and chattels of the aforesaid E. F. lately before feloniously stolen, taken, and carried away by certain ill-disposed persons, to the said jurors unknown, against the form of the statute, &c. and against the peace, &c. (k). (k) By stat. 3 Will. & M. ch. 9. s. 4. buyers and receivers of stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, are to be deemed accessories after the fact, and suffer as such. By 1 Ann. stat. 2. c. 9. s. 2. whosoever shall buy or receive stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, may be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, and punished by fine and imprisonment, though the principal felon be not convicted. And this will exempt them from being punished as accessories, if the principal shall afterwards be convicted. if By stat. 5 Ann. c. 31. s. 5. any person shall receive or buy any goods or chattels, that shall be feloniously taken or stolen from any other person, knowing the same to be stolen, or shall receive, harbour, or conceal, any burglars, felons, or thieves, knowing them to be so, he shall be taken as accessory to the said felony or felonies, and being legally convicted, &c. shall suffer death as a felon. And by sec. 6. if any such principal felon cannot be taken so as to be prosecuted or couvicted for any such offence, yet, nevertheless, it shall and may be lawful to prosecute and punish every such person buying or receiving any goods stolen by such principal felon, knowing the same to be stolen, as for a misdemeanor, to be punished by fine and imprisonment, or other such corporal punishment as the court shall think fit, although the principal felon be not before convicted of the said felony, which shall exempt the offender from being punished as accessory, if such principal felon be afterwards taken and convicted. By stat. 4 Geo. 1. c. 11. receivers of stolen goods may be transported for fourteen years; but they must pray the benefit of the statute, East. P. C. 744. and the felony must be such as admits of accessories at common law, Fost. 73. East. P. C. 744. but this has been supplied by the stat. 22 G. 3. c. 58. cited below. By stat. 4 Geo. 2. c. 32. to steal, rip, cut, or break, with intent to steal any lead or iron bar, iron grate, iron palisado, or iron rail whatsoever, fixed to any dwelling-house, out-house, coach-house, stable, or other building, used or occupied with such dwelling-house, or fixed in any garden, orchard, courtyard, fence, or outlet, belonging to any dwelling-house or other building, is felony and so it is in the aiders, abettors, and assisters, and such as shall buy or receive such lead or iron, knowing the same to be stolen. Principals to be transported. 120. Indictment of felony for receiving money to help a person to stolen goods, and not apprehending the felon. That on, &c. at, &c. a certain person, to the jurors un for seven years. Accessories to suffer the like punishment. By stat. 29 Geo. 2. c. 30. s. 1. every person who shall buy or receive any lead, iron, copper, brass, bell-metal, or solder, knowing the same to he stolen, or unlawfully come by, or shall privately buy or receive any stolen lead, &c. by suffering any door, window, or shutter to be left open or unfastened, between sun-setting and sun-rising, for that purpose, or shall buy or receive the same, or any of them, at any time, in any clandestine manner, shall be transported for fourteen years, although the principal felon has not been convicted of stealing the same. By 21 Geo. 3. c. 69. every person who shall buy or receive any pewter pot or other vessel, or any pewter in any form or shape whatsoever, knowing the same to be stolen or unlawfully come by, &c. shall, upon conviction, be transported as a felon for seven years. And by stat. 10 G. 3. c. 48. every person who shall buy or receive any stolen jewel or jewels, or any stolen gold or silver plate, watch or watches, knowing the same to have been stolen, shall, in all cases where such jewel or jewels, or gold or silver plate, shall have been feloniously stolen, accompanied with a burglary actually committed in stealing the same, or shall have been feloniously taken by a robbery on the highway, be triable as well before conviction of the principal felon, whether he be in or out of custody, as after his conviction; and if such person so buying or receiving shall be convicted thereof, he shall be guilty of felony, and transported for fourteen years. By the stat. 21 G. 3. c. 69. persons receiving any pewter, knowing, &c. although the principal felon has not been convicted, shall, upon conviction, be transported in like manner as other felous are directed to be transported, for seven years, or imprisoned and kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three years, nor less than one year; and within that time, if the court shall think fit, may be once or oftener, but not more than three times, publicly whipped. And by 22 Geo. 3. c. 58. s. 1. it is enacted, that from and after the 1st day of August, 1782, in all cases whatsoever, where any goods or chattels, (except lead, iron, copper, brass, bell-metal, and solder,) shall have been feloniously taken or stolen, whether the offence of the person or persons so taking or stealing the same, shall amount to grand larciny, or some greater known, a gold watch, of the value of twenty pounds, of the goods and chattels of one J. L. from the person of him the said J. L. with force and arms, feloniously did steal, take, and carry away. And that R. D. late of, &c. labourer, afterwards, to wit, on, &c. at, &c. (notwithstanding he the said R. D. did not apprehend, and cause to be apprehended, the said felon who stole the said watch as aforesaid, and cause the said felon to be brought to his trial for the same, and give evidence against him,) he the said R. D. with force and arms, under pretence and upon account of helping the said J. L. to his said watch, so feloniously stolen as aforesaid, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, and feloniously take, of and from the said J. L. the sum of seven pounds, of lawful money of Great Britain, and did then and there deliver the same watch, so as aforesaid feloniously stolen, to him the said J. L. against the form of the statute, &c. and against the peace, &c. (1). offence, or to petit larciny only, (except where the person or persons actually committing the felony shall have been already convicted of grand larciny, or of some greater of fence), every person who shall buy or receive any such goods and chattels, knowing the same to have been so taken or stolen, shall be held and deemed guilty of, and may be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, or whipping, as the court of quarter-sessions, who are hereby empowered to try such offender, or as any other court before which he, she, or they shall be tried, shall think fit to inflict, although the principal felon or felons be not before convicted of the said felony, and whether he, she, or they, is or are amenable to jus tice or not, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstand ing; and in cases where the felony actually committed shall amount to grand larciny, or to some greater offence, and where the person or persons actually committing such felony shall not be before convicted, such offender or offenders shall be exempted from being punished as accessory or accessories, if such principal felon or felous shall be afterwards convicted. (1) By stat. 4 Geo. 1. c. 11. s. 4. it is enacted, that whereever any person taketh money or reward, directly or indirectly, under pretence or upon account of helping any person or persons to any stolen goods or chattels, every such person, so taking money or reward as aforesaid, (unless such person doth apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, such felon who stole the same, and cause such felon to be brought to his trial FRAUDS. 121. Indictment for cheating, at common law (a), by means of false cards. That A. B. &c. being persons of dishonest conversa for the same, and give evidence against him,) shall be guilty of felony, and suffer the pains and penalties of felony, according to the nature of the felony committed in stealing such goods, and in such and the same manner as if such of fender had himself stolen such goods and chattels, in the manner and with such circumstances as the same were stolen. Jonathan Wild was tried on the above-recited clause, convicted, and executed, 10 G. 1. (a) Where a fraud is practised upon a private person, it seems that an indictment is not maintainable at common law on the ground of that fraud, unless it be effected by means which either do or may prejudice the public at large, for otherwise, since the detriment is confined to the individual imposed upon, it may be recompensed by his resorting to an action for damages. Wheatley's case, 2 Burr. 1127. the defendant was charged with selling and delivering 16 gallons of amber for and as 18 gallons of that liquor, and the court were clearly of opinion that the offence was not indictable, but was only a civil injury, for which an action lay. In So the detaining part of a quantity of wheat sent to the defendant's common grist mill to be ground, is not indictable, no actual force being laid, nor any unreasonable toll being charged. Channell's case, Str. 793. East. P. C. 818. So the selling a sack of corn in the market as containing a Winchester bushel, when in fact it does not contain so much, is not indictable, for it amounts to no more than the telling a bare naked lie. Pinkney's case, 1 Sess. Cas. 198. East. P. C. 818. see R. v. Munoz, 2 Str. 1127. 7 Mod. 815. So where one obtains money from another under pretence that he is authorised by a third person. Jones's case, Salk. 379. R. v. Gibbs, 1 East. R. 185. So where one obtained goods from a tradesman under pretence of being sent by a customer. Bryan's case, 2 Str. 866. In Lara's case, 6 T. R. 565. the defendant obtained lottery tickets by pretending to purchase them, and by delivering to the owner an order for money purporting to be a draft upon the defendant's banker, knowing that he had no authority to draw upon that banker, and that the draft would not be paid; yet judgment was arrested, on the ground that the banker's check entitled the defendant to no more credit than his own tion, and common gamblers and deceivers, with false dice and cards, on, &c. at, &c. contriving, practising, and bare assertion, and that no false token was used to accomplish the deceit; and the same was holden in Wilders's case, cited 2 Burr. 1128, where the defendant was indicted for sending to a publican, vessels of ale falsely marked, as containing such a quantity. But this in the case of the King v. Wheatly, was considered to be a strong case. But where, in respect of the means used, the injury is not confined to the individual, but is extended, or is likely to be extended, indefinitely, to the prejudice of the community, the offence becomes indictable. And, therefore, frauds have been holden indictable when effected by means of false tokens, forgeries, or conspiracies; and false tokens seem to include all instruments, documents, or signs, the use of which manifest an intention to impose upon the public generally, which are calculated to deceive all indifferently, and against which ordinary circumspection and prudence do not afford a sufficient protection; and, therefore, an indictment lies for selling by false weights or measures, Sid.409. Pinkney's case, East. P. C. 818. and the winning by means of false cards or dice, 2 Roll. Ab.78. Cro. J. 497. 2. Roll. R. 107. East. P. C. 820, so the selling of precious metals by a goldsmith under a false representation of their purity and quality, seems to be indictable as a fraud affecting the public in general, and not confined to the individual. Trem. P. C. 105. 106. (But see R. v. Bower, Cowp. 323. where it was held, that such a cheat committed by a pawnbroker, was not indictable. So where the fraud is effected by means of forgery, as where cloth was sold with the alneager's seal counterfeited_upon it. Edwards's case, Trem. P. C. 103. So where the defendant sold cloth with the general seal of the trade counterfeited upon it. Worrell's case, Trem. P. C. 106. So in Gower's case, Say. 206, where the defendant was charged with obtaining goods by the production of several forged and counterfeited letters, which he falsely affirmed were letters from Spain, containing commissions for jewels, watches, and other goods, to a large amount. So in Hales's case, 9 St. Tr. 75. where the defendant was indicted for having obtained 450l. by a false token, viz. a promissory note with a counterfeit indorsement thereon, see also Ward's case, 2 Str. 749. R. v. Bryan, 2 Str. 866. Gibbs's case, 1 East. 173. So where the fraud is effected in pursuance of a conspiracy, as in the case of Skirret and others, Sid. 312. who were indicted for causing an illiterate person to execute a deed to his prejudice, by reading it over to him in words different from those in which it was written, see also R. v. Parris and others, 1 Sid. 431. R. y. Breerton and |