Appeal of robbery is a remedy given by the common law to a person who has been robbed, by which he may obtain recovery of the goods stolen. This appeal was introduced, because no restitution was formerly given upon an indictment at the suit of the king. An appeal of robbery may b.e brought by the party robbed twenty years after the commission of the offence ; and if one man robs several persons, they shall each have an ap peal. In appeal of robbery, the plaintiff must make de claration of all the things whereof he !lath been robbed, otherwise they shall be forfeited to the king ; for the appellant can obtain restitution of no more than is men tioned in his appeal. By the year-book 21 Edw. I. 16, restitution of goods was granted upon an outlawry in appeal of robbery ; but a person having preferred an indictment against a robber, and afterwards an appeal, on which he was outlawed, restitution of goods was de nied. (2 Leon. 108.) By stat. 21 Hen. VIII. c. 11, resti tution of stolen goods may be obtained on indictments after attainder as well as on appeals; and by stat. 4 and 5 Will. and Mary, c. 3, an accomplice convicting two others guilty of robbery shall have the king's pardon, and this shall be a good bar to an appeal of robbery.
Appeal of rape lies where a rape has been committed on the body of a woman. This appeal may be brought by a femme covert, without her husband; and where a woman is ravished, and afterwards consents to it, the husband, or the father, or next of kin, where there is no husband, may, by 11 Hen. IV. c. 13, bring an appeal
of rape. The criminal, in such case, may likewise be attainted at the suit of the king. The stat, of Westm. /, c. 13, enacts, that appeal of rape shall be brought Within forty days; but by stat. of Westm, 2. c. 34, time is limited for the prosecution, so that it may be brought in any reasonable time. An appeal or rape' must be commenced in the county where the crime was committed; and if a woman be assaulted in one county, and ravished in another, the appeal of rape lies in that county where she was ravished. By stat. 18 Eliz. c. 7, this crime is made felony, without benefit of clergy ; and it is now usually prosecuted by indictment at the suit of the king.
Appeal of mayhem is a prosecution given against one who hath maimed another. This being no felony, but merely an action of trespass, damages only are recover ed. Yet in appeals or indictments of mayhem, the words "felonice mayhcnzavit" are necessary. In an appeal of mayhem, the defendant pleads, that the plaintiff had brought an action of trespass against him for the same wounding, and had recovered damages, &c.; and this is a good plea in bar of the appeal.
With regard to all these prosecutions by appeal, it may be remarked, that they are now much out of use, particularly those of rape and robbery, as the offences are generally prosecuted and punished by indict. ment. See Black. Com. Jacob's Law Dict. v. Apfzeal. (z)*