THIS IS THE LAST POST OF THE QUARTER SESSIONS FOR 1851!! 31 October 1851 CHARGE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF QUARTER SESSIONS - [Spelling is as given - including 2 ways of spelling 'misdemeanor'.] At the recent Michaelmas Sessions for this county, the Chairman, Sir Colman Rashleigh, Bart., in his charged to the Grand Jury, reviewed the acts which have passed the Legislature during the last session of Parliament. The county business being an considerable length, we gave merely an abstract of the Chairman's remarks at the time of delivery, but it has since been suggested to us that a fuller report of this part of the charge would be useful, as containing a synopsis of the important acts which have this year received the Royal assent. The Chairman said: At the Michaelmas Sessions it has always been usual for the Chairman to bring before your notice those Acts of Parliament which have received the Royal assent during the preceding session, and which may affect the business of justices, or parochial affairs. During the past session of Parliament, such acts have been rather more numerous and important than usual; I will therefore bring each of them under your notice. The first is Chapter 11, an act for the better care and protection of persons under the care and control of others as apprentices or servants, and to enable the guardians and overseers of the poor to institute and conduct prosecutions in certain cases. This act begins by enacting that any master or mistress neglecting to supply a servant with proper food and necessaries of life, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor. It also enacts that a register shall be kept of young persons hired out of workhouses - that this register shall be kept by the Board of Guardians - that the young persons so hired shall be visited from time to time by the proper officers or overseers, and that guardians shall be authorized and required to prosecute when necessary. This act was, as you are aware, rendered necessary by some recent cases which occurred in other parts of the kingdom. Chapter 13 is an act to regulate the sale of arsenic. In this county we have never had such numerous instances of poisoning with arsenic as have occurred in Essex and other parts of the kingdom, but it has been thought necessary to pass this act, which enacts that particulars of every sale are to be entered into a book kept by the person selling. There are certain restrictions as to the mode of sale; it is not to be sold to an unknown person except in the presence of a witness known to the party, and that witness is to sign the certificate of sale. Arsenic is also to be mixed with soot or indigo. For offences against this act, summary jurisdiction is given to two magistrates, and a penalty not exceeding GBP 20 may be inflicted. Cap. 19 is an act for the prevention of burglary and other offences by night. It enacts that any person found by night armed with intent to break into any house to commit any felony therein, or having implements of house-breaking in his possession, or with face disguised, or being in a house with intent to commit felony, shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and be liable to three years' imprisonment. After previous conviction of felony or misdemeanor, subsequent misdemeanor will subject the prisoner to seven to ten years' transportation. Another clause in this act renders it felony to use chloroform with intent to commit felony, and subjects the party convicted thereof to imprisonment for three years. There are two other important clauses - persons inflicting grievous bodily harm may be convicted of misdemeanor; and though juries may acquit of felonious intent under an indictment for feloniously cutting and wounding, they may convict simply of cutting and wounding unlawfully. The next clause relates to railways; the obstructing or taking up of rails, turning machinery, or showing signals with intent to endanger the safety of persons. There are also clauses relating to the setting fire to stations, and to casting wood &c. on railways; all these offences are made felony, and rendered liable to transportation for life, or for seven years, or to three years' imprisonment. Upon trial for subsequent offences, a previous conviction must not be stated until verdict be given, except when the defendant gives evidence of character. If he puts in evidence of character, the prosecutor may at once put in certificate of previous conviction in answer to that character. Under the 10th, 11th, and 12th clauses, considerable powers are given to persons who are not constables, to apprehend without warrant by day or by night, and take before any justice any person suspected of those offences, and an assault committed on such a person apprehending shall be deemed a misdemeanor. The interpretation clause states that the word "night" is to be understood as in the law relating to burglary. Section 23 enacts the omission of words unnecessary to be proved is not to vitiate an indictment; and all objections to the form of an indictment are to be taken before the jury are sworn, in order that the court may amend the indictment, and that persons may not get off on mere technical objections. Cap. 28 applies to common lodging houses. The first five sections relate to jurisdiction, the means of paying expenses, and so on. The sixth section enacts that notice shall be given to all lodging house keepers to register within three months after notice; mumpers' inns, and places kept as lodging houses for common vagrants, are to be registered within three months; such register is to be strictly kept, and within one month after notice no lodger can be received unless the register is made. Local authorities are to make the necessary regulations, and to impose penalties. The occupiers of those lodging-houses are to give immediate notice of all fevers occurring in those houses; and there is power given to inspect and cleanse them. The penalty for each offence against the act is GBP 5; and forty shillings for each day the offence continues afterwards. [Cap. 55 is an act to amend the law relating to expenses of prosecutions, and to make further provision for the apprehension and trial of offenders in certain cases. ...for instance, the power for the court to allow expenses in cases of common assault. By the 9th section, the Clerk of the Peace may be paid by fixed salary instead of by fees, while clerks of justices at petty sessions may be paid partly by fees and partly by salary.] Cap. 99 is an important act, which amends the law of evidence. It enacts that parties to a suit may be admissible as witnesses, as is the case in County Courts; but a party charged with a criminal offence is not compellable to give evidence which may criminate himself on that charge. All proceedings in cases of adultery are excepted from this act. Power is given to common law courts to compel the production and inspection of documents, as in equity courts. Where it is necessary to prove the conviction or acquittal of a person charged, it is not necessary to produce the record; the certificate of the Clerk of the Court is sufficient; examined copies of all documents are admissible. The certifying of a false document is made a misdemeanor. Any court, arbitrator, or commissioner empowered by agreement to settle a matter in dispute, may administer oaths. The forging of any seal, stamp, or signature, is made felony. Cap 100 is an act for further improving the administration of criminal justice, principally by preventing the escape of guilty persons by technical errors. .. It is now enacted that this court may now amend variances not material to the merits, and either proceed to trial or postpone, as the court may think proper, and all verdicts found after these alterations are valid. These enactments affect the practice of this court more than anything else that has come before you. In cases of murder or manslaughter, it is no longer necessary to set out in the indictment the means by which the offence was committed. In cases of forgery or embezzlement, the name of the instrument is sufficient without copy thereof, and the intent to defraud by forgery need not be stated. A person indicted for misdemeanor is not to be acquitted if the offence turn out to be a felony, unless the court so direct. Persons charged with felony or misdemeanor may be found guilty of attempt, and be liable to the same penalty as if found guilty on the whole charge. A person indicted for embezzlement as a clerk is not to be acquitted if the offence proves to be larceny, and vice versa. Persons jointly indicted may be separately convicted. Separate accessories and receivers may be included in the same indictment in the absence of the felon. Section 16 is one that will tend materially to reduce the expenses of numerous prosecutions; it enacts that three felonies committed on the same person, within six months, may be included in the same indictment, and the prosecutor need not elect which to go upon, if only one taking be charged, and there be not more than six months between the first and last taking. Coin and bank notes are to be deemed sufficiently described as money. The powers of the 23rd George 2nd c.11, and 31st George 3rd, as to prosecutions for perjury, are extended, and it is enacted that any judge or justice may order a witness guilty of perjury to be prosecuted, and may commit and give a certificate of prosecution being directed. The act 23rd George 2nd c.11, s.1 is extended to other offences, and indictments for perjury are simplified. The same act is also extended to subornation of perjury. Certificate of the trial of the indictment on which the perjury was committed is to be deemed sufficient evidence of such trial. Cap. 105 is an act to continue an act of the 14th of her Majesty for charging the maintenance of certain persons in Unions in England and Wales upon the common fund, and to make certain amendments in the laws for the relief of the poor. The second section enacts that the 15th of April shall be the day on which the new Boards of Guardians shall enter on their duties. The fifth section gives power to guardians to reimburse their officers for damage to their property in the execution of their duty, - a very important clause. By the sixth clause, guardians may subscribe to a hospital or infirmary in their neighbourhood if they think fit. The eighth section relates to payments under suspended orders of removal; it enacts that the overseers of the parish to which the removal is made may make payments from time to time instead of allowing them to run up and accumulate to a very large sum. Notice of appeal sent by post is to be deemed sufficient service. The guardians of any two unions or parishes may refer questions of settlement, removal, & chargeability to the Poor Law Board, whose decision is to be conclusive. The delivery of a written statement of charges of maintenance under order of removal, directed to the overseers, or to the officer at the workhouse, is to be deemed sufficient demand. By the 18th section, the word "officer" is explained, and it is enacted that an assault on an officer of a union, or on a Master or Matron of a workhouse, is to be considered the same as an assault on a constable in the execution of his duty. These, said the Chairman, are the acts passed during the last session which chiefly affect our sessions and parochial business. ---THE END--- Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn Website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell W. Briton newspaper transcripts at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad Please visit the OPC website at http://cornwall-opc.org