Part 23 (2/2)
Eleven years after pa.s.sing of the above mentioned Statute, the Legislature, appearing to be impressed with the great extent of the depredations committed by persons stealing _pewter pots_, and desirous to punish the Receivers, the Statute of the 21st of George the Third, cap. 69, enacts, ”_that every person who shall buy or receive any pewter pot or other vessel, or any pewter in any form or shape whatsoever, knowing the same to be stolen, or who shall privately buy or receive stolen pewter, in a clandestine manner, between sun-setting and sun-rising, shall on conviction, be transported for seven years, or detained in the House of Correction, at hard labour for a term not exceeding three years, nor less than one; and may be whipped not more than three times; although the princ.i.p.al felon has not been convicted_.”
In the following Session of Parliament, the Statute 22 George III. c.
28. (said to have been framed by an able and experienced Lawyer and Magistrate),[78] 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, bra.s.s, bell-metal, or solder, the Receivers of which are punishable under the_ 29th George II. c. 30. _noticed before, p. 295.) 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_; see page 295.)--_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 empowered to try offenders, or any other Court before whom they shall be tried, shall think fit, although the Princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al shall be afterwards convicted_.”--Sect. 1.
[Footnote 78: Mr. Serjeant ADAIR, then Recorder of London.]
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 be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished in the manner before-mentioned_.--Sect. 9.
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_.--Sec. 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 p.a.w.ned, to apprehend the person offering the same, and to carry him before a Justice_.--Sec. 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 15 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 committed 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 subst.i.tuting, 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.
That these Laws, numerous as they are, and applicable as many of them appear to be, have not been in any degree effectual, is clearly manifested by the unquestionable increase of the evil, even to an extent beyond all calculation.
Under such circ.u.mstances, where the Receiver is in reality the greatest offender, and even the source from whence most of the burglaries and highway robberies have their origin, the Thief being not seldom his pupil--_Why should not the Receipt of Stolen Goods be made an original offence?[79]--Why should not the rewards for detection, and the punishment on conviction, be the same, in the case both of the Receiver and the Thief?_
[Footnote 79: The general rule of the ancient Law is this;--that Accessaries shall suffer the same punishment as Princ.i.p.als. If one be liable to death, the other is also liable. BLACKSTONE.
In France, (before the Revolution) the offence of receiving stolen goods was punished with death.]
In contemplating the best means of preventing depredations upon the public, the simplest and perhaps the most effectual mode would be to _make a stand at this particular point_; by bending the attention _wholly_ to the means of destroying effectually _the trade of Receiving stolen goods_; under the fullest conviction that by accomplis.h.i.+ng so valuable a purpose, thieving and swindling in all its branches would also be, in a great measure, destroyed.
It is believed, that this object (difficult as it may appear) is attainable, by well digested applicable laws, containing and enforcing such regulations as would ensure a full and energetic execution.
The importance of a measure of this kind is so immense, that if even a considerable part of one Session of Parliament were employed in devising and legalizing a proper System, it would be time well and usefully spent for the benefit of the Country.
The obvious means of remedy seem to lie within a narrow compa.s.s. The first point to be obtained is the _Licensing_ all those dealers (some of them already particularized in pages 292, 293), whose various branches of trade are friendly to the encouragement of depredations; and the putting them under the control of the _Central Board of Police_, in the manner stated more fully in the concluding part of this Work.--
The next step must be to consolidate and improve the Laws now in being, relative to _Receivers of stolen goods_; by an arrangement which shall render the whole _clear_ and _explicit_, and applicable to all the evils which have been felt to exist.
And lastly to make the following additions to these Laws:
”1. To make the receiving stolen goods an _original offence_; punishable in the same manner, in all cases, as the princ.i.p.al felony is punishable by Law.
”2. The offence of receiving _money, bank notes, horses, cattle, poultry_, or _any matter_ or thing whatsoever, to be the same as receiving goods and chattels.
”3. The persons committing any felony or larceny to be competent to give evidence against the Receiver, and _vice versa_; Provided that the testimony and evidence of such Princ.i.p.al Felon against the Receiver, or the evidence of the Receiver against the Princ.i.p.al Felon, shall not be of itself sufficient to convict, without other concurrent evidence: and that the offenders so giving evidence shall be ent.i.tled to his Majesty's pardon, and also to a reward of from 10_l._ to 50_l._ as hereafter mentioned; unless they shall be found guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury.--_By this means the Thief will be set against the Receiver, and the Receiver against the Thief._
”4. That rewards be paid for the detection and apprehension of Receivers as well as Thieves, in all cases whatsoever, according to the discretion of the Judge; _whether there shall be a conviction or not_; which reward shall not be less than _ten_ and may extend to _fifty pounds_.
”5. That the various cla.s.ses of dealers to be licensed shall enter into recognizance for their good behaviour: and that no licences be granted to persons having been convicted of felony or perjury, nor to any but such as can obtain and produce a certificate of good character.
”6. That all such licensed dealers, as also _Publicans_, _p.a.w.nbrokers_, &c. shall be subject to a penalty for concealing any stolen goods which may come into their possession, after the same are advertised;--or punished with transportation, if it can be made appear that such goods were purchased at an under value, being known to be stolen.
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