right of nomination to such office; and the person offering such money or profit shall be disqualified for the office.

The provisions of this statute have been extended to Scotland and Ireland, and to all offices in the gift of the Crown, and to the principal offices of any department of the government in the United Kingdom and colonies, 49 G. 3, c. 126.

Bargaining, selling, or being in any manner connected in the negotiation of such offices for gain, renders the parties guilty of misdemeanour, subjecting them to fine and imprisonment, ss. 3, 4. Opening or keeping any office for the brokerage of places is a misdemeanour, s. 5. If any person advertise or publish any office as set up for these purposes; or advertise or print the name of any agent or broker for the same, or any proposal relative thereto, he shall forfeit £50, with full costs, ss. 5, 6.

The act did not extend to the sale of commissions in the army for prices fixed by the Queen's regulations. But to receive or pay, or agree so to do, a higher sum than the regulated price for the sale or exchange of a military commission, rendered the parties guilty of misdemeanour, and forfeited the commission, which might be sold, and half the regulated value (not exceeding £500) given to the informer, and the other half applied as the Queen should direct.

CHAPTER V.

Misprision and Contempt.

ANOTHER class of offences, directed more immediately against the government and course of justice, is entitled Misprision and Contempt, and includes those offences which are next under the degree of treason or felony.

Misprision of treason consists in the bare knowledge or concealment of treason, without any degree of assent thereto; if there be any semblance of participation therein, the offence is much more serious; as if a person goes to a treasonable meeting, knowing beforehand that a conspiracy is intended against the Queen : or being in such company once by accident, and having heard such treasonable conspiracy, meets the same company again and hears more of it, but conceals it; this is an implied assent in law, and makes the concealer guilty of actual high treason.

By 1 & 2 Phil. and Mary, c. 10, to keep secret any treason committed or intended to be committed, is punishable with loss of profits of lands during life, forfeiture of goods, and imprisonment for life.

Misprision of felony is the concealment of a felony, which a man knows but never assented to; for if he assented, this makes him either principal or accessory.

Concealing of treasure trove, which belongs to the Queen or her grantees, is also a misprision, which was formerly punishable with death; but this, as well as the two preceding cases of misprision, are now punishable only by fine and imprisonment.

Contempts are such positive misprisions as consist in the commission of something which ought not to be done; among which the first and principal is the maladministration of public officers, by the embezzlement of the public money or otherwise. This is usually punished by parliamentary impeachment; and, although not a capital offence, subjects the delinquent to fine, imprisonment, exile, or perpetual disability for public office.

For the better punishment of malversation in office abroad, it is provided by 42 G. 3, c. 85, that all offences committed by any person employed abroad in the public service, in any station, civil or military, may be prosecuted in the court of Queen's Bench in England; and, besides the punishment which the party would have suffered for the same crime in England, he is made liable, at the discretion of the court, to be adjudged incapable of ever serving her Majesty again.

To accept a pension from a foreign prince, without the consent of the crown, is a contempt of the Queen's government. So it is to drink to the pious memory of a traitor, or for a clergyman to absolve persons at the gallows who persist in the treasons for which they suffer. To give out scandalous stories concerning the Queen, or falsely assert that she labours under the affliction of mental derangement, is criminal, and an indictable offence.

Threatening or reproachful words used to a judge sitting in the courts are a high contempt, punishable with fine, imprisonment, and corporal infliction. A judge sitting at the Nisi Prius has the power of fining even a defendant conducting his own defence to a criminal charge for contempt of the court, in uttering offensive matter in the course of that defence, 4 B. & A. 329.

If a man assault or threaten his adversary for suing him, a counsellor or attorney for being employed against him, a juror for his verdict, or a gaoler or other ministerial officer for keeping him in custody, he is liable to fine and imprisonment.

To endeavour to dissuade a witness from giving evidence, to disclose an examination before the privy council, or to advise a prisoner to stand mute, are all impediments of justice, and high contempts of the Queen's courts, punishable with fine and imprisonment. It is also a high misprision, subject to fine and imprisonment, for a grand juror to disclose to a person indicted the evidence that appeared against him.

The power of courts of equity in cases of contempt is regulated by 1 W. 4, c. 36; and the poor and ignorant are no longer subject

to indefinite imprisonment, neither can the merely obstinate so readily impede the course of justice. Under this act, where a party neglects from any cause to do what is required of him, the court is empowered to act for, and then compulsorily to discharge him. Imprisonment can only be used to gain an end, and that end gained, it will cease. Whenever a party omits to apply for his discharge, the court may release him, and pay the costs of the contempt out of any funds belonging to him over which it has power; or make them costs in the cause against him; or discharge him from contempt, and leave him debtor for the costs, which may afterwards be cleared under the Bankrupt Act.

By 23 & 24 V. c. 149, the Queen's prisons are to be visited quarterly, for the purpose of examining any persons who are imprisoned for contempt by the court of Chancery, and gaolers are to make reports of all such prisoners to the Lord Chancellor.

CHAPTER VI.

Unlawful Societies, Oaths, and Sedition.

THESE form the last class of offences directed against the government which it will be necessary to notice, and which for the most part were unknown to our ancestors, having been chiefly made the subject of criminal jurisprudence by modern acts of parliament. The statutes and parts of statutes relative to the description of offences included in this chapter, which have expired or been repealed, we shall pass over, and only notice such provisions as remain in force.

I. POLITICAL SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS.

The 39 G. 3, c. 79, was directed against certain associations, called societies of United Englishmen, United Scotsmen, United Irishmen, and The London Corresponding Society, and provides that every political society shall be deemed an unlawful combination and conspiracy, if any member thereof take any oath or test contrary to 37 G. 3, c. 123, or subscribe any declaration or engagement not required by law; if the name of any member be kept secret, or there be any committee, or select body, or any president, treasurer, delegate, secretary, or other officer, not known to the society at large; if the names of the committee, select body, and officers be not entered in regular books, open to the inspection of all the members; if the society be composed of divisions, parts, or branches, acting separately, and having distinct officers, or delegates elected to act for each part or branch: all societies so con

stituted and conducted are declared unlawful, and every member thereof and every person who shall correspond therewith, or by contributions of money or otherwise aid or abet the same, is subject, on conviction, either by information before one justice, to a fine of £20 or three months' imprisonment, or by indictment, to transportation for seven years. Exceptions in favour of societies for religious and charitable purposes, and Freemasons' lodges.

This statute clearly refers to societies having oaths, tests, or any kind of secret proceedings, or having branches of divisions; but does not refer to separate and independent societies, nor prohibit the appointment of delegates, or the correspondence of such insulated associations.

But the provisions of the 39 G. 3 are extended by the 57 G. 3, c. 19, enacting that every society or club that shall elect or employ any committee, delegate, representative, or missionary, to meet, confer, or communicate with any other society or club, or with any committee, delegate, representative, or missionary of such other club or society, or induce any person to become a member thereof, shall be subject to the penalties of 39 G. 3, namely, fine, imprisonment, or transportation. Being a member of such society, or corresponding therewith, or supporting it by money or otherwise, subjects to the like penalties and punishments. Persons licensed for the sale of ale, beer, wines, or spirits, suffering such unlawful societies to meet in their houses, liable to forfeit their licenses; and any other person suffering such societies to meet in his house or apartment, is subject for the first offence to a penalty of £5, and for every subsequent offence is liable to the penalties and punishments of the 39 G. 3, c. 79.

These severe restrictive laws do not prohibit persons from being members of political societies, provided they are unconnected with others, and not of the descriptions mentioned; but it may be doubted whether sending instructions, or delegates from a society already formed, to an incipient meeting or association of persons, would not be deemed a violation of the 57 G. 3; it would certainly contravene its spirit, but whether it violated the letter would depend on the point-whether an appointed meeting of persons, not organized, could be considered a "society" or club" within the meaning of the act.

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In the session of 1846, an attempt was made to procure a repeal or mitigation of the laws against political societies, but unsuccessfully. All the concessions obtained by 9 & 10 V. c. 33, are that the statutes shall not be enforced at the instance of common informers or other persons. All prosecutions under them must be commenced in the name of the law officers of the crown.

II. UNLAWFUL OATHS AND ENGAGEMENTS.

By 37 G. 3, c. 123, any person who administers, or assists, or is present in the administering of any oath or engagement intended to bind persons in any mutinous or seditious purpose, or to disturb the public peace, or to be of any society formed for such purpose; or to obey the orders of any leader, committee, or body of men not lawfully constituted; or not to inform against any confederate, associate, or other person; or not to reveal any unlawful combination or confederacy, or illegal act done or intended, or illegal oath or engagement taken or tendered, shall, on conviction, be adjudged guilty of felony, and be transported for not exceeding seven years. Persons taking such illegal oath, without being compelled, subject to a like punishment.

Administering any oath to bind persons to commit treason, murder, or felony, or aiding therein, is punishable with transportation for life, or fifteen years, or imprisonment for three years; and persons taking such oath without compulsion are punishable with transportation for life, or for such term of years as the court shall adjudge, 52 G. 3, c. 104; 1 V. c. 91.

Compulsion will not excuse any person taking such unlawful oath, unless within fourteen days (if not prevented by actual force or sickness, and then within fourteen days after the hindrance ceases) he discovers the same to a justice of peace, or secretary of state, 37 G. 3, as amended by 52 G. 3, c. 104, s. 5.

In the case of The King v. Marks, 3 East, 157, a question was raised whether the unlawful administering of oath by an associated body of men to a person, purporting to bind him not to reveal or discover an unlawful combination or conspiracy of per sons, nor any illegal act done by them, was within the 37 G. 3; the object of the association being a conspiracy to raise wages and make regulations in a certain trade, and not to stir up mutiny or sedition. The oath was, You shall be true to every journeyınan shearman, and not to hurt any of them; and you shall not divulge any of their secrets-So help you God." No positive decision was come to by the judges in this case, but the impression of the judges seemed to be that the offence was within the statute.

A subsequent case occurred at the Dorchester assizes, March 17, 1834, when six agricultural labourers were convicted and sentenced to seven years' transportation for being members of an illegal society, and administering illegal oaths. The indictment charged them with administering an oath not to reveal an unlawful combination. The combination was illegal under 39 G. 3, as formed to administer unlawful oaths; and the oath not to reveal such combination illegal under 37 G. 3: so, by a rather subtle application of both statutes by Mr. Justice Williams, the offenders were convicted.