The Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of 1869, 32-33 Vict., for the Dominion of Canada

appear promptly, say after three or four minutes, that it is not recorded according to the intention of the jury, it may be vacated and set right: Rex vs. Parkin, 1 Mood. 45; even, if the prisoner has been discharged from the dock, he will be immediately brought back, on the jury which had not left the box saying that "not guilty" has been entered by mistake, and that " guilty” is their verdict: Reg. vs. Vodden, Dears. 229.

A Judge is not bound to receive the first verdict which the jury gives, but may send them to reconsider it. Pollock, C. B., said, in Reg. vs. Meany, L. & C. 216: "A Judge has a right, and in some cases it is his bounden duty, whether in a civil or a criminal cause, to tell the jury to reconsider their verdict. He is not bound to receive their verdict unless they insist upon his doing so; and where they reconsider their verdict, and alter it, the second, and not the first, is really the verdict of the jury:" see Rex vs. Smith, 1 Russell, 749 ; Archbold, 166; Bacon's Abr. Verb. " verdict"; 5 Burn's Just., 358.

INSPECTION OF DEPOSITIONS, AT TRIAL, BY PRISON

ERS.

Sec. 46. All persons under trial shall be entitled, at the time of their trial, to inspect, without fee or reward, all depositions (or copies thereof), taken against them, and returned into the Court before which such trial is had.

This is the 6 & 7 Will. IV., ch. 114, sec. 4 of the Imperial Statutes.

By sec. 58 of the 32-33 Vic. ch. 30, "An Act respecting the duties of Justices of the Peace, out of Sessions, in relation to persons charged with indictable of fences," it is enacted that:

"At any time after all the examinations have been completed, and before the first sitting of the Court at which any person so committed to prison or admitted to bail is to be tried, such person may require and shall be entitled to have, from the officer or person having the custody of the same, copies of the depositions on which he has been committed or bailed, on payment of a reasonable sum for the same, not exceeding the rate of five cents for each folio of one hundred words."

See post, section 48 of the Procedure Act of 1869.

COPY OF INDICTMENT MAY BE GIVEN.

Sec. 47.-Every person indicted for any crime or offence shall, before being arraigned on the indictment, be entitled to a copy thereof, on paying the clerk ten cents per folio for the same, if the Court is of opinion that the same can be made without delay to the trial, but not otherwise.

At common law the prisoner was never entitled to a copy of the indictment in cases of treason or felony : 1 Chitty, 403.

It would seem that the words "of one hundred words" have been omitted after the word "folio": see ante, sec. 58, of 32-33 Vic. ch. 30. As the clause

stands, for what are the ten cents payable ? What is therein meant by a folio?

COPIES OF DEPOSITIONS RETURNED INTO COURT.

Sec. 48.-Every person indicted shall be entitled to a copy of the depositions returned into Court on payment of ten cents per folio for the same, provided, (if the same are not demanded before the opening of the Assizes, Term, Sittings, or Sessions,) the Court is of opinion that the same can be made without delay to the trial, but not otherwise; but the Court may, if it see fit, postpone the trial on account of such copy of the depositions not having been previously had by the person charged.

What has been remarked under the last preceding section as to the meaning of the word "folio" may also apply here.

This clause seems to apply to the case where the copies mentioned are asked for after the opening of the first term of the Court, after the prisoner's arrest, whilst sec. 58, of 32-33 Vic. ch. 30 applies to such demand when made before this sitting of the Court.

VERDICT AND PUNISHMENT IN CASES WHERE OFFENCE NOT COMPLETED.

Sec. 49.-If, on trial of any person charged with any felony or misdemeanor, it appears to the jury upon the evidence, that the defendant did not complete the offence charged, but that he was guilty only

of an attempt to commit the same, such person shall not, by reason thereof, be entitled to be acquitted, but the jury shall be at liberty to return as their verdict that the defendant is not guilty of the felony or misdemeanor charged, but is guilty of an attempt to commit the same; and thereupon such person shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as if he had been convicted upon an indictment for attempting to commit the particular felony or misdemeanor charged in the indictment; and no person tried as lastly mentioned shall be liable to be afterwards prosecuted for committing or attempting to commit the felony or misdemeanor for which he was so tried.

This clause is textually taken, with the exception of the words in italics, from sec. 9 of 14-15 Vic. ch. 100, of the English Statutes, upon which Greaves has the following remarks:

"As the law existed before the passing of this Act, (except in the case of the trial for murder of a child, and the offences falling within the 1 Vic. ch. 85, s.. 11), [Sec. 51 of the Procedure Act of 1869, see post] there was no power upon the trial of an indictment for any felony to find a verdict against a prisoner for anything less than a felony, or upon the trial of an indictment for a misdemeanor to find a verdict for an attempt to commit such misdemeanor. At the same time the general principle of the common law was, that upon a charge of felony or misdemeanor composed of several ingredients, the jury might convict of so much of the charge as constituted a felony or misdemeanor: Rex. vs. Hollingbury, 4 B. & C. 329. The reason why, upon

stands, for what are the ten cents payable? therein meant by a folio?

What is