5 ΤΟ HIS HONOUR SIR JOHN HENRY DE VILLIERS, KNIGHT, K. C. M. G., CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE COLONY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND DEPENDENCIES THEREOF, ETC., ETC., This Volume IS, BY SPECIAL PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 733715 PREFACE. THE intention of this volume is to place before my brother Magistrates, Resident and Assistant, a short statement of the statutes whereby Criminal Jurisdiction in its numerous branches is conferred and governed, and at the same time to point out, by notes taken from the reports of the Superior Courts of Justice, a means of avoiding the errors into which we, as unprofessional men, have a propensity to fall. Having on many occasions contributed, by my own shortcomings, to an elucidation of some point of law or procedure, ending in a “quashing,” as it is called, of some "conviction," I venture to offer this product of my leisure to officials who, like myself, have enjoyed but a slender training for the important duties of the Magisterial Bench. In most instances the statutes bearing on any particular subject have been brought into juxtaposition, and an abridged statement of the law supplied. In some cases, however, I have thought it essential to print the Ordinance or Act in extenso. Well as we are bound to know the statutes, it will happen that an old and experienced Magistrate may fall into the error of neglecting the provisions of one of the earlier statutes, such as the celebrated Ordinances No. 40 of 1828, and 73 of 1830. But while this course has been pursued with regard to all important Ordinances and Acts on the list of statutes, there are two cases in which it was felt that the law was in a state of transition-viz., Defamatory Libel and the Pass Law, and they are referred to in the Appendix. At the time of sending this book to press an important alteration is projected in |