Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/212

 200 PUBLIC BOOK IV. fervant with an .iron bar, and a fchoolmafter ftamped on his fcholar's belly ; fo that each of the fufferers died ; thefe were juftly held to be murders, becaufe the correction being exceflive, and fuch as could not proceed but from a bad heart, it was equi- valent to a deliberate act of {laughter 2. Neither mall he be guilty of a lefs crime, who kills another in confequence of fuch a wilful act, as {hews him to be an enemy to all mankind in general j as going deliberately with a horfe ufed to ftrike, or dif- charging a gun, among a multitude of people a. So if a man refolves to kill the next man he meets, and does kill him, it is murder, although he knew him not ; for this is univerfal ma- lice. And, if two or more come together to do an unlawful act againft the king's peace, of which the probable confequence might be bloodlhed ; as to beat a man, to commit a riot, or to rob a park ; and one of them kills a man ; it is murder in them all, becaufe of the unlawful act, the malitla praecogitata, or evil intended beforehand b. ALSO in many cafes where no malice is exprefled, the law will imply it : as, where a man wilfully poifons another, in fuch a deliberate act the law prefumes malice, though no particular enmity can be proved c. And if a man kills another fuddenly, without any, or without a confiderable, provocation, the law implies malice ; for no perfon, unlefs of an abandoned heart, would be guilty of fuch an act, upon a flight or no apparent caufe. No affront, by words, or geftures only, is a fumcient provocation, fo as to excufe or extenuate fuch acts of violence as' manifeftly endanger the life of another d. But if the perfon fo provoked had unfortunately killed the other, by beating him in fuch a manner as {hewed only an intent to chaftife and not to kill him, the law fo far confiders the provocation of contume- lious behaviour, as to adjudge it only manflaughter, and not murder e. In like manner if one kills an officer of juftice, either

i Hawk. P. C. 74. 45 6 - < ////. 84. e Foil. 291. c i Hal. P. C. 45;. civil
 * i Hal. P. C 454. 473,474- " ' Hawk. P. C. 82. i Hal. P. C. 455,