imperfections in the
jurisprudence of his native country, is forced to remark, in view of
the looseness of procedure in capital cases,--

"It may certainly afford matter of speculation that in civil
causes there should be such a variety of writs of execution
to recover a trifling debt, issued in the king's name, and
under the seal of the court, without which the sheriff
cannot legally stir one step; and yet that the execution of
a man, the most important and terrible task of any, should
depend upon a marginal note."[6]

[Footnote 6: Comm. book iv. ch. 32, p. 403.]

The courts and people of New England were always more mindful of the
sacredness of human life than those of other nations, save, perhaps,
the little community of the Netherlands. They also attached great
importance to the formal proceedings by which the ends of justice
were reached in criminal cases. This is well illustrated by an
incident that is recorded relative to the action of the judges of the
Superior Court of the Province when, after the conviction of
Richardson for the murder of the boy Sneider, in 1770, it became
evident to them that the cause of justice required that they should
intercede to prevent his execution. They were long in doubt as to the
sufficiency of a pardon obtained from the crown through the
recommendation of the Lieutenant-Governor upon their certificate of
its propriety, the only evidence of the pardon being its insertion in
the Newgate Calendar. Hutchinson relates that "they were at length
satisfied; and the prisoner having been brought into court early in
the morning, when scarcely anybody but the officers of the court were
present, pleaded his Majesty's pardon, and was discharged, and
immediately absconded."[7]

[Footnote 7: Hist. Mass. Bay, vol. iii. p. 287, n.]

But, to proceed with a definition of the crime committed by these
negroes, and a more particular account of the punishment for petit
treason:--

By the statute 25 Edw. III., this crime, which had had a wider
application, was restricted to three classes of cases: 1, where a
servant killed his master or mistress; 2, where a wife killed her
husband; 3, where a clergyman killed his prelate, or the superior to
whom he owed canonical obedience. The sentence in the case of a woman
was, that she be burned to death, and in the case of a man, that he be
drawn to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until he
be dead.[8] T