Criminal Law

That branch of jurisprudence which treats of crimes and offenses. CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION Acts. The English acts (24 & 25 Vict. cc. 94-100) whereby the criminal law of the country was practically codified.

That branch of jurisprudence which treats of crimes and offences. From the very nature of the social compact on which all municipal law is founded, and in consequence of which every man, when he enters into society, gives up part of his natural liberty, result those laws which, in certain cases, authorize the infliction of penalties the privation of liberty and even the destruction of life with a view to the future prevention of crime and to insur- The extreme importance of a knowledge of the criminal law is evident. For a mistake in point of law, which every person of discretion not only may know but is bound and presumed to know, is in criminal no defence. Ignoraritia eorum quce guis scire tenetur non cxcusat. This law is administered upon the principle that every one must lie taken conclusively to know it without proof that he docs know it; per Tindal, C. J., in 10 CI. & P. 210. See U. S. v. Anthony, n Blatchf. 200, Fed. Cas. No. 14,459; Hoover v. State 59 Ala. 57; State v. Goodenow, 85 Mo. 30; state v. Halsted, 39 N..r. L. 402. And this is true though the statute making an act illegal is of so recent promulgation as to make it impossible to know of its existence: Branch Bank at.Mobile v. Murphy. 8 Ala. 119; Heard v. Heard, 8 6a. 380; The Ann, 1 Gall. C. C. 62, Fed. Cas. No. 397. This doctrine has been carried so far as to include the case of a foreigner charged with a crime which was no offence in his own country; 7 C. & P. 456; Russ. & R. 4. See Sumner v. Beeler, 50 Ind. 341, 19 Am. Rep. 718. And, further, the criminal law, whether common or statute, is imperative with reference to the conduct of individuals; so that, if a statute forbids or commands a thing to be done, all acts or omissions contrary to the prohibition or command of the statute are offences at common law, and ordinarily indictable as such; Hawk. PI. Cr. I)k. 2, c. 25, § 4; 8 Q. B. 883. An offence which may be the subject of criminal procedure is an act committed or omitted in violation of a public law either forbidding or commanding it; U. S. v. Eaton, 144 U. S. G77, 12 Sup. Ct. 764, 36 L. Ed. 591. In seeking for the sources of our law upon this subject, when a statute punishes a crime by its legal designation, without enumerating the acts which constitute it, then it is necessary to resort to the common law for a definition of the crime with its distinctions and qualifications. So if an act is made criminal, but no mode of prosecution is directed or no punishment provided, the common law furnishes its aid, prescribing the mode of prosecution by indictment, and as a mode of punishment, fine, and imprisonment. This is generally designated the common law of England; but it might now be properly called the common law of this country. It was adopted by general consent when our ancestors first settled here. So far, therefore, as the rules and principles of the common law are applicable to the administration of criminal law and have not been altered and modified by legislative enactments or judicial decisions, they have the same force and effect as laws formally enacted; Tully v. Com., 4 Mete. (Mass.) 358; Com. v. Chapman, 13 Mete. (Mass.) 09. "The common law of crimes is at present strenuously protested. It is to be observed that the definitions of crimes, the nature of punishments, and;!. of. criminal procedure originated, for il art, in the principles of the most ai unon law, but that most of the unwritten n in_' -■rimes have been modified b; which assume the common-law I definitions as if their import were familiar to the community. The common la crimes lias, partly from humane and partly from corrupt motives, been pre-eminently the sport of Judicial constructions, in r indeed, it was made for the state of things that prevailed in this island and the kind of people that inhabited it in the reign of Richard I.; in reality, it is the patchwork of every judge in every reign, from Coeur de Lion to Victoria." Ruins of Time Exemplified in Hale's Pleas of the Crown, by Amos, Pref. x. Some of the leading principles of the lisli and American system of criminal law are

— First. Every man is presumed to be innocent until the contrary is shown; and if there is any reasonable doubt of his guilt, he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. See Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623. 8 Sup. Ct. 273, 31 L. Ed. 20:>. Second. In gi no person can be brought to trial until a grand jury on examination of the charpe has found reason to hold him for trial. Ex parte Bain, 121 U. S. 1, 7 Sup. Ct. 781, 30 L. Ed. 849. Third. The prisoner is entitled to trial by a jury of his peers, who are chosen from the body of the people with a view to Impartiality, and whose decision on questions of fact is final. Fourth. The question of his guilt is to be determined without ref' to his general character. By the systems of continental Europe, on the contrary, the tribunal not only examines the evidence ing to the offence, but looks at the probabilities arising from the prisoner's previous history and habits of life. Fifth. The prisoner cannot be required to criminate himself. (The general rule, however, now seems to be in jurisdictions where there is no statutory prohibition, that an accused person testifying in his own behalf may be cross-examined like any other witn< pie v. Tice, 131 N. Y. 651, 30 X. E. 494, 15 L. R. A. 669; People v. Howard. 7.". Mich. 10, 40 N. W. 789; Boyle v. Slate. 105 Ind. 469, 5 N. E. 203, 55 Am. Rep. 2is; Keyes v. State, 122 Ind. 527. I'.-. X. E. 1097; State v. Pfefferle, 36 Kan. 90. 12 Pac. 406; State v. Iii; Nev. 17; Chambers v. People. 105 111. 413. See for a full discussion of this qui Rice, Ev. S 223 ami note: Counsel man v. Hitchcock. M2 r. s.:,!7, 12 Sup. Ct 1 L. Ed. L110.) Sixth. He cannot he twice put in jeopardy for the same offence. See Simmons v. U. S.. 142 U. S. US. 12 Sup. Ct. 171. 35 L. Ed. 968; In re Niel Sen, 131 D. S. 176, not an offence by the law existing at the time of its commission; nor can a severer punishment be inflicted than was declared by law at that time. See Crime; Ignorance; Intent; Jeopardy; Infamous Crime; Infamy; Prisoner. As to the identification of criminals, see Anthropometry; Rogue's Gallery. As to circulating photographs of criminals, to assist in detecting crime, see Privileged Communications. CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION

That branch or division of law which treats of crimes and their punishments. In the plural
—"criminal laws"
—the term may denote the laws which define and prohibit the various species of crimes and establish their punishments. U. S. v. Reisinger, 128 U. S. 398, 9 Sup. Ct. 99, 32 L. Ed. 480.

Defined under Criminal in Black's Law Dictionary.