, of which he had drawn the charge some days before. The
lady, entering into the joke, desired him to fire: he did so, and
shot her dead; the pistol having been again charged by his
servant without his knowledge. Can any one read this story, and
feel {p.212} any emotion but that of sympathy towards the
unhappy husband? Can they ever connect the case with an idea of
punishment? Yet, divesting it of these interesting circumstances
which act upon the imagination, it is precisely that of the panel
at your Lordships' Bar; and though no one will pretend to say
that such a homicide is other than casual, yet there is not the
slightest question but it might have been avoided had the killer
taken the precaution of examining his piece. But this is not the
degree of _culpa_ which can raise a misfortune to the pitch of a
crime. It is only an instance that no accident can take place
without its afterwards being discovered that the chief actor
might have avoided committing it, had he been gifted with the
spirit of prophecy, or with such an extreme degree of prudence as
is almost equally rare.

"In the instance of shooting at butts, or at a bird, the person
killed must have been somewhat in the line previous to the
discharge of the shot, otherways it could never have come near
him. The shooter must therefore have been guilty _culpae levis seu
levissimae_ in firing while the deceased was in such a situation.
In like manner, it is difficult to conceive how death should
happen in consequence of a boxing or wrestling match, without
some excess upon the part of the killer. Nay, in the exercise of
the martial amusements of our forefathers, even by royal
commission, should a champion be slain in running his barriers,
or performing his tournament, it could scarcely happen without
some _culpa seu levis seu levissima_, on the part of his
antagonist. Yet all these are enumerated in the English law-books
as instances of casual homicide only; and we may therefore safely
conclude, that by the law of the sister country a slight degree
of blame will not subject the slayer _per infortunium_ to the
penalties of culpable homicide.

"Guilt, as an object of punishment, has its origin in the mind
and intention of the actor; and therefore, where that is wanting,
there is no