tute 22 George III, c. 58, said to have been framed by an able and experienced lawyer and magistrate,* removed many of the imperfections of former statutes, and particularly that which respected petty larceny, by enacting, "that where any goods, except lead, iron, copper, brass, bellmetal, or solder, the receivers of which are punishable under the 29th George II, c. 30, noticed before) have been stolen, whether the offence amount to grand larceny, or some greater offence, or to petty larceny only; (except where the offender has been convicted of grand larceny or some greater offence; when the receiver must be prosecuted as an accessary, and under the 4th George I, c. 11, may be transported for fourteen years. Every person who shall buy or receive the same, knowing them to be stolen, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine, imprisonment, or whipping, as the quarter sessions, who are em powered to try offenders, or any other court before whom they shall be tried, shall think fit, although the principal be not convicted; and if the felony amounts to grand larceny, or some greater offence, and the person committing such felony has not been before convicted, such offender shall be exempted from being punished as accessary, if the principal shall be afterwards convicted." Sect. 1.

This act also empowers "one justice to grant a warrant to search for stolen goods in the day-time, on oath being made that there are just grounds of suspicion; and the person concealing the said goods, or in whose custody they are found, shall, in like manner,

*Mr. Serjeant Adair, then recorder of London.

manner, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished in the manner before-mentioned." Sect. 2.

The same act extended the powers granted by `former acts relative to metals, to any other kind of goods; by authorizing peace officers, and also watchmen while on duty, to apprehend all persons suspected of carrying stolen goods, after sun-setting and before sun-rising, who shall, on conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and imprisoned, not exceeding six nor less than three months. Sect. 3.

Power is also given by this act to any person to whom goods suspected to be stolen shall be offered to be sold or pawned to apprehend the person offering the same, and to carry him before a justice. Sect. 4.

And as an encouragement to young thieves to discover the receivers, the same act provides, "That if any person or persons, being out of custody or in custody, if under the age of fifteen years, upon any charge of felony within benefit of clergy, shall have committed any felony, and shall discover two receivers, so as that they shall be convicted, such discoverer shall have pardon for all felonies by him commited before such discovery."

These various acts of parliament prove how very prominent the evil of receiving stolen goods has been in the view of the legislature. It is to be lamented, however, that a more general and comprehensive view has not been taken of the subject, by substituting, instead of the piece meal system which has been from time to time adopted, on suggestions applicable only to particular cases, one general law, that should have embraced every object, and remedied every defect in the existing statutes on this important subject of criminal jurisprudence. Ibid.

In

In many cases of importance, to the reproach of the police, recourse is had to noted and known receivers of stolen goods for their assistance in discovering such offenders, and of pointing out the means by which the property may be recovered. This has on many occasions been productive of suc cess to the parties who have been robbed, as well as to the ends of public justice; for however lamentable it is to think that magistrates are compelled to have recourse to such expedients, yet while the present system continues, and while robberies and burglaries are so frequent, without the means of prevention, there is no alternative, on many occasions, “but to employ a thief to catch a thief." Ibid.

REWARDS.

Let us now enquire whether it be advantageous to society to set a price on the head of a criminal, and so to make of every citizen an executioner. If the offender bath taken refuge in another state, the sovereign encourages his subjects to commit a crime, and to expose themselves to a just punishment; he insults that nation, and authorizes the subjects to commit on their neighbours similar usurpations. If the criminal still remain in his own country, to set a price upon his head is the strongest proof of the weakness of the government. He who has strength to defend himself will not purchase the assistance of another. Besides, such an edict confounds all the ideas of virtue and morality, already too wavering in the mind of man. At one time, treachery is punished by the laws; at another, encouraged. With one hand, the legislator strengthens the ties of kindred and friendship; and with the other, rewards the violation of both. Always in contradiction

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with himself, now he invites the suspecting minds of men to mutual confidence, and now he plants distrust in every heart. To prevent one crime, he gives birth to a thousand. Such are the expedients of weak nations, whose laws are like temporary repairs to a tottering fabric. On the contrary, as a nation becomes more enlightened, honesty and mutual confidence become more necessary, and are daily tending to unite with sound policy. Artifice, cabal, and obscure and indirect actions, are more easily discovered, and the interest of the whole is better secured against the passions of the individual.

Even the times of ignorance, when private virtue was encouraged by public morality, may afford instruction and example to more enlightened ages. But laws which reward treason excite clandestine war and mutual distrust, and oppose that necessary union of morality and policy which is the foundation of happiness and universal peace. Beccariu.

It might be expedient that the stipend of the petty constables should be very moderate, and that their remunerations should, partly at least, arise from premiums and gratuities, granted by the judges and magistrates, for meritorious services to the public, actually performed; for which there would so many opportunities occur, that no fit man, acting as a constable under such a system, and doing his duty conscientiously, need be under any apprehension of obtaining a very comfortable livelihood.

The invariable rule of rewarding, in every case where it can be made appear that any useful public service has been performed, would have a most wonderful effect in preventing crimes. The expence, if judiciously and economically managed,

need

need not exceed, in any material degree, the present aggregate of what is disbursed in different ways, in all the branches of the police and criminal establishment; it might, in fact, be defrayed, as well as every other charge, by the police itself, under the direction of the central board, from the produce of the licences proposed to be granted for regulating particular classes of dealers, by whose aid and assistance, in supporting thieves and pilferers, such a system is rendered necessary. Colquhoun.

If small rewards were given in cases of grand larceny, now very numerous, as well as of several other felonies, frauds, and misdemeanors, a species of activity would enter into the system of detection which has not heretofore been experienced.

While rewards are limited to higher offences, and conviction is the indispensible condition upon which they are granted, it is much to be feared that lesser crimes are overlooked, and the public subjected, in many instances, to the intermediate depredations of a rogue, from his first starting upon the town until he shall be worth 401.

This system of giving high rewards only on conviction also tends to weaken evidence; since it is obvious that the counsel for all prisoners whose offences entitle the prosecutor and officers to a reward, generally endeavour to impress upon the minds of the jury an idea, that witnesses who have a pecuniary interest in the conviction of any offender standing upon trial are not, on all occasions, deserving of full credit, unless strongly corroborated by other evidence; and thus many notorious offenders often escape justice. Ibid.

It had been usual, for many years previous to 1752, when robberies were committed, to make a

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