Sovereign, are commonly announced to the public in the Gazette, published by the authority of the Crown; and of such Acts announced in the Gazette, the Gazette itself is admitted, in courts of justice, to be good evidence. A proclamation for reprisals, published in the Gazette, is evidence of an existing war. Proclamations for a public peace, or for the performance of quarantine, and any acts done by, or to the Queen in her regal character, may be proved in this manne..

Gazettes are admitted as due notifications of promotions, exchanges, or retirements; but they are not however evidence of private titles, or private interests, which have no reference to the affairs of Government.*

Instructions given to an officer are admissible in evidence, and copies of them duly authenticated are admissible, if the originals cannot be produced.

Official communications between the governor, and the law officer of a colony, respecting the state of the colony; orders given by a governor to a military officer; a correspondence between an agent of government and a secretary of state; the report of a military court of enquiry, respecting an officer, whose conduct the court had been appointed to examine; are confidential, and privileged communications, which courts of justice will not allow to be disclosed.*

*Simmons. † Phillipps. Hough.

I

Notes of hand are admissible, and are proved in the same manner as other written evidence.

Affidavits, being admissions on oath, are evidence as such against the parties who made them.

Certificates of marriages, baptisms, and burials may be proved by the parish register, in which they are entered, by giving in evidence either the register itself, or an examined copy of it. Besides the register, some proof must be given of the identity of the parties married, &c.

Depositions ought to be taken as nearly as possible in the words of the deponent. The informations should be taken in the presence of the prisoner, to give him an opportunity of cross-examining, and if the deponent swear to the truth of the statement in the prisoner's presence, the deposition may be used against the prisoner. It is not essential to the validity of depositions that they should be signed by the deceased witness.*

If a prosecutor, or witness, on one trial be afterwards tried on charges connected with the subject of a former trial, his depositions on that occasion may be given in evidence against him on the subsequent trial.†

In case any of the witnesses, who have been examined before the coroner, are dead, or unable to travel, or kept out of the way by the means, and contrivance of the * Phillipps. Hough. + Kennedy.

prisoner, their depositions may be read on the trial of the prisoner; provided also, that the deposition offered in evidence is proved to be the same as was sworn before the coroner, without any addition, or alteration.*

The propriety of committing the examination of a prisoner to writing, instead of leaving it to the uncertain memory of surrounding witnesses, cannot be too strongly impressed on all who are entrusted with such judicial powers. It is also of the utmost importance, that the confession of a prisoner should be committed to writing with the most scrupulous attention, and as nearly as can be done in the very words of the prisoner.

The informations against the prisoner before a magistrate are to be taken on oath the account given by the prisoner ought to be taken without oath, for if the prisoner has been sworn his statement cannot be received. The confession is evidence only against the person confessing, not against others, although they are proved to be his accomplices.*

* Phillipps.

CHAPTER VI.

COURTS OF ENQUIRY.

THE power of the Sovereign, or of a Commander, to appoint Courts of Enquiry, and the right to withhold the proceedings, when required to be produced as evidence in a supreme Court of Law, has been evinced by a decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, confirmed on appeal to the Judges.

The duties of a Court of Enquiry are undefined, depending on the instructions, which the authority convening the court, may think proper to give.

Courts of Enquiry may consist of any number of officers, and of any rank, but the latter should not be, if possible, inferior to that of the officer whose conduct, or character, may be implicated in the investigation.

The Court may be either close, or open, depending in this on the will of the officer convoking it.

The proceedings may be signed by all the members, or by the senior as president.

A Court of Enquiry may be ordered after the lapse of any period.*

This court has no power to administer an oath, nor is there any process by which it can compel the attendance of civil witnesses.

A Court of Enquiry may be considered more a council than a court, which an officer in command may take advantage of to assist him in forming his judgment on any doubtful, or intricate subject. It is sometimes called upon to receive and methodize information only; at other times to give an opinion on any question, or subject proposed. The officer, ordering the assembly of the court, may also direct the court to revise their proceedings, as often as he may consider necessary.

The controlling power over military men, which enforces their attendance before Courts of Enquiry, arises from the order of a superior officer, and not from any authority which these courts actually possess.

An officer, who is accused of any crime, cannot refuse to obey an order directing him to appear before a Court of Enquiry, yet he may object to take any part in the proceedings, and he is perfectly justified in declining to answer any questions, or in refusing to make any statement which might be prejudicial to himself. He may however avail himself of the opportunity to explain any particular act, or Sir C. Morgan.