set forth to be-to institute, undertake, or carry on, under the superintendence of the Attorney-General, criminal proceedings (whether in the Court for Crown Cases Reserved, before sessions of oyer and terminer or of the peace, before magistrates or otherwise), and to give such advice and assistance to chief officers of police, clerks to justices, and other persons, whether officers or not, concerned in any criminal proceeding, respecting the conduct of that proceeding, as may be for the time being prescribed under the Act, or may be directed in a special case by the Attorney-General (j). The regulations (which are to be made from time to time by the Attorney-General, and after being laid before Parliament to be approved by the Lord Chancellor and a Secretary of State) (k) are to provide for the Director of Public Prosecutions taking action in cases which appear to be of importance or difficulty, or in which special circumstances, or the refusal or failure of a person to proceed with a prosecution, appear to render the action of such Director necessary to secure the due prosecution of an offender (7.) The Act also provides for the transmission to the Director of Public Prosecutions of all recognizances, inquisitions, depositions, &c., whenever he undertakes any criminal proceeding, or when a prosecution which has been instituted is not proceeded with within a reasonable time (m). When a criminal proceeding is undertaken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, it is not necessary for any person to be bound over to prosecute, and any person who has been bound over is released from his obligation (n). (j) 42 & 43 Vict. c. 22, s. 2. CHAPTER VI. PLACE OF TRIAL. county, &c., in crime was committed. We have already intimated (o) that the venue in the Place of trial indictment, or place from which the grand jury who usually the have found the bill have come, is also, in regular course, which the the place where the trial is had. It is now necessary to ascertain what that place is. The general common law rule is, that the venue should be the jurisdiction within which the offence is committed; whether such jurisdiction be a county, a division of a county, a district including more than a county, as in the case of the Central Criminal Court, or a borough. To the general rule many exceptions have been made Exceptions. by statute; and these we now proceed to enumerate and classify: i. The venue may be laid in any county (p) for the In any county. following offences: Extortion (q). Resisting or assaulting officers of the excise (r). Offences against the revenue of the customs (s). Endeavouring to seduce soldiers or sailors from their duty, or inciting them to mutiny (t). ii. The venue may be laid in the county where the In county of (0) v. p. 326. crime, or where defendant is appre (p) By "county" in this chapter must be understood county, division of hended or in county, district, or borough, as the case may be. (q) v. 31 Eliz. c. 5, s. 4. (r) 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 53, s. 43. (s) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, s. 304. (t) 37 Geo. 3, c. 70, s. 2; 57 Geo. 3, c. 7. . custody. In county of crime or adjoining county. offence was committed, or where the offender is apprehended, or is in custody: -- Forgery, or uttering forged notes (u). Bigamy (the second marriage being the offence) (v). Larceny or embezzlement by persons in the public service, or the police (w). Offences relating to the Post Office: (if committed upon a mail, or person conveying letters, or in respect of a post-letter, chattel, money, &c., sent by post, the venue may be either as above, or any county through any part of which the mail, person, letter, chattel, &c., has passed in due course of conveyance by post) (a). iii. Either where the offence was committed, or in any adjoining county: Plundering a wrecked ship (y). Where the offence was committed within the county of a city or town corporate (except London, Westminster, or Southwark), eg., Berwick, Newcastle, Bristol, Chester, Exeter, and Hull, it may be tried in the next adjoining county (z). Where a felony or misdemeanor is committed on the boundary of two or more counties, or within five hundred yards of the boundary, or is begun in one county and completed in another, the venue may be laid in either county (a). (u) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 41. (x) 7 Wm. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 36, s. 37. (y) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 64. (2) 38 Geo. 3, c. 52; 51 Geo. 3, c. 100; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 55, ss. 19, 21, 23, 24; c. 100, s. 23. (a) 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 12. iv. Where the offender is or is brought County in which defen Offences against the customs on the high seas, the dant is or is offender coming to land (b). Forcing on shore, or leaving behind in any place out of the Queen's dominions any of the crew (c). brought. v. In either county, where the offence was committed Where the partly in one, partly in another: offence was committed partly in one Uttering counterfeit coin in one county and within county, partly ten days uttering in another; or two persons acting in in another. concert in two or more counties (d). Larceny, simple or compound, is committed in one county and the thief carries the goods into another; he may be indicted for the simple or compound larceny in the county where he committed it; or as for simple larceny in the county into which, or in any of the counties through which, he carried the goods (e). Conspiracy, &c., where acts are done in furtherance of the design in different counties. Libels, threatening letters, challenges, &c., either in the county from which sent, or where received. And, generally, where the offence is begun in one county and completed in another, the venue may be laid in either county (f). mitted on vi. In felonies or misdemeanors committed upon any Offences comperson, or on, or in respect of any property, in or upon journeys by any coach, cart, or other carriage employed in any land or water. journey, or any vessel employed in river, canal, or inland navigation, the venue may be laid in any county (b) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, s, 275. (c) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 207, 520. (d) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 99, s. 28. (e) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 114; v. Arch. 36. Receivers, where tried. Accessories, where tried. Blow, &c., followed by death, Returning from transportation, &c. through which the coach, or through which or between which the vessel passed in the journey (g). vii. Receivers of stolen property whether charged as accessories after the fact, or with a substantive felony, or with a misdemeanor only, may be tried in the county in which they have or had the property in their possession, or in which the principal may be tried (h). viii. In the case of felonies wholly committed within England or Ireland, accessories before the fact (who, however, may now be tried in all respects as if principal felons (i)), and accessories after the fact, may be tried (a) by any court which has jurisdiction to try the principal; or (b) in any county in which the act by reason of which such person is an accessory has been committed. In other cases (i.e., when not wholly committed within England or Ireland), by any court having jurisdiction to try the principal felony or any felonies committed in any county in which the accessory is apprehended or in custody (j). ix. Where any person being feloniously striken, poisoned, or otherwise hurt upon the sea, or at any place out of England and Ireland, dies in England or Ireland, or vice versa, the offence may be dealt with in any county in England or Ireland in which the death, or the stroke, poisoning, or hurt happened (k). x. In indictments for being at large before the expiration of a sentence of transportation or penal servitude, the venue may be laid either in the county where the defendant is apprehended, or in that from which he was ordered to be transported, &c. (1). |