INDICTMENT, in law, is a mode of prosecuting of fenders.
In the law of England, an indictment is a written accu sation of one or more persons of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to and presented upon oath by a grand jury.
Indictments must be framed with precision and certainty. In order to identify the person of the criminal, they must set forth his Christian name, surname, state and degree, mystery, town or place, and county. The time and place of committing the offence are also to be ascertained ; but a mistake in these points is not in general held to be ma •erial. provided the former be laid previous to the finding of the indictment, and the latter be within the jurisdiction of the court; unless in those cases where a limitation in point of time is assigned by statute for the prosecution of offenders. The offence must he set forth with clearness and certainty ; and in some crimes, particular technical words must be used, else the indictment is void. Thus in treason, the facts must be laid to be done " treaaonably,and against his allegiance ;" in indictments for murder, it is necessary to say that the party indicted " murdered" the other ; in felonies, the adverb "feloniously" must be used, and in burglaries, "burglariously." In rapes, the word "ravished" is necessary, and must not be expressed by any periphrasis. So in larcenies, the words "feloniously took and carried away" arc necessary to every indictment, as alone expressive of the precise offence. In indictments for murder, the length and depth of the wound should also in general be expressed. In some indictments, it is like
wise necessary to express the value of the thing which is the subject or instrument of the offence ; as in larcenies, in order that it may appear whether it be grand or petit larceny ; and whether entitled, or not, to the benefit of clergy ; and in homicide of all sorts, as the weapon with which it is committed, falls as a dcodand, to the king.
In the law of Scotland, indictments are framed at the in stance of the Lord Advocate, in whose name they are laid. When a private party joins in the prosecution, his name may be added to that of the Lord Advocate ; but when the private party is the principal prosecutor, with concur rence of the Lord Advocate, the action is brought in the form of criminal letters. And this last is also the form ge nerally used in prosecutions at the instance of the Lord Advocate, when the party accused is not in custody.
Indictments, in Scotland, are prepared in a syllogistic form. The major proposition states the nature of the crime, and, in general, that it is severely punishable ; the minor states the offence alledged to have been committed by the party accused, and avers that it constitutes the crime stated in the major proposition ; and the indictment con cludes, that, on conviction by the verdict of the jury, the pannel ought to suffer the punishment of the law. See Blackstone's Comment. Jacob's Law Dict. Erskine's Inst. of the Law of Scotl. Hume's Comment. Bell's Diet. of the Law of Scott. (z)