| OCR Text |
Seft. VlIl. 476 ACTS RELATING TO THE Commas. 477 Part Ill, turc itfelf. his majefiy's fuhjec'ts in Canada. \Vhat are exclufively the ob- The jects of the criminal law in England ? claufe however was flat inferted, becaule -This quef'tion perhaps did not occur to it was (aid, that it was not probable that the framers of the 216:; if it had, I per- lcttres de cachet {hould ever be made ufe fuade myfelf the benefits intended by this of. A reafon, which if it has any weight, would operate to the tearing up all the fences fet about our liberty *. provifion would have been better fecured than they are. All crimes are objects of The introduction, or rather confirma- but what are crimes in the eye of the law? tion of the criminal law of England, is --lVlany aetions may be confidered, at the certainly one of the molt laudable parts of the act; the reafons alligned for it are fuch option of the plaintifiz, as public or as pri- vate wrongs, as crimes or as civil injuries. as do honour to the legillature; but there The fame ac‘tions therefore may be pro- is an inaccuracy, {hall I call it, or a fallacy, which perhaps efcaped the legilla- ceeded againl't in different courts, be triedhy different laws, jult as he pleafes; fo that the provifion lhrinks to this. If you 9* ln criminal profecutions, I take it for granted the Canadians are entitled to the benefit of this aft; but this does not jullify the authorof the. Appeal in calling " arguments ifiuing from the idea of the " non-cxtcnfion ofthe writ ot‘Habeas Corpus, mere " moonfhlne," p. 34. He is wonderfully millakcn when he fuppofes, that " the liberty of the tub" jcc‘t" is not concerned in civil aéhons. Or that in civil aétions " the crown may not gain an oppor‘~ " tunity of interfering to the opprcfiion of the {ub" jcét." Ibid. p. 33, profecute another criminally, you {hall do- turc the criminal law. So it may be faid,--- it in the method prefcribed by the Cl‘lmlnal law of England. As " to the defcrip- " tion and quality of the offence," the Englifh law is no farther a rule than as it may be alledged to prevent a greater de- gree of criminality being attributed to any aét, for which a man is proceeded againf'c criminally, |
