Venue,] The venue in the margin, is the only part of the commencement of an indictment, that requires attention. The general rule upon the subject is, that the venue in the margin should be the county in which the offence was committed; See 2 Hale, 163; or if the jurisdiction of the court in which the bill of indictment is to be preferred, extend only to part of the county, the venue in the margin should be co-extensive with the jurisdiction of the court; that is, it should be descriptive of that part of the county to which the jurisdiction of the court is confined, and the offence must have been committed within part of the county so described. This is the general rule of the common law; but several exceptions have been made to it by statute.

1. In Indictments for offences against the Black Act (9 G.1. c. 22), the venue may be laid in any county, 9 G. 1. c. 22. s. 14, at the option of the prosecutor. 2 W. Bl. 723.

2. In indictments upon stat. 13 G. 3. c. 84. for felony in destroying turnpike gates, &c. the venue may be laid in any adjacent county, 13 G. 3. c. 84. s. 42, or in the county in which the offence was committed.

3. In indictments upon stat. 26 G. 2. c. 19. for plundering ships wrecked, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offence was committed, or in the next adjoining county. 26 G. 2. c. 19. s. 8.

4. In indictments for extortion, the venue may be laid in any county. 31 El. c. 5. s. 4.

5. In indictments for assaults upon officers of the excise or customs, in the execution of their duties, the venue may be laid in any county. 9 G. 2. c. 35. s. 26.

6. In indictments for offences against statutes relating to the stamp dutics, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offence was committed, or in the county in which the parties accused, or any of them, shall have been apprehended. 53 G. 3. c. 108.

7. In indictments for bigamy, the venue may be laid either in the county where the offender was apprehended, 1 Jac. 1. c. 11. s. 1. or in the county in which the second marriage took place.

8. In indictments for felonies, or other offences committed in Wales, the venue may be laid in the next adjacent English county; 26 H.8. c. 6. s. 6. 34 & 35 H.8. c. 26. s. 84; namely, in the county of Salop, if the offence were committed in North Wales, or in the county of Hereford if the offence were committed in South Wales. See 2 M. & S. 270, and 1 Leach 125. The same provision is contained in stat. 26 G. 2. c. 19, as to the offence of plundering wrecks, if the offence be committed in Wales. s. 8. It is usual in these cases to state the venue in the margin thus: "Salop, being the next adjoining shire within that part of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called England (where the King's writ runneth) to the county of Anglesea in Wales, to wit."

9. In indictments for high treason or misprision of treason committed out of the realm, the venue may be laid in Middlesex, if the trial is to be in the court of King's Bench; or in such shire as the King shall appoint, if he appoint a commis sion to try the offender. 35 H.8. c. 2. s. 1. Treasons committed in Ireland or Scotland, since the unions, and treasons committed in Wales, are not within the meaning of this act; but treasons committed in the Isles of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and Alderney, or in our foreign plantations, (which although parts of the dominions of the crown of England are not parts of the realm, see 3 Inst. 11. 111. 4 Inst. 124) are. So, in indictments for murder committed out of the King's dominions, the venue may be laid in any county the King shall think fit to appoint; 33 H.8.c.23. s. 1. Seel Taunt. 26; and the same as to accessaries before the fact to such murders. 43 G. 3. c. 113. s. 6. So, in indictments for burning or destroying the King's ships, magazines, &c. out of the realm, the venue may be laid in any county within the realm. 12 G. 3. c. 24. s. 2. So, in indictments for robberies and other capital crimes committed in Newfoundland, the venue may be laid in any county in England. 10 & 11 W. 3. c. 25. s. 13.

10. Treasons, felonies, robberies, murders and confederacies, committed upon the high seas, within the jurisdiction of the Admiral, shall be inquired of, &c. in such shire of the realm as shall be limited for that purpose by the King's commission. 28 H. 8. c. 15. s. 1. and see 45 G. 3. c. 72. s. 114.. Acts of hostility by a subject of this realm against a subject at sea, under colour of a foreign commission, 11 & 12 W. 3. c. 7. s.8. 18 G. 2. c. 30. s. 1, forcibly boarding a merchant ship, and throwing over or destroying the goods, 8 G. 1. c. 24. s. 1, trading with pirates, or fitting out a vessel for that purpose, 8 G. 1. c. 24. s. 1, master or seamen running away with the ship, goods, &c. 11 & 12 W. 3. c. 7. s. 9, burning or destroying a ship, to the prejudice of the owner and freighter, 1 Ann st. 2. c. 9. s.4. 43 G. 3. c. 113. s. 3, and the offence of accessaries before the fact to the same, 43 G.3. c. 113. s. 5, and maliciously burning or setting fire to a ship or vessel, or destroying or damaging her by other means: 33 G. 3. c. 67. s. 5: all these offences, if committed upon the high seas, must be enquired of in the same manner; as also the offence of accessary before or after the fact, on land or at sea, to piracy. 11 & 12 W. 3. c.7. s. 10. It may be necessary to mention here, that rivers, to the furthest point of land next the sea, creeks and arms of the sea within the body of a county, and the sea shore between the high and low water marks when the tide is out, are not within the jurisdiction of the admiral, or within the meaning of the term "high seas" in the above statutes. The offences above mentioned are enquired of, tried and determined, before the judge of the Admiralty court and two of the judges of the common law courts, under a commission of oyer and terminer ;

and in the indictment, no county is inserted in the margin as venue, but instead of it merely the words "Admiralty of England."

11. In indictments for murder or manslaughter, if the stroke or poison have been given on the high seas, and the party died of the same in England, the venue may be laid in the county where the party died; or if the stroke or poison were given in England, and the party died of the same at sea or out of England, the venue may be laid in the county where the stroke or poison were given. 2 G. 2. c. 21. Where a man in a boat at a short distance from the shore, was shot by a person on shore, and died instantly, it was holden that the stroke and death were both upon the high seas, and therefore triable according to the above statute of Hen. 8, and not according to this statute of Geo. 2. Leach, 432.

12. Also in indictments for murder or manslaughter, if the stroke or poison have been given in one county, and the party died of the same in another, the venue may be laid in the county where the party died. 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 24. s. 2.

13. If a man commit a larceny, simple or compound, in one county, and carry the goods with him into another, he may be indicted for the simple or compound larceny in the county in which he committed it, or he may be indicted for it as for a simple larceny in the county into which, or in any of the counties through which, he brought the goods; for in contemplation of law, there is such a taking and carrying away as constitutes the offence of larceny, in every place through which the goods were carried by him. 1 Hale, 507. 2 Id. 163. 3 Inst. 113. So, if a man steal goods, money, &c. in Scotland, and carry them into England, he may be indicted for larceny in any county in which he may have the goods in his possession. 13 G.3. c. 31. s. 4.

14. In indictments for conspiracies, the venue may be laid in any county in which it can be proved that an act was done by any one of the conspirators in furtherance of their common de. sign. see 4 East,164. So, in indictments for compassing the King's death, or for any of the treasons in stat. 36 G. 3. c. 7. s. 1, the venue may be laid in any county in which a sufficient overt act can be proved. R. v. Lord Preston, 4 St. tr. 410-455; and see Fost. 9. In an indictment for sending a threatening letter, the venue may be laid either in the county where the prosecutor received it, 2 East, P. C. 1125. 1120, 1 Leach, 142, or in the county from which the offender sent it. See 1 Camp. 215, 2 Id. 506. 3 Barn. & Ald. 717. So, if an act done in one county prove a nuisance to another, it seems that in an indictment for it, the venue may be laid in either county, although it seems more correct to lay it in the county in which the act was done. Where a servant who had received money for his master in the county of A, and upon returning to his master

in the county of B. denied having received it, the judges held that his being indicted for the embezzlement in the county of B. was correct, for he could not be said to have embezzled the money until he refused to account for it. 3 B. & P. 596.

15. An accessary in one county to a felony committed in another, may be indicted in the county in which he became accessary. 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 24. s. 4. But in case of misdemeanors, all persons procuring, inciting, aiding, abbetting, or assisting in the commission of them, may be indicted in the county in which the misdemeanor was committed, (whether the procuring or inciting took place in that county or not,) for they are all principals. See 7 East, 65. And the same in high treason. If a person in one county procure an innocent agent to commit a felony or misdemeanor in another county, he is in that case deemed a principal in the offence, and may be indicted for having actually committed it, the venue being laid in the county where it was committed; Fost. 349; see 4 East, 164; but if the person he had procured were privy to his criminal intent, and were himself amenable for the offence, then, if the offence were a felony, the party who procured it, would be indictable merely as an accessary before the fact; if a misdemeanor, as a principal. Vide supra.

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Caption.] The caption is no part of the indictment; it is merely the style of the court where the indictment was preferred, which is prefixed as a kind of preamble to the indictment upon the record, when the record is made up, or when it is returned to a certiorari. The following is a form of the caption to an indictment in a court of quarter sessions :

day

Westmorland. At the general quarter sessions of the peace, holden at Appleby, in and for the county aforesaid, the of

in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth of the united Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, before.B. & C.D. Esquires, and other their associates, justices of our said Lord the King, assigned to keep the peace of our said Lord the King, in the said county, and also to hear and determine divers felonies, trespasses and other misdemeanors in the said county committed, by the oath of" [the grand jurors, naming them] "good and lawful men of the county aforesaid, sworn and charged to enquire for our said Lord the King, and for the body of the county aforesaid, it is presented," that J. S. late of Appleby, in the county aforesaid, labourer, &c. so continuing the indictment. See 2 Hale, 166. 2 Burn's J.799, and see the forms, 4 Went. 41. 105. 139. 150. 174. 222. 6 Went. 1. 357.373. Cr. Cir. Com. 327.

2. The Statement.

In this part of the indictment, all the ingredients of the offence with which the defendant is charged, the facts, circum

stances, and intent constituting it, must be set forth with certainty and precision, without any repugnancy or inconsistency, and the defendant charged directly and positively with having committed it.

It must be certain as to the party indicted.] The defendant must be described in the indictment, by his christian name and surname, and by his addition. The inhabitants of a parish, however, may be indicted for not repairing a highway, or the inhabitants of a county for not repairing a bridge, without naming any of them.

The christian name of the defendant must be such as he obtained at baptism or confirmation, see 2 Ro. Abr. 135. Co. Lit. 3, or both. 6 Mod. 115, 116. It is said that a man can have but one christian name; 2 Hale, 175; but this must be understood to mean merely that he cannot be named "John alias James," or the like; that is, that a second christian name cannot be given to him after an alias dictus; See 1 L. Raym. 562. 3 East, 111; but it is quite clear, that if a man has acquired two names at baptism, or one at baptism and another by confirmation, he may be indicted by both; and if these be misplaced, as if his name be Richard James, and he be named in the indictment James Richard, it is as much a misnomer, and may be pleaded in abatement in like manner, as if other and different names were stated. 5 T. R. 195.

The surname may be such as the defendant has usually gone by or acknowledged; and if there be a doubt which one of two names is his real surname, the second may be added in the indictment after an alias dictus, Bro. Misnom. 47, thus, “Richard Wilson otherwise called Richard Layer."

The additions required to be given to defendants in an indictment, by stat. 1 Hen. 5. c. 5. are, the addition of their "estate, or degree, or mystery," and also the addition of the "towns, or hamlets, or places, and counties of which they were or be, or in which they be or were conversant." These additions should be added after the first name, and not after the alias dictus; 2 Inst. 699. 3 Salk. 20; although if an addition be given to the name after the alias dictus, it may be rejected as surplusage. 2 Hawk. c. 25. s.70.

Estate and degree mean the same thing, namely, the defendant's rank in life. A duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron, must be named by his christian name only and his name of dignity: as, "John, duke of M." 2 Inst. 666. And the same of peeresses; as, "Ann, countess of L." But this does not extend to foreign noblemen, who are entitled in this country to the addition of Esquire only, 2 Hawk. c. 23. s. 109, unless they be knights, in which case they should be named so; 2 Inst. 667; and the same as to the titles usually given to the eldest sons of dukes &c. 3 Inst. 30. 2 Inst. 667. and see 2 Salk.