now, however, in all cases standing mtue amounts to

confession.)

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any

hasten the death of the miserable sufferer: and indeed surcharge of punishment on persons adjudged to penance, so as to shorten their lives, is reckoned by Horne in the Mirror 2 as a species of criminal homicide. It also clearly appears, by a record of 31 Edw. III', that the prisoner might then possibly subsist for forty days under this lingering punishment. I should therefore imagine that the practice of loading him with weights, or, as it was usually called, pressing him to death, was gradually introduced between 31 Edw. III. and 8 Hen. IV. at which last period it first appears upon our books; being intended as a species of mercy to the delinquent, by delivering him the sooner from his torment; and hence I presume it also was, that the duration of the penance was then first altered; and instead of continuing till he answered, it was directed to continue till he died, which must very soon happen under an enormous pressure.

THE uncertainty of its original, the doubts that were conceived of its legality, and the repugnance of its theory (for it rarely was carried into practice) to the humanity of the laws of England, all concurred to require a legislative abolition of this cruel process, and a restitution of the antient common law; whereby the standing mute in felony, as well as in treason and in trespass, amounted to a confession of the charge. Or, if the corruption of the blood and the consequent escheat in felony had been removed, the judgment of peine forte et dure might perhaps have still innocently remained, as a monument of the savage rapacity with which the lordly tyrants of feodal antiquity hunted after escheats and forfeitures; since no one would ever have been tempted to undergo such a horrid alternative. For the law was, that by standing mute, and suffering this heavy penance, the judgment, and of course the corruption of the blood and escheat of the lands, were saved in felony and petit treason; though not the forfeiture of the goods: and therefore this lingering punishment was probably introduced, in order to extort a plea;

(a) Ch. 1. § 9. (b) 6 Rym. 13. (c) Year-b. 8 Hen. IV. 1. (d) Et fuit dit, que le contraire avoit estre fait devant ces heurs. (Ibid. 2.)

plea; without which it was held that no judgment of death could be given, and so the lord lost his escheat. But in high treason, as standing mute is equivalent to a conviction, the same judgment, the same corruption of blood, and the same forfeitures always attended it, as in other cases of conviction *. And very lately, to the honour of our laws, it hath been enacted by statute 12 Geo. III. c. 20. that every person who, being arraigned for felony, or piracy, shall stand mute or not answer directly to the offence, shall be convicted of the same; and the same judgment and execution (with all their consequences in every respect) shall be thereupon awarded, as if the person had been convicted by verdict or confession of the crime. And thus much for the demesnor of a prisoner upon his arraignment, by standing mute; which now, in all cases, amounts to a constructive confession.

II. THE other incident to arraignments exclusive of the Or confesses, plea, is the prisoner's actual confession of the indictment. Upon a simple and plain confession, the court hath nothing to do but to award judgment: but it is usually very backward in receiving and recording such confession, out of tenderuess to the life of the subject; and will generally advise the prisoner to retract it, and plead to the indictment'.

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BUT there is another species of confession, which we read or turns approver ; much of in our antient books, of a far more complicated kind, which is called approvement. And that is when a person, indicted of treason or felony, and arraigned for the same, doth confess the fact before plea pleaded; and appeals or accuses others, his accomplices, of the same crime, in order to obtain his pardon. In this case he is called an approver or prover, probator, and the party appealed or accused is called the appellee. Such approvement can only be in capital offences; and it is, as it were, equivalent to an indictment, since the appellee is equally called upon to answer it: and if he hath no reasonable and legal exceptions to make to the person of the approver, which indeed are very numerous, he

(e) 2 Hawk. P. C. 331.

(f) 2 Hal. P. C. 225.

must

214

but this latter is disused,

except in some

cases where it is

must put himself upon his trial, either by battle, or by the country; and, if vanquished or found guilty, must suffer the judgment of the law, and the approver shall have his pardon ex debito justitiae. On the other hand, if the appellee be conqueror, or acquitted by the jury, the approver shall receive judgment to be hanged, upon his own confession of the indictment; for the condition of his pardon has failed, viz. the convicting of some other person, and therefore his conviction remains absolute.

BUT it is purely in the discretion of the court to permit the approver thus to appeal, or not; and, in fact, this course of admitting approvements hath been long disused: for the truth was, as sir Matthew Hale observes, that more mischief hath arisen to good men by these kind of approve ments, upon false and malicious accusations of desperate villains, than benefit to the public by the discovery and con; viction of real offenders. And therefore, in the times when such appeals were more frequently admitted, great strictness and nicety were held therein; though, since their discontinuance, the doctrine of approvements is become a matter of more curiosity than use. I shall only observe, that all the allowed by statute. good, whatever it be, that can be expected from this method of approvement is fully provided for in the cases of coining, robbery, burglary, house-breaking, horse-stealing, and larceny to the value of five shillings from shops, warehouses, stables, and coach-houses, by statutes 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 8. 6 & 7 W. III. c. 17. 10 & 11 W. III. c. 25, and 5 Ann. c. 31, which enact, that, if any such offender, being out of prison, shall discover two or more persons, who have committed the like offences, so as they may be convicted thereof; he shall in case of burglary or house-breaking receive a reward of £40, and in general be entitled to a pardon of all capital offences, excepting only murder and treason; and of them also in the case of coining". And if any such person, having feloniously

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(h) The pardon,

(g) 2 Hal. P. C. ch. 29. 2 Hawk. P. C. ch. 24. for discovering offences against the coinage act of 15 Geo. II. c. 28, extends only to all such offences.

feloniously stolen any lead, iron, or other metals, shall discover and convict two offenders of having illegally bought or received the same, he shall by virtue of statute 29 Geo. II. c. 30, be pardoned for all such felonies committed before such discovery. It hath also been usual for the justices of the peace, by whom any persons charged with felony are committed to gaol, to admit some one of their accomplices to become a witness (or, as it is generally termed, king's evidence) against his fellows; upon an implied confidence, which the judges of gaol-delivery have usually countenanced and adopted, that if such accomplice makes a full and complete discovery of that and of all other felonies to which he is examined by the magistrate, and afterwards gives his evidence without prevarication or fraud, he shall not himself be prosecuted for that or any other previous offence of the same degree1.

(i) The king v. Rudd; Mich. 16 Geo. III.; on a case reserved from the Old Bailey, Oct. 1775.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.

OF

PLEA AND ISSUE.

215 If he do not stand mute or confess, he pleads.

(Formerly there

tuary,

WE

E are now to consider the plea of the prisoner, or defensive matter alleged by him on his arraignment, if he does not confess, or stand mute. This is either, 1. A plea to the jurisdiction; 2. A demurrer; 3. A plea in abatement; 4. A special plea in bar; or, 5. The general issue.

FORMERLY there was another plea, now abrogated, that was a plea of sanc of sanctuary; which is, however, necessary to be lightly touched upon, as it may give some light to many parts of our antient law: it being introduced and continued during the superstitious veneration that was paid to consecrated ground in the times of popery. First, then, it is to be observed, that if a person accused of any crime (except treason, wherein the crown, and sacrilege, wherein the church, was too nearly concerued) had fled to any church or church-yard, and within forty days after went in sackcloth and confessed himself guilty before the coroner, and declared all the particular circumstances of the offence; and thereupon took the oath in that case provided, viz. that he abjured the realm, and would depart from thence forthwith, at the port that should be assigned him, and would never return without leave from the king; he by this means saved his life, if he observed the conditions of the oath, by going with a cross in his hand and

with