Petty Larceny shall be, where the goods stolen are of less value than five dollars; and whosoever shall be guilty thereof, shall be forthwith put in the pillory for a quarter of an hour, shall be condemned to hard labor one year in the public works, and shall make reparation to the person injured.
Robbery* or larceny of bonds, bills obligatory, bills of exchange, or
promissory notes for the payment of money or tobacco, lottery tickets,
paper bills issued in the nature of money, or of certificates of loan on
the credit of this Commonwealth, or of all or any of the United States
of America, or Inspectors’ notes for tobacco, shall be punished in the
same manner as robbery,or larceny of the money or tobacco due on or
represented by such papers.* 2 G. 2. c. 25 §3; 7 G 3. c. 50.
Buyers* and receivers of goods taken by way of robbery or larceny, knowing them to have been so taken, shall be deemed accessaries to such robbery or larceny after the fact.
* 3 &. 4 W. & M. c. 9. § 4; 5 Ann. c. 31. § 5; 4 G. 1. c.
11. § 1.
Prison breakers,* also, shall be deemed accessaries after the fact, to traitors or felons whom they enlarge from prison.**
* 1 E. 2.
** Breach of prison at the Common law was capital, without
regard to the crime for which the party was committed. ‘Cum
pro criminis qualitate in carcerem recepti fuerint,
conspiraverint (ut ruptis vinculis aut fracto carcere)
evadant, atnplius (quam causa pro qua recepti sunt exposuit)
puniendi sunt, videlicet ultimo supplicio, quamvis ex eo
crimine innocentes inveniantur, propter quod inducti sunt in
carcerem et imparcati.’ Bracton L. 3, c. 9. § 4. Britt. c.
11. Fleta, L. 1. c. 26. § 4. Yet in the Y. B. Hill. 1 H. 7.
2. Hussey says, that, by the opinion of Billing and Choke,
and all the Justices, it was a felony in strangers only, but
not in the prisoner himself. S. C. Fitz. Abr. Co-ron. 48.
They are principal felons, not accessaries, ib. Whether it
was felony in the prisoner at Common law, is doubted. Stam.
P. C. 30. b. The Mirror c. 5. § 1. says, ‘Abusion est a
tener escape de prisoner, ou de bruserie del gaole pur peche
mortal 1, car eel usage nest garrant per nul ley, ne in nul
part est use forsque in cest realme, et en France, ems
[mais] est leu garrantie de ceo faire per la ley de nature’
2 Inst. 589. The stat. 1 E. 2, ‘de fragentibus priso-nam,’
‘restrained the judgment of life and limb for prison-
breaking, to cases where the offence of the prisoner
required such judgment.’
It is not only vain but wicked, in a legislator to frame
laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to arm them
with the terrors of death. This is truly creating crimes in
order to punish them. The law of nature impels every one to
escape from confinement; it should not, therefore, be
subjected to punishment. Let the legislator restrain his
criminal by walls, not by parchment. As to strangers
breaking prison to enlarge an offender, they should, and may
be fairly considered as accessaries after the fact. This
bill saying nothing of the prisoner releasing himself by
breach of jail, he will have the benefit of the first
section of the bill, which repeals the judgment of life and
death at the Common law.
All attempts to delude the people, or to abuse their understanding by exercise of the pretended arts of witchcraft, conjuration, enchantment, or sorcery, or by pretended prophecies, shall be punished by ducking and whipping, at the discretion of a jury, not, exceeding fifteen stripes.*
* ‘Gifwiecan owwe wigleras mansworan, owwe morthwyrhtan owwe
fule afylede eebere horcwenan ahwhar on lande wurthan
agytene, thonne fyrsie man of earde, and claensie lha.
theode, owwe on earde forfare hi mid ealle, buton hi
geswican and the deoper gebetan:’ ‘if witches, or weirds,
man-swearers, or murther-wroughters, or foul, defiled, open
whore-queens, ay—where in the land were gotten, then force
them off earth, and cleanse the nation, or in earth forth-
fare them withal, buton they beseech, and deeply better.’
LI. Ed. et Guthr. c. 11. ‘Saga; mulieres barbara
factitantes sacrificia, aut pestiferi, si cui mortem
intulerint, neque id inficiari poterint, capitis pcena
esto.’ LI. Aethelst. c. 6. apud Lambard. LI. Aelfr. 30. LI.
Cnuti. c. 4. ‘Mesmo eel jugement (d’etrears) eyent
sorcers, et sorceresses,’ &c. ut supra. Fleta tit et ubi
supra. 3 Inst. 44. Trial of witches before Hale, in 1664.
The statutes 33 H. 8. c. 8. 5. El. c. 16 and 1. Jac. 1. c.
12. seem to be only in confirmation of the Common law. 9 G.
2. c. 25. punishes them with pillory and a year’s
imprisonment 3 E. 6 c 15. 5 El. c. 15. punish fond,
fantastical, and false prophecies, by fine and imprisonment.
If the principal offenders be fled,* or secreted from justice, in any case not touching life or member, the accessaries may, notwithstanding, be prosecuted as if their principal were convicted.**
* 1 Ann. c. 9. § 2.
**As every treason includes within it a misprision of
treason, so every felony includes a misprision, or
misdemeanor. 1 Hale P. C. 652. 75S. ‘Licet fuerit felonia,
tamen in eo continetur misprisio.’ 2 R. 3.10. Both principal
and accessary, therefore, may be proceeded against in any
case, either for felony, or misprision, at the Common law.
Capital cases not being mentioned here, accessaries to them
will of course be triable for misprisions, if the offender
flies.