The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-17 00:00:00

Criminal Procedure in Scotland.

With reference to the recent charges against
Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand, the Scotsman
compares the English and Scotch systems of pro-
cedure, and expresses a very decided preference, for
the latter, whether as regards the ends of public
justice or the interests of private citizens. It says:—
" In the first place, there is in every criminal court
in Scotland, from the police court to the High Court
of Justiciary, a public prosecutor.
,The Lord Ad-
vocate is the principal prosecutor, and can order a
prosecution in any court; and where a case h too
serious to be disposed of by a police magistrate in
the court in which it is to be tried is fixed by the
Lord Advocate, either personally or by his deputies.
The Procurators-Fisc 11, to whom all cases not suit-
able to be disposed of in the police-court are re-
mitted, and who' are bound to inquire into every
ease of.which they are informed, have nn power to-
decide whetheraprosecution shall be carried through
or not. After taking depositions in private, with
the aid of a magistrate, to compel the witnesses to
give evidence, the whole depositions must be for-
warded—to the Lord Advocate's Department, and
it is there decided whether a prosecution for the
Crown shall be instituted or not, and, if the former,
in what court it shall take place. No private arrange-
ment between the injured party and the criminal can
prevent the public prosecutor from instituting a
prosecution, and where a public prosecutor of infe-
rior grade fails in his duty, he may be found liable
to be mulcted in costs, or may be censured or re-
moved at the instance of the Lord Advocate. By
this means security is obtained against oppressive
prosecution on the one hand, and lax conduct in the
suppression of crime on the other. And so well
does the system work that a prosecution by an in-
jured party himself, in consequence of improper
declinature of the officers of the Crown to prosecute,
does not occur once in 50 years. As regards private
prosecution, the rules of law give ample facilities
to injured parties and their relatives to prose-
cute, but at the same time provide sufficient
safeguards against frivolous or malicious prose-
cution. A private individual is not allowed
to prosecute unless he can show a substantial
interest to do so, whether as being the injured
party himself, or as being a relative or guardian of
the sufferer. And when he claims to prosecute he
must find security to insist in the charge, and may
ultimately be found liable to the accused in costs if
he fail to establish his case. Moreover, at the outset
of the proceedings, he must obtain the concurrence
of the public prosecutor (who is bound to give it,
unless he show cause why it should not be given),
and is liable to be called on by the accused to take
an 'oath of calu►nny'—that is, to swear to his rea-
sonable l.elief of the justice of his cause. But, sub-
ject to these safeguards, a private prosecutor cannot
be prevented from presenting his case to a jury. He
has not to fight nice questions of law or evidence
before a magistrate in a police court, or to peril his
case before a grand jury sitting in secret conclave,
and finding or not finding a true bill on imperfect
information, and without hearing any argument. If
his charge be relevant, he is entitled to the verdict
of a jury upon it. On the other' hand, in all prose-
cutions the accused is not placed in the position of
having ex parte depositions and declamatory speeches
used against him in a police court, and then being pro-
ven ted from meeting his accuser fairlyby the abandon-
ment of the prosecution. The prosecutor cannot
place any evidence against him before the public
until he does so in that court in which a final judg-
ment must be given, convicting or for ever acquit-
ting. Had the English system of criminal law
been similar to that which prevails in this benighted
and barbarous end of the island persons such as Mr.
John Stuart Mill, not being in any way related to
Mr. Gordon, would not have been allowed to charge
gentlemen with murder for the purpose of clearing
up some intricate point about martial law ; but,
again, any person who was a near relative of Gor-
don could not have been prevented fiom demanding
a verdict by the veto either of a Bench of Justices
or a Grand Jury, both acting on what was neces-
sarily imperfect information. On the other hand,
the gentlemen who were accused would not have
been subjected to an imperfect trial, and having de-
positions against them published in every newspaper,
and lengthy speeches made against them by learned
counsel, and would have been secure of having their
case fairly and fully tried, and of being indemnified
for their costs in the event of the prosecution result-
ing in an acquittal."

THE NATIONAL FIELD TRIALS OF SPORTING
DOGS FOR PRIZES.—The public trials of pointers on game
in the field will take place on the Wednesday in Easter
week, over a manor near Gnosall; and subsequently the
setters will be hunted over an estate at Cloton-hill. Both
localities are near Stafford. The entries of dogs to con-
tend for the prizes will close to-morrow, the 17th. The
trials will occupy two or three days. The dogs will be
tried over partridges, and the committee have decided that
a charge•of powder shall be fired when the birds rise, in
order to test the education and perfection of the dogs while
on game.