The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-02-06
CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
BY Col. J. G. Freeze.

~ WE ~ - - iNSHSs
The criminal code and procedure
in Pennsylvania are the outgrowth
of commission, authorized by a
Resolution of the General Assem-
bly, of the 10Th of April 1858, page
sag, ito collect all the statutes re-
lating to the Penal Laws of the
Commonwealth, to arrange the
same Systematically under proper
titles, to suggest improvements, to
designate such as ought to be re-
pealed, and to prepare and submit
new statutes, which seem to be al
visable or necessary, for the con-
si1eration of the Legislature.
Under the Resolution, the Gov
ernor appointed as commissioners
to report upon the subject, Edward
King, John c. Knox, and David
Webster, who made report to the
Legislature, dated January 4th,
1860 and accompanied by codifi.
cation and system of Criminal law
which was adopted by the Legisla-
ture, and signed by the Governor,
March 81, 1860. Under that code
and its various amendments and
additions, we have continued near
lp fifty years and there is a strong
feeling among LAWYERS, that a re-
vision of that revision is highly
necessary. 1t is not my purpose
to take up and deal with that
question, except incidentally, but
to give brief historical resume of
the criminal law as we have it, and
its derivation and growth from and
out of the law of England.
1t was, among Our English An
cestry, growth from mere savag-
cry, when the rule was, Let those
take who have the power, and let
those keep who can," that there
began to be right of property;
and while men took such as was
unappropriated, possession being
nine points of the law, the rule that
might was right, ceased to exist.
But for many years that was rule
only among the common people as
to themselves. The ruling classes
held the common people as serfs
and their property as legitimate
olunder, which they had the power
to take and the power to hold.
For the protection and establishss
ment of the liberties of the people,
the writ of Habeas Corpus was the
greatest safeguard to these liber-
ties. Its origin is lost in antiquity,
but it was we'll known to the Com
mon law, which is or was, a body
of unwritten law, and was in use
even before Magma Charta, which
dates from June 10Th, 1915, in the
reign OF King John, and is the
most ancient written law of the
land. y
The Habeas Corpus Act of 81
Charles II, (27 May I67e) provid-
es the great remedy for the viola
ton of personal liberty. The full
title of the Act is "Habeas Corpus
and subjecendum" THAT you
have the body to answer" 1t is a
writ of right. 1t is designed to
give the person in confinement, or
who is restrained of his liberty, an
immediate opportunity to test the
question of law involved in his i'm
prisonment, or restraint.
Thus under Magma Charta of
I2I5 and Habeas Corpus OF 1879,
the personal rights and liberties of
the subject were ordinarily we'll Sc
cured and protected. But the King
or some of his powerful Lords and
Barons, occasionally thought that
the rights and liberties of the sub
ject were too carefully guarded,
and therefore when some person,
obnoxious to the King or to the
Baron, was to be gotten out of the
way, he was arrested and imprison-
ed; and as he was likely to be dis
charged or bailed under Habeas
Corpus proceedings, the King is
sued writ of Oyer and Terminer
which was sent into the county
where the obnoxious gent leman
was confined, to try him. You OBJ
serve this was the Kings writ