Two Witnesses required in certain cases. Claim of person as apprentice, this Act. (5701.) SEC. 8. In all cases arising under the provisions of sections six and seven of this act, the truth of any declaration, representation or pretence, that any person being or having been in this State, is or was a slave, or owes or did owe service or labor to any other person or persons, shall not be deemed proved except by the testimony of at least two credible witnesses, testifying to facts directly tending to establish the truth of such declaration, pretence, or representation, or by legal evidence equivalent thereto. (5702.) SEC. 9. No declaration, pretence, or representation, etc., not within that any person is or was an apprentice for a fixed term of years, or owes or did owe service merely as such apprentice for such fixed term, shall be deemed prohibited by this act; and no such declaration, pretence, or representation, that any person is or was such an apprentice for such fixed term, or owes or did owe service merely as such an apprentice for such fixed term, shall be liable to any penalty under this act. Conflicting Acts repealed. (5703.) SEC. 10. All acts or parts of acts conflicting with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. TITLE XXXVIII. CHAPTER CLXXVIII. Of the Rights of Persons who are Accused of Crimes and Offences. CHAPTER CLXXIX. Of Offences Against the Sovereignty of the State. CHAPTER CLXXX. Of Offences Against the Lives and Persons of Individuals. CHAPTER CLXXXI. Of Offences Against Property. CHAPTER CLXXXII. Of Forgery and Counterfeiting. CHAPTER CLXXXIII. Of Offences Against Public Justice. CHAPTER CLXXXIV. Of Offences Against the Public Peace. CHAPTER CLXXXV. Of Offences Against Chastity, Morality, and Decency. CHAPTER CLXXXVI. Of Offences Against the Public Health. CHAPTER CLXXXIX. Of the Racing of Animals. CHAPTER CXC. Of the Firing of Woods and Prairies, CHAPTER CXCI. Of Trespasses on the Public Lands. CHAPTER CXCII. General Provisions Concerning Crimes and Punishments. OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WHO ARE ACCUSED OF CRIMES may have Coun (5704.) SECTION 1. On the trial of every indictment, or other Party accused criminal accusation, the party accused shall be allowed to be sel, etc. heard by counsel, and he may defend himself, and he shall Person indicted how convicted. when a bar, etc. Sec. 29. have a right to produce witnesses and proofs in his favor, and meet the witnesses who are produced against him face to face. (5705.) SEC. 2. No person indicted for an offence, shall be convicted thereof, unless by confession of his guilt in open Court, or by admitting the truth of the charge against him, by his plea or demurrer, or by the verdict of a jury, accepted and recorded by the Court. Former acquittal, (5706.) SEc. 3. No person shall be held to answer on a Const., Art. 6, second indictment for any offence of which he has been acquitted by the jury, upon the facts and merits on the former trial; but such acquittal may be pleaded or given in evidence by him, in bar of any subsequent prosecution for the same offence, notwithstanding any defect in the form or in the substance of the indictment on which he was acquitted. No person to be punished until le (5707.) SEC. 4. No person who is charged with any offence gally convicted. against the law, shall be punished for such offence, unless he shall have been duly and legally convicted thereof, in a Court having competent jurisdiction of the cause and of the person. Mass. R. S., 124. Ch. Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Two of Revised Statutes of 1846. Punishment for (5708.) SECTION 1. Every person who shall commit the crime Const, Art. 6, of treason against this State, shall suffer the punishment of treason. Sec. 30. death for the same. (5709.) SEC. 2. If any person who shall have knowledge of the commission of the crime of treason against this State, shall conceal the same, and shall not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known such treason to the Governor thereof, or to some Judge of a Court of Record within this State, he shall be adjudged guilty of the offence of misprision of treason, and shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the State prison not more than five years, or in the county jail not more than two years. quired. (5710.) SEC. 3. No person shall be convicted of the crime of Evidence retreason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same Const., Art. 6, overt act, or on confession in open Court. Sec. 30. first degree. 4 Mich. Rep., 67. (5711.) SECTION 1. All murder which shall be perpetrated Murder of the by means of poison, or lying in wait, or any other kind 15 III. Rep., 517. of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration, or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery or burglary, shall be deemed murder Murder of the second degree. of the first degree, and shall be punished by solitary confinement at hard labor in the State prison for life. (5712.) SEC. 2. All other kinds of murder shall be deemed 1 Mich. Rep., 451. murder of the second degree, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the State prison for life, or any term of years, in the discretion of the Court trying the same. Degree how to be determined. Fighting duel out of State, when within this State. 125, Sec. 3. (5713.) SEC. 3. The jury before whom any person indicted for murder shall be tried, shall, if they find such person guilty thereof, ascertain in their verdict, whether it be murder of the first or second degree; but if such person shall be convicted by confession, the Court shall proceed by examination of witnesses to determine the degree of the crime, and shall render judgment accordingly. (5714.) SEC. 4. Every person, being an inhabitant or deemed murder resident of this State, who shall, by previous appointment or Mass. R. S., Ch. engagement made within the same, fight a duel without the jurisdiction of this State, or who shall fight a duel within this State, and in so doing shall inflict a mortal wound upon any person, whereof the person so injured shall afterwards die within this State, shall be deemed guilty of murder in the first degree within this State, and may be indicted, tried and convicted in the county where such death shall happen. Seconds in such ease. conviction or acquittal. (5715.) SEC. 5. Every person, being an inhabitant or resident of this State, who shall be the second of either party in such duel as is mentioned in the preceding section, and shall be present as a second when such mortal wound is inflicted, whereof death shall ensue within this State, shall be deemed to be an accessory before the fact to the crime of murder in this State, and may be indicted, tried and convicted in the county where the death shall happen, or in which such wound shall have been inflicted. Plea of former (5716.) SEC. 6. Any person indicted under either of the two preceding sections, may plead a former conviction or acquittal of the same offence, in the State or country where such mortal wound was inflicted, and such plea, if admitted or established, shall be a bar to all further or other proceedings against such person, for the same offence within this State. challenging, eto. Code of 1820, 207. Thatcher's C. C., Fighting duel, (5717.) SEC. 7. Every person who shall engage in a duel Cass Code, 24. with any deadly weapon, although no homicide ensue, or who Rev. of 1827, 163. shall challenge another to fight such duel, or shall send or deliver any written or verbal message, purporting or intended to be such challenge, although no duel ensue, shall be punished by imprisonment in the State prison not more than 390. |