liable to transportation only. The Board declared that such a case was unheard of

, and ordered a re-trial at which the man was declared promptly to be still a permanent cripple. The facts were that the uncle had to some extent recovered the use of one hand, the tendons of which had been cut. The Board however admitted that, if the uncle had been declared cured, the sentence would have had to be remitted (P. A. S. P. Supp. p. 11).

The Board is extremely firm in upholding any decision it has given, and represses unmercifully any Provincial Authority: and, though in respectful language, brings all its guns to bear on the Judicial Committee, when the two bodies differ. There is even a case on record, where the Board declined to alter a decision, though His Imperial Majesty himself twice in curt and cutting terms expressed his disapproval of it (v. case of Mrs. FangH.A. H. L. vol. XL. p. 10).

Revision of capital sentences. Having thus briefly dealt with the general jurisdiction of the Board, it remains to give a special note on probably its most onerous duty—the revision of capital sentences.

The vast majority of death sentences are

submitted by the Provincial Authorities to the Judiciary Board for revision. Two 開單具題 lists are there made out, one of criminals who should by right be executed, and the longer one

of criminals whose death sentence is merely formal. The second list is at once referred to the proper officers to determine on the commutation fixed by unwritten custom, and the Provincial Authorities are informed of the revised sentences. The first list is then written on a large sheet of paper thus:

A. C. D. E. F. G. H. I.
K. Z. M. N. O.
P. Q. R.
S. TU. V. W. X. Y. Z.
A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H.
I. J. K. L. M. N. O. P.
Q. R S. T. U. V. W. X.
Y. Z. A B. C. D. E. F.
G. H. I. J. K. L. M. N.

not alphabetically, or by chance, but so that the names of those prisoners who are, in the opinion

of the Board, less guilty than the others are placed either at the corners or in the centre. The list

is then submitted to the Emperor 開單請旨, who, with a brush dipped in vermilion, makes a circle on it at seeming, and to some extent real, hazard, and the criminals whose names are traversed by the red line are ordered for execution. The others remain on the list until the next year, but, if they escape the vermilion pencil for three years, their sentences are then commuted. This revision takes place annually in the autumn, and is often called and translated 'Revision at the Autumn 'Assize.'

There are some cases where the procedure above described may be dispensed with, the Code providing that the Governor of the Province may authorise the immediate carrying out of the death penalty. Rebels, pirates etc., are thus summarily treated.

INEQUALITY OF ACTION OF COURTS

The action of the Courts is not always equal witness the cases of Hsia Sheng-pa

and of Mrs I née Hsiao. In the former

case the prisoner was sentenced to capital, punishment for the murder of his niece, a child of ten, whom he stabbed to death in her sleep, designing to lay her body at a certain man's door, and get the latter held responsible for it, in revenge for a threat to report the prisoner to the Authorities for neglect of duty. The Board, however, reversed the sentence, there being a special statute applying which enacted that military transportation was the proper penalty for such offences, and holding that the prisoner's act, though brutal and cruel, was merely that of a stupid villager 愚民畏累一時窘迫所致(P. A. S. P. vol. III). In the case of Mrs I, the Board insisted upon a certain aunt receiving capital punishment,

for rolling a very abusive and thieving niece into the river and drowning her. The view held by the Board was that though the niece was indeed a thief, and her aunt had been forced to pay out money for her to hush up a previous offence, yet the crime of robbing her aunt was too trivial to justify the extreme measure taken (id.).

SECTION IV PRINCIPAL AND ACCOMPLICE

PRINCIPALS, ACCESSORIES, ACCOMPLICES

Chinese Law recognises, Principals in the first degree, Principals in the second degree

hereinafter styled accessories, and Third Parties. An accessory taking actual part in an offence is phrased從而加功 One only can be held responsible as principal in ordinary cases, although in armed robbery from a house, all taking part in the crime are punishable, and no distinction is drawn between principals and accessories; and so, also, in such special cases as that of a relative arranging an illegal marriage at the instigation of the parties: and in the case of such heinous offences as adultery. But, in general, one only of several parties concerned can be dealt with as principal: and it is in general the originator who is so dealt with. Thus, in the case of Lo Yen-sheng, two men murdered another, and then ravished his wife. The originator was convicted as principal, and sentenced to immediate decapitation and exposure of the head,