fore notice of it could have reached the place where the offence was committed: the judges held that he could not have been tried before that act passed; and that, as he could not have heard of it, he ought to be pardoned. R. v. Bailey, R. & R. 1. Ignorance or mistake of the fact, however, may in some cases be allowed as an excuse for the inadvertent commission of a crime; as, for instance, if a man, intending to kill a thief in his own house, kill one of his own family, he will be guilty of no offence. 1 Hale, 42, 43. 4 Bl. Com. 27. R. v. Levett, Cro. Car. 538. But this rule proceeds upon a supposition, that the original intention was lawful; for, if an unforeseen consequence ensue from an act which was in itself unlawful, and in its original nature wrong and mischievous, the actor is criminally responsible for whatever consequence may ensue. 4 Bl. Com. 27.

SECT. 3.

The Form of an Indictment.

AN indictment consists of three parts: the commencement, the statement, and the conclusion. We shall treat of each of these in its order.

1. The Commencement.

The commencement of every indictment is thus:-" Middlesex, to wit:-The jurors for our lord the King upon their oath present, that," &c. [so proceeding to state the offence, for which the defendant is to be prosecuted.]

The

Venue]-The venue in the margin is the only part of the commencement of an indictment that requires attention. general rule upon the subject is, that the venue in the margin should be the county in which the offence was committed; See 2 Hale, 163; or, if the jurisdiction of the court in which the bill of indictment is to be preferred extend only to part of the county, the venue in the margin should be co-extensive with the jurisdiction of the court; that is, it should be descriptive of that part of the county to which the jurisdiction of the court is confined, and the offence must have been committed within part of the county so described. This is the general rule of the common law; but several exceptions have been made to it by statute.

1. In indictments for extortion, the venue may be laid in any county. 31 Eliz. c. 5, s. 4.

2. În indictments for plundering or stealing any part of any

ship in distress or wrecked, or any goods belonging to such ship, the venue may be laid either in the county in which the offence was committed, or in the next adjoining county. 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 18

3. In indictments for resisting or assaulting officers of the excise, 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 53, s. 43, or for offences against the revenue of the customs, 6 G. 4, c. 108, s. 78, the venue may be laid in any county. See 9 G. 2, c. 35, s. 26. For offences against the customs committed upon the high seas, the venue may be laid in the county into which the offender is taken, and if he be taken to a city or borough, &c., in the county in which such city, &c. is situate. 6 G. 4, c. 108, s. 74. See R. v. Cartwright, 4 T. R. 490.

4. In indictments for robbing a mail, or stealing letters from any mail-bag, post office, &c., the venue may be laid in the county in which the offence was committed, or in that in which the offender was apprehended. 42 G. 3, c. 81, s. 3; 52 G. 3, c. 143, s. 3. And the venue may be laid in like manner, in indictments upon the stat. 5 G. 4, c. 20, s. 10, for embezzling votes, newspapers, and parliamentary proceedings sent by the post. 5 G. 4, c. 20, s. 10.

5. In indictments for endeavouring to seduce soldiers or sailors from their duty, or for inciting or stirring them up to mutiny, the venue may be laid in any county, whether the offence be committed on the high seas or in England. 37 G. 3, c. 70, s. 2; 57 G. 3, c. 7.

6. In indictments for forgery, and uttering forged instruments, the venue may be laid in the county in which the offender is apprehended or is in custody, 1 W. 4, c. 66, s. 24, or in which the offence was committed, see R. v. Collicot, R. & R. 212. And accessaries before and after the fact in felony, and aiders and abettors in misdemeanors, may be indicted in any county in which the principal offender may be tried. 1 W. 4, c. 66, s. 24.

7. In indictments for offences against statutes relating to the stamp duties, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offence was committed, or in the county in which the parties accused, or any of them, shall have been apprehended. 53 G. 3, c. 108, s. 24.

8. In indictments for bigamy, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offender was apprehended or is in custody; see R. v. Gordon, R. & R. 48. 9 G. 4, c. 31, s. 22; or in the county in which the second marriage took place.

9. In indictments for felonies or other offences committed in Wales, the venue might formerly have been laid in the next adjacent English county, 26 H. 8, c. 6, s. 6; 34 & 35 H. 8, c. 26, s. 84, namely, in the county of Salop, if the offence were committed

in North Wales; or in the county of Hereford, if the offence were committed in South Wales. See Goodright v. Williams, 2 M. & S. 270. R. v. Athos, 8 Mod. 136. R. v. Parry, 1 Leach, 125. And the statute 26 H. 8, c. 6, s. 6, was construed to extend to felonies created since that statute. R. v. Wyndham, R. & R. 197, 3 Camp. 78. But now it seems that these stats. are virtually repealed by stat. 1 W. 4, c. 70, and that in indictments for offences committed in Wales, the venue must, as in England, be laid in the county in which the offence is committed, unless otherwise provided for by statute. See Tidd's Supp. 29.

10. Where an offence is committed within the county of a city or town corporate, (except in London, Westminster, Southwark, Bristol, Chester, and Exeter, s. 12), the prosecutor may prefer his indictment to the jury of the next adjoining county, at the sessions of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, and have the of fender tried there; 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 2; but the venue must still be laid in the county of the city, &c., where the offence was committed; R. v. Mellor, R. & R. 144; and it is not necessary to allege that the county in which the indictment is preferred is the county next adjoining to the county of the city, &c., but when the record is made up that may appear in the caption or memorandum. R. v. Goff, R. & R. 179. Or, if the bill have been found by a jury of the county of the city, &c., any court of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, holden for such county of the city, &c., may order it to be tried by a jury of the next adjoining county. 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 2. In both of which cases, the court, before which the offender is tried and convicted, may order the judgment to be executed, either in the same county, or in the county of a city in which the offence was committed; 51 G. 3, c. 100, s. 1; and may order the expenses of prosecution and witnesses, 38 G. 3, c. 52, s. 8, and the expenses the county may have been put to by the removal of the prisoner there for trial, &c. 51 G. 3, c. 100, s. 2, to be paid by the person who would have been ordered to pay the same, if the offender had been indicted and tried in such county of a city, &c. See 60 G. 3, c. 14, s. 3; 7 G. 4, c. 64, s. 25.

11. In indictments for high treason or misprision of treason committed out of the realm, the venue may be laid in Middlesex, if the trial is to be in the Court of King's Bench; or in such shire as the King shall appoint, if he appoint a commission to. try the offender. 35 H. 8, c. 2, s. 1. See 5 & 6 Ed. 6, c. 11, s. 6. Treasons committed in Ireland or Scotland, since the unions, and treasons committed in Wales, are not within the meaning of this act; but treasons committed in the Isles of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, and Alderney, or in our foreign plantations, (which, although parts of the dominions of the crown of England, are not parts of the realm, see 3 Inst. 11, 111; 4 Inst. 124), are. So,

in indictments for murder or manslaughter, or for being accessary before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter,* committed on land out of the united kingdom, by British subjects, see R. v. Depardo, R. & R. 134, whether within the King's dominions or without, the venue may be laid in the County appointed by the Lord Chancellor in the commission issued for the trial of the offenders. 9 G. 4, c. 31, s. 7. See R. v. Sawyer, R. & R. 294, 1 Taunt. 26. So, in indictments for burning or destroying the King's ships, magazines, &c., out of the realm, the venue may be laid in any county within the realm. 12 G. 3, c. 24, s. 2. So, in indictments for robberies and other capital crimes committed in Newfoundland, the venue may be laid in any county in England. 10 & 11 W. 3, c. 25, s. 13.

*12. Treasons, felonies, robberies, murders, and confederacies, committed upon the high seas, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, shall be inquired of, &c. in such shire of the realm as shall be limited for that purpose by the King's commission. 28 H. 8, c. 15, s. 1; and see 45 G. 3, c. 72, s. 114. R. v. Curling, R. & R. 123. Acts of hostility by a subject of this realm against a subject at sea, under colour of a foreign commission, 11 & 12 W. 3, c. 7, s. 8; 18 G. 2, c. 30, s. 1. see R. v. Evans, 2 East, P. C. 798, forcibly boarding a merchant ship, and throwing over or destroying the goods, 8 G. 1, c. 24, s. 1, trading with pirates, or fitting out a vessel for that purpose, 8 G. 1, c. 24, s. 1, master or seamen running away with the ship, goods, &c., 11 & 12 W. 3, c. 7, s. 9-all these offences, if committed upon the high seas, must be inquired of in the same manner; as also the offence of accessary before or after the fact, on land or at sea, to piracy. 11 & 12 W. 3, c. 7, s. 10. See 8 G. 1, c. 24, s. 3. It has been doubted whether the stat. 28 H. 8, c. 15, applies to offences created since that statute. R. v. Snape, 2 East, P. C. 807. But this doubt has been removed by particular provisions in subsequent statutes. By stat. 39 G. 3, c. 37, it is enacted, that all offences committed upon the high seas shall be inquired of, &c., in like manner as treasons, &c., are directed to be by the stat. 28 H. 8, c. 15; and similar provisions are contained in the statutes 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 77; 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 30, s. 43; 9 G. 4, c. 31, s. 32; and 1 W. 4, c. 66, s. 27, with respect to the trial of offences within those acts respectively committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty. It may be necessary to mention here, that rivers, to the furthest point of land next the sea, creeks, and arms of the sea within the body of a county, and the sea-shore between the high and low water marks when the tide is out, are not within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, or within the meaning of the term "high seas" in the above statutes. But see R. v. Bruce, R. & R. 243, 2 Leach, 1093. The offences above mentioned are inquired of, tried, and determined before the judge of the

Admiralty court and two of the judges of the common law courts, under a commission of oyer and terminer; and in the indictment, no county is inserted in the margin as venue, but, instead of it, merely the words "Admiralty of England."

13. In indictments for murder or manslaughter, or for being accessary before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter, if the stroke, poisoning, or hurt, be given upon the sea, or at any place out of England, and the party die in England, or if the stroke, poisoning, or hurt, be given in England, and the party die of the same at sea, or at any place out of England; the venue may be laid in the county in which the death, stroke, poisoning, or hurt happened. 9 G. 4, c. 31, s. 8. Where a man in a boat at a short distance from the shore was shot by a person on shore, and died instantly, it was holden that the stroke and death were both upon the high seas, and therefore triable according to the above statute of Hen. 8, and not according to the repealed stat. 2 G. 2, c. 21, of which this statute is, with respect to murder, a re-enactment. R. v. Combe, 1 Leach, 388.

14. Where a felony or misdemeanor is committed on the boundary of two or more counties, or within the distance of 500 yards of the boundary, or is begun in one county and completed in another, the venue may be laid in either county, in the same manner as if it had been wholly committed therein. 7 G. 4, c. 64, s. 12. This enactment extends to the boundaries of counties only, and not to prosecutions in limited jurisdictions. R. v. Welch, R. & M. 175.

15. If a man commit a larceny, simple or compound, in one county, and carry the goods with him into another, he may be indicted for the simple or compound larceny in the county in which he committed it, or he may be indicted for it as for a simple larceny in the county into which, or in any of the counties through which, he carried the goods; for, in contemplation of law, there is such a taking and carrying away as constitute the offence of larceny in every place through which, at any distance of time, R. v. Parkin, R. & M. 45, the goods were carried by him. 1 Hale, 507. 2 Id. 163. 3 Inst. 113. So, if a man, having stolen or otherwise feloniously taken any chattel, money, or valuable security, or other property whatsoever, in any one part of the united kingdom, afterwards have the same in his possession in any other part of the united kingdom, he may be indicted for larceny or theft in that part of the united kingdom in which he so had the property, in the same manner as if he had actually stolen it there. 7 & 8 G. 4, c. 29, s. 76. But if the nature of the property be changed, an indictment for stealing the article in its original state cannot be preferred in the county into which, when so changed, the property is carried. R. v. Edwards, R. & R. 497. R. v. Halloway, 1 C. & P. 127. Nor, where several commit a