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CERTAINTY. Construction of the [Definitions] Indictments.
Immediately after the definition, may follow in those instances where it may be deemed necessary in solution of any draft that may be supposed liable to arise concerning it
Correspondent to the care of expressing with certainty & precision every circumstance th that
is of the essence concerns in the making up of an offence, is ought to be that of not requiring certainty or precision in circumstances such
that are foreign to its' essence as are foreign to it. Every unnecessary specification required is an
unnecessary inlet to evasion & impunity, an useless burthen to the memory & attention, & an
useless violation of that simplicity which is the best ornament of a Law the Laws.
Person who is the object of the Crime [& should be left at large or an alternative allow'd of 2 or 3 persons
[In the same view, where Guilt follows with equal certainty from either branch of an
alternative, the it offence ought to be permitted to put the charge [the offence ]in the alternative,
without contracting the party prosecuting to make his option, & this where the Guilt
Larceny of the Goods no matter of when shall be certain leaving no more than an even chance for conviction.
Forgery full with intent to defraud no matter whom The disjunctive form of allegation censured by Lawyers as virtuous, is so in reality only
in those cases the case where Guilt being is being the consequence only of one branch of the alternative [&]
Arson of the House - no matter of on what Title innocent [of] the other. is consequent upon or consistent with the other . - But if guiltiness follows equally from either branch of the
disjuncton which ever be the true, the objection that can be made to them can either
of foundation, or have a special foundation of a particular kind, which will be considered personally
They have perceived this, & sensible of the inconvenience of being restricted to one
of a disjunctive charge,they have invented a round about method in many cases of
doing that in a multitude of words agreeable to the of the profession & by a surp confused apparatus, which might better be
---page break---
done in a few words & without that apparatus.
to the great discomfiture of the uninitiated simple d reader, who behold, his fellow-citizens [however unquestionable their guilt may be] victims [after all] of a lying accusation consisting of charges which destroy each other.
The Reader who is at all initiated in legal Forms will has already perceive ed that it is the
practice of contrivance I allude to is that of heaping together in the same Instrument under the name na
"Counts" a number of distinct & facts represented as coexisting conjunctively subsis subsisting which [in truth
(and so appear to be) exclusive of each other] in point of fact are not & of contrivance
cannot be in point of possibility.
a contrivance to give admission to that an effect very uncertainty they censure reprobate in words.
augments the difficulty of proof, & & with it then diminishes
the charge of unanimity to the Jury Of <add>cause of dissentions in the Jury </add> who often find
it hard enough in among bringing themselves to a concurrence among the most
difficult to agree about the essential
necessary articles without being obliged to extend
merits of the cause without having the task
in to such as are not so.
Imposed on them of concurring in their
judgement on facts which have nothing to
do with it.
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