competent jurisdiction abroad is a bar to an indictment for the same offence before any tribunal in this country (n).

The prisoner must satisfy the Court first, that the former indictment on which an acquittal took place was sufficient in point of law, so that he was in jeopardy upon it (o); an acquittal (or judgment for the defendant on demurrer) upon an insufficient indictment is therefore no bar to another indictment for the same offence (oo). To prove his acquittal he may obtain a certificate thereof from the officer or his deputy having custody of the records of the Court where the acquittal took place (p).

(b) Autrefois convict.-A former conviction may be pleaded in bar of a subsequent indictment for the same offence, and the same rules as in the plea of autrefois acquit generally apply (q).

This and the foregoing plea should be on paper or parchment and signed by counsel, but if it is pleaded verbally the Court will allow it to be reduced to writing afterwards (r). The following is the form of the plea of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict:

The King v. A.B.

Court of Trial.

A.B. says that the King ought not further to prosecute the indictment against him because he has been lawfully acquitted [or convicted] of the offence charged therein. [If the indictment be for treason or felony add also-And as to the offence of which the said A.B. now stands indicted he says that he is not guilty.]

(n) R. v. Hutchinson, [1784] 1 Leach, 135; R. v. Aughet, 13 Cr. App. R. 101. (0) R. v. Drury, [1848] 3 C. & K. 190; 18 L. J. M. C. 189.

(oo) R. v. Richmond, 1 C. & K. 240.

(p) 14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, s. 13.

(q) See also pp. 173, 458, as to the effect of a certificate of dismissal, or proof of having submitted to punishment, in cases of assault and battery under 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, ss. 44, 45. So also as to dismissal or conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Act, v. 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, s. 27; R. v. Miles, [1890] 24 Q. B. D. 423; 59 L. J. M. C. 56; v. post. p. 465.)

(r) Archbold, 155; R. v. Chamberlain, [1833] 6 C. & P. 93.

(c) Pardon.-A pardon by the Crown may be pleaded not only in bar to the indictment (as in the case of the three pleas just noticed), but also after verdict in arrest of judgment, or, after judgment, in bar of execution. But it must be pleaded as soon as the defendant has an opportunity of doing so; otherwise he will be considered to have waived the benefit of it. A pardon by statute need not, however, be pleaded at all. The subject will find a more convenient place hereafter (s).

iii. The general issue of not guilty.-When the prisoner on being charged with the offence answers vivâ voce at the bar "Not guilty," he is said to plead the general issue. The consequence is that he is to be tried by a jury, or, as it is frequently stated, he puts himself upon the country for trial. The plea is recorded by the proper officer of the Court, either by writing the words "po. se." (posuit se super patriam), or at the Central Criminal Court by the word puts."

This is much the most common and advantageous course for the prisoner to take; unless, indeed, he pleads guilty, and thereby the Court is induced to take a more lenient view of his case. Pleading the general issue does not necessarily imply that the prisoner contends that he did not do the actual deed in question, inasmuch as it does not prevent him from urging matter in excuse or justification. Moreover, this is practically the only way in which he can urge matter in excuse or justification (t). Thus, on an indictment for murder, a man cannot plead that the killing was done in his own defence against a burglar; he must plead the general issue-not guilty-and give the special matter in evidence. The pleading of the general issue lays upon the prosecutor the task of proving every material fact alleged in the indictment or information (u); while the accused may give in evidence anything of a defensive character.

(s) v. p. 447.

(t) Except in case of libel, when justification must be specially pleaded, v. P 92. (u) See s. 8, sub-s. 1 of the Indictments Act, 1915, ante, p. 313

Issue. When the prisoner has pleaded not guilty, the record is made up, both parties being brought to an issue, and both putting themselves upon their trial by jury. The general issue appears on the record: "And the said John Styles forthwith being demanded concerning the premises in the said indictment above specified and charged upon him, how he will acquit himself thereof, saith, that he is not guilty thereof." And on the part of the prosecution the similiter is then added: "And John Brown (the clerk of assize or clerk of the peace), who prosecutes for our said Lord the King in this behalf, both the like. Therefore let a jury come," &c. (w).

(w) In actual practice the formal record is not made up unless it is required for a special purpose, although, of course, an abstract of the proceedings is always retained.

CHAPTER IX.

THE PETTY JURY.

THE only modes of trial which now remain are:

A. Trial of Peers in the House of Lords or the Court of the Lord High Steward, of which enough has been said already.

B. Trial by jury (or by the country-per patriam). This is the ordinary mode of trial, and it is this with which we have now to deal, taking the various steps in their order.

When the prisoner has put himself upon the country the petty jurors are called by the clerk to answer to their names. The list which is thus called over is the panel returned by the sheriff.

The law as to the qualification of petty jurors is contained chiefly in two statutes, the Jury Act, 1826 (a), and the Juries Act, 1870 (b). The qualification of common jurors is the following: Every man between the ages of twenty-one and sixty, residing in any county in England, who has in his own name, or in trust for him, within the same county, £10 by the year above reprises (i.e., deductions for annuities, rent-charges, &c.) in lands or tenements, or in rents therefrom, in fee simple, fee tail, or for life—or lands to the value of £20 a year held by lease for twenty-one years or longer, or for a term of years determinable on any life or lives; or who, being a householder, is rated or assessed to the poorrate or to the inhabited house duty, in Middlesex to the value of not less than £30, or in any other county not less than

(a) 6 Geo. IV. c. 50.

(b) 33 & 34 Vict. c. 77.

£20; or who occupies a house containing not less than fifteen windows-is qualified to serve on petty juries at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, and at the assizes, and also at both the grand and petty juries at the county sessions (c). Every burgess is qualified and liable to serve on the grand and petty juries at the borough Quarter Sessions (d).

Certain exemptions from serving on juries are enumerated by the Juries Act, 1870, and other Acts. The following are amongst those exempted: Peers, members of Parliament, Judges, clergymen and ministers of religion; those actually practising in the law as barristers, solicitors, managing clerks, &c.; officers of the Law Courts, and acting clerks of the peace or their deputies; coroners, gaolers and their subordinates, and keepers in public lunatic asylums; physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, pharmaceutical chemists actually practising; officers of the Navy, Army, militia, or yeomanry, if on full pay, and all soldiers in the regular Forces; masters of vessels employed in the buoy and light service of the corporations; the household servants of His Majesty; certain persons engaged in the Civil Service, such as officers of the Post Office, commissioners of customs, &c.; officers of the police; sheriff's officers; magistrates of the Metropolitan Police Courts, their clerks, &c.; burgesses as regards the sessions of the county in which their borough is situated; justices of the peace, so far as relates to any jury summoned to serve at any sessions of the peace, for the jurisdiction of which they are justices; officers of the Houses of Lords and Commons (e).

These exemptions should be claimed before the revision of the list by the justices (f). Aliens domiciled in England or Wales for ten years or upwards may be jurors, if otherwise qualified (g). Persons who have been convicted of

(c) 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 1.

(d) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 186.

(e) 33 & 34 Vict. c. 77. s. 9.

(f) Ibid. s. 12.

(g) Ibid. s. 8.