Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/208

 1% FEPKBilL BECOBTEB, �muteness a,ioae ex visitatione J)ei or ex malitia; that if it were foond that th^^ muteness were from the visitatioi;i of Go4, the court' qould proceedto trial as if there, were a pl^a of not guilty; and that jf it wei^e depided that the muteness was ex malitia, and the offenca were; a f el^cny, there could be no trial, bepause np issu^ and no conyiction without a tria,l,:i)ecause the pffe^ce wa» notjX^f tixe higbest degree, a,8: treason, or of the, lowest degrec,;a,9 petit, ip,rceny, The queatipci was thor- ouglily discus^ed by ,epiinent,counacl, and ihe court, takiiig a broaid and, compjrehen^ive y,}&Y. '^^ the question, held that it had np: ^oubt of itis.power to proceed to the trial of the aocused ; that in f,view ,of the proyieipna of the constitution that the trial of al^, crimes, excjept in cases of .impeachment,. shall be;,by jury, and that every perspn shall have a f air and impartial tri^l by Jury, ^n, a,, ^f iminal proseeution.j and in view of thgjcognizance given to the circuit cpurt of all crimes and pffences cognipable under the. auth(>rity .of the United Statcs, the accused could not, hy aiiy inanagement, evade, a trial by jury ; that the prescription of the punishmept im- plied conviction, and that impl,ied^a trial by a jury, conductpd in.a.,mannei;,,provided,by kw, ai^d. that the principle of'\l^fi strict constructipn.of a penal statute could not require ittp be so cpnstrued.aa to prevent ,a trial altogether, The, court orderedthe; trial to procped as, if the plea were not, guilty.: :; T.hp,f9reigoing,,view, is'conspnant with, reason, aijid wi]th th^ only proper admini^ration of ,tlie criminal law. In the pres- ent case the court diriecteid the plea of not guilty io be en^ered, and that was done. This was a matter of form, and was no prejudice to the defendant, and amounted to no more than or(^ering the trial to proceed as if such plea were entered. Irrespective of» the foregoing views, the wor.d "indicted," in Bection 1032, is fairly to be construed to;.include an informa- tion. An information generally di^rp in nothing frqm an indictment in its form and substance, except that it is uled by the proper law officer of the govemment, ex officia, without the in};erventiou or approval.of a grand jij.j-y. 2 Story on Const. (4th Ed.) § 1786, In The Queen r- Steel, L. E. 2 Q. B. Div. 37, 40, Lord Coleridge saye thata criminal informa- ��� �