throwing a lighted squib into a market-place, which being tossed about hits a person, by pushing a drunken man against another and thereby hurting him. Where a prize or other fight takes place, and a number of persons are assembled to witness it, if they have gone thither for the purpose of seeing the combatants strike each other, and were present when they did so, they are all in point of law guilty of an assault. Where an act is done with the consent of a party it is not an assault, but if resistance be prevented by fraud it is an assault. An unlawful imprisonment is also an assault. To constitute the injury of false imprisonment there must be an unlawful detention With respect to the detention, every confinement of the person, whether it be in a common prison or in a private house, or by forcible detaining in the public streets, will be sufficient. The intention with which the act is done is material in the inquiry whether it will amount to an assault. If the injury committed were accidental and undesigned it will not amount to a battery. If one of two persons who are fighting strike at the other, and hit a third person unintentionally, this is a battery, and cannot be justified on the ground that it was accidental. In some cases force used against the person of another may be justified, and will not amount to an assault and battery, as a Constable in arresting and securing a prisoner, a parent in chastising 'his child, or a schoolmaster his scholar. If a man beat one who is making an assault upon his own person, or upon that of his wife, parent, child, or master, the party may justify the assault; but if the violence used be more than was necessary to repel the assault, the party may be convicted of an assault. In cases where Constables have authority to arrest, their laying hands upon persons in order to do so is no battery in law, but in all such cases the force used must be only so great as is necessary for the purpose of effecting the object in view, and if there be an excess of violence the Constable will be guilty of an assault. If, therefore, a Constable is preventing a breach of the peace, and any person stands in the way with intent to prevent him from so doing, the Constable is justified in taking such person into custody. A Constable is entitled to the possession of the warrant under which he acts, and if he deliver it to the party against whom it is issued, and he refuse to re-deliver it, the Constable may use so much force as is necessary to get possession of it again. Where there is a trespass (as entering the lands or house of another, &c.), without violence, there must be a request to depart or desist before force is used. And in all cases where the

force used is justifiable, it must appear that it was not greater than was reasonably necessary to accomplish the lawful purpose intended to be effected. (Russell on Crimes.)

Assaults by statute, 24 & 25 Vic., c. 100.—S. 37. Assaulting and striking or wounding any magistrate, officer, or other person whatsoever lawfully authorized, in the exercise of his duty in the preservation of any vessel in distress, or of any vessel, goods, or effects wrecked, stranded, or cast on shore, or lying under water, M.-S. 38. Assaulting any person with intent to commit felony, or assaulting, resisting, or wilfully obstructing any peace officer in the due execution of his duty, or any person aiding him, or assaulting any person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of himself or of any other person for any offence, M.-S. 39. Beating, or using any violence or threats of violence to any person, with intent to deter or hinder him from buying or selling, or to compel him to buy, sell, or otherwise dispose of grain, flour, potatoes, &c., or with intent to stop the conveyance of same, O.-S 40. Unlawfully and with force hindering any seaman, keelman, or caster from working; or using violence, with intent to hinder or prevent him from working at his trade or occupation, O.-S. 42. Unlawfully to assault or beat any person, O.

[By 25 & 26 Vic., c. 50, s. 9, justices may proceed with cases under s. 42, although the party aggrieved may decline or refuse to prefer a complaint.]

S. 43. Aggravated assault or battery upon any boy whose age shall not in the opinion of justices exceed fourteen years, or upon any female, O. Imp. not exc. 6 mos., or P. not exc. £20.-S. 44. If the justices, on the hearing of any assault or battery under s. 42 or s. 43, find the offence not proved, or the assault or battery to have been justified, or so trifling as not to merit punishment and shall dismiss the complaint, they shall give a certificate of such dismissal to the accused.--S. 45. Such certificate on a conviction under s. 42 or s. 43 is a bar to all further proceedings.

[A conviction or dismissal by justices in petty sessions for an assault is not, however, a bar to an indictment for manslaughter upon the death of the man assaulted, consequent upon the same assault.]

Bail. To refuse or delay to bail any person bailable is an offence against the liberty of the subject. Three elements are to be taken into consideration in

determining bail, namely the gravity of the crime, the weight of evidence, and the severity of the punishment, with regard to the probability of his appearance to take his trial. In any case of serious doubt or nicety, it is safer to reject than to admit to bail, as if rejected, the party may obtain relief by writ of habeas corpus, or by motion that the committing magistrate shall return the informations. Neither a magistrate nor the coroner has authority to admit to bail any person committed by a coroner's warrant on the charge of murder. The only course is for the prisoner to apply to the Court of Queen's Bench. No coroner has power to interfere with a prisoner already committed by a magistrate on a criminal charge. Taking bail where the offence is not bailable, is punishable by fine, or by indictment at common law. The cases in which a magistrate has no authority to admit offender to bail, or in which he has a discretionary power of refusing bail and the procedure for taking bail, are provided for in 14 & 15 Vic., c. 93, s. 16. By 23 & 24 Vic., c. 113, s. 39, any person taken before a magistrate charged with an offence against the laws of Inland Revenue, for which he may be convicted or arrested, may be remanded for eight days, or the magistrate may take bail by recognizance with or without sureties.

Sureties.-A magistrate cannot reject persons as sureties merely on account of their moral character or political opinions. The amount of bail is discretionary with the magistrate, and depends on the quality of prisoner, and the nature of offence. It is, however, illegal to require excessive bail. The number of sureties required is one or more; in serious cases they ought not to be less than two, while in the Queen's Bench or habeas corpus, or in treason cases, four sureties are required. A housekeeper of sufficient property, the prisoner's attorney, or a peer, may be bail. A married woman (for her recognizance cannot be estreated), a person under twenty-one years, a person convicted of an infamous crime, a lately discharged insolvent, cannot be bail. The magistrate

should obtain the signatures of the principal, and sureties to the recognizances. Upon sworn information that the person bailed is about to abscond, any magistrate, upon the application of one or both sureties, may issue a warrant for his arrest, and commit him to gaol, or bail him by other sureties (14 & 15 Vic., c. 93, s. 17). The party bailed is considered in law as in custody of his sureties, and they may arrest him if they fear his escape, and take him before the justice or court, by whom he may be committed, and thus the bail may be discharged from their recognizance.

Bankrupt Act.--Criminal offences under 35 & 36 Vic., c. 57.-S. 11 contains a list of sixteen offences, indictable as misdemeanours, which may be committed by

any person adjudged a bankrupt. S. 12. Any person adjudged bankrupt, or who has presented a petition for arrangement after adjudication or presentation respectively, or within four months before such adjudication or presentation, quits Ireland, and takes with him, or attempts or prepares to do so, any part of his property, to the amount of £20 or upwards, which ought, by law, to be divided amongst his creditors, unless the jury is satisfied that he had no intent to defraud, F.--Ss. 13 and 14 contain five offences indictable as misdemeanours, which may be committed by any person fraudulently obtaining credit, or making a false claim.

Bawdy house. A common bawdy house is a house or room or set of rooms in any house kept for the purposes of prostitution. Keeping a bawdy house is a misdemeanour at common law, it being a common nuisance, as it endangers the public peace by drawing together dissolute and debauched persons, and also has an apparent tendency to corrupt the manners of both sexes by such an open profession of lewdness. Any person who appears, acts, or behaves as master or mistress, or as the person having the care, government, or management of any disorderly house, is to be deemed and taken to be the keeper thereof, and is liable to be prosecuted and punished as such, although in fact he is not the real owner or keeper thereof. A married woman may be guilty of this offence as if she were single. A lodger who keeps only a single room

for the use of bawdry is indictable for keeping a bawdy house. It is not necessary to prove who frequents the house, but if unknown persons are proved to have been there, conducting themselves in a disorderly manner, it will support the indictment. It is not necessary that the indecency or disorderly conduct should be perceptible from the exterior of the house. The bare solicitation of chastity is not indictable.-See Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, S. 13, page 82.

Beer Retailers, Spirit Grocers, and Wholesale Beer Dealers' Licenses.

Procedure for grant, &c.,of License.--Beer retailers, spirit grocers (Act 1872, s. 82), and wholesale beer dealers (Act 1874, s. 8), receive the justices' certificate for the grant, transfer, or renewal of their licenses under the provisions of "The Beerhouses (Ireland) Act, 1864" (27 & 28 Vic., c. 35); such traders are only licensed to sell for consumption off the premises. Their licenses, which expire on the 10th October in each year (38 Vic., c. 23, s. 12), are granted, transferred, and renewed by the proper officer of Inland Revenue upon the production of a certificate signed by two or more justices presiding at petty sessions of the district in which such person resides, or if in the Dublin metropolitan district, by one divisional justice—to the good character of such person, and to the suitability of the premises for the purposes of such sale; and in case of a renewal or transfer-to the good character of the person applying for renewal, or of the person to whom the transfer is to be made, and to the peaceable and orderly manner in which such house has been conducted in the past year (sec. 3). The certificate for the permanent grant or transfer of such licenses cannot be granted except at the annual licensing petty sessions, but a temporary grant or transfer may be granted at any other petty sessions*, which, however, shall only

The day of holding the last petty sessions in the month of September in each year is fixed as the time for holding the annual licensing petty sessions for each petty sessions district in Ireland (except for the county of the town of Carrickfergus, where it is the last petty sessions in June).