Observations on the Criminal Law of England; As It Relates to Capital Punishments, and on the Mode in Which It Is Administered

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1810 edition. Excerpt: ... NOTES. NOTE A. P. 23. The latitude which juries allow themselves in estimating the value of property stolen, with a view to the punishment which is to be the consequence of their verdict, is an evil of very great magnitude. Nothing can be more pernicious, than that jurymen should think lightly of the important duties they are called! upon to discharge, or should acquire a habit of trifling with the solemn oaths they take. And yet ever since the passing of the acts which punish with death the stealing in shops or houses, or on board ships, property of the different values which are there mentioned, juries have, from motives pf humanity, been in the habit of frequently finding by their verdicts, that the things stolen were worth much less than was clearly proved to be their value. It is held, indeed, by some of the judges (whether by all of them, and upon all occasions, I am not certain) that juries in favour of life may fairly, in fixing the value of the property, take into their consideration the depreciation pf money which has taken place since the statutes passed, or in the words of Mr. Justice Blackstone, " may reduce the present nominal value of " money to its ancient standard." To shew, therefore, to what an extent juries have assumed to themselves a power of dispensing with the law in this respect, it will be proper to refer to the earliest trials, for these offences that I happen to have met with. Com. vol. iv. p. 239. f In the year 1731-2, which was only thirty-two years after the act of King William, and only sixteen after the act of Queen Ann, a period during which there had scarcely been any sensible diminution in the value of money, it appears from the sessions papers that, of thirty-three persons indicted at the Old Bailey...