The National Register.
London, England, 1819-10-10 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR.

s4l‘,--I trust you will excuse my troubling you with
two or three short extract* front the statutes concerning
the dory of a Coroner in taking an inquisition ; as un
reading the proceeding. at Oldham, as set forth in your
paper, it evidently appears that Mr. Ferranti, the Co.
roller, is acting both against the letter and spirit of those
it ill rotes : is.
Slat. of Ed. 1., cap. I, see. I.—" The Coroner, upon the
oath of the Jars, shall inquire if they know 'there tile per-
-60.k was first sla.n ; a hctlier it were its a house, field,
and aho were there. Likewise, it is to be inquired aho
were culpable either of the net or the force, and who pre
seat, and of what age they be (if they mall speak and hive
discretion); and as many as skull be found culpable b) the
inquest shall be cominitted to gaol."
her. 2.—" if any be appealed as principal, they that be
appealed of the force shall be attached also, and kept until
the principal be attaisited."
3d lien. V 11. cup I.—" Every Coroner. upon view of
the dead body, shall inquire of the person that bath dune
the death or murder; also of their abettors and consenters,
and a ho were present when it was done t and the names of
the persons so present and found shall enroll and certify."
Cap. 3.—" W hen one is slain in the day-lime, and the mur•
derer escapes untakcii, the township that 61111011 it shall be
amerced, and the Corom r shall inspire thereof on the view
of the body deittl."--6 V in. Ab. p. Y4B, 219 t c. 50.
Now, as evidence has been adduced at the Oldham
Inquest, which i •cd and identified several of the
Yeomanry Cavalry us being active in the never•to-be-
forgotten Ititli of August, at Manchester, as well as
those who actually gave the fatal order fur the charge,
are, according to the above•mentioned staves, equally
guilty with the man or men who actually inflicted the
wound oil John Ices, for such rnions used' the force
referred to by the first-titenti 111 l ed statute ; and by die
statute of 3d lieu. VII. were the aim:tuns and consenter,
to the atrocious act ; conseiprently the Coroner was
bound to receive the evidence so produced by Mr. Her.'
suer; and his refusal to take the sante subjects his con-
duct to be called in question hereafter by a superior
tribunal. _ .

Yours, &C.
A CONSTANT READER.

The following is a correct extract of the case in
Plowden's Reports, to w • .ich Mr. Harmer has re-
ferred on several occasions in the course of the
Inquest at Oldham:-
6• A report of certain points, which were ruled at the Sessions,
held at the town of Salop, on Monday, the 9th of July, in the
Ist year of Queen Mary, and continued all that week before Sir
T. Bromley, Knight, Chief Justice of the King's bench ; Sir K.
Townsend, Knight, Serjeant at I.aw ; W. Simons, apprentice,
and the Queen's attorney, in the Marches of Wales, and h. flow.
den, utter barrister, of the Middle Temple. and others, being
.1 itstices of the Peace, Etc. In that ease, divers periams were
indicted fur killing a man, viz. some for giving the wounds
whereof he died, and others, fur that they were present, aiding,
comforting, and abetting the others to commit the said murder.
And they who gave the wounds to the man, and killed bin), had
That and escaped, and the others were,brought to the hay. And
whether they should be arraigned or no was a doubt, and was
moved to the other Justices by Bromley; for he said to them,
that although they who were present and abetting were princi-
pals, as well as those who struck the man and killed hint, yet.
they are the principals in the second degree. viz., in respect that
the others who struck the man and killed him are principals in
the tint degree, by reason of the act of killing him, and these
n:hers who abetted them and are present are also principals, but
t st in the second degree only, and in reset:et at the first act;
tar if the others did not kill the man, then it the others who were
abettors and present should be now arraigned, and it should
happen that they should .be found guilty, and afterwards the
others who are indicted thr giving the stroke and -killing the man
s!..ould be taken and arraigned, and it should happen that they
were acquitted. as it might be, then I would know your opinion
what shonkl be done. The other Justices above mentioned,
after advising thereof for two days, held clearly that they might
proceed with the prisoners now at the bar, without any inconve-
nience arising from it :tor, they said, that when many came to-
do an act. and one only does it. and the others are present abetting
him, or ready to aid him in the fact, they arc principals to all
intents as much as he that de..s the fact; for the presenceof the
the others is a terror to him that is assaulted, so that he dare. not
defend himself: for if a nun sees his enemy, min of his ser-
vants coming, to assault him, and they all draw their swords and
surround bin, and one only strikes him, 6o that he dies thereof.
now the others shall with good reason be adjudged as great
offenders as he that struck him: for if they hail net sheen present
he inight probably have tie:ended himself, and so have escaped;
hut the number of the others being present, and ready to strike
him also, shall be adjudged a great terror to him, so as to make
hill, lose his courage mu{ despair of defending himself, -and by
this means they are the oecasim or his death. So that their pre-
ys nee is the cause of terror, and tenor is the reason that he receives
the wounds, and the wounds are the cause of his death. And
then, inasmuch as both together, viz. the wounds and the pre-
sence of the others who gave the wound at all, are adjudged the
cause of his sleuth, it follows that all of them. vat. those that strike,
and those that are present, are in equal degrees. and each par-
te:es of the deed of the other. And the fact .fts to him that is
d:atl, and as to the punishment of it, (although it congas cf two
parts,') yet in law it is without a division • and notwithstanding
there is but one wound given by one only. yet it shall be adjudged
in law the wound of every one, that is. it shuil he looked upon as
given by him who gave it. by himself, and given by the rest by
him as their minister and instrument. And it is as much the
deed of the others, as it' they had all jointly holden with their
hands the club, or other instrument, with the wound was
given. as if they had altogether struck the persist' that was
Plowden's Iterorts, veil. I, p. 97. a. 96.

Accounts received from l'untigal on Friday morning
state that a quarantine of 30 Eby+ on all vessels front
Cadiz, Gibraltar, &c. was enforced by Uinct umeta Pro-
bLuatation, Ott the tdat

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR.

On Friday a Common Hull was held to declare
the Election of Alderman Bridges.
About one o'clock the lard Mayor arrived, amidst
expressions of disapprobation. The cry of lire wis
raised as he passed through the I lull to the Court of
Aldermen. In the absence of the Lord Mayor and
Aldermen the ceremony commenced.
The Sheriff's, he said, declared the election had
fallen on George Bridges, Esq. Alderman and
Wheelwright. and John Thomas Thorp, Alderman
and Draper, to be retunied to the Court of Alder-
men, that one might be elected Lord Mayor for the
year ensuing. ( Loud applause.)
The above names haring been returned to the
Court of Aldermen, the Lord Mayor Elect, the late
Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, Aldermen Waithmati,
Thorp, and others, came to the hustings. The Lord
Mayor Elect, walking on the right of Alderman
Atkins, was received with loud applause.
The Common Crier then called upon him to come
forth and declare his consent to take the said office.

Alderman Bridges, amidst loud cheering, present-
ed himself in front of the hustings, and was invested
with the gold c ruin. He then said—Gentlemen of
the Livery, I beg to return my most sincere thanks
for the honour done me.

Alderman Thorp, said it was not his intention to
trespass long on the attention of the L ivory. He
expressed thanls for•returnin,,° him to the Court of
Aldermen. He bad been in the North of Ireland,
for the benefit of persons under the care of a Society
of which he had the honour to be 'Governor, and
did not hear befbre last Saturday of the proceedings
of the Common Hall. He concluded by expressing
his determination to support those principles on
which he first offered himself to their stollen. (Cheer-
ing.)
The Hall was then dissolved by the Common
Crier in the usual terms, and the people retired in
the most quiet and orderly manner.—Fewer of the
Livery attended this Hall than we ever remember
on any former occasion.