ment, with or without hard labour, not exceeding two years (x). IX. Kidnapping and child stealing. The forcible [stealing away of a man, woman or child from their own country, and sending them into another, was capital by the Jewish (y)] and also by the civil law (z). [This is unquestionably a very heinous crime, as it robs the sovereign of his subjects, banishes a man from his country, and may, in its consequences, be productive of the most cruel and disagreeable hardships; and therefore the common law of England punished it with fine and imprisonment (a).] But with respect to the stealing of children, our modern law is reasonably much more severe; it being provided by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 56, that whosoever shall unlawfully, either by force or fraud, lead or take away, or decoy or entice away, or detain any child under the age of fourteen years (b), with intent to deprive any parent, guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of such child, of its possession, or with intent to steal any article on its person;-or shall, with any such intent as aforesaid, receive or harbour such child, knowing the same to have been so stolen or enticed;-shall be guilty of felony and he is made liable to penal servitude for not more than seven or less than three years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not more than two (x) It is to be noticed that by 22 & 23 Vict. c. 17, no indictment shall be preferred to, or any found by, the grand jury charging an indecent assault, without security for the due prosecution of the charge, unless the indictment be directed by a judge, &c. (y) Exod. xxi. 16. (2) Ff. 48, 15, 1. In the civil law the offence of spiriting away and VOL. IV. :: stealing men and children was called plagium, and the offenders plagiarii. (Ib.) (a) Raym. 474; 2 Show. 221; Skin. 47; 4 Bl. Com. 219. (b) In the analogous provision contained in 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 21 (now repealed), the age was fixed at ten years. As to the abduction of an unmarried girl under the age of sixteen, vide sup. p. 169. N years; and also, if a male under the age of sixteen, to be whipped, if the court shall so think fit (c). X. The offence of abandoning young children has also been provided against by the same statute; and it is enacted, that, whosoever shall unlawfully abandon or expose any child under the age of two years, in such manner that its life shall be endangered, or its health permanently injured or likely to be so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable by penal servitude for three years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years (d). XI. Unlawfully endangering railway passengers. Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously put or throw on or across a railway any wood, stone or other thing; or displace any rail, sleeper or other thing, or turn any point of machinery belonging to a railway; or show, hide or remove any signal or light; or do any other thing, with intent to endanger the safety of any person travelling or being on such railway (e)—or shall throw against or into any railway engine or carriage any wood, stone or other thing, with intent to endanger the safety of any person being in or upon the same (f)-he shall, in any of the above cases, be guilty of felony: and he is liable to penal servitude for life, or not less than three years; or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years (g). And moreover, whosoever by any unlawful act, or wilful omission or neglect, shall endanger or cause to be endangered, or aids or assists in endangering (c) A person claiming a right to the possession of the child, or to be the father or its mother, is not within the above provision (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 56). (d) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 27. See R. v. Cooper, 1 Den. C. C. 459; R. v. Hogan, 2 Den. C. C. 277; R. v. Gray, 26 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 203. (e) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 32. In cases under this section, the offender, if a male under the age of sixteen, may be also sentenced to be whipped. (f) Sect. 33. (g) Sects. 32, 33. or in causing to be endangered, the safety of any person conveyed by or being on a railway, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable, with or without hard labour, to the extent of two years (h). XII. Setting spring-guns or engines to destroy or injure trespassers. It is enacted by the same Act, that whosoever shall set or place, or cause to be set or placed, any springgun, man-trap, or other engine calculated to destroy human life, or inflict grievous bodily harm, with the intent to destroy such life or inflict such harm, upon a trespasser or other person coming in contact therewith,-shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punishable with penal servitude for three years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour, to the extent of two years (i). There is, however, a proviso, that the said enactment shall not extend to gins or traps such as are usually set with the intent of destroying vermin; or to spring-guns, man-traps, or other engines, set in a dwelling-house for the protection thereof from sunset to sunrise (k). XIII. The remaining offences which fall under the subject of this chapter are, assaults, batteries, and false imprisonment. With regard to the nature of these offences in general, we have nothing further to add to what has been already observed in the preceding book of these Commentaries; [when we considered them as civil injuries, for which a satisfaction is given to the party (h) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 34. See R. v. Bradford, 29 L. J. (N. S.), M. C. 171. (i) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 31. Prior to 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 18, s. 1 (repealed by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 95), a man was not indictable for the mere act of placing such instruments on his premises with intent to destroy trespassers, at least if he gave sufficient notice to the public that they were so placed. (Elott v. Wilks, 3 B. & Ald. 312, 314.) As to the right of action by a person who sustains injury from an engine of this description, see Jordan v. Crump, 8 Mee. & W. 782; Wootton v. Dawkins, 2 C. B. (N. S.) 412. (k) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 31. [aggrieved (1). But taken in a public light, as a breach of the king's peace, an affront to his government, and a damage done to his subjects, they are also] misdemeanors; and if thereby actual bodily harm has been thereby occasioned, they are punishable by penal servitude for three years, or imprisonment to the extent of two years, with or without hard labour (m); or in cases of common assault, with imprisonment with or without hard labour, to the extent of one year (n). But they are punished in a much severer manner and degree, [when they are committed with any very atrocious design,—as in case of an assault with intent to murder (o),] or with an intent to commit an unnatural crime (p): for which last intentional assault, an indictment is more usual than for the absolute perpetration of the fact itself, on account of the difficulty of proof (q). [When, however, both parties are consenting to an unnatural attempt, it is usual not to charge any assault, but that one of them laid hands on the other with intent to commit, and that the other permitted the same with intent to suffer the commission of, the abominable crime before mentioned.] There are also many other species of aggravated assaults for the punishment of which provision is expressly made by Act of Parliament (r). Thus an assault on a magistrate, (m) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 47. "hard labour" could not be inflicted (o) The extreme term of penal servitude may, in such case, be for life. Vide sup. p. 162. (p) Vide sup. pp. 176, 177. (q) Vide sup. p. 177, n. (x). (r) See also the following provisions:-6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 50, s. 4, as to assaulting or resisting a metropolitan police patrol: 5 & 6 Vict. c. 29, s. 21, as to assaults by con victs on the officers of Pentonville Prison: 6 & 7 Vict. c. 26, s. 19, as to assaults by convicts on the officers of the Millbank Prison: 13 & 14 Vict. c. 101, s. 9, as to assaults on workhouse or relieving officers: 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 206, as to masters of British ships wrongfully forcing a seaman or apprentice ashore, or leaving him behind, &c.: 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 39, as to assaults with intent to obstruct the sale or free passage of grain: Ibid. s. 40, as to assaults on seamen and others, with intent to prevent them from working at their trades. or any other person lawfully authorized, in the exercise of his duty in preserving wreck or goods cast on shore, is a misdemeanor punishable with penal servitude to the extent of seven years, or imprisonment to the extent of two years, at the discretion of the court (q). While to obstruct, assault or arrest on civil process a clergyman while in the discharge of his duties (r); or to assault any person with intent to commit felony; or any peace officer in the due execution of his duty, or any person acting in his aid, or with intent to resist or prevent a lawful apprehension or detainer (s); or to assault any person in pursuance of any unlawful combination or conspiracy to raise the rate of wages, or in respect of any trade, business or manufacture (t),-are all misdemeanors, punishable by two years' imprisonment, with or without hard labour. And whosoever shall be convicted of any indecent assault upon a female, is liable to imprisonment to the same extent (u). We may observe that many common assaults may be, and continually are, disposed of by the justices of the peace sitting at petty sessions, in the exercise of their summary jurisdiction, and not by way of indictment; and that, in such cases, the punishment consists in a fine not exceeding £5, or imprisonment (with or without hard labour) to the extent of two months (v); and, in certain cases, even some species of aggravated assaults may be heard and determined by the justices. But, for further information hereon, we must refer the reader to the chapter on Summary Convictions, in a subsequent part of the work (x). (9) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s, 37. (r) Sect. 36. (s) Sect. 38. (t) Sect. 41. (u) Sect. 52. As to security being required for the due prosecution of (x) Vide post, chap. xv. |