The Sun. — 1838-04-02 (London, England)

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)  OLD COURT.  A summary statement descriptive of the various offences with which the prisoners committed for trial at the present Session of Oyer and Terminer and gaol delivery of Newgate, and the other prisons within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, severally stand charged, viz. :—Murder 1, burglary 3, forgery 8, arson 1, embezzlement 2, felony I, bigamy 4, larceny 113, rape 1, misdemeanor 7, perjury 2, ebop.breaking 3, uttering and unlawfully possessing base coin 10, stealing goods and moneys in dwelling houses 6, stealing goods from the person 28, stealing goods by servants 18, obtaining the like by false pretences 1, highway robbery and assault 1, receiving stolen property 10, assault with intent to commit, &c., 1, maliciously wounding persons 2, horsestealing 1, sheepstealing 1, housebreaking I.—Total 231. The Sessions re-opened this morning before the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Recorder, Aldermen Fairbrother, Marshall, and Wilson, the Sheriffs Montefiore and Carroll, with other civic authorities. The RECORDER, in addressing the Grand Jury, said the number of prisoners for trial now on the Calendar was 213, which would probably be increased to 300 before long. Considering the period that had elapsed since the last Sessions that was not a very extraordinary number. But there were several serious cases ; one, of cutting and wounding with intent, on the first count, to murder, on the second, to do some grievous bodily harm. There was also a case of rape, of which both parties were persons moving in a humble sphere, especially the female. He (the Recorder) only remarked this to observe that the law watched with the greatest anxiety over persons of the very lowest condition in life. There was a case of murder, attended with circumstances of an exceedingly peculiar nature. It appeared that the two parties—the one (a man) the prisoner, the other (a female) the deceased, were living together in a distressed condition, and a depressed state of mind ; that they had agreed to rid themselves together of life, by taking large doses of laudanum ; that the prisoner had collected a sufficient quantity of laudanum for this purpose, of which they both partook; that the effect upon the prisoner was (as it would be suggested for the defence) to cause extreme nausea, and he threw up so much of the laudanum, that his life was not affccted ; but the deceased, after the poison had acted upon her as a strong narcotic, expired. The Learned Recorder laid down the law respecting cases of this nature, in the following manner :—That where a person persuaded another to kill himself, and the party did kill himself, if the person advising was not present at the time of the death, he was accessory before the fact, to the crime of murder ; if, however, present at the time of the killing, the crime was that of murder, as a principal. After citing a case to support this view of the law, and adverting to certain circumstances connected with the case, the Learned Recorder said it would be for the Grand Jury to inquire first, from what cause the deceased met her death ; then, whether she were encouraged to the killing of herself by the prisoner; and if so, whether the prisoner were present at the time she took the poison ? There was a case of firging a will, or other testamentary documents, in which case both nsrties—prosecutor and prisoner—were professional men, attoreies, and both were interested parties, the prosecutor having married hie daughter to the son of the testator, and taking the benefit of one will, the prisoner having married the daughter of the testator, and taking benefit under the other will. The Recorder observed, his opinion of the duty of a Grand Jury was, that in cases where circumstances proved if unexplained and unanswered, made out an er party case, to gen.i the case for trial to the superior Court; but if the case were of such a slender and imperfect description, as would not warrant a Petty Jury in convicting a prisoner— s Grand Jury would give the prisoner the benefit of that doubt, and that protection, which in such cases they were intended to afford. With some further observations, the Recorder then dismissed the Grand Jury to the discharge of their duties.