EXPLANATIONS OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE REFERENCES. Alison's Principles of the Crown Law of Scotland. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Carrington and Kirwan's Reports. Cox's Reports of Crown Cases. and Bell's Denison's Crown Cases Reserved. Den. Dow. & R. Exch. E.P.C. East's Pleas of the Crown. MISDEMEANORS.-OF THE GRAND JURY. THE laws by which the rights of society are enforced, and the wrongs redressed, are but little known to the bulk of the community. Were it otherwise— were the honest portion of mankind more thoroughly aware of the distinction between civil and criminal wrongful acts, and the legal grounds upon which the latter are distinguishable from the former-the dishonest would find their attempts at the commission of offences less frequently successful. To this ignorance is referable much of the litigation which occupies our criminal courts of justice: hence the obvious importance that every one engaged in commercial transactions should adopt the advice of that great judge and commentator, Blackstone:-" It is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with those laws at least with which he is immediately concerned."* * Blackstone's "Commentaries," book i. p. 7. B And now, Reader, in addressing you throughout this little book, I shall assume you are engaged in commercial pursuits of one kind or other, and that as such, whether merchant or tradesman, you are desirous to acquire some practical information touching those laws with which you are immediately concerned. I am aware that there prevails amongst the bulk of the community a sort of instinctive dread that legal knowledge is wholly beyond the comprehension of ordinary minds. True it is, the attainment of anything approaching to an intimate knowledge of law and its technicalities would, to persons engaged in commerce or trade, be a task as difficult as it would be useless; but the amount and nature of the information indicated by Blackstone, and about to be laid before the reader, is as comprehensible by persons of ordinary education and mental capacity as the first four rules in arithmetic. As far as practicable I shall avoid the use of technical phrases, but some are so intimately interwoven with the subjects hereinafter noticed, that it will be impossible wholly to omit them. In reference to these, therefore, as they occur, I will give you such explanation of their legal signification as shall enable you to appreciate their value and understand their application. Of course you are familiar with the old axiom, that the law of England provides a remedy for every wrong. Accepting this as substantially correct, which you safely may, I dare say you have been often puzzled to discover the particular remedy, in a legal point of view, applicable to a particular |