With regard to manslaughter.-As a rule the offence is sudden and unpremeditated, and this view of the nature of the crime having been taken, it has been said that there can be no accessory before the fact in manslaughter. But in many cases there is deliberation, though it is not accompanied by an intention to take away life. It is easy to present a case in which there may be an accessory before the fact to manslaughter. A. counsels B. to mischievously give C. a dose of medicine merely to make him sick, and C. dies in consequence. A. is guilty as an accessory before the fact to the manslaughter (n).

As to the trial of those who command, counsel, or procure the commission of a felony.-Until a recent date it was the rule that such a person could not without his own consent be tried except at the same time with the principal or after the principal had been tried and found guilty. He was merely an accessory, and therefore he could not be tried before the fact of the crime was established. Now, however, it is provided that an accessory before the fact may be indicted, tried, convicted, and punished in all respects as if he were a principal felon (o). Two courses are therefore open to the prosecution: either (a) to proceed, as formerly, against the person who counsels, &c., as an accessory before the fact, together with the principal felon, or after his conviction; or (b) to indict the counsellor for a substantive felony (for to that his offence is declared by the statute to amount), and this may be done whether the principal has or has not been convicted, and although he is not amenable to justice (p). The punishment in either case is the same. If one of these two modes has been adopted, of course the offender cannot be afterwards prosecuted in the other. To convict of the substantive felony under this Act, it is still necessary to prove that the principal deed has actually been committed.

To solicit or incite to the commission of a felony or a

(n) R. v. Gaylor, [1857] 7 Cox, 253.

(0) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 1; and as to larceny, etc., see Larceny Act, 1916, 8. 35.

(p) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 2.

misdemeanour, if the deed is not committed, is a misdemeanour at common law (q).

Accessory after the fact.-One who, knowing a felony to have been committed by another, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the felon (r). What is required to make a person an accessory after the fact? (i) There must have been some felony committed and completed; (ii) the party charged must have had notice, direct or implied, at the time he assisted, &c., the felon, that he had committed a felony; (iii) he must have done some act to assist the felon personally. It will suffice if there has been any assistance given in order to hinder the felon's apprehension, trial, or punishment; for example, concealing him in the house, or supplying him with horse or money to facilitate his escape, or destroying or making away with evidence which might be used against him (s). But merely suffering the principal to escape will not make the party an accessory after the fact (t).

Receiving stolen goods, knowing them to have been stolen, is generally treated as a separate offence; the receiver being convicted of a felony, misdemeanour, or summary offence, according as the stealing of the property is a felony, misdemeanour, or offence punishable on summary conviction (u). If, however, the stealing, obtaining, &c., is a felony, the receiver may be indicted either as an accessory after the fact, or for a substantive felony (w). And every receiver may be indicted and convicted whether the principal be or be not convicted, or be or be not amenable to justice (x).

We have noticed (y) that, as a rule, the wife is protected from criminal liability for acts committed in the presence of her husband. Much more, then, can she claim this immunity when the offence with which she is charged is that of relieving

(q) R. v. Gregory, [1866] L. R. 1 C. C. R. 77; 36 L. J. M. C. 60; R. v. Higgins, [1801] 2 East, 5.

(r) Archbold, 1383.

(s) R. v. Levy, 7 Cr. App. R. 61; [1912] 1 K. B. 158.

(t) Archbold, 1383; R. v. Chapple, [1840] 9 C. & P. 355.

(u) v. p. 218.

(w) Archbold, 701.

and assisting her husband after he has committed a felony. There is no exemption in respect of any other relation. Even the husband may be convicted for assisting his wife ().

An accessory after the fact to a felony may be tried in the same manner as an accessory before the fact; that is, either as an accessory with the principal, or after his conviction, or as for a substantive felony, independently of the principal (a). An accessory after the fact is, in general, punishable by imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years (with or without hard labour), and may also be required to find security for keeping the peace, or, in default, to suffer additional imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year (b). But an accessory after the fact to murder may receive sentence of penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than three years, or imprisonment not exceeding two years (c).

As to treason. The same acts which in a felony would make a man an accessory before or after the fact will in treason make the offender a principal traitor. This rule is said to exist propter odium delicti.

As to misdemeanours.-Those who aid or counsel the commission of the crime are dealt with as principals (d); those who merely assist after the misdemeanour has been committed are not punishable (e), unless, indeed, the act amount to the misdemeanour of rescue, obstructing the officer, or the like. The same rules apply to offences punishable on summary conviction (f), and a person who knowingly either aids, counsels, or procures another to commit an offence punishable on summary conviction may himself be convicted of that offence whether he be actually present when it is committed or not (g).

(z) Archbold, 1383.

(a) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 3. (b) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 4.

(c) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 67. (d) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 8.

statutes v. Archbold, 1383.

or

The same provision is also made by many later

(e) 1 Hale, 613, see R. v. Bubb, [1906] 70 J. P. 143.

(f) 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, s. 5.

(g) Benford v. Sims, [1898] 2 Q. B. 641; 67 L. J. Q. B. 655; Du Cros v. Lambourne, [1907] 1 K. B. 40; 76 L. J. K. B. 50.

RECAPITULATION.

The following outline of the present state of the law on the subject of degrees of guilt may serve to place the matter in a clearer light:

There are no accessories in treason or misdemeanours, only in felonies.

Principals, whether of the first or second degree, are virtually dealt with in the same way.

Accessories, whether before or after the fact, may be treated as such, or charged with a substantive felony; but if once tried in either of these capacities, the other may not be afterwards resorted to.

Accessories before the fact receive the same punishment as principals; accessories after the fact generally imprisonment not exceeding two years.

In the following imaginary case examples of each of the four kinds of participation in a crime will be found. A. incites B. and C. to murder a person. B. enters the house and cuts the man's throat, while C. waits outside to give warning in case any one should approach. B. and C. flee to D., who, knowing that the murder has been committed, lends horses to facilitate their escape. Here B. is principal in the first degree, C. in the second degree. A. is accessory before the fact, D. after the fact.

BOOK II.

PART I.

OFFENCES OF A PUBLIC NATURE.

CHAPTER I.

OFFENCES AGAINST THE LAW OF NATIONS.

CERTAIN offences are regarded as violating those unwritten laws which are admitted by nations in general. It must not be assumed that any State is at liberty to take upon itself the punishment of an offence against the law of nations, if such offence is committed by a foreign subject within the territories of a foreign jurisdiction. The most that it can do in such a case is to demand that justice be done by the foreign State. But the case is otherwise if the offence is committed in parts which are considered extra-territorial, such as the high seas. In these all nations equally have an interest, and may proceed against individuals who are there guilty of offences against the law of nations.

PIRACY.

The term includes both the common law offence and also certain offences which have been provided against by particular statutes.

Piracy at Common Law.-The offence consists in committing acts of robbery within the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty (a). Formerly the proper Courts for the trial of piracy were the Admiralty Courts (b), but later the trial was

(a) Archbold, 624.

(b) Archbold, 624.