Neither new trials nor writs of venire fads de novo are grantable in cases of treason or felony.
Where a new trial or writ of venire facias de novo is awarded, the parties stand in the state in which they were immediately before the first trial : the whole case is to be re-heard, and the first verdict cannot be used upon the new trial, or as evidence of any matter found by such verdict, or in argument.
After sentence pronounced against an offender, the judgment of ,the court may be falsified or reversed, either by plea without writ of error or by writ of error : by the former, for some matter not apparent upon the fact of the record, as want of authority in the court by whom the judgment was prouounced ; by the latter, for the same matters as are sufficient to arrest a judgment, and also for any material defect in the judgment itself. Where the judgment has been pronounced by a court of oyer and tennincr, jail delivery, or quarter-sessions of the peace or of a county palatine, the writ of error is to be brought in the court of Queen's Bench, and for that purpose the indictment and other proceedings thereon must be removed into that court by writ of certi orari [CERvionmu] : where it has been pronounced in the Queen's Beach, it is to be brought in the Exchequer Chamber, justices of the Commou Pleas and barons of the Exchequer, from whose judgment a writ of error lies to the House of Lords. In cases of treason and felony it is in the discretion of the crown to grant or refuse a writ of error : in all other cases the fiat of the attorney-general must be first obtained; and this he ought to graut upou probable cause of error showu. When issued, the writ of error stays the execution of the judgment, where it has not been carried into effect during the time that such writ is pending, except that in cases of treasou or felony the offender is not entitled to be liberated on bail. In cases of misde meanor, however, where ho is imprisoned under execution, or any fine has been levied, either in whole or in part in pursuance of the judg ment, he is entitled to be discharged from imprisonment and to receive back any money levied on account of such fine, until the final deter mination of the Writ of Error. (8 & 9 Viet., c. 68, s. 1.) If the judg ment be falsified or reversed, such judgment and the executiou there upon, and all former proceedings, become thereby absolutely cull and void ; and the person the judgment against whom is so falsified or reversed, if living, and, if dead, his heir or executor, is restored to all things which such person may have lost by such judgment and other prooredisoge, and stands in every respect as if such person had never Ivan charged with the offence in respect of which such judgment was proseuseed against him. If, however, the execution only be erroneous,
that only wilt be mien"' ' • and if the judgment be reversed for some technical error merely, in the Indictment or subsequent process, the party may be prosecuted again. If the judgment be confirmed, the prisoner is to be remanded to undergo the remainder of his ecotone& Where there is nothing to arrest or Isar a judgment, the execution of it may be prevented by a pardon received after sentence pronounced; but, without express words of restitution, no property which the anoder forfeited on hie conviction or attainder, is thereby retested in him ; nor, unless where the pardon is by act of parliament, is the cor ruption of his blood removed, except as regards those of his blood bunt after the granting of such pardon, nor are any of IV consequences of such previous corruption prevented.
In capital cases the execution of a judgment may also he suspended by a reprieve, either at the discretion of the Crown, or, where substan tial justice requires it, of the court. There are two instances, how ever, in which the court is bound to grant a reprieve, viz.: I, where the Offender, if a female, ie pregnant ; 2, where the offemier becomes insure after judgment If the offender allege that she is pregnant or the court have reason to suppose that she is so, a jury of twelve matrons is to be impaneled with all possible despatch to try- whether or not the be quick with child. In case they find in the affirmative, the court respites the offender from time to time until the be delivered of a child or it is no longer possible in the course of nature that she should be so. After her delivery or where such delivery is no longer 'sensible as before mentioned, or if the jury find that she is not quick with child, the court at the expiration of the period for which it has 'respited her, proceeds to award execution against her.