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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
TIME-CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES,
Before considering the English Criminal Law as it existed centuries ago. it may be well to take a brief survey of its leading features at the present day. At present, crimes are divid- ed iuts three main classes, viz., treasons, felo- nies, ant misdemeanours. As a matter of fact all treisons are felonies, though, of course, there are many felonies which are not treasons nor so beinous in the sight of the law as trea. sous. Murder is also a felony.
[February 3, 1900,
trates without the intervention of any jury. There is no specific name for these unless one olassifies them generally under the heading of summary offences. The French Code classifis offences as Crimes, Délite, and Contraventions, answering roughly to our felonies, mi-demen- oner, and summary offences respectively.
PUNISHMENTS.
time our criminal law is, I think, extremely | ENGLİSHI CHIMINAL LAW AT THE PRESENT | punishable in a summary way by the Magis- fair on the whole; in fact more than fair some- times in its anxiety that nothing by any pos- sibility should be put forward against a prisoner that is in the slightest degree unfair. A great many of us are disposed to pride ourselves apon the national characteristics as evidenced by the state of the law and to fancy ourselves a good deal superior to our neighbours. Talk- ing of this fairness to the prisoner. I re- member two or three instances which came under my own notice which illustrate this 8 0889 in clearly. I remember very Ireland where a man who had stolen some money was brought to the Police Station. The policeman said to him, "Now you had better tell me where you put that money. It will be better for you. We will see what oan be done for you." Upon this the man confessed to hav- ing stolen the money and told where he had
hidden it under a certain stone. The man was taken before a Magistrate and committed for trial. At the trial it came out that the police man had not warned the prisoner before be had made his statement, and the judge said that a confession procured in such a way was not a confession which ought to be allowed to be brought forward at the trial. I remember an. other case where a turnkey did a very meau thing. A prisorer's wife was allowed to see him in gaol and the turnkey listened at the door
to their conversation. He heard the man con-
fess to his wife that he had committed a very grave crime-I am not sure it was not murder. At the trial the turnkey repeated what he had heard, but the judge refused to accept evidence, saying that a man's confession to his wife ought not to be taken advantage
of. These two cases will tend to show how extremely careful We are that a prisoner indicted for any crime should have fair play With regard to the old Acts and punishments to which the Chief Justice has alluded, I some- times think we may be led astray by a state- ment as to what the punishment might have
been. I remember that ou the occasion of the Dynamite Bill passing the House of Commons. I was in the gallery with the then Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. I remarked to him, "Do you think it is severe enough? " 'Severe," he replied. Why, under that law a little boy might be indicted and sentenced to penal survi.
C
penny cracker
tude for life for exploding under a lady's petticoat." (Laughter.) It does not always follow that the extreme penalty which might be inflicted is inflicted. But there is one thing which struck me in listen: ing to this very interesting lecture, aud that was that when we consider the horrible tortures practiced in England down to very recent times, and that up to a very few years ago crowds of people attended public executions, laughing and perfectly untouched by the horrors of the scue, it gives us great hope that the awful tortures practiced in the empire of China, close to our gates, may not go on for ever. (Hear, hear.) People who have not looked into the mote in our eye may think that where such tortures are permitted to exist there must be innate moral turpitude in the people which renders them hopeless But if so, we ourselves should remember that moral tur pitude in times gone by-not very long ago. It is therefore a great comfort for us to believe that as soon as it is realised-as one day it may be realised, when the light shines upon China, that crimes which tortures are supposed to prevent are not prevented, but that as tortures cease and the dawn of fair play begins to appear, crimes begin to decrease, and especially crimes of great violence, I think we may hope that in the not distant future we may see the day when torture will cease in China-(bear, bear) -aad that will be a blessed day to every body. I think, ladies and gentlemen, the thanks of the meeting are due-aud I am sure you will agree with me-to the Acting Chief Justice for his most interesting and able lecture. (Applause.)
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At the Assizes, in Englan-1, the Crier makes Procumation 8 follows:-"If any one can inform my lords the Queen's Justices, the Queen's Attorney General or the Queen's Sergeant, ere this inquest taken between our Sovereign Lady the Queen and the prisoners at the bar, of any fronson, murder, felony or misdem anour committed or done by them or auyf them, let him come forth and he shall be beard. for the prisouers stand at the bar upon their deliverance."
in the same terms for haudreds of years. I am I suppose that 'proclamation has been made
not aware that there has been for many years such a persona as the Queen's Sergeant referred is to in it, and I suppose the word "murder interposed between the words "treason and "felony," because murder, like treason, is a particularly heinous kind of felony.
Treason—is au offence against the duty of allegiance and it is, according to the law books, the highest known crime, for it aims at the very destruction of the Commonwealth itself. Five species of treason are set forth by the Statute of Edward III. Que sees at once the feudal origin of the offence. Treason is a word derived from the French “ Trahir" to betray, the under- lying idea being the betrayal of the allegiance to the sovereign.
Felony. This term embraces, as a general rule, all orimes of a more serious ature than misdemeanours, crimes which are, therefore, anally more severely pauished than misde-
meanours There are, however, some excep.
history.'
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tions to this general rule, and at the present day the word Felony is an anachronism. It would hardly find a place in any modern re- classification of crimes. There is a respect for antiquity in English law and the word has a I am in favour of Spelman's deriva. tion of the word. He derives it from the Teutonic, or old German, Fee," meaning a fief, and
meaning price or value. Originally it meant the s ate or state of having forfeited lauda and goods to the Cwn upon conviction for certain ‹ffeuces, and, then, by trausition it cam « to mean any ** offence иров conviction for which such forfeiture followed,
"lon"
in addition to any other punishment prescribed by law, as distinguished from offences (misde meanours) for which no forfeiture followed. While forfeiture followed conviction, felony had a definite meaning. Moreover, in the olden days, death was the punishment usually allotted by law to those convicted of felouy, so that the idea of the death penalty became associated with felony, or at least with most felonies. But forfeiture for felony was abolished in Englau in 1870, and the death penalty is almost entirely confined to murder, so that the word felony is not very suitable as a generic term at the present day. However, in framing an indictment, if the crime amounts to felony the deed must be described as having been done" feloniously," and there are minor differences in procedure between cases of felony and misdemeanour which I need not here refer
ta.
meanour.
Misdemeanour.-Th's includes every crime which is not a felony, and, speaking generally, one may say that every indictable criminal of fence which the law regards as less than a felouy and every act forbidden by any Act of Parlin meut, but not amounting to a felony, is a misde- Now, without wishing to underrate the many merits of English Criminal Law, or the historic interest attaching to its gradual The Hon. H. E. POLLOCK--I beg to propose development and the traces of the earlier stages a hearty vote of thanks to His Excellency the of that development to be found in its nomen- Governor for his kindness in coming to pre-clature and its procedure at the present day, side to-day. (Hear, hear.) I think this is "tue one cannot but feel that some better and more first time he has attended a meeting of our logical classification of crimes might well be society, but I hope that in the future we shall frequently see him here. (Applause.) The proceedings then terminated.
made when our law comes to be codified.
It may be well, at this point, to notice that there are many trifling offences made
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The punishment which may by the law of England be inflicted in the appropriate cases at the present time are death by hanging, penal servitude, imprisonment with or without bard labour, detention in a roformatory school, sub. jection to police supervision, whipping, fines, and putting under recognizance. But very differ- ent punishments were at one time in force in England. The statute 22 Henry 8th Cap. 9 made poisoning high treason and punishable by boiling to death, and Coke tells us of a girl named Margaret Davey who poisoned her mis- tress, being boiled to death in 1530 at Switbfield
under the statute.
BESPONSIBILITT FOR CRIME.
Of course, there are certain people whose acts are not punished or treated in the same way as those of responsible people. For in- stance, no act done by a person under seven years of age is a crime. No act done by a person over seven and under fourteen years of age is a crime, unless it be shown affirmatively that such person had sufficient capacity to know that the act was wrong. There is a remarkable presumption as to married woman which one would hardly expect to find forming part of the law at the present day. It is this. If a married woman commits a theft, or receives stolen goods knowing them to be stolen, in the presence of her husband she is pre- sumed to have acted under his coercion,
and such coercion excuses her not. This presumption may, however, be rebatted if the circumstances of the case show that in point of fact she was not coerced. Rebutting evidence of this kind might not be forthcoming, and then the woman would escape punishment.
I will not here discuss the question of the responsibility of insane people, as the subject is too complicated for my present brief sketch. do more than mention that, as a Nor will
general rule, subject, however, to some excep
mens reu," the evil tious, what is called the intention of the mind, mast accompany the act in order to constitute a crime.
(To be continued.)
HONGKONG.
Mr. L. F. G. McConnel Hussey, second offi. cer of the Indo-China steamer Chunsang, has been awarded a vellum testimonial by the Royal Humane Society for saving a coolio from drown- ing in Hongkong Harbour on the 6th of Ang, last.
Mr. W. F. Hatherley, wharfinger at the Kowloon Wharves, met with a serious accident on Wednesday 31st ult. He was superinteud- ing some operations on the pier at No. 3 wharf, alongside of which the P. and O. steamer Chusan was moored, when be stepped upon a rope, which, being anddenly tightened, threw him several feet in the air. He alighted with gr at force on his head and sustained very serions injuries. He was carried home in an uncou scions state and he still lies in a precarious con- dition.
The annual general meeting of sestholders and subscribers of St. John's Cathedral, Hongkong, was held in St. Paul's Col lege on the 29th ult., Bishop Hoare presiding. The accounts were presented, showing an in. come of $14,670.14, the balance of $1,163,33 over the expenses being carried forward to next year, the reserve fund being $3,648.50, On the proposal of Sir Thomas Jackson, reconded by His Honor W. Meigh Goodman, the ac- counts were passed.-The Regulations for St. John's Cathedral Church were presented and approved, several amendments being suggested for the approval or otherwise of the Church Body-The gentlemen elected as the Church Body for the ensuing year were-Hon. R. D. Ormsby, Hon. R. M. Rumsay, Sir John Car rington, C.M.G., Hon. H. E. Pollock, H. R.. Hardcastle, Esq.-Mr. Wright was elected auditor, to whom a vote of thanks was also passed for his work as hon, treasurer during the past year.
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