attempted, it was revived and continued during her life also, and then expired. From the accession of James the First to the death of Queen Anne, it was never once thought expedient to revive it; but, in the first year of George the First, it was judged necessary, in order to support the execution of the Act of Settlement, to renew it, and at one stroke to make it perpetual, with large additions. For, whereas the former acts expressly defined and specified what should be accounted a riot, the statute 1 Geo. I. s. 2, c. 5, commonly called the Riot Act, enacts, generally, that if any twelve persons are unlawfully assembled to the disturbance of the peace, and any one justice of the peace, sheriff, under-sheriff, or mayor of a town, shall think proper to command them by proclamation to disperse, if they contemn his orders and continue together for one hour afterwards, such contempt shall be felony without benefit of clergy. And farther, if the reading of the proclamation be by force opposed, or the reader be in any manner wilfully hindered from the reading of it, such opposers and hinderers are felons without benefit of clergy: and all persons to whom such proclamation ought to have been made, and knowing of such hinderance and not dispersing, are felons without benefit of clergy. The capital punishment for these offences has, however, been taken away, and they are now punishable with penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, not exceeding three years.' The 'statute of George the First also contains an' indemnifying clause, in case any of the mob be unfortunately killed in the endeavour to disperse them; this clause being also copied from the act of Queen Mary. 2. 6 The riotous demolition of buildings or machinery was first struck at by statute 1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 5, enacting that if any' persons, riotously assembled, began, even before proclamation, to pull down any church, chapel, meeting-house, dwelling-house, or out-house, they should be felons without benefit of clergy. But the provisions to this effect have been repealed; and the riotous destruction of churches and other buildings, and of machinery, is now provided for by the statute 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 11,c a 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 91, s. 1; 9 & 11 Vict. c. 21, s. 1; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3; 3 Geo. IV. c. 114. b 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 27. Re-enacting 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30, s. 8, and subsequent enactments. See 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47. whereby any persons riotously assembled together to the disturbance of the public peace, who shall demolish or destroy, or begin to demolish, any church or chapel, or any house, outhouse, warehouse, shop, mill, malt-house, hop-oast, barn, or granary, or any building used in carrying on any trade or manufacture, or any machinery, steam-engine, or other engine for working any mine, or any building used in conducting the business of any mine, or any bridge, waggonway, or trunk, for conveying materials from any mine, are declared guilty of felony. Such offenders are now liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, for any term not exceeding two years. The same statute provides for the punishment of persons injuring or damaging buildings or machinery, an offence which, though only a misdemeanor, is highly penal.' In these cases of felonious destruction of property the law gives to the parties injured a civil remedy against the hundred in which the premises are situated. This liability, which at one time extended to any damage done in a riot, is now defined by the statute 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 31, which enacts, that if any church, chapel, house, building, or machinery shall be feloniously demolished, wholly or in part, by persons riotously and tumultuously assembled together, the inhabitants of the hundred shall be liable to yield full compensation in an action; provided the persons damnified, or such of them as have knowledge of the circumstances, or the servants who had the care of the property demolished, shall, within seven days, go before a justice of the peace, and state upon oath the names of the offenders, if known, and submit to examination touching the circumstances, and become bound by recognizances to prosecute. The action must also be commenced within three calendar months after the offence was committed. This liability of the hundred has since been extended by the statute 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 72, to the case of damage done to threshing machines; and by the statute 9 & 10 Vict. c. 90, s. 44, to the plundering, damaging, or destroying ships wrecked or in distress, by any riotous assemblage. Where the damage does not exceed 307., the parties damnified may proceed summarily before justices at a special petty session.' a See also the statute 15 & 16 Vict. c. 76, s. 16. 3 To rob or attempt to rob, by means of threats, is an offence of a very heinous nature. Thus the offence of 'accusing or threatening to accuse, or' sending letters accusing or' threatening to accuse, any person of a crime punishable with death or penal servitude, 'or for any assault with intent to commit, or any attempt to commit any rape, or infamous crime,' with a view to extort any property, money, security, or other valuable thing, is punishable, at the discretion of the court, with 'penal servitude for life, or not less than five years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, not exceeding two years, and whipping in addition for a male under sixteen, if the court think fit.' And by the statute 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, any person knowingly sending or delivering any letter or writing, demanding of any person, with menaces, and without any reasonable or probable cause, any property, money, or valuable security, is guilty of felony; the punishment for which may also be penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, for a term not exceeding two years, to which whipping, if the offender be a male under sixteen, may be added. Any person knowingly sending, or delivering, or uttering to any other person any letter or writing, accusing or threatening to accuse that or any other person of any of certain infamous crimes named in the act, with intent to extort any property, money, or valuable security, is likewise guilty of felony, and liable to the same punishment.' 'An offence of a somewhat similar nature to these crimes, but not interfering with or affecting them, is provided for by the statute 6 & 7 Vict. c. 96, s. 3; whereby any person who publishes or threatens to publish a libel upon any other person, or who, directly or indirectly, threatens to print or publish, or proposes to abstain from printing or publishing, or offers to prevent the printing or publishing of, any matter or thing touching any other person, with intent to extort any money or security, or any valuable thing, from such or any other person, or with intent to induce any person to confer or procure for any person any appointment or office of profit or trust, is made liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three years.' Similar offences were formerly high treason by the statute 8 Hen. V. c. 6. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, ss. 8, 9; re-enacted by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, ss. 44-47. 4. To pull down or destroy any lock, sluice, or flood-gate, erected by authority of parliament on a navigable river, was made a felony, punishable with transportation for seven years, 'by various statutes. All previous enactments on the subject were, however, consolidated by the statute 24 and 25 Vict. c. 97, which declares any person who shall unlawfully and maliciously break or cut down any sea-wall, or the bank of any river, canal, or marsh, whereby any lands shall be overflowed or damaged, or shall be in danger of being so, or shall unlawfully and maliciously level or otherwise destroy any lock, sluice, flood-gate, or other work on any navigable river or canal, guilty of felony; for which the offender is now liable to be kept in penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than five years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, and with whipping in a male under sixteen, if the court think fit, for any term not exceeding two years.' The unlawful and malicious removing of any piles or other materials fixed in the ground, and used for securing any sea-bank, &c., or the opening of any flood-gate, or the doing of any other injury or mischief to any navigable river or canal, with intent, and so as thereby to obstruct the navigation thereof, is also declared to be felony; and so is the destruction of public bridges. These offences are punishable with penal servitude, which in no case is for less than five years, or imprisonment not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and whipping in a male.'" The remaining offences against the public peace are merely misdemeanors, and not felonies; as, 5. Maliciously destroying turnpike-gates and toll-bars. By the statute 7 Geo. III. c. 40, maliciously to pull down or otherwise destroy any turnpike-gate or fence, toll-house, or weighing-engine thereunto belonging, erected by authority of parliament, or to rescue any person in custody for the same, was made felony without benefit of clergy. But this statute has been repealed, and the offence is now a misdemeanor only, and punishable accordingly." The offence consists in the throwing down, levelling, or otherwise f 1 Geo. II. s. 2, c. 19; 8 Geo. II. c. 20; 4 Geo. III. c. 2; 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30. 24 and 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 33; 27 & 82 Vict. c. 47. h 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 34, re-enacting 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30, s. 14. 66 destroying, "in whole or in part, any turnpike-gate or toll-bar, or "any wall, chain, rail, post, bar, or other fence belonging to any "turnpike-gate or toll-bar, or set up or erected to prevent passengers passing by without paying any toll, directed to be paid by any act of parliament relating thereto, or any house, building, "or weighing-engine erected for the better collection, ascertain"ment, or security of any such toll." 66 6 6. Maliciously destroying or damaging any book, print, statue, bust, vase, or other article, kept for the purposes of art, science, or literature, or as an object of curiosity, in any museum, gallery, cabinet, library, or other repository to which the public has access, or any picture, statue, monument, or painted glass in any church or chapel, or other place of religious worship, or in any public building, college hall, street, square, churchyard, or public garden, or any statue or monument exposed to public view, is a misdemeanor; and the offender may be punished by imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding six months; and if a male under sixteen, may be whipped.'1 7. Affrays, from affraier, to terrify, are the fighting of two or more persons in some public place, to the terror of the queen's subjects; for, if the fighting be in private, it is no affray, but an assault. Affrays may be suppressed by any private person present, who is justifiable in endeavouring to part the combatants, whatever consequence may ensue. But more especially the constable, or other similar officer, however denominated, is bound to keep the peace; and to that purpose may apprehend the affrayers; and may either carry them before a justice, or imprison them by his own authority for a convenient space till the heat is over; and may then perhaps also make them find sureties for the peace. The punishment of common affrays is by fine and imprisonment: the measure of which must be regulated by the circumstances of the case for, where there is any material aggravation, the punishment proportionably increases. As where two persons coolly and deliberately engage in a duel: this being attended with an apparent intention and danger of murder, and being a high contempt of the See the statute 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 39, re-enacting and extending the provisions of the statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 44; which had been previously extended to public statues within the metropolitan police district by 17 & 18 Vict. c. 33. 1 Hawk. P. C. 134. k Ibid. 136. |