The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-01-11
COSTS IN CRIMINAL CASES.

NON-LIABILITY OF THE COUNTY,
FELONIEs.--II. MISDEMEANORs.-II
FELoNIEs AND MIsDEMEANoRs.
AT common law, (Which was adopted
in Pennsylvania by the Act of 2Sth
January 1777, so far as was suitable to
our circumstances the public pays no
costs; and defendant indicted for
crime, was liable for the costs of prose-
cution, whether he was convicted or
acquitted on the trial. The law contin-
ued to be so, until the Act of Goth March
1T01 was passed, and as the liability of
the county for costs is created only by
statute, it cannot he extended beyond
the limits assigned to it by the legisla-
ture. 6 III. 1876.
The following are the only statutes
now in force in Pennsylvania, imposing
costs upon the county in criminal
cases;
!. SIN all prosecutions, cases of felo-
ny excepted, if the bill of Indictment
shall be returned "ignoramus," the
grand jury returning the same shall de-
eide and certify on such bill whether
thecounty or the prosecutor shall pay the
costs of prosecutions; and in all cases ofac-
quittals by the petit jury on indictments
for the offences aforesaid, the jury try
ing the same shall determine, by their
verdict, whether the county, or the
prosecutor, or the defendant shall pay
the COSTS" Act of 31st March 1860,
section 62.
.. "The costs of prosecution accru-
ing on all bills of indictment charging
a party with felony, returned "ignora-
mus" by the grand jury, shall be paid
by the county; and the costs of prose-
cution accruing on bills of Indictment
charging party with felony, shall, if
such party be acquitted by the petit ju-
ry on the traverse of the same, be paid
by the county, and in all cases of con-
viction of any crime, all costs shall be
paid by the party convicted; but when
such party shall have been discharged,
according to law, without payment of
costs, the costs of prosecution shall be
paid by the county and in cases of
surity of the peace, the costs shall be
paid by the prosecutor or the defend
ant, or jointly between them, or the
county, as the court may direct" Act
of 3lst March 1860, sec. GA.
3. ain all cases where two or more
persons have committed an indictable
nR,,oo fbo mama, of oil aonnarpad lif
prosecution shall be commenced) shall
be contained in one bill of indictment,
for which no more costs shall be allowed
than if the name of one person only
was contained therein" Act 3lst March
1860, sec. 65.
4. The act of 23d September, 1871, sec.
10, cnacts, that "where any person shall
be brought before court, justice of the
peace, or other magistrate of any city
or county of this commonwealth, hav-
ing jurisdiction in the case, on the
charge of being runaway servant or
slave, or of having committed crime,
and such charge, upon examination,
shall appear to be unfounded, no costs
shall be paid by such innocent person,
but the same shall be chargeable to,
and paid out of the county stock, by
such city or county"
This section is in full force, although
it was left out of Purdens Digest, and is
therefore often lost sight of. The re-
pealing section of the penal code of 1860
repeals all other statutes imposing costs
upon he county in criminal cases.
/. FELoNIEs.
The non-liability of the county for
costs under certain circumstances in
cases of felony occasioned by the penal
code of 1860, has in no case been brought
before the Supreme Court, and has Of
ten escaped the attention of lawyers.
Even an attorney to the Commission
ers of Luzerno County in a lengthy ar
ticle published in the Legdt O6Serrcr of
July 3lst 1861, uses the following Ian
guage: SIN all cases of JelOny-eiihcr
felony by common law or felony by
statute-the county is liable for COSTS"
Again he says that "the officials who
have in charge the disbursement of the
public funds, haze no right TO pay the