6

.

11 G. 2. c. 22.

Part of s. 1

and 2.

25 G. 2. c. 37. except s. 9.

and 10.

26 G. 2. c. 19.

s. 11.

33 G. 3. c. 67.

s. 2.

year of the same reign, intituled "An act for punishing such persons as shall do injuries and violences to the persons or properties of his Majesty's subjects, with intent to hinder the exportation of corn, as relates to any person who shall beat, wound, or use any other violence to any person or driver, and so much thereof as makes any second offence felony; and so much of an act passed in the twenty-second year of the same reign, intituled An act for the 22 G. 2. c. 27. more effectual preventing of frauds and abuses committed by persons em- Part of s. 12. ployed in the manufacture of hats, and in the woollen, linen, fustian, cotton, iron, leather, fur, hemp, flax, mohair, and silk manufactures; and for preventing unlawful combinations of journeymen dyers and journeymen hotpressers, and of all persons employed in the said several manufactures, and for the better payment of their wages, as extends to the persons therein mentioned that part of the act of the twelfth year of king George the First which is hereinbefore referred to; and the whole of an act passed in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of king George the Second, intituled, An act for better preventing the horrid crime of murder,' except so far as relates to rescues and attempts to rescue; and so much of an act passsed in the twenty-sixth year of the same reign, intituled An act for enforcing the laws against persons who steal or detain shipwrecked goods, and for the relief of persons suffering loss thereby,' as relates to any person who shall be assaulted, beaten, and wounded for the exercise of his duty in the salvage of any vessel, goods, or effects, as therein mentioned; and so much of an act passed in the thirtieth year of the reign of 30 G. 3. c. 48. king George the Third, intituled An act for discontinuing the judgment which has been required by law to be given against women convicted of certain crimes, and substituting another judgment in lieu thereof,' as relates to petit treason; and so much of an act passed in the thirty-third year of the same reign, intituled 'An act for better preventing offences in obstructing, destroying, or damaging ships or other vessels, and in obstructing seamen, keelmen, casters, and ship carpenters from pursuing their lawful occupations,' as relates to any seaman, keelman, caster, ship carpenter, or other person, who shall prevent, hinder, or obstruct, or assault, beat, wound, or do any bodily violence or hurt to any seaman, keelman, caster or ship carpenter, as therein particularly mentioned; and an act passed in the thirty-fifth year of the same 35 G. 3. c. 67. reign, intituled An act for rendering more effectual an act passed in the first year of the reign of king James the First, intituled "An act to restrain all persons from marriage until their former wives and former husbands be dead;" and so much of an act passed in the thirty-sixth year of the same 36 G. 3. c. 9. reign, intituled An act to prevent obstructions to the free passage of grain within the kingdom, as relates to any person who shall beat, wound, or use any other violence to any person or driver, and so much thereof as makes any second offence felony; and an act passed in the forty-third year of the same reign, intituled An act for the further prevention of malicious shooting, and attempting to discharge loaded fire arms, stabbing, cutting, wounding, poisoning, and the malicious using of means to procure the miscarriage of women, and also the malicious setting fire to buildings: and also for repealing a certain act made in England in the twenty-first year of the late king James the First, intituled "An act to prevent the destroying and murthering of bastard children," and also an act made in Ireland in the sixth year of the reign of the late queen Anne, also intituled "An act to prevent the destroying and murthering of bastard children," and for making other provisions in lieu thereof;' and an act passed in the same forty-third year, intituled An act for the more effectually providing for the punishment of offences in wilfully casting away, burning, or destroying ships and vessels, and for the more convenient trial of accessories in felonies, and for extending the powers of an act made in the thirty-third year of the the reign of king Henry the Eighth, as far as relates to murders, to accessories to murders, and to manslaughters; and an act passed in the fifty-fourth year of the reign of king George the Third, intituled An act for the more effectual prevention of child-stealing and so much of an act passed in the fifty-eighth year of the same reign, intituled An act to extend and render more effectual the present regulations s. 1. for the relief of seafaring men and boys, subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in foreign parts,' as relates to the trial of offences against the act of king William the Third, hereinbefore mentioned; and so much of an act passed in the first year of the reign of his present Majesty, 1 G. 4. c. 90. intituled 'An act to remove doubts and to remedy defects in the law, with s. 2.

C

Part of s. 1. and 2.

43 G. 3. c. 58.

43 G. 3. c. 113.

54 G. 3. c. 101.

58 G. 3. c. 38.

1 & 2 G. 4. c. 88.

respect to certain offences committed upon the sea or within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty,' as refers to the act of the forty-third year of the reign of king George the Third, hereinbefore first mentioned; and an act passed in 1 G. 4. c. 115. the same first year, intituled An act to repeal so much of the several acts passed in the thirty-ninth year of the reign of Elizabeth, the fourth of George the First, the fifth and eighth of George the Second, as inflicts capital punishment on certain offences therein specified, and to provide more suitable and effectual punishment for such offences;' and so much of an act passed in the first and second years of the present reign, intituted An act for the amendment of the law of rescue, as relates to the offences of assaulting, beating, 3 G. 4. c. 38. and wounding therein mentioned; and an act passed in the third year of the present reign, intituled An act for the further and adequate punishment of persons convicted of manslaughter, and of servants convicted of robbing their masters, and of accessories before the fact to grand larceny, and certain other 3 G. 4. c. 114. felonies;' and so much of an act passed in the same year, intituled An act to provide for the more effectual punishment of certain offences by imprisonment with hard labour,' as relates to any of the assults therein mentioned; shall continue in force until and throughout the last day of June in the present year, and shall from and after that day, as to that part of the United Kingdom called England, and as to offences committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England, be repealed, except so far as any of the said acts may repeal the whole or any part of any other acts, and except as to offences committed before or upon the said last day of June, which shall be dealt with and punished as if this act had not been passed; and this act shall commence and take effect (except as is hereinbefore excepted) on the first day of July in the present year.

Commencement of this Act.

Petit Treason to be treated in all respects as Murder.

II. And be it enacted, That every offence, which before the commencement of this act would have amounted to petit treason, shall be deemed to be murder only, and no greater offence; and all persons guilty in respect thereof, whether as principals or as accessories, shall be dealt with, indicted, tried, and punished as principals and accessories in murder.

Punishment of III. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of murder, or of being Frincipals and an accessory before the fact to murder, shall suffer death as a felon; and every Accessories in accessory after the fact to murder shall be liable, at the discretion of the Murder. court, to be transported beyond the seas for life, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding four years.

Period of Execution and Marks of Infamy.

Sentence to be pronounced immediately.

power to respite.

As to the Dis-
section of the
Bodies of
Murderers.

Prison Regu

lations as to Murderers under sentence.

IV. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of murder shall be executed according to law on the day next but one after that on which the sentence shall be passed, unless the same shall happen to be Sunday, and in that case on the Monday following; and the body of every murderer shall after execution, either be dissected or hung in chains, as to the court shall seem meet; and sentence shall be pronounced immediately after the conviction of every murderer, unless the court shall see reasonable cause for postponing the same; and such sentence shall express not only the usual judgment of death, but also the time hereby appointed for the execution thereof, and that the body of the offender shall be dissected or hung in chains, whichsoever of the two the court shall order: provided always, that after such sentence shall have been pronounced, it shall be lawful for the court or judge to stay the execution thereof, if such court or judge shall so think fit.

V. And be it enacted, That whenever dissection shall be ordered by such sentence, the body of the murderer, if executed in the county of Middlesex or city of London, shall be immediately conveyed by the sheriff or sheriffs, or his or their officers, to the hall of the Surgeon's Company, or to such other place as the said company shall appoint, and shall be delivered to such person as the said company shall appoint, for the purpose of being dissected; and the body of the murderer, if executed elsewhere, shall in like manner be delivered to such surgeon as the court or judge shall direct, for the same

purpose.

VI. And be it enacted, that every person convicted of murder shall, after judgment, be confined in some place within the prison, apart from all other prisoners, and shall be fed with bread and water only, and with no other food or liquor, except in case of receiving the sacrament, or in case of any sickness or wound, in which case the surgeon of the prison may order other necessaries to be administered; and no person but the gaoler and his servants,

and the chaplain and surgeon of the prison, shall have access to any such con vict, without the permission in writing of the court or judge before whom such convict shall have been tried, or of the sheriff or his deputy: provided always, that in case the court or judge shall think fit to respite the execution of such convict, such court or judge may, by a licence in writing, relax, during the period of the respite, all or any of the restraints or regulations hereinbefore directed to be observed.

abroad.

VII. And be it enacted, That if any of his Majesty's subjects shall be British subcharged in England with any murder or manslaughter, or with being acces- jects may be sory before the fact to any murder, or after the fact to any murder or man- tried in Engslaughter, the same being respectively committed on land out of the United land for murKingdom, whether within the King's dominions or without, it shall be lawful der or manslaughter for any justice of the peace of the county or place where the person so charged committed shall be, to take cognizance of the offence so charged, and to proceed therein as if the same had been committed within the limits of his ordinary jurisdiction; and if any person so charged shall be committed for trial, or admitted to bail to answer such charge, a commission of oyer and terminer under the great seal shall be directed to such persons, and into such county or place as shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper or Lords Commissioners of the great seal, for the speedy trial of any such offender; and such persons shall have full power to enquire of, hear, and determine all such offences, within the county or place limited in their commission, by such good and lawful men of the said county or place as shall be returned before them for that purpose, in the same manner as if the offences had been actually committed in the said county or place: provided always, that if any peers of the Proviso. realm, or persons entitled to the privilege of peerage, shall be indicted of any such offences, by virtue of any commission to be granted as aforesaid, they shall be tried by their peers in the manner heretofore used: provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any person from being tried in any place out of this kingdom for any murder or manslaughter committed out of this kingdom, in the same manner as such person might have been tried before the passing of this act.

VIII. And be it enacted, That where any person being feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt upon the sea, or at any place out of England, shall die of such stroke, poisoning, or hurt in England, or being feloniously stricken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt at any place in England, shall die of such stroke, poisoning, or hurt, upon the sea, or at any place out of England, every offence committed in respect of any such case, whether the same shall amount to the offence of murder or of manslaughter, or of being accessory before the fact to murder, or after the fact to murder or manslaughter, may be dealt with, enquired of, tried, determined and punished in the county or place in England in which such death, stroke, poisoning, or hurt shall happen, in the same manner, in all respects, as if such offence had been wholly committed in that county or place.

Provision for the trial of murder and manslaughter, death, or the

where the

cause of death

only, happens in England.

IX. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of manslaughter shall Punishment of be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be transported beyond the seas for manslaughter. life, or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding four years, or to pay such fine as the Court shall award.

X. Provided always, and be it enacted, That no punishment or forfeiture shall be incurred by any person who shall kill another by misfortune or in his own defence, or in any other manner without felony.

XI. And be it enacted, That if any person unlawfully and maliciously shall administer or attempt to administer to any person, or shall cause to be taken by any person, any poison or other destructive thing, or shall unlawfully and maliciously attempt to drown, suffocate, or strangle any person, or shall unlawfully and maliciously shoot at any person, or shall, by drawing a trigger, or in any other manner, attempt to discharge any kind of loaded arms at any person, or shall unlawfully and maliciously stab, cut, or wound any person, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to murder such person, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. XII. And be it further enacted, That if any person unlawfully and maliciously shall shoot at any person, or shall, by drawing a trigger, or in any other manner, attempt to discharge any kind of loaded arms at any person, or

As to homicide not felo

nious.

Attempts to murder, when evidenced by certain acts, shall be ca

pital.

Shooting at,

or stabbing, cutting, or

wounding any
person, with
intent to
maim, &c.

shall be capi-
tal, provided

the case would have been murder if

death had ensued.

Administering poison or using any means to

procure the miscarriage of

a woman

quick with child.

The like as to

a woman not quick with child.

A woman secreting the

dead body of her child, to

conceal the fact of its

birth, guilty of misdemeanor.

Proviso.

Sodomy.

Rape.

Carnal know

ledge of a girl under ten, the like of a girl above ten and below twelve.

What shall be

sufficient proof

of carnal knowledge in

the four preceding cases.

shall unlawfully and maliciously stab, cut, or wound any person, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to maim, disfigure, or disable such person, or to do some other grievous bodily harm to such person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of the party so offending, or of any of his accomplices, for any offence for which he or they may respectively be liable by law to be apprehended or detained, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon: provided always, that in case it shall appear, on the trial of any person indicted for any of the offences above specified, that such acts of shooting, or of attempting to discharge loaded arms, or of stabbing, cutting, or wounding as aforesaid, were committed under such circumstances, that if death had ensued therefrom, the same would not in law have amounted to the crime of murder, in every such case the person so indicted shall be acquitted of felony.

XIII. And be it enacted, That if any person, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman then being quick with child, unlawfully and maliciously shall administer to her, or cause to be taken by her, any poison or other noxious thing, or shall use any instrument or other means whatever with the like intent, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon; and if any person, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman not being, or not being proved to be, then quick with child, unlawfully and maliciously shall administer to her, or cause to be taken by her, any medicine or other thing, or shall use any instrument or other means whatever with the like intent, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years nor less than seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding three years, and, if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the Court shall so think fit), in addition to such imprisonment.

XIV. And be it enacted, That if any woman shall be delivered of a child, and shall, by secret burying or otherwise disposing of the dead body of the said child, endeavour to conceal the birth thereof, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding two years; and it shall not be necessary to prove whether the child died before, at, or after its birth: provided always, that if any woman tried for the murder of her child shall be acquitted thereof, it chall be lawful for the jury, by whose verdict she shall be acquitted, to find, in case it shall so appear in evidence, that she was delivered of a child, and that she did, by secret burying or otherwise disposing of the dead body of such child, endeavour to conceal the birth thereof, and thereupon the Court may pass such sentence as if she had been convicted upon an indictment for the concealment of the birth.

XV. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal, shall suffer death as a felon.

XVI. And be it enacted, That every person convicted of the crime of rape shall suffer death as a felon.

XVII. And be it enacted, That if any person shall unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any girl under the age of ten years, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon ; and if any person shall unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any girl, being above the age of ten years and under the age of twelve years, every such of fender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for such term as the Court shall award.

XVIII. And whereas upon trials for the crimes of buggery and of rape, and of carnally abusing girls under the respective ages hereinbefore mentioned, offenders frequently escape by reason of the difficulty of the proof which has been required of the completion of those several crimes; for remedy thereof be it enacted, That it shall not be necessary, in any of those cases, to prove the actual emission of seed in order to constitute a carnal knowledge, but that

the carnal knowledge shall be deemed complete upon proof of penetration only.

XIX. And be it enacted, that where any woman shall have any interest, whether legal or equitable, present or future, absolute, conditional, or contingent, in any real or personal estate, or shall be an heiress presumptive or next of kin to any one having such interest, if any person shall, from motives of lucre, take away or detain such woman against her will, with intent to marry or defile her, or to cause her to be married or defiled by any other person, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for life, or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding four years.

Forcible abduction of a woman on account of her fortune, with intent to marry her, &c.

XX. And be it enacted, that if any person shall unlawfully take, or cause Unlawful abto be taken, any unmarried girl, being under the age of sixteen years, out of duction of a the possession and against the will of her father or mother, or of any other girl from her person having the lawful care or charge of her, every such offender shall be parents or guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to suffer guardians. such punishment, by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the Court shall award.

XXI. And be it enacted, that if any person shall maliciously, either by force Child-stealor fraud, lead or take away, or decoy or entice away, or detain, any child un- ing. der the age of ten years, with intent to deprive the parent or parents, or any other person having the lawful care or charge of such child, of the possession of such child, or with intent to steal any article upon or about the person of such child, to whomsoever such article may belong; or if any person shall, with any such intent as aforesaid, receive or harbour any such child, knowing the same to have been, by force or fraud, led, taken, decoyed, enticed away, or detained as herein before mentioned; every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding two years, and, if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the Court shall so think fit,) in addition to such imprisonment: provided always, Not to extend that no person who shall have claimed to be the father of an illegitimate child, to fathers takor to have any right to the possession of such child, shall be liable to be pro- ing their illesecuted by virtue hereof, on account of his getting possession of such child, gitimate childor taking such child out of the possession of the mother, or any other person having the lawful charge thereof.

ren.

XXII. And be it enacted, that if any person, being married, shall marry any Bigamy. other person during the life of the former husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall have taken place in England or elsewhere, every such offender, and every person counselling, aiding, or abetting such offender, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, in the common gaol or house of correction, for any term not exceeding two years; and any such offence may be dealt with, enquired of, Place of trial. tried, determined, and punished in the county where the offender shall be apprehended or be in custody, as if the offence had been actually committed in

that county provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to Exceptions. any second marriage contracted out of England by any other than a subject of his Majesty, or to any person marrying a second time, whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years then last past, and shall not have been known by such person to be living within that time, or shall extend to any person who at the time of such second marriage shall have been divorced from the bond of the first marriage, or to any person whose former marriage shall have been declared void by the sentence of any Court of competent jurisdiction.

XXIII. And be it enacted, that if any person shall arrest any clergyman Arresting a upon any civil process, while he shall be performing divine service, or shall, clergyman with the knowledge of such person, be going to perform the same, or return during divine ing from the performance thereof, every such offender shall be guilty of a mis- service. demeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer such punishment, by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the Court shall award.