Circumspecte Agatis

Act circumspectly. The title of a statute passed 13 Edw. I. A. D. 1285, and so called from the initial words of it, the object of which was to ascertain the boundaries of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in some particulars, or, in other words, to regulate the jurisdiction of the

A royal writ (12S5) dealing with lay and ecclesiastical jurisdiction which perhaps technically acquired the force of a statute. Its authenticity was doubtful. 2 Holdsw. Hist. E. L. 246. See Articuli Cleri. C I R C U M ST A N C ES. The particulars which accompany an act. The surroundings at the commission of an act. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or private, permanent or transitory, clear and simple or complicated; they are always accompanied by circumstances which more or less influence the mind in forming a judgment. And in some instances these circumstances assume the character of irresistible evidence: where, for example, a woman was found dead in a room, with every mark of having met with a violent death, the presence of another person at the scene of action was made manifest by the bloody mark of a left hand visible on her left arm; 14 How. St. Tr. 1324; Greenl. Ev. 13 o. These points ought to be carefully examined, in order to form a correct opinion. The first question ought to be, is the fact possible? If so, are there any circumstances which render it impossible? If the facts are impossible, the witness ought not to be credited. If, for example, a man should swear that he saw the deceased shoot himself with his own examination of the ball which 1 Stark. Ev. 505; or if one should swear that another had been guilty of an impossible crime.

The title of a statute passed 18 Edw. I., A. D. 1285, anu so called from the initial words of it, the object of which was to ascertain the bonndaries of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in some partieulars, or, in other words, to regulats the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and temporal courts. 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 215, 216.

Lat. (Act circumspectly.) The title of a statute passed 13 Edw. I., and so called from the initial words of it, the object of which was to ascertain the boundaries of ecclesiastical jurisdiction m some particulars, or, in other words, to regulate the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and temportd courts. 2 Beeves' Hist. Eng, Law, 215, 216. This statute is, in fact, in the form of a vjrit from the king to his justices, concerning the bishop of Norwich and his clergy, beginning: " Rex te Uibusjudicibus sc Uutem; Circumspecte agatis, de,,** without any mention of the concurrence of parliament. 2 Inst, 467. Barrington on the statutes, 123, cited 3 Bl, Com, 88. It has, however, always been considered as a statute, and its authority as such is not questioned. 2 Beeves* Hist, Eng. Law, 216, 216. 2 Inst. ub. sup. 12 Ad. d Ell, 315. There is some doubt as to its date.