Principal

crim. law. A principal is one who is the actor in the tn the first degree, are those who have actually with their own hands committed the fact.—2. Principals in the second degree, are those who were present aiding and abetting the commission of the fact. ‘They are generally termed aiders and abettors, and sometimes, improperly, accomplices, (q. v-) The presence which is required in order to make a man principal in the second degree, need not be a strict actual, -immediate presence, such a presence as wou)d make him an eye or ear witness of what passes, but may be a constructive presence. It must be such as may be sufficient to afford aid and assistance to the principal in the first degree.

9 Pick. R. 496; 1 Russell, 21; Foster, 350.