the prison for trial before it: 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 38, s. 3; 14 & 15 Vict. c 55, s. 19; and 28 & 29 Vict. c. 123, s. 62.

Some judges of assize have in recent years considered it their duty to deliver the gaols of the prisoners whom they found there, although the offences for which such prisoners had been committed were within the jurisdiction of quarter sessions, and although the prosecutor and his witnesses had been bound over to prosecute and give evidence at quarter sessions. The English statutes and decisions on this question are collected in R. v. Clifford [1895] 16 New South Wales Rep. Law, 12. By the Quarter Sessions Act, 1891 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 6), courts of quarter sessions have power to fix or alter the time for holding the then next quarter sessions, so as to prevent their clashing with the next assizes. The dates of borough quarter sessions are fixed by the recorder subject to the directions of the Home Secretary (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 165): see Archbold, Q. S. (5th ed.) 72, 75.

The Assizes Relief Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 12), provides (s. 1) that whenever any person has been committed to gaol or admitted to bail by a justice or justices under s. 22 or s. 25 of 11 & 12 Vict c. 42, charged with an indictable offence triable at quarter sessions, the persons bound over to prosecute and give evidence shall be bound over to attend for that purpose at the next practicable court of quarter sessions having jurisdiction to try such person for such offence, unless such justice or justices for special reasons think fit otherwise to direct; and where the persons are so bound over, the person charged shall be tried at the said court of quarter sessions, and a court of oyer and terminer or general gaol delivery shall not be required to deliver such person from gaol, unless the High Court of Justice shall by order direct that such person shall be indicted and tried at a court of oyer and terminer or general gaol delivery having jurisdiction to try him for such offence. Sub-s. 2 of s. 1, prescribes the procedure where the High Court has made the order mentioned in subs. 1. S. 3 prescribes the course of procedure where a prisoner having been committed to gaol on a charge for an indictable offence, and persons having been bound over to prosecute and give evidence at quarter sessions, the prisoner is not tried at those sessions.

2. Jurisdiction.]—The present form of the Commission of the Peace (prescribed by Order in Council of Feb. 22, 1878, and printed in Statutory Rules and Orders Revised (ed. 1904), vol. 1, tit. "Clerk of the Crown"), authorizes the justices to inquire "of all and all manner of crimes and trespasses, and all and singular other offences of which the justices of our peace may or ought lawfully to inquire," except in cases of difficulty, which are to be transmitted to the assizes, "and to hear and determine all and singular the crimes, trespasses, and offences aforesaid according to the laws and statutes of our realm, as in the like case it has been accustomed or ought to be done." As to the jurisdiction of courts of quarter sessions under the commission of the peace, see Archbold, Q. S. (5th ed.) 269: Keen. v. R., 10 Q. B. 923: 2 Cox, 341. A court of county or borough quarter sessions has jurisdiction to try any indictable offence except those in the annexed list. This jurisdiction rests on the Quarter Sessions Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 33, s. 1) except in the cases in italics, which depend on the particular statutes specified :1. Treason, or misprision of treason;

2. Murder;

-

3. Capital felony, or any felony, except burglary (59 & 60 Vict. c. 57), which when committed by a person not previously convicted of felony, is punishable by penal servitude for life (20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, ss. 2, 6);

4. Offences against the King's title, prerogative, person, or government, or against either House of Parliament;

5. Offences subject to the penalties of præmunire ;

6. Blasphemy, and offences against religion;

7. Administering and taking unlawful oaths;

8. Perjury and subornation of perjury;

9. Making or suborning any other person to make a false oath, affirmation, or declaration, punishable as perjury or as a misdemeanor;

10. Forgery;

11. Offences against the False Personation Act, 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 36, s. 3);

12. Unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to crops of corn, grain, or pulse, or to any part of a wood, coppice, or plantation of trees, or to any heath, gorse, furze, or fern;

13. Offences against s. 9 of the Night Poaching Act, 1828 (9 G. 4, c. 69); 14. Bigamy and offences against the laws relating to marriage;

15. Abduction of women and girls, and indictable offences against the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 69, s. 17);

16. Endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child;

17. Composing, printing, or publishing blasphemous, seditious, or defamatory libels;

18. Bribery [except bribery of and by members, etc., of corporations, within 52 & 53 Vict. c. 69, s. 6];

19. Corrupt practices at parliamentary or municipal elections, including elections of county, district, and parish councils, and of boards of guardians (17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, s. 10; 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 53; 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, 88. 30, 35, & 36, sch.; 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, s. 75; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 48), or elections in the city of London (47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, s. 35; 50 & 51 Vict. c. xiii.); or of metropolitan borough councils (62 & 63 Viet c. 14);

20. Unlawful combinations and conspiracies, except conspiracies and combinations to commit any offence which the justices or recorder respectively have or has jurisdiction to try when committed by one person;

21. Stealing or fraudulently taking, or injuring or destroying, records or documents belonging to any court of law or equity, or relating to any proceeding therein;

22. Stealing, or fraudulently destroying or concealing, wills of testamentary papers, or any document or written instrument being or containing evidence of the title to any real estate, or any interest in lands, tenements, or hereditaments;

23. Misdemeanors against ss. 77-86 of the Larceny Act, 1861 (which relate to frauds by persons entrusted with powers of attorney, factors, agents, trustees, and directors and officers of public companies, etc.), 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 87;

24. Misdemeanors against the Larceny Act, 1901 (1 Ed. 7, c. 10: fraudulent conversion of property by persons entrusted therewith);

25. Offences against the Official Secrets Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 52, 8. 6 (3)).

Offences against the bankruptcy laws are now triable at quarter sessions: see 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, s. 20, and 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96 (Stat. Law Rev.), which repealed the provision to the contrary in 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38, s. 1.

The jurisdiction of quarter sessions to try a person for the common law misdemeanor of attempting to commit suicide, is not taken away by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, ss. 11-16, which render an attempt to commit murder a felony, punishable by penal servitude for life; for attempting to kill one's self is not an attempt to commit murder within the meaning of that

statute. R. v. Burgess, L. & C. 258; 32 L. J. (M. C.) 55. Where an indictment charged that the defendants conspired by divers false pretences to defraud the prosecutor of his money; and it was objected that the facts ought to have been set out, so as to show that the false pretences were within the jurisdiction of the sessions, by which the indictment had been tried, the court of Queen's Bench held that, after verdict it must be taken that the jury had found the defendants guilty on facts, proving a conspiracy to defraud by such false pretences as were cognizable by the sessions. Latham v. R., 5 B. & S. 635; 33 L. J. (M. C.) 197.

A court of quarter sessions cannot try an indictment against a corporation. See ante, p. 11; post, p. 130.

Courts of quarter sessions have power to transmit to the assizes for trial indictments found before them which they have no jurisdiction to try, or which from the nature of the charge should more properly be tried at assizes. The power arises under the commission of the peace, and is preserved by s. 5 of the Assizes Relief Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 12). It is specifically given as to quarter sessions within the Central Criminal Court district by 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 36, s. 19. These powers are distinct from the procedure by certiorari, post, p. 129.

Indictments found at the sessions and transmitted by the justices to the assizes must be tried at the assizes, although they be not moved by certiorari. R. v. Wetherell, R. & R. 331. An indictment was found at quarter sessions against the defendant, who was, upon a certificate of such finding, taken before a justice under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 3, and bound by recognizances to appear and plead at the assizes. The indictment was not transmitted to the assizes, but remained in the custody of the clerk of the peace. It was held that the transmission of the indictment to the assizes was in the discretion of the justices, and that the judge of assize had no power to order such transmission, and that the indictment having been found at sessions and not transmitted for trial at the assizes, it could not be tried at the assizes. Another indictment against the defendant for the same offence having however been found by the grand jury at the assizes, it was held, that the defendant being bound by the abovementioned recognizance, must be called upon it to plead to such second indictment. R. v. Wildman, 12 Cox, 354, Keating, J.

Change of place of trial.]-The King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice has jurisdiction to change the place of trial of any felony or misdemeanor, whenever it is necessary for the purpose of securing, so far as possible, a fair and impartial trial. R. v. Holden, 5 B. & Ad. 347, 354, Denman, L.C.J.: and see R. v. Boughton [1895] 2 Ir. Rep. 386. For this purpose a writ of certiorari must issue to remove the indictment into the King's Bench Division, unless the court or a judge think fit to direct the trial to be held at the Central Criminal Court, under 19 & 20 Vict. c. 16, post, p. 136. Indictments may be removed from the Crown Court of Assize without a certiorari, because the court is made part of the High Court by the Judicature Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, ss. 16, 29. R. v. Dudley, 14 Q. B. D. 273, 560; 64 L. J. (M. C.) 32. An order, however, for their removal is requisite, which is obtained in the same way, and is subject to the same conditions, certiorari. See Cr. Off. Rules, rr. 28-34, post.

SECT. 13.

CERTIORARI.

THE writ of certiorari is an original writ, usually issuing out of the King's Bench Division, when the crown would be certified of any record in any other court of record. Fitz. N. B. 245 a. ; 36 & 37. Vict. c. 66, s. 34. It may also, under 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 36, s. 16, be issued by the judges of the High Court who are in the commission of the Central Criminal Court, and by the recorder of the city of London, to remove from courts of quarter sessions having jurisdiction within the Central Criminal Court district, indictments found in such courts for offences cognizable by the Central Criminal Court under the Act; and may be issued under 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38, s. 2, by a judge of assize in respect of indictments found as taken before courts of quarter sessions (for any county or borough within his commission) in respect of offences which they have no jurisdiction to try (ante, p. 126). There seems, however, to be no power to remove by certiorari the order of a justice committing a person for trial for an indictable offence. See R. v. Roscommon Justices [1894] 2 Ir. Rep. 158. The power to remove by certiorari an indictment found at quarter sessions is not affected by 52 & 53 Vict. c. 12 (Assizes Relief Act, 1889). See s. 5. The writ is directed in the King's name to the judges or officers of inferior courts, requiring them to return the records of a certain indictment or inquisition depending before them, in order that the party may have the benefit of a trial in the King's Bench Division, or before such justices as his Majesty shall assign to hear and determine the cause. For the removal of indictments into the King's Bench Division the writ is sued out of the King's Bench Division and issued from the crown office that division of the High Court, as successor to the old court of King's Bench, having a general superintendence over all other courts of criminal jurisdiction, whether ancient or newly created (2 Hawk. c. 27, s. 22), and being the sovereign ordinary court of justice in criminal causes. 4 Bl. Com. 320: 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, s. 34. This writ is frequently used in order the better to consider and determine the validity of indictments and the proceedings thereon, and to prevent a partial and insufficient trial, which it is apprehended would take place in the original jurisdiction. 1 Chit. Cr. L. 371; 2 Hale, 210. The effect of the writ is to remove all proceedings such as are described therein, which have taken place between the teste and return, although they may have been commenced after the teste. R. v. Battams, 1 East, 298; 2 Hawk. c. 27, s. 73. It may be applied for before or after the finding of any indictment. 60 G. 3 & 1 G. 4, c. 4, s. 4. The writ is of no effect unless it is delivered to the court below before the time for its return has expired.

Form of the writ.]-The following is the form of the writ of certiorari to remove an indictment into the King's Bench Division, addressed to the justices of quarter sessions:

Edward the Seventh, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British dominions beyond the seas King defender of the faith, to the keepers of our peace and our justices assigned to hear and determine divers crimes, trespasses, and other offences committed within our county of D., and to every of them, greeting: We, being willing for certain reasons that all and singular indictments of whatsoever felonies [or misdemeanors] whereof A. B. is [if indictinent not yet preferred, add, or may be] before you indicted (as it said) be determined before us in the King's

A.C.P.

9

Bench Division of our High Court of Justice, and not elsewhere, do command you and every of you that you or one of you do forthwith send under your seals, or the seal of one of you, before us in our said court at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, all and singular the said indictments, with all things touching the same, by whatsoever name the said A. B. may be called therein, together with this our writ, that we may cause further to be done thereon what right of and according to the law and custom of England we shall see fit to be done. Witness, Richard Everard, Baron Alverstone, at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, the day of in the year of our Lord, 190

The writ must bear the following indorsements:

By order of court [or of Mr. Justice

, as the case may be].

At the instance of the prosecutor [or defendant]. Recognizance by the prosecutor [or defendant] in the sum of £ with [two] sureties in the sum of £

each.

This writ was issued by E. F., of

of

agent for C. D., , solicitor for the prosecutor [or defendant].

[For other forms of the writ, see Appendix to Cr. Off. Rules, 1886, Forms 7, 8, & 9].

In what cases granted.]-The writ of certiorari is demandable as of right by the crown (R. v. Eaton, 2 T. R. 89; 1 R. R. 436; R. v. Thomas, 4 M. & S. 442; 16 R. R. 520), and issues as of course where the attorneygeneral or other officer of the crown applies for it, either as prosecutor or as conducting the defence on behalf of the crown; Id.: R. v. Lewis, 4 Burr. 2456, 2458; and this, even though the certiorari be expressly taken away by statute; for, as a general rule, the crown is not bound by statute unless expressly named therein: Hardcastle on Statutes (3rd ed.) pp. 383-402. (For form of attorney-general's fiat for application for certiorari, see Appendix to Cr. Off. Rules, 1886, Form 23.) By analogy to this rule, the certiorari was formerly granted almost of course to private prosecutors, who were said to represent the crown, at whose suit all indictments are preferred. But now, no indictment, except indictments against bodies corporate not authorized to appear by solicitor in the court in which the indictment is preferred, shall be removed into the King's Bench Division, either at the instance of the prosecutor or of the defendant (other than the attorney-general acting on behalf of the crown), unless it be made to appear to the court or a judge, by the party applying, that a fair and impartial trial of the case cannot be had in the court below, or that some question of law of more than usual difficulty and importance is likely to arise upon the trial, or that a view of the premises in respect whereof any indictment is preferred, or a special jury, may be required for a satisfactory trial of the same." Cr. Off. Rules, 1886, r. 29, which supersedes 16 & 17 Vict c. 30, s. 4 (rep.), as to which see R. v. Gate Fulford, 6 Cox, 510. The reason for the provision as to bodies corporate is that they cannot appear by attorney in courts of oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery or at sessions of the peace. R. v. Birmingham and Gloucester Rail. Co., 9 C. & P. 469, Parke, B.

The difficult points of law likely to arise must be specifically pointed out in order to induce the court to grant a certiorari, and must be stated in the rule. R. v. Joule, 5 A. & E. 539; R. v. Josephs, 8 Dowl. 178. If it be clearly made out that there is a fair and reasonable probability of partiality and prejudice in the jurisdiction within which the indictment