Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/686

668 banks of two small streams called the Cervo and Aurena, the palatial old houses of the upper portion being now inhabited by the poorer classes. Several of the streets have arcades along the sides. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral, an episcopal palace, and a theological seminary. The principal industries arc the manufacture of cloth and paper, and the trade consists mainly in oil, chestnuts, and silk. Population in 1870, 11,935.  BIELOPOLI, a town of Russia in the government of Kharkoff, near the Vuira and Kriuga, 37 miles N.W. from the town of Sum, in 51 9 N. lat., and 34 19 E long. It was founded in 1672. A very extensive trade in wheat, salted fish, salt, pitch, and timber is carried on by the inhabitants, who number upwards of 12,000.  BIELOSTOK (in Polish ), a town of Russia, in the government of Grodno, in 53 8 N. lat. and 23 9 E. long., 50 miles S.W. of Grodno on the River Biela, a tributary of the Suprasla. Founded in the 14th century it was long an important proprietary village belonging to the Veselovskis. In the 17th century it passed to the Branetskis, at whose solicitation Augustus III., in 1749, raised it to the rank of a borough and gave it civic rights. This increased its prosperity, and after the third partition of Poland in 1793, the Prussian Government, to whom it had been assigned, made it the seat of an administrative department. By the peace of Tilsit in 1807, Bielostok was given to Russia along with the department of the same name, which in 1808 was divided into the four districts of Bielostok, Bielsk, Sokol, and Drogotchin. The public buildings of Bielostok comprise a Greek and a Roman Catholic church, several synagogues, a hospital, a castle (used as a prison), a gymnasium, an institution for the daughters of the nobility, and various other schools. There are three cloth factories and an extensive brewery ; cotton and wool -spinning are both carried on, and leather, oil, soap, and tallow are manufactured. There is also an important trade in grain, wood, and various industrial articles. In 1860 the population was 16,544, no fewer than 11,288 being Jews.  BIENHOA, the capital of one of the six provinces of Lower Cochin-China, situated about 20 miles to the north west of Saigon, on a canal that connects it with that city. It was captured by the French admiral Bonard in 1861, and is now one of the fortified posts in the French posses sions. Sugar-mills were started in 1869 by an English company; but, owing to the jealousy of the Anamites, they had soon to be closed. The population of the &quot; Inspection &quot; of Bienhoa is 19,260.  BIEZHETZ, a town of Russia, in the government of Tver, and 181 miles from that city, situated on the right bank of the Mologa, in 57 46 N. lat. and 36 43 E. long. On the left bank of the river lies the suburban village of Shtap, chiefly inhabited by the lower orders. Biezhetz is mentioned in the chronicles of 1137. On the fall of Novgorod, to which it had belonged, it was incorporated with the grand-duchy of Moscow ; and in 1771 it was added to the government of Tver. Candles, leather, brandy, beer, flour, malt, oil, and bricks are all manufactured ; but a more important branch of industry is the making of bags for grain and flour. There are two weekly markets and two annual fairs. Population in 1860, 5423.  BIGAMY, according to the statute now in force (24 and 25 Viet. c. 100, 57), is the offence committed by a person who &quot; being married shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife.&quot; In the canon law the word had a rather wider meaning, and the marriage of a widow came within its scope. At the Council of Lyons (1274 A.D.) bigamists were stripped of their privilege of clergy. This canon was adopted and explained by the English statute 4 Edward I. st. 3, c. 5 ; and bigamy, there fore, became a usual counterplea to the claim of benefit of clergy. However, by 1 Edward VI. c. 12, 16, every person entitled to the benefit of clergy is to be allowed the same, &quot; although he hath been divers times married to any single woman or single women, or to any widow or widows, or to two wives or more.&quot; A bigamous marriage, by the ecclesiastical law of England, is simply void. By the statute 1 James I. c. 11, confirmed by later statutes, the offence was made a felony. It is immaterial whether the second marriage has taken place within England and Ireland or elsewhere, and the offence may be dealt with in any county or place where the defendant shall be appre hended or be in custody. The following clause embodies the necessary exceptions to the very general language used in the definition of the offence : &quot; Provided that nothing in this section contained shall extend to any second marriage contracted elsewhere than in England and Ireland by any other than a subject of Her Majesty, or to any person marrying a second time whose husband or wife shall have been continuously absent from such person for the space of seven years then last past, and shall not have been known by such person to be living within that time, or shall extend to any person who at the time of such second marriage shall have been divorced from the bond of the first marriage, or to any person whose former marriage shall have been declared void by any court of competent jurisdiction.&quot; The punishment is penal servi tude for not more than seven nor less than five years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour, not exceeding- two years. A valid marriage must be proved in the first instance in order to support a charge of bigamy. A voidable marriage, such as were marriages between persons within the prohibited degrees before 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 54, will be sufficient, but a marriage which is absolutely void, as all such marriages now are, will not. For example, if a woman marry B during the lifetime of her husband A, and after A s death marry C during the lifetime of B, her marriage with C is not bigamous, because her marriage with B was a nullity. In regard to the second marriage (which constitutes the offence) the English courts have held that it is immaterial whether, but for the bigamy, it would have been a valid marriage or not. An uncle, for example, cannot marry his niece ; but if being already married he goes through the ceremony of marriage with her he is guilty of bigamy. In an Irish case, however, it has been held that to constitute the offence the second marriage must be one which, but for the existence of the former marriage, would have been valid. With reference to the case in which the parties to the first marriage have been divorced, it may be observed that no sentence or act of any foreign country can dissolve an English marriage a vinculo for grounds on which it is not liable to be dissolved a vinculo in England (R. v. Lolley, in Russell and Ryan s Criminal Cases, 237). Hence, a divorce a vinculo for adultery, in a Scotch court, of persons married in England is not within the statute. In Scotland, at the date of the only statute respecting bigamy, that of 1551, cap. 19, the offence seems to have been chiefly considered in a religious point of view, as a sort of perjury, or violation of the solemn vow or oath which was then used in contracting marriage ; and, accordingly, it was ordained to be punished with the proper pains of perjury. But this injunction has not in every instance been complied with j and, from considerations of policy or expediency, the court has long been in the habit of in flicting an arbitrary punishment, suited, as nearly as may be, to the degree of guilt brought home to the prisoner. Neither marriage need be regular, but it is not yet settled whether a marriage constituted by habit and repute, or by promise subsequente copula, can be relevantly libelled in a 