Vict. c. 22. enacts, that every lord of parliament or peer of this realm, having place and voice in parliament, against whom any indictment for felony may be found, shall plead to such indictment, and shall upon conviction be liable to the same punishment as any other of her Majesty's subjects are or may be liable upon conviction for such felony, any law or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding. THE CRIMINAL LAW AND ITS SENTENCES IN TREASONS, FELONIES, AND MISDEMEANORS In the English Law, OFFENCES, which are subject to indictment or prosecution at the suit of the Crown, are divided into three classes, viz., I. TREASONS; II. FELONIES; and III. MISDEMEANORS. 1. TREASONS. TREASON is that accumulation of guilt which arises whenever a superior reposes a confidence in a subject or inferior, between whom and himself there subsists a natural, or civil, or even a spiritual relation, and the inferior so abuses that confidence, so forgets the obligations of duty, subjection, and allegiance, as to destroy or attempt the life of any such superior or lord. B HIGH TREASON. High treason is an offence against that allegiance which is due to the Queen from every man who lives under her protection, and it is so called by reason of the greatness of the personage against whom it is committed. High treason, being an offence of the most dangerous and fatal consequence to society, has, in order to deter men from being guilty thereof, at all times been punished by the law of England with the utmost severity. It has, for the same reason, been more strictly guarded against than other offence. To every felony, any less than high treason, an actual commission of the felony is necessary: but an intention to commit high treason is, in some cases, equivalent to the actual commission itself. The 25 Ed. 3. st. 5. c. 2., confirmed by the 1 Mary 1. c. 1., which latter repeals all intervening statutes, defines what offences shall be held to be treasons; and in these acts are comprehended, up to the period of the enactment of the statute of Mary, all kinds of high treason under seven distinct branches, as follow: SENTENCES. Formerly the judgment in most cases of treason, which was call ed the solemn judg ment, was extremely disgusting and cruel; but now, pursuant to the 54 G. 3. c. 146., in all cases in which the solemn judgment, the judgment is, as in the judgment to be pronounced after the passing of that act shall be, that the person shall be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and be there hanged by the neck until such person be dead, and that afterwards the head shall be severed from the body, and the body, divided into four quarters, shall be disposed of as Her Majesty shall think fit. The second section of this statute authorises Her Majesty, by warrant under her hand, countersigned by one of the principal secretaries of First Species of High Treason. "When a man doth compass or imagine the death of our Lord the King, our Lady his companion, or of their eldest son and heir, and thereof be provably attainted of overt deed, by the people of their condition." In this clause the word "companion" means wife. A Queen Regnant is not expressly mentioned in the clause, but the construction has been, that such a queen is within the meaning of the words " our lord the king," and, therefore, what in this clause of the statute relates to a king applies also to Her present Majesty. The clause does not extend to a queen dowager, inasmuch as she is not the companion of the king. In this clause the compassing or imagining is the substantive offence, but as such compassing or imagining is an act of the mind, it cannot fall under any judicial cognizance, unless it be demonstrated by some open or overt act. The act of the mind, the compassing or imagining, is therefore the treason; the overt acts are the means by which that act of the mind becomes capable of proof, and is proved. To provide means to effect the deaths of the personages mentioned in this SENTENCES. state, to order and direct that such person shall not be drawn, but taken in some other manner to the place of execution; and that such person shall be decapitated, and not hanged, and also to direct in what manner the body, head, and shoulders of such person shall be disposed of. The judgment, other than the solemn judgthat the person convictment in high treason, is, ed be carried to the prison from whence he came, and be drawn from thence to the place he be there hanged by of execution; and that the neck until he be dead. The solemn judgment, however, was to be pronounced in every case of high treason, except that of counterfeiting the king's money, contrary to the 25 Ed. 3., and, according to the better opinion, except in a few other cases also. Formerly women convicted of high treason |