Description of Documents and Money in an Indictment · Venue

in same.

The 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, enacts by sec. 5, that in any indictment for forging, uttering, (q) stealing, embezzling, destroying, or concealing, or for obtaining by false pretences, any instrument, it shall be sufficient to describe such instrument by any name or designation by which the same may be usually known, or by the purport thereof, without setting out any copy or fac-simile thereof, or otherwise. describing the same or the value thereof.

Sec. 7. In all other cases wherever it shall be necessary to make any averment in any indictment as to any instrument, whether the same consists wholly or in part of writing, print, or figures, it shall be sufficient to describe such instrument by any name or designation by which the same may be usually known, or by the purport thereof, without setting out any copy or fac-simile of the whole or any part thereof.'

Sec. 18. In every indictment in which it shall be necessary to make any averment as to any money or any note of the Bank of England or any other bank, it shall be sufficient to describe such money or banknote simply as money, without specifying any particular coin or bank-note; and such allegation, so far as regards the description of the property, shall be sustained by proof of any amount of coin or of any bank-note, although the particular species of coin of which such amount was composed, or the particular nature of the bank-note, shall not be proved, and in cases of embezzlement and obtaining money or bank-notes by false pretences, by proof that the offender embezzled or obtained any piece of coin or any bank-note, or any portion of the value thereof, although such piece of coin or banknote may have been delivered to him in order that some part of the value thereof should be returned to the party delivering the same, or to any other person, and such part shall have been returned accordingly.'

Sec. 23, 'It shall not be necessary to state any venue in the body of any indictment, but the county, city, or other jurisdiction named in the margin thereof shall be taken to be the venue for all the facts stated in the body of such indictment; provided that in cases where local description is or hereafter shall be required, such local description shall be given in the body of the indictment; and provided also, that where an indictment for an offence committed in the county of any city or town corporate shall be preferred at the assizes. of the adjoining county, such county of the city or town shall be deemed the venue, and may either be stated in the margin of the indictment, with or without the name of the county in which the offender is to be tried, or be stated in the body of the indictment by way of venue.' (r)

(q) So much of this sec. as relates to forging or uttering any instrument is repealed by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 95. See 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, ss. 42, 43, vol. ii.

(r) Before this enactment, a count for

misdemeanor containing no statement of venue, either by reference or otherwise, was bad at common law, after verdict, though a venue were stated in the margin in the usual way; for the statement in the margin only

Sec. 30. In the construction of this Act the word "indictment shall be understood to include "information," "inquisition," and "presentment," as well as indictment, and also any "plea," "replication," or other pleading, and any nisi prius record; and the terms "finding of the indictment" shall be understood to include "the taking of an inquisition," "the exhibiting of an information," and "the making a presentment;" and wherever in this Act, in describing or referring to any person or party, matter or thing, any word importing the singular number or masculine gender is used, the same shall be understood to include and shall be applied to several persons and parties as well as one person or party, and females as well as males, and bodies corporate as well as individuals, and several matters and things as well as one matter or thing; and the word "property" shall be understood to include goods, chattels, money, valuable securities, and every other matter or thing, whether real or personal, upon or with respect to which any offence may be committed.'

Stating Names of Partners and Ownership of Property in
Indictments.

Property of Partners. The 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 14, enacts, 'that in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor wherein it shall be requisite to state the ownership of any property whatsoever, whether real or personal, which shall belong to or be in the possession of more than one person, whether such persons be partners in trade, joint-tenants, parceners, or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to name one of such persons, and to state such property to belong to the person so named, and another or others, as the case may be, and whenever, in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor, it shall be necessary to mention, for any purpose whatsoever, any partners, joint-tenants, parceners, or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to describe them in the manner aforesaid; and this provision shall be construed to extend to all joint stock companies and trustees.' (8)

Where a Bible and hymn book had been given to a society of Wesleyans, at whose expense they had been bound, and they were laid in an indictment as the property of B. ' and others,' B. being both a trustee and a member of the society, it was held that the property was rightly laid. (t) So where the property in ore stolen from a mine was stated to be in S. Davey and others,' who were proved to be the adventurers in the mine, and it was objected that they were not partners, joint-tenant, or tenants in common, within the 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 14, the objection was overruled. (u)

R. v.

implied that the indictment was found by a grand jury, of the county named. O'Connor, 5 Q. B. 16. But since this section such a count is good.

(s) The Irish Act, 9 Geo. 4, c. 54, s. 28, is similar to this section.

(t) R. v. Boulton, 5 C. & P. 537. Parke, J., S. C., MS. C. S. G.

(u) R. v. Webb, R. & M. C. C. R. 431, per Patteson, J., on the trial; but the point was mentioned to the judges afterwards, who gave no opinion upon it, deciding the case on another ground. See the case, vol. ii.

If an indictment allege property to belong to A. B. and others, and it appears that A. B. has only one partner, it is a variance. (v)

An indictment for attempting to obtain one thousand yards of silk by false pretences, alleged that the pretences were made to J. Baggally and others; by means whereof the prisoner did attempt to obtain from the said J. Baggally and others the silk in question, the property of the said J. Baggally and others, with intent to cheat the said J. Baggally and others of the same. J. Baggally and others were partners in trade, and the pretences were made to J. Baggally, but none of the partners were present when the pretences were made, nor did the pretences ever reach the ears of any of them. It was objected that there was a variance, as the evidence did not shew that the pretences were made to J. Baggally and others; but the objection was overruled, and, upon a case reserved, it was held the conviction was right. (w)

Property belonging to counties. The 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 15, with respect to the property of counties, ridings, and divisions, enacts, that in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor committed in, upon, or with respect to any bridge, court, gaol, house of correction, infirmary, asylum, or other building erected or maintained, in whole or in part, at the expense of any county, riding, or division, or on or with respect to any goods or chattels whatsoever, provided for or at the expense of any county, riding, or division, to be used for making, altering, or repairing any bridge, or any highway at the ends thereof, or any court, or other such building as aforesaid, or to be used in or with any such court, or other building, it shall be sufficient to state any such property, real or personal, to belong to the inhabitants of such county, riding, or division; and it shall not be necessary to specify the names of any such inhabitants.'

On an indictment for stealing brass, the property of the inhabitants of the county of Gloucester, it appeared that some alterations had been made in the ball and concert room which formed part of the Shire Hall, and a brass chandelier, which hung from the roof of the room, was taken down, and laid aside in a room in the Shire Hall. The prisoner afterwards sold this chandelier as old brass. It was objected that the ball room was not within the term building in the preceding section, and that the chandelier was not a thing used in or with such building at the time when it was stolen; but it was held that the room was clearly a building within the clause, and that the chandelier was also clearly within it. (x)

Guardians of poor. -The 5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 69, an Act to facilitate the conveyance of workhouses and other property of parishes and unions, by sec. 7 provides that the guardians of the poor of every union already formed, or which hereafter shall be formed, by virtue

(v) Hampton's case, Greenw. Coll. St. 143, Denman, Com. Serj. See Wright's case, 1 Lewin, 268, Bayley, J. R. v. Kealey, 2 Den. 68; 20 L. J. M. C. 57.

(w) R. v. Kealey, 2 Den. C. C. 68.

(x) R. v. Winbow, 5 Cox, C. C. 346. The room is parcel of the entire building, which includes the two Courts, Grand Jury room, Counsel room, &c., and I have tried

prisoners in it. C. S. G. The prisoner was also held to be merely the servant of the inhabitants of the county. Quare whether this clause is anything more than declaratory of the common law, and whether an indictment is not sufficient in all cases which alleges any property to belong to the inhabitants of a county?

) in

of the aforesaid Act, passed in the fourth and fifth years of his present Majesty, and of every parish placed under the control of a board of guardians by virtue of the said Act, shall respectively, from the day of their first meeting as a board, become, or be deemed to have become, and they and their successors in office shall for ever continue to be, for all the purposes of this Act, a corporation, by the name of the guardians of the poor of the union, (or of the parish of the county of ; and as such corporation the said guardians are hereby empowered to accept, take and hold, for the benefit of such. union or parish, any buildings, lands, or hereditaments, goods, effects, or other property, and may use a common seal; and they are further empowered by that name to bring actions, to prefer indictments, and to sue and be sued, and to take or resist all other proceedings for or in relation to any such property, or any bonds, contracts, securities, or instruments, given or to be given to them in virtue of their office; and in every such action and indictment relating to any such property, it shall be sufficient to lay or state the property to be that of the guardians of the union, or of the parish of ; and in case of any addition to or separation of any parishes from any such union, under the authority of the said Act, passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of his present Majesty, the board of guardians for the time being shall (notwithstanding such alteration) have and enjoy the same corporate existence, property and privileges, as the board of guardians of the original union would have had and enjoyed had it remained unaltered.' (y)

By the 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 16, 'in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor committed upon or with respect to any workhouse, or poor-house, or on or with respect to any goods or chattels whatsoever, provided for the use of the poor of any parish or parishes, township or townships, hamlet or hamlets, place or places, or to be used in any workhouse or poor-house, in or belonging to the same, or by the master or mistress of such workhouse or poor-house, or by any workmen or servants employed therein, it shall be sufficient. to state any such property to belong to the overseers of the poor (2) for the time being of such parish or parishes, township or townships, hamlet or hamlets, place or places, and it shall not be necessary to specify the names of all or any of such overseers; (a) and in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor committed

(y) See vol. ii.: 'Post Office.' See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 57, s. 16.

(z) As to the description in an indictment against a collector or assistant overseer for embezzlement, &c., see 12 & 13 Vict. c. 103, s. 15, vol. ii.: Embezzlement.'

(a) The 55 Geo. 3, c. 137, s. 1, vests goods, furniture, apparel, &c., provided for the use of the poor in the overseers of the parish, &c., for the time being, and their successors, and enacts that in any indictment in respect of such goods, &c., the said goods, &c., shall be laid or described to be the property of the overseers of the poor for the time being of such parish, &c., without stating or specifying their names. It was held that an indictment for stealing goods

under this statute might state them to be the goods of the overseers of the poor for the time being of the parish of A., and that this sufficiently imported that they belonged at the time of the theft to the persons who were then the overseers. Thus, where the indictment stated that the prisoner, 6lbs. weight of pork of the goods and chattels of the overseers of the poor for the time being of the parish of K., feloniously did steal, &c., and a case was reserved on the question whether this was properly laid, the judges were of opinion that it sufficiently imported that the goods at the time of the theft were the property of the then overseers, and therefore held the conviction right. R. v. Went, MS. Bayley, J., and R. & R. 359.

on or with respect to any materials, tools, or implements provided for making, altering, or repairing any highway within any parish, township, hamlet or place, otherwise than by the trustees or commissioners of any turnpike road, it shall be sufficient to aver that any such things are the property of the surveyor or surveyors of the highways for the time being of such parish, township, hamlet or place, and it shall not be necessary to specify the name or names of any such surveyor or surveyors.

Turnpike trustees. Sec. 17, with respect to the property under turnpike trusts, enacts that in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor committed on or with respect to any house, building, gate, machine, lamp, board, stone, post, fence, or other thing erected or provided in pursuance of any Act of Parliament for making any turnpike road, or any of the conveniences or appurtenances thereunto respectively belonging, or any materials, tools, or implements provided for making, altering, or repairing any such road, it shall be sufficient to state any such property to belong to the trustees or commissioners of such road, and it shall not be necessary to specify the names of any of such trustees or commissioners.' (b) Sec. 18, with respect to property under commissioners of sewers, enacts 'that in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanor committed on or with respect to any sewer or other matter within or under the view, cognizance. or management of any commissioners of sewers, it shall be sufficient to state any such property to belong to the commissioners of sewers within or under whose view, cognizance, or management, any such things shall be, and it shall not be necessary to specify the names of any of such commissioners.'

Commissioners of Sewers.

Joint-stock banks. — The 7 Geo. 4, c. 46, an Act for the better regulating of copartnerships of certain bankers in England, provides in what cases, and under what circumstances, copartnerships of more than six persons may carry on business in England; and by sec. 9, 'all indictments, informations, and prosecutions, by or on behalf of such copartnership, for any stealing or embezzlement of any money, goods, effects, bills, notes, securities, or other property of or belonging to such copartnership, or for any fraud, forgery, crime or offence committed against or with intent to injure or defraud such copartnership, shall and lawfully may be had, preferred, and carried on in the name of any one of the public officers, nominated as aforesaid, for the time being of such copartnership, and that in all indictments and informations to be had or preferred by or on behalf of such copartnership against any person or persons whomsoever, notwithstanding such person or persons may happen to be a member or members of such copartnership, it shall be lawful and sufficient to state the money, goods, effects, bills, notes, securities, or other property of such copartnership, to be the money, goods, effects, bills, notes, securities, or other property of any one of the public officers, nominated as aforesaid, for the time being of such copartnership, and that any forgery, fraud, crime, or other offence committed against, or with intent to injure or

(b) See 3 Geo. 4, c. 126, s. 60, by which the property in certain things is vested in

the trustees or commissioners of a turnpike road.