by commissioners nominated by the Lord Chancellor, in whose number were always found some common law Judges (c). Now, the Judges sitting at the Central Criminal Court and at the assizes are empowered to try cases of piracy (d).

The robbery must be proved as in ordinary cases of that crime committed on land. The taking must be without authority from any prince or State, for a nation cannot be deemed guilty of piracy. If the subjects of the same State commit robbery upon each other on the high seas it is piracy. If the injurer and the injured be of different States the nature of the act will depend on the relation of those States. If in amity it is piracy; if at enmity it is not; for it is a general rule that enemies can never commit piracy on each other, their depredations being mere acts of hostility (e).

The gist of the offence is the place where it is committed, viz., the high seas, and within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty (ƒ).

Piracy by Statute.-By particular statutes certain acts are made piracy. Such are the following:

For any natural-born subject to commit an act of hostility upon the high seas against another of His Majesty's subjects under colour of a commission from a foreign power (g), or, in time of war, to assist an enemy on the sea (h).

For any commander, master of a ship, or any seaman or marine, to run away with the ship or cargo, or to yield them up voluntarily to any pirate; or to consult or endeavour to corrupt any such person to the commission of such acts; or to bring any seducing message from any pirate, enemy, or rebel; or to confine the commander or to put force upon

(c) 28 Henry VIII. c. 15. v. p. 326.

(d) 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 36, s. 22; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 2, s. 1.
(e) Tivnan, In re, [1864] 5 B. & S. 645; Archbold, 626.

It should be remembered that the Declaration of Paris (1856) contained a provision that privateering should be abolished, binding on the countries parties to that declaration-Russia, Turkey, England, France, Italy, Austria, and Prussia.

(f) As to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, v. Arch. 30-35, and post, p. 326. (g) 11 Wm. III., c. 7, s. 7, made perpetual by 6 Geo. I. c. 19.

(h) 18 Geo. II. c. 30, s. 1.

him so that he cannot fight in defence of his ship; or to make, or endeavour to make, a revolt in the ship (i).

For any person to have dealings with, or render any assistance to, a pirate (k).

For any person to board a merchant ship and throw overboard or destroy any of the ship's goods (1).

The punishment for piracy was formerly death. Now the offender is liable to penal servitude to the extent of life, or to imprisonment not exceeding two years. But piracy

accompanied with an assault with intent to murder, or with wounding or endangering the life of any person on board of,. or belonging to, the vessel, is still punishable with death (m)

OFFENCES AS TO SLAVES.

This class of offences is connected with the last, inasmuch as the first and chief crime which we shall notice is declared to be piracy, felony, and robbery-viz., for any British. subject, or person within British territory, to convey away, or assist in conveying away, any persons on the high seas as slaves, or to ship them for such purpose (n). The punishment formerly was death, but now may be penal servitude to the extent of life (0).

Dealing in slaves and certain other offences are made felonies. And it is a misdemeanour for a seaman to serve on board a ship engaged in the slave trade (p).

A more recent statute consolidates the law on the subject of trading in slaves; but it preserves the provisions noticed above (q).

(i) 11 Wm. III. c. 7, s. 8.

(k) 8 Geo. I. c. 24, s. 1, perpetual by 2 Geo. II. c. 28.

(1) Ibid.

(m) 7 Wm. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 88, ss. 2, 3. The rules governing punishment will be found on pp. 422-455. In future only the maximum punishment for each offence will be noted in the text. Usually imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for (as a rule) not more than two years, may be awarded as an alternative to penal servitude. In case of misdemeanour a fine may be imposed as part or all of the sentence. Whipping of males can be ordered only when specially allowed by statute, and only once for the same offence.

(n) 5 Geo. IV. c. 113, s. 9.

(0) 7 Wm. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 91, s. 1.

(p) 5 Geo. IV. c. 113, ss. 10, 11.

(q) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 88; v. R. v. Zulueta, [1843] 1 C. & K. 215.

CHAPTER II.

OFFENCES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT AND SOVEREIGN.

We now have to deal with offences committed by members of the community in violation of their duties as subjects, these offences for the most part also incidentally causing injury to individuals.

TREASON (r).

The crime comprises the three following main classes of acts:

(1) Compassing and imagining the King's death, including every conspiracy, the natural effect of which may probably be to cause personal danger to the King.

(2) Actual levying of war against the King for the attainment by force of public objects.

(3) Political plots and conspiracies intending to bring about the deposition of the King, or levying war against him, or the invasion of his territories.

To these should be added adhering to the King's enemies, i.e., foreign powers with whom we are at open war, and a few acts which are of the rarest occurrence, and at the present day hardly demand any notice.

(r) Treason against the Government was termed "high" treason to distinguish it from "petit treason, which consisted in the murder of a superior by an inferior in natural, civil, or spiritual relation; and therefore for a wife to kill her lord or husband, a servant his lord or master, and an ecclesiastic his lord or ordinary, these being breaches of the lower allegiance of private and domestic faith, are denominated petit treason (4 Bl. 75). But as every offence which would previously have amounted to petit treason is now regarded simply as murder (9 Geo. IV. c. 31, s. 2, and 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 8), there is no Jonger any reason for distinguishing the graver offence by the epithet "high."

The present law on the subject dates back to an Act passed in the reign of Edward III., known as the Statute of Treasons (s).

By the terms of this statute, treason is committed "when a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the King, or of our lady his Queen, or of their eldest son and heir; or if a man do violate the King's companion, or the King's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King's eldest son and heir; or if a man do levy war against our lord the King in his realm, or be adherent to the King's enemies in his realm, giving them aid or comfort in the realm or elsewhere, and thereof be probably (or provably 'probablement') attainted of open deed by people of their condition." The statute proceeds to define as other acts of treason the counterfeiting of the King's great or privy seal or his money, and bringing false money into this realm (which offences are no longer treason); and slaying the chancellor, treasurer, or the King's judges while doing their offices.

By the "King" is to be understood the Sovereign de facto, though he be not the King de jure (t). On the other hand, the person rightfully entitled to the crown, if not in possession, is not within the statute. The "Queen" referred to is the Queen consort, a Queen regnant being included in the term King.'

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It is the designing that constitutes the offence of compassing the death of the King, &c. But this design must be evidenced by some overt act, so that if there be wanting either the design, as in the case of killing the King by accident, or the overt act, as when the design has been formed, but laid aside before being put into execution, there can be no conviction for treason.

What will constitute an overt act? Anything wilfully done or attempted by which the Sovereign's life may be endangered; for example, conspirators meeting to consult on the means of killing the Sovereign (u); or of usurping the

(s) 25 Edw. III., st. 5, c. 2.
(t) 11 Hen. VII. c. 1, s. 1.
(u R. v. Vane, [1553] Kel. 15.

powers of government (w); writings, if published, importing a compassing of the Sovereign's death, and even words advising, or persuading to what would be an overt act, will suffice as evidence of the design; but not so loose words which have no reference to any designed act (x).

To constitute a levying of war against the Sovereign there must be an insurrection, there must be force accompanying that insurrection, and it must be for an object of a general nature (y). But there need not be actual fighting; nor is the number of persons taking part in the movement material. The levying is either direct or constructive. It is direct when the war is levied directly against the King or his forces, with intent to do some injury to his person, to imprison him, or the like (z); for example, a rebellion to depose him, or delivering up the Sovereign's castle to the enemy. It is constructive when committed for the purpose of effecting innovations of a public and general nature by an armed force, the pretended end of the movement being rather the purification of the Government than its overthrow. Thus it is treason to attempt by force to alter the religion of the State, or to obtain the repeal of its laws. So it is treason to throw down all enclosures, open all prisons; but not if the attempt be to break down a particular enclosure, or to deliver a particular person from prison, because in these latter cases the design is particular and not general (a).

The offence of adhering to the Sovereign's enemies must also be evidenced by some overt act, as, for example, by raising troops for the enemy, or sending them money, arms, or intelligence. By the "Sovereign's enemies" are meant the subjects of foreign powers with which he is at war. It appears, therefore, that a British subject, though in open rebellion, can never be deemed an enemy of the Sovereign, so as to make assistance rendered to him treason within this branch of the statute (b).