5 G. 4. c. 83. § 4., it is enacted, "that every person having in his Persons having or her custody or possession any picklock key, crow, jack, bit, or house-breaking other implement, with an intent feloniously to break and enter into implements. any dwelling-house, warehouse, coach-house, stable, or outbuilding; or being armed with any gun, pistol, hanger, cutlass, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon; or having upon him or her any instrument with intent to commit any felonious act; every person being found in or upon any dwelling-house, warehouse, coach-house, stable, or outhouse, or in any inclosed yard, garden, or area, for any unlawful purpose, shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond within the true intent and meaning of this act; and it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace to commit such offender, being thereof convicted before him by the confession of such offender, or by the evidence on oath of one or more credible witnesses, to the house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour for any Punishment. time not exceeding three calendar months; and every such pick- Implements, lock, key, crow, jack, bit, and other implement; and every such how disposed gun, pistol, hanger, cutlass, bludgeon, or other offensive weapon, and every such instrument as aforesaid, shall, by the conviction of the offender, become forfeited to H. M." In a case upon stat. 23 G. 4. c. 88. (passed for the like purposes, but repealed by stat. 5 G. 4. c. 83. § 1.), R. v. Brown, 8 T. R. 26., a warrant of commitment was holden defective, because it did not state that the defendant was apprehended with implements of housebreaking upon him at the time of such apprehension. Lord Kenyon C. J. said, that he yielded with great reluctance to the objection. IV. Recompense to Prosecutors, xc. It is enacted by 7 G. 4. c. 64. § 28., that where it shall appear to any court of oyer and terminer, &c. that any person has been active in or towards the apprehension of any person charged with certain offences (of which burglary is one), the court is authorised to order the sheriff to pay such persons such sums of money as to the court shall seem reasonable and sufficient, to compensate such persons for their expenses, exertions, and loss of time, in or towards such apprehension; and the courts of sessions of the peace are also authorised to give similar compensations to persons who have been active in or towards the apprehension of any party charged with knowingly receiving stolen property; and the said courts may also allow to such persons, if prosecutors or witnesses, such costs, compensations, and expenses as by the said act they are empowered to allow. By § 30., if any person shall happen to be killed in endeavouring to apprehend any person charged with the enumerated offences, the court may order such sum of money as in its discretion shall seem meet to be paid to the widow or family, as in the act is specified. See tit. Rewards and tit. Arrest. Warrant to apprehend a Burglar. County of To the constable of — FORASMUCH as A. I. of, in the county of Recompense for activity in the apprehen sion. for the said county, that yesterday in the night the dwelling-house of , in the year County of Indictment for Burglary. in THE jurors for our lord the king upon their oaths present, that A. O., late of the parish ofthe county of —, labourer, on the day of in the year of the reign of - about the hour of one in the night of the same day, with force and arms, at the parish aforesaid, in the county of , the dwelling-house of A. I. there situate, feloniously and burglariously did break and enter, with intent the goods and chattels of the said A. I. in the said dwellinghouse then and there being then and there feloniously and burglariously to steal, take, and carry away, and then and there with force and arms one silver tankard of the value of 51. of the goods and chattels of the said A. I. in the same dwelling-house then and there being found, then and there feloniously did steal, take, and carry away; against the peace of our said lord the king, his crown and dignity. Or, That I. S. on such a day, in the night of the same day, with force and arms the dwelling-house of A. B. feloniously and burglariously broke and entered, and then and there such and such things of the goods and chattels of the said A. B. in the said house then being, feloniously and burglariously did steal, take, and carry away. Burning. I. Punishable at Common Law. II. Punishable by Statute. [22 G. 2. c. 33.—12 G. 3. c. 24. — 7 & 8 G. 4. c. 30.] I. Punishable at Common Law. Houses, burn- MALICIOUSLY and voluntarily burning the house of another ing at the com mon law. In doing an unlawful act. by night or by day is felony at the common law. 1 Haw. c. 39. Maliciously and voluntarily. For if it be done by mischance or negligence, it is no felony. 3 Inst. 67. As, if an unqualified person happen to set fire to the thatch of a house; or even if a man were shooting at the poultry of another, by which means the house is fired, that is, provided he did not mean to steal the poultry, but merely to commit a trespass; for otherwise, the first intent being felonious, the party must abide all the consequences. 2 East's P. C. 1019. If a man, maliciously intending only to burn one person's house, happen thereby to burn the house of another, it is certain that he may be indicted as having maliciously burned the house of that other; for where a felonious design against one man misseth its Felonious aim, and takes effect upon another, it shall have the like construc- intent. tion as if it had been levied against him who suffers by it. 1 Haw. c. 39. §5. 1 Hale, 569. Burning.] Neither a bare intention to burn a house, nor even Bare attempt an actual attempt to do it by putting fire to part of a house, will not sufficient. amount to felony, if no part of it be burned: but if any part of the house be burned, the offender is guilty of felony, notwithstand ing the fire afterwards be put out, or go out of itself. 1 Haw. c. 39. 4. 2 East's P. C. 1020. The house.] This extendeth not only to the very dwelling- Outhouses house, but to all outhouses that are parcel thereof, though not belonging to contiguous to it, nor under the same roof. 1 Hale, 567. But if the barn or outhouse be not parcel of a dwelling-house, it is not felony unless the barn have hay or corn in it; and then, though it be no parcel of a dwelling-house, it is felony. 3 Inst. 67. 2 Russ. 487. house. Barn with corn. Of another.] But a person seised in fee, or but possessed for Must be tae years of a house standing by itself at a distance from all others, house of ancannot commit felony in burning the same. So a man so seised other. or possessed of a house in a town, who burned his own with an intent to burn his neighbour's, but in the event burned his own only, was not at common law guilty of felony; it was however certainly an offence highly punishable, in regard of the malice thereof, and the great danger to the public which attended it; and the offender was liable to be severely fined, and imprisoned during the king's pleasure, and set on the pillory and bound to his good behaviour. 1 Haw. c. 39. § 3. If a landlord or reversioner sets fire to his own house, of which another is in possession, under a lease from himself or from those whose estate he hath, it shall be accounted arson; for during the lease the property of the house is in the tenant. 2 Russ. 488. So, where a widow entitled to dower, but which had not been assigned to her, burned a house which she had let to a tenant, for the benefit of her husband's eldest son, it was arson. 2 East, P. C. 1023. 2 Russ. 488. If a person wilfully and maliciously sets fire to his own house, and thereby burns the house of another which is contiguous, it is arson. See Isaac's case, 2 East, P. C. 1031. Landlord or reversioner burning house in occupation of a tenant. Widow entitled to dower, but before assign ment. Where a parish pauper was put into a house by the parish offi- Parish house cers, and had the sole occupation of it by himself and family, pay- occupied by ing no rent, it was held that it could not be considered as his pauper. house, and that, having burned it, he was guilty of arson. 2 Russ. 488. II. Punishable by Statute. A great variety of statutes have at different times been enacted for the punishment of the crime of burning, and setting fire to houses and other buildings, &c.; but the greater part of these have Setting fire to stable, &c. &c. been repealed, and the description and punishment of the offence have been provided for by the following enactments. By 7 & 8 G. 4. c. 30. § 2., if any person shall unlawfully and church, house, maliciously set fire to any church or chapel, or to any chapel for the religious worship of persons dissenting from the united church of England and Ireland, duly registered or recorded, or shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any house, stable, coach-house, out-house, warehouse, office, shop, mill, malt-house, hop-oast, barn, or granary, or to any building or erection used in carrying on any trade or manufacture, or any branch thereof, whether the same or any of them respectively shall then be in the possession of the offender, or in the possession of any other person, with intent thereby to injure or defraud any person, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. Where a woman, living apart from her husband, maliciously set fire to his house, it was held, on cause reserved, not to fall within this statute; it being essential, to constitute the offence, that there should be an intent to injure or defraud some third person not identified with herself. E. T. 1828, R. v. Elizabeth March, R. & M. 182. By § 5., if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any mine of coal or cannel coal, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. By § 9., if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to, or in anywise destroy any ship or vessel, whether the same be complete or in an unfinished state, or shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to, cast away, or in anywise destroy any ship or vessel, with intent thereby to prejudice any owner or part owner of such ship or vessel, or of any goods on board the same, or any person that hath underwritten or shall underwrite any policy of insurance upon such ship or vessel, or on the freight thereof, or upon any goods on board the same, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. By § 17., if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any stack of corn, grain, pulse, straw, bay, or wood, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon; and if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any crop of corn, grain, or pulse, whether standing or cut down, or to any part of a wood, coppice, or plantation of trees, or to any heath, gorse, furze, or fern, wheresoever the same may be growing, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years; and, if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the court shall so think fit) in addition to such imprisonment. By $ 25., punishments imposed by this act on persons maliciously committing any offence, are equally to apply and be in force whether the offence shall be committed from malice conceived against the owner of the property in respect of which it shall be committed, or otherwise. stores, &c. By 12 G. 3. c. 24. § 1. it is made a capital offence if any person Burning or shall, within this realm, or in any of the islands, countries, &c. destruction of thereto belonging, wilfully and maliciously set on fire, or burn, or ships, arsenals, otherwise destroy, or cause to be set on fire, &c., or aid, procure, abet, &c. any of his majesty's ships, whether on float, or building, or repairing, or any of his majesty's arsenals, magazines, dock-yards, &c., or any of the buildings thereto belonging, or any timber, &c. there placed for ship-building, or any naval, military, or victualling stores, or the places where they are deposited: and by § 2. any person charged with committing any of the abovenamed offences out of the realm, may be tried either in any county in England, or in the island or place where the offence was committed, as the king may deem most expedient. It may be convenient to insert some of the cases decided on statutes now repealed, where the terms used in the enactments resembled those of the statutes which are now in force. By 9 G. 1. c. 22. (the Black Act) § 1., it was made a capital Black Act felony to set fire to any house, barn, or outhouse, or to any hovel, (now repealed). cock, mow, or stack of corn, straw, hay, or wood. On this statute it has been held that a common gaol was a house, A common gaol within the meaning of it. The entrance to the prison was through within the act. the dwelling-house of the gaoler, and the prisoners were sometimes allowed to lie in it. All the judges held that the dwelling-house was to be considered as part of the prison, and the whole prison was the house of the corporation to whom it belonged. One set of the counts laid it to be the house of the corporation, another of the gaoler, and a third of the person whom the gaoler suffered to live in the dwelling-house. Donovan's case, Lanc. 1770, 2 Bl. Rep. 682. 2 East's P. C, 1020. It has been held that this statute did not alter the nature of the common law crime, or create any new offence, and therefore that under the words "set fire to," the putting fire into, or towards a house, however maliciously, does not amount to arson, if in fact no part of it be burned. Attempt to burn Sarah Taylor was indicted for setting fire to an outhouse, commonly called a paper-mill. It appeared that she had set fire to a a paper-mill. large quantity of paper which was drying in a loft annexed and belonging to the mill; but no part of the mill itself was consumed; and therefore the judges thought the case not within the statute on that ground; though another doubt was started, whether a mill were an outhouse within the meaning of the act. Sarah Taylor's case, 2 East's P. C. 1020. 1 Leach, 49. Where the prisoner stuck a lighted candle in the thatched roof of a house, with the intention of burning it down, but being observed by a neighbour, the burning candle, and the straw immediately communicating with it, were pulled out of the roof, and the fire was thus stopped, but the straw pulled out was proved to have been black and singed; the prisoner was convicted, under 7 & 8 G. 4. c. 30. § 2., and no objection was raised that the house had not been set fire to: but the conviction was held wrong on another ground. E. T. 1828, R. v. Elizabeth March, R. & M. 182. North was indicted for feloniously, wilfully, and maliciously Outhouse. setting fire to a certain outhouse of J. Taylor, at Knaresborough, against the form of the statute (9 G. 1. c. 22.). It appeared that the prisoner had set fire to and burned part of a building of |