The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-09-29
THE Law ron GUITEAu.


We have at last learned upon what
ground some Of the o'ershrewd lawyers
Of Washington base their opinion that
Guiteau cannot be convicted Of murder
in the District of Columbia. They cite
an alleged ancient common law prin-
ciple that where a murderous assault
was made in one county of England
and the victim died in another the Of
fender could not be indicted in either.
1t Is true that the common law prevails
in some respects in the District Of Co.
lumbia, and that, although the assassin
may be brought to trial for murder
under a statute, there may arise in the
case questions TO be determined by the
rules of the common law. 1t is not
known, however, that any such prin-
ciple as that above stated ever existed;
but il 1t did no American court would
stultify itself by countenancing it to-
day. There appears TO have been an
ancient question as to whether the
criminal could be indicted in either
county when the victim had been struck
down in one and died in another, and in
154S the statute 2 and 3 Edward VI.
was passed providing that the indict-
ment might be laid in the county where
the death occurred. The reason assigned
for this was that the jury in the county
where the blow was struck could not
take cognizance of the death in another
county and the jury in the latter could
not inquire into the assault made in the
former. But this was a mere matter
of ancient procedure which no longer
exists, and even then the difficulty was
often overcome by taking the dead
body Of the victim back to the place of
assault. But no decision or direct au-
thority can be found to support the
principle, and almost every English
writer who refers to it speaks Of its ex-
stence as a matter Of doubt. Lord
Hale says: AT common law if a man
had been stricken in one county and
died In another 1t was doubtful whether
hc WCAo ihtiCboDhC Va tiiopiC III cituCi,
but the more common opinion was that
be might be indicted where the stroke
was given, for the death is but a conse-
quent, and might be found though in
another comfy" The same view is
taken by East, in his "Crown Law"
and by other writers, and it has been
cited with approval by Chief Justice
Abbott, of the kings bench. Wharton
and Bishop, the highest American au-
thorities on criminal law, agree that
1.-THE indictment lies In the county
where the blow was given" and this
view is sustained by direct decisions in
several Of our states.
There is no reasonable doubt, then,
that II the American people were to
witness the absurd spectacle of the as
sassin of the twentieth president of the
United States being tried by the crude
common law as it existed in England
more than three centuries ago, he could
be indicted, convicted and punished in
the place where the dastardly crime was
committed. But ever since 1920, when
a statute Of George II. having this
effect was passed, it has been an estab-
lished principle of the common law Of
England that when a person has been
stricken down in the realm and dies
out Of it the murderer may be tried
where the blow was struck. The su-
preme court of Louisiana has held this
to be a part Of the common law of that
state and decided that the prisoner was
properly tried in Louisiana in q case
where the assault had been made there
and the death was in another state.
The same principle prevails in the Dis
trict of Columbia, and this view is con-
frmed by the fact that the law of Eng
land was expressly adopted by constitu-
tiOnal enactment in Maryland when
what is now the District Of Columbia
was a part of that state.