ACCESSORY (ante). An A. before the fact is one who participates in the act; an A. after the fact, one guilty of a crime of his own in which the principal properly had no share. Perpetrators in person of crime may be principals in first or second degree; one not present who counsels or procures a crime to be committed is accessory before the fact. If the instigator gave such advice in the presence of the actual offender, he would be himself a principal. In case of murder all present who aid or abet the killing are principals; but if two men fight to kill one another, and the bystanders, ignorant of such intent, join in and one is killed, they are not guilty of murder. But if one conspires with another to do a murder, and himself keeps watch against surprise or escape, the act of watching makes him a principal, for be is constructively present, though he may not see the deed done. If A tells B to whip C, and B does so, B is principal and A accessory before the fact. If A tells B to commit a crime, and B commits a different crime, A is not accessory in any way; but if B in trying to do A's request kills the wrong person, A would be accessory before the fact. Recent statutes provide that a person procuring a crime to be done shall be punished the sane as the principal. In N. Y. the accessory
before the fact may be tried and punished, though the principal may have been pardoned or discharged before conviction; and so in Massachusetts, if the principal be not amenable. There, too, the eider and abbettor, who in common law would have been a mere accessory, may be indicted and convicted of a felony without regard to indictment or conviction of the principal. Most of the states have similar statutes.—An accessory after the fact is one who, knowing the guilt of a felon, whether principal or accessory before the fact, receives, protects, or assists him; but it should probably be added, "with intent to hinder his trial, conviction, or punishment." Merely allowing a felon to escape, or ministering to his physical necessities, will not make one an accessory. Once the common law did not except any who aided in an escape unless a wife who aided her husband; but modern statutes are less rigid, or more liberally construed. In .Massachu setts the statute excepts from criminal blame as accessory such relations as parent or grandparent, child or grandchild, and brother or sister to the offender, and similar laws prevail in most of the states, at least in practice.