Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/196

 184- PUBLIC BOOK IV. tion of a capital crime ; which is not only a matter of excufe, but of j uftification. But the felf-defence, which we are now fpeaking of, is that whereby a man may protedl himfelf from an affault, or the like, in the courfe of a fudden brawl or quarrel, by killing him who affaults him. And this is what the law exprefies by the word chance-medley, or (as fome rather chufe to write it) chaiid-medley ; the former of which in it's etymology fignifies a cajud affray, the latter an affray in the heat of blood or paffion : both of them of pretty much the fame import ; but the former is in common fpeech too often erroneoufly applied to any man- ner of homicide by mifadventure ; whereas it appears by the ftatute 24 Hen. VIII. c. 5. and our antient books ', that it is pro- perly applied to fuch killing, as happens in felf-defence upon a fudden rencounter m. This right of natural defence does not imply a right of attacking : for, inftead of attacking one another for injuries paft or impending, men need only have recourfe to the proper tribunals of juftice. They cannot therefore legally exercife this right of preventive defence, but in fudden and violent cafes j when certain and immediate fuffering would be the confequence of waiting for the afllftance of the law. Wherefore, to excufe homicide by the plea of felf-defence, it muft appear that the flayer had no other pofllble means of efcaping from his aflailant. I N fome cafes this fpecies of homicide (upon chance-medley in felf-defence) differs but little from manflaughter, which alfo hap- pens frequently upon chance-medley in the proper legal fenfe of the word ". But the true criterion between them feems to be this : when both parties are adlually combating at the time when the mortal ftroke is given, the flayer is then guilty of manflaugh- ter j but if the flayer hath not begun to fight, or (having begun) endeavours to decline any farther ftruggle, and afterwards, being clofely prefled by his antagonift, kills him to avoid his own destruction, this is homicide excufable by felf-defence . For which reafon the law requires, that the perfon, who kills another 1 Staundf. P. C. 16. 3 Inft. 55. ra 3 Inlt. 55. 57. Foft. z;5, 276. Foil. 277. in