INDICTMENT, In-I:Bement, a formal writ ten charge made before a legal tribunal against an accused person or persons. The essential requisites of a valid indictment are — first, that the indictment be presented to some court hav ing jurisdiction of the offense stated therein; second, that it appear to have been found by the grand jury of the proper county or dis trict; third, that the indictment be found a true bill, and signed by the foreman of the grand jury; fourth, that it be framed with sufficient certainty; for this purpose the charge must contain a certain description of the crime or misdemeanor of which the defendant is ac cused, and a statement of the facts by which it is constituted, so as to identify the accusa tion; fifth, the indictment must be in the Eng lish language, but if any document in a foreign as a libel, be necessarily introduced, it shouldbe set out in the original tongue, and then translated showing its application, 6 Term. 162. The formal requisites of an indictment are: First, the venue, which at common law should always be laid in the county where the offense has been committed, although the action be in its nature transitory, as in case of a bat The venue is stated in the margin thus: ity and County of —, to wit.' Second, the presentment, which must be in the present tense, and is ordinarily expressed in the follow ing formula: °the grand inquest of the State of —, inquiring for the city and county aforesaid upon their oaths and affirmations pre Third, the name and addition of the de fendant; but in case an error has been made in this respect, it is cured by the plea of the defendant. Fourth, the names of third persons, when they must be necessarily mentioned in the indictment, should be stated with certainty to a common intent, so as sufficiently to inform the defendant who are his accusers. When, however, the names of third persons cannot be ascertained, it is sufficient, in some cases, to state °a certain person or persons to the jurors aforesaid unknown.)> Fifth, the time when the offense was committed should, in general, be stated to be on a specific year and day. In some offenses, as in perjury, the day must be precisely stated, but although it is necessary that a day certain should be laid in the indict ment, yet in general the prosecutor may give evidence of an offense committed on any other day previous to the finding of the indictment.
Sixth, the offense must be properly described. This is done by Stating the substantial cir cumstances necessary to show the nature of the crime, and next the formal allegations and terms of art required. As to the substantial circumstances: the whole of the facts of the case necessary to make it appear judicially to the court that the indictors have gone upon sufficient premises should be set forth; but there should be no unnecessary matter, nor any thing which on its face makes the indictment repugnant, inconsistent or absurd.
According to the rules of pleading in crim inal actions at common law there are certain terms of art used, so appropriated by the law to express the precise idea which it entertains of the offense, that no other terms, however synonymous they may seem, are capable of filling the same office; such, for example, as traitorously in treason; feloniously in felony; burglariously in burglary; maim in mayhem, etc. In New York, and m nearly all of the States which have adopted the code system, the common-law rules of pleading in criminal actions have either been greatly relaxed or en tirely abolished. Many of the statutes of the subject are similar to the New York statute, Code Crim. Pro. 273, which in substance pro vides that all common-law rules of pleading are abolished, and the forms of pleading pre scribed by the code shall be substituted, and II 275 of the same code provides that all an indictment must contain is the title of the ac tion, specifying the name of the court to which the indictment is presented, and the names of the parties, together with a plain and concise statement of the act constituting the crime, without unnecessary repetition. It is also pro vided in i 283 of the New York Code Crim. Pro. that words used in a statute to define a Crime need not be strictly pursued in the in dictment; but other words conveying the same meaning may be used.