tion or confirmation, this is held sufficient. On the other hand, two or even more socii criminis require corroboration by witnesses, or circumstances, or confessions; circumstantial proof alone may suffice. Indeed, circumstantial proof is often all that can be obtained in many cases. Those who have chiefly dealt with English Law often say that one witness of a crime is as good as any number of witnesses. This is true in a certain sense, but the Legislature have declared two to be necessary in treason, and yet have allowed one to be sufficient in murder and in crimes almost as serious. Practically the question of circumstantial evidence goes a far way in the criminal trials of all countries, and, consequently, the difference between theory and practice in England and Scotland is not so great as it at first appears.

The evidence being concluded, the prosecutor and the accused may address the Jury, and the latter may give evidence in his defence. Thereafter the Judge charges the Jury, who pronounce a verdict of guilty, not guilty, or not proven. The verdict may be given by a majority, and is delivered by the foreman of the Jury and is taken down in the Record by the clerk, along with any recommendation the Jury may make, and all those things must be done in the presence of the accused.

The verdict may be general or special, but must dispose of the whole charge against the prisoner. If a verdict absolving him is given, he is entitled to his release; and if one convicting him is pronounced, the prosecutor must always apply for judgment, and then, and not till then, the sentence is announced by the presiding Judge and entered by the clerk. A capital sentence must fix a date for execution not sooner than 15 days or more than 27 days after judgment.

Proceedings after the Trial.-The proceedings after trial alone remain to be explained.

When sentence of death or corporal pain is not executed

at the time fixed, and there is no formal "sist," it cannot be afterwards enforced. The Court of Justiciary may grant a respite, and fix a later day for the execution where they think fit, and the Sovereign may order respite for a certain period, or until notification of the Royal pleasure. The High Court issue the necessary orders for carrying out the Royal respite.

There are three modes of review of the proceedings in Inferior Courts, namely, advocation, suspension, and appeal. The first is properly applicable to cases where a reversal is sought of a decision pronounced in the preliminary part of a prosecution, e.g., where the petty Judge improperly dismisses a complaint as irrelevant, or declines to pronounce judgment, or dismisses a complaint but does not award costs. Suspension is the procedure by which an illegal warrant or bad conviction can be annulled. The proceedings are taken by the presentation of a bill to the High Court. A single Judge may pass the bill, and thus stop proceedings; but the ordinary quorum is requisite to dispose finally of the reasons of the bill. Appeal is in some cases to the Quarter Sessions, and in others to the next Circuit Court; and, in all these, notice of appeal, stating the cause and matter thereof must be given to the respondent, and, unless a bond of caution is lodged with it, is invalid. A party complaining of proceedings may not go beyond the grounds given by him in the reasons lodged; and in many Statutory offences, and in all cases tried before the Sheriff and a Jury, a review on the merits is excluded. When the appeal is competent, the Supreme Court will deal with the matters as the inferior Courts ought to have done, or remit it to the inferior Court with instructions. A pardon must come from the Crown, or be obtained from the Legislature.

Conclusion, and Amendments Proposed in English Criminal Procedure.-What, then, are the lessons which we may be taught by this brief outline of the Criminal Procedure in Scotland?

1. That Coroners in England should be lawyers; should undertake the preliminary investigation of all offences which are to be tried at the Central Criminal Court, or on Circuit, or at the Quarter Sessions, and take all steps necessary for and up to the trial of such offences; that they should be appointed for districts and approved of by the Home Secretary, and be paid fixed salaries from the Consolidated Fund.

2. That a Crown office for public prosecutions, under the supervision of the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and a sufficient number of deputies, should be established for conducting prosecutions in all offences which are to be tried at the Central Criminal Court or at the Assizes.

3. That the members of the Bar of each Circuit, and the Incorporated Society of Solicitors in England, should annually appoint some of their number to act gratuitously for poor prisoners in all cases in which legal assistance was asked.

4. That Grand Juries should be abolished.

5. That the jurisdiction of Justices should be restricted within the narrowest limits, and arrangements made for local monthly Courts for the trial of all offenders, except those who are charged with murder, rape, and wilful fire raising; and that the Supreme Judges should hold Circuits three, or even four, times a year for the trial of great offences.

6. That the prisoner ought to be allowed to give evidence on oath in a criminal charge alleged against him.

7. That previous convictions should be given in evidence by the prosecutor in leading his evidence in chief.

8. That the use of anything in the shape of depositions at the trial of a prisoner should be abolished.

9. That the verdict of the majority should be accepted in all Criminal trials; and that the Jurors on Criminal trials should be composed of special and petty Jurors in the proportion of four of the former and eight of the latter.

10. That the Judge or Judges before whom a complaint may be brought should be empowered, at their discretion, to find every private prosecutor liable for the defendants' or prisoners' costs.

II. That, in the trial of indecent offences, the general public should be excluded from the Court during the proceedings, and the doors of the Court opened when the Jury delivered their verdict.

12. That the Court of Crown Cases Reserved should be abolished, and that all the cases now brought before that Court, and all other cases of Appeal, should be finally disposed of by a Criminal Court of Appeal consisting of the chiefs of the Supreme Court and three or four ordinary Judges. That one Judge of such Court of Appeal should have power to make any order of an interlocutory nature, and that three or four should be a quorum.

13. That a Code of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure should be drawn up for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and that all the jurisdictions throughout the United Kingdom should be brought into harmony and placed on the same footing.

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.

339

VI.-PARISH REGISTERS.*

FROM time to time some case like that of Jennens, which

recently came before the Courts, recalls the attention of the general public as well as of the legal profession to the old Parish Registers of England, and to the urgent necessity for taking immediate and effectual steps for the preservation, and protection from fraudulent manipulation, of these important National Records.

The institution of Parish Registers, as we all know, was due to Thomas Cromwell, the able minister of Henry VIII., who, as Ecclesiastical Vice-gerent of the King, issued an Injunction in 1538, ordering every parson, vicar, or curate for every church "to keep one Book or Register, wherein he should write the day and year of every wedding, christening and burial and also there insert every person's name that should be so wedded, christened and buried." For the safe custody of the Registers the parishioners were ordered "to provide of their common charges one sure coffer with two locks and keys," one key to be retained by the parson the other by the churchwardens. From Henry VIII. down to the present time, scarcely a Abstract of the Answers and Returns made pursuant to the Act for taking an Account of the Population, 1831. Ordered to be printed, 1833. Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Parochial Registration, 1833.

Sketch of the History and Imperfect condition of the Parochial Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland. By George Seton, Esq., Advocate, M.A., Oxon. Edinburgh, 1854.

History of Parish Registers. By John Southerden Burn, Esq. 2nd edition, 1862

Seventeenth Report of the Deputy Clerk Register of Scotland, 1864.

Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland (23 & 24 Vict. c. 85, secs. 6 & 7; and 17 & 18 Vict. c. 80, sec. 20.) Edinburgh, printed for the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 1872.

Parish Registers: A Plea for their Preservation. By T. P. Taswell-Lang. mead, B.C.L., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law. 1872.