The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-21 00:00:00

Cf.

ij A

OLD CO UR T.
These Sessions, the 12th, commenced to-day before
the Lord Mayor, the Lord Mayor elect, the Recorder,
Alderman Gibbs, Messrs. Evans and Wheelton the S!le-
r the U1),1..r Sheriffs &...

To,S ,t,f,,,,.r
(toys. the pi es, ii; tmar contain og no less te.in 245
prisoners for trial, six of them being for murder.
The Grand Jury having been sworn,
Th,3 RECORDER proceeded to deliver his charge to
them. The calendar contained the names of no less
than 245 prisoners for trial, and be was touch afraid
that that number winild be incru as. d to 300 bet-re
the Grind Jury were discharged from s heir duties.
It also contained the usual class of offences which wer,
he *ulject of ind,etment and prosecution in that
Court, but he aas sorry to pe.emve from its perus sl
that the offence of cutting, rnanninz, and wow,tlioti,
with intent to murder, to avoid lawful m.p,eh,..ns•on
or detention, or do some !.revous bodily .I,a, Lit, was
consid-rably n the our and it kouht he his d*
to call the att:inion of Grand Jury to the r r, of

t haternents of ure et teat, rt SpVei Te.
were two charges for murder Ott the high sees, eee
of which would require the most serious attention of
h. Grand Jury ; but, with respect to the other, At, r
tidbits the deposition, he thooelit they wooed not thick
heieselves justified in bringing in a true bill for mu rdt r.
Tne first case was the murder of the captain ef a ship, by
the steward, by st-thhing, from the t ffects of which he
expired in the course of an [tour, and the other w.es a
charee against the mate who had succeeded the captain
m the command of the ship. With respect to the Lt-
ter case, from the deposition it appeared that the ship
was in distress, and all hands were ordered by the mate
on deck ; the person whom it was alleged had been mur-
dered, was ill on board the ship, but this being unknown
to the mate, he expressed his surprise at his absence
when he issued his orders, and he, in addition to the
chastisement usual for neglect of duty, inflicted several
blows on the deceased with a piece of timber. net
certainly was not a mode of chastisement which the law
allowed, but he thought the Grand Jury would, upon
hearing the evidence, see that there was nothing to
show that the death of the unfortunate man had been
caused by the blows that had been inflicted, and such
being the case, it would become the duty of the Grand
Jury to enquire whether any particular course of treat-
ment, during the illness of the unfortunate deceased,
had occasioned or accelerated death ; because any im-
proper treatment accelerating death would subject the
party to a charge of manslaughter, but not of murder.
The other case, the murder of the ceptain, was so
clear that it was unnecessary for him to make any
remarks, as he felt no doubt the Grand Jury
would consider it to be their duty to submit it
to the Petty Jury. There were also in the calendar
two charges of rape, to which it was necessary for him
to advert. In one of them the complainant was the
bar-maid of a public-house, who charged her master
with the offence. From the evidence in that case, it
appeared that the first advances on the part of the per-
son charged were rather in the nature of seduction than
otherwise. It appeared that the complainant, upon the
attempt being made, remonstrated with her master, aria
immediately afterwards called the attention of her brother
to what had taken place. According to the statement
of the comalainant, on the day when the offence was
perpetrated, she became sick and was carried to bed, and
while she was insensible the offence was committed.
In that case the question probably for the Grand Jury
would be whether the sickness of the complainant was
caused by illness or arose from intoxication. There
was this, however, in favour of the charge made by the
complainant, that she instantly stated what had taken
place. The other charge was against a person for a
rape upon a female fourteen years of age, and with
respect to that he thought the Grand Jury would be
of opinion, after they had heard the evidence of the
surgeon that the offence had not been fully completed.
There were also in the calendar nine cases of stabbing
and wounding, and one of an attempt to stab.
With respect to these offences, an Act had been
recently passed, the Ist Victoria, chap. 85, which
varied the punishments according to the enor-
atity of the offence. The second section provided that
in all cases of cutting or wounding with intent to mur-
der, or do some grievous bodily harm, the part) shoule
sufflr death. The third section provided that any per
sons who were charged with discharging loaded fire
a ms, or attempting to drown or suffocate persons,
should be transported for life, for fifteen years, or impre
coned for three years, according to the discretion of the
Court. And the fourth section provided that person-
sounding, or attempting to wound, in order to pre
vent lawful detention, should suffer transportation for
life, fourteen years, or imprisonment for not less that,
three years. Crimes of these descriptions were so much
upon the increase, that he (the Recorder) thought
the Grand Jury would do well, upon no
.fight ground, to reject such charges which
it was important should be fully investigated, for it bad
become a subject of national importance, by a due ex-
,rcise of justice, to put an end to cases of this descrips
lion, which had been frightfully on the increase durieg
the last few years. With these remarks the Learner'
Judge remitted the Grand Jury to the discharge o'
their important duties

The Grand Jury then retired, and the Court the
droceeded to swear in the Petty Jury.
No case of any interest came before the Court durin;

,he morning.
The Judges who will attend the Court this SesEicv
are Mr. Justice Bosanquet, Mr. Baron Gurney, any
Mr. Baron Manic.