which the special circumstances seem to him to render his CHAP. V. action necessary to secure the due prosecution of the offender, he shall take action therein. And to all these cases all expenses not allowed on taxation and paid by the authority that defrays the costs of the prosecution, and which are found after examination by the Solicitor to Her Majesty's Treasury to be reasonable and proper, shall be paid by the said solicitor.

5. The assistant to the Director of Public Prosecutions shall act for the whole of England and Wales.

solicitors

by him.

6. In the conduct of any prosecution, the Director of What Public Prosecutions and his assistant shall, as a rule, employ to be and instruct the Solicitor of Her Majesty's Treasury; but employed under special circumstances may employ any solicitor, or firm of solicitors, to act as agents for the director in the conduct of a prosecution, in getting up evidence, preparing instructions for and instructing counsel, as is usually done by a solicitor, and for so doing such agent or agents shall be paid such costs and charges as the Solicitor to Her Majesty's Treasury shall, after examination, find to be reasonable and proper.

7. In instructing counsel, the Director of Public Prosecu- What tions shall act under the direction of the Attorney-General. counsel.

when case

reserved.

8. The Director of Public Prosecutions, in cases reserved Instructfor the opinion of the Court of Crown Cases Reserved, which ing counsel are brought to his notice, and in which no counsel for the prosecution is instructed, shall, when he thinks fit, or when so directed by the Attorney-General, cause counsel, as named by the Attorney-General, to be instructed, and the expenses of so doing shall be defrayed by the Solicitor to Her Majesty's Treasury.

9. Every justice of the peace, or coroner, to whom a notice How dehas been given under sect. 5 of the Prosecution of Offences positions, &c., to be Act, 1879, shall, within three days, transmit by post, in a transregistered letter, to the Director of Public Prosecutions every mitted. document which he is by the said section required to transmit.

PART II.

CHAPTER VI.

COMPOUNDING OFFENCES.

Ir may be advisable, before stating the mode of proceeding to punish a person guilty of an indictable offence, to make a few remarks as to compounding an offence.

Compounding of felony, called in the old books theft-bote, is where the party robbed not only knows the felon, but also takes his goods again, or other amends, upon agreement not to prosecute. (1 Hawk. P. C. c. 59, s. 5.) The mere taking or receiving one's own goods which have been stolen is no offence unless some favour be shown to the thief (1 Hawk. P. C. c. 59, s. 7); but it is illegal to agree not to prosecute or to cease a prosecution for a felony or misdemeanor, as so doing impedes the course of public justice (Collins v. Blantern, 2 Wils. 341); and the agreement itself is void and cannot be enforced. (Keir v. Leeman, 6 Q. B. 308; see Bourke v. Mealy, 14 Cox C. C. 329.) Thus it is illegal if a person, having charged a man before a magistrate with embezzlement, agrees not to prosecute the charge in consideration of a bill of exchange being accepted by another person. (Fivaz v. Nicholls, 2 C. B. 501; Rawlings 7. The Coal Consumers' Ass. Lim., 43 L. J. M. C. 111.) An indictment cannot be referred. (Reg. y. Hardey, 14 Q. B. 529.) Where an indictment had been preferred against the defendant for non-repair of a highway, which it was alleged he ought to have repaired ratione tenure, the prosecutor and defendant before the trial agreed to leave the question of liability to repair to reference; the arbitrator was to make an award on the evidence adduced before him; a verdict was to be entered according to the result of the award, and the arbitrator awarded that the defendant was guilty of the non-repair alleged in the indictment; it was held that the reference was illegal, as the question of liability to repair was a public concern. (Reg. v. Blakemore, 14 Q. B. 544.)

In some cases, as in the case of an indictment for a common assault, after verdict, the court will suspend judgment in order that the defentant may compensate the

prosecutor for the private injury sustained by him, and if CHAP. VI. the prosecutor be compensated the court will take into consideration such fact when pronouncing judgment. (R. v. Roxburgh, 12 Cox C.C. 8.) Where, in a case of an indictment for ill-treating a parish apprentice, a security for the fair expenses of the prosecution had been given by the defendant after conviction, upon the understanding that the court would abate the period of his imprisonment, the security was held to be good, upon the ground that it was given with the sanction of the court, and to be considered as part of the punishment suffered by the defendant in expiation of his offence, in addition to the imprisonment inflicted on him. (Beeley v. Wingfield, 11 East 46. Kirk v. Strickwood, 4 B. & Ad. 421.) So in some cases a verdict of guilty may be entered and the court may suspend judgment in order that certain questions may be referred to arbitration, but this is only done to enable the court the better to see what judgment should be pronounced. (R. v. Hardey, 14 Q. B. 529.)

By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 101 (a), “whosoever shall corruptly take any money or reward, directly or indirectly, under pretence or upon account of helping any person to any chattel, money, valuable security, or other property whatsoever which shall, by any felony or misdemeanor, have been stolen, taken, obtained, extorted, embezzled, converted, or disposed of, as in this Act before mentioned, shall (unless he shall have used all due diligence to cause the offender to be brought to trial for the same) be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding 7 years and not less than 3 (b) years-or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement, and, if a male under the age of 18 years, with or without whipping."

ward for

By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 102, "whosoever shall Advertispublicly advertise a reward for the return of any property ing a rewhatsoever, which shall have been stolen or lost, and shall the return in such advertisement use any words purporting that no of stolen questions will be asked, or shall make use of any words in property, any public advertisement purporting that a reward will be &c. given or paid for any property which shall have been stolen.

(a) This is the Larceny Cons. Act.

(b) Not less than five years if the offence was committed after the 25th July, 1864. (1 Russ. on Crimes 73.)

PART II. or lost, without seizing or making any inquiry after the person producing such property, or shall promise or offer in any such public advertisement to return to any pawnbroker or other person, who may have bought or advanced money by way of loan upon any property stolen or lost, the money so paid or advanced, or any other sum of money or reward for the return of such property, or shall print or publish any such advertisement, shall forfeit the sum of £50 for every such offence to any person who will sue for the same by action of debt, to be recovered, with full costs of suit."

By 33 & 34 Vict. c. 65, s. 3, every action against a printer or publisher of a newspaper, to recover a forfeiture under the above enactment, must be brought within 6 months after the forfeiture is incurred, and no such action can be brought unless the assent in writing of Her Majesty's attorney or solicitor-general has been first obtained to the bringing of such action. In this Act the term "newspaper,' means a newspaper as defined for the purposes of the Acts for the time being in force relating to the carriage of newspapers by post.

PART III.

COURTS FOR TRIAL OF INDICTABLE OFFENCES.

INDICTABLE offences are in general tried at the assizes, at Quarter Sessions, or at the Central Criminal Court. Sometimes they are tried in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, either at bar or at nisi prius (see post, Chapter 20). Crimes may be punished by parliamentary impeachment; and some crimes if committed by persons having privilege of peerage may be tried in a peculiar court; some offences also may be tried in the courts of the universities, &c.-but as these cases are not of frequent occurrence, it is not thought worth while to make any observations as to the procedure in respect to them.

CHAPTER VII.

THE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.

THE Court of Queen's Bench was the principal court of criminal jurisdiction known to the laws of England-it took cognizance of all criminal causes from high treason down to the most trival misdemeanor affecting the public good. Into this court also indictments from all inferior courts might be removed by writ of certiorari, and tried either at bar or nisi prius, by a jury of the county out of which the indictment was brought. The judges of this court were the supreme coroners of the kingdom. The jurisdiction, in criminal matters, formerly vested in the Court of Queen's Bench is now vested in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. We shall notice in Chapter 20, under what circumstances and how indictments may be removed into the Queen's Bench Division by writ of certiorari in order that the trial may take place there, and also in Chapter 19, make some remarks as to the trial of informations filed in that division.

CHAP. VII.