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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0532 and id is 1 raw text is: 352 THE KING V. WILLIAM WOODCOCK 1 LEACH 500.
whether, under these circumstances, the said Isaac Cockwaine be guilty of felony
the Jurors pray the direction of the Court. And if, &c.
This was at first intended as a special verdict, but was afterwards drawn up as a
special case, and referred to the Twelve Judges; and it came more than once under
their consideration ; but no opinion was ever given.
[500] The prisoner remained in Newgate in February Session 1790, after which
he received a pardon, and before the April Session following he was discharged.
1789.
CASE CCXXXI.
THE KING V. WILLIAM WOODCOCK.
(In murder, the declarations of the deceased after the mortal wound is given, may be
received in evidence, though the party did not express any apprehension of
approaching dissolution: but the examination of such a person taken by a
magistrate extrajudicially cannot be received.)
[S. C. 1 East, P. C. 354, 356. Followed, R. v. Dingler, 1791, post, p. 561 ; R. v.
Quigley, 1868, 18 L. T. 211. Approved, R. v. Perry, [1909] 2 K. B. 697. Referred
to, R. v. Dalmas, 1844, 9 J. P. 120; R. v. Howell, 1845, 1 Cox C. C. 151 ; R.v.
Colclough, 1882, 15 Cox C. C. 92 ; R. v. Gloster, 1888, 16 Cox C. C. 471.]
At the Old Bailey January Session 1789, William Woodcock was tried before Lord
Chief Baron Eyre, present Mr. Justice Ashhurst, and Mr. Serjeant Adair, Recorder,
for the wilful murder of Silvia Woodcock, his wife.
It appeared in evidence, that she was found lying in a ditch, in a narrow lane,
called Robinson's Lane, in the vicinity of Chelsea, in the county of Middlesex. She
had received eight wounds about the head, face, and neck, which seemed to have
been inflicted with the end of a blunt instrument ; and was so exhausted by the loss
of blood as to be apparently dead. The body was taken to Chelsea Poorhouse, put
into a warm bed, and by medical assistance restored to life. In the course of eight
hours, she recovered her senses to such a degree, as to be enabled to give a rational
account of the circumstances by which this catastrophe was accompanied. The
overseers of the parish, therefore, thought it expedient to desire the attendance of a
magistrate, for the purpose of taking her information in legal form. Mr. Read, a
Justice of the Peace for the county, attended at the Poor-house accordingly. He
found the informant, who was a baptized mulatto, and native of the East Indies, in
a state of perfect recollection. He told her that he was a magistrate come to take
her examination, and admonished her to speak the truth; and as she appeared
sensible of the impiety and dangers of falsehood, he administered an oath to her, and
received her information, which he reduced, in her own words, into writing. He
afterwards read it over to her with great deliberation, and gave it to her to sign, and
she made her mark on the paper in approbation of its contents. The magistrate then
signed it himself ; and being proved on the [501] trial, it was read in evidence. It
also appeared, from the evidence of the surgeons, that she died in about eight-and-
forty hours after the examination had been taken, and that it was impossible from the
first moment that she could live long ; but that although she retained her senses to
the last moment, and repeated the circumstances of the ill usage she had received, she
never expressed any apprehension, or seemed sensible of her approaching dissolution.
The evidence, independent of the information or declarations of the deceased, was of a
very pressing and urgent nature against the prisoner.
Under these circumstances a question arose with the Court, Whether the evidence
which bad been obtained from the deceased could legally be left with the Jury ? The
learned Judge therefore stated the case to them, independent of that evidence ; and
then stated his opinion oi the admissibility of the examination to the following effect:
Eyre, Chief Baron.-If I were satisfied that the case was quite full without the
circumstances which the deceased has disclosed, I should willingly omit to state
them as evidence against the prisoner, because there is some difficulty as to the
legality of their admission. Great as a crime of this nature must always appear to
be, yet the inquiry *into it must proceed upon the rules of evidence. The most
common and ordinary species of legal evidence consists in the depositions of witnesses
taken on oath before the Jury, in the face of the Court, in the presence of the prisoner,
and received under all the advantages which examination and cross-examination
can give. But beyond this kind of evidence there are also two other species which](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0532&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)