QUASII. In Practida. To OverthrOW or annul.
2. When ptoceedinga are dearly iriegalat and Void, the courts will quash them, both in civil and criminal cases : for example, when the array is clearly irregular, as, if the jutors have been selected by persons not authotized by lavr, it *ill be quailed. "3 Bouvier, inst. n.
In criminal cases, when an indictment is 80 defective that no judgment can be given upon it, should the defendant be convicted, the court, upon application, will, in genets!, quash it: as, if it haVe no jurisdiction of the offerice charged, Or when the matter charged is not indictable. 1 Burr. 516, 543; Andr. 226. It is in the discretion of the conrt to quash an indictment or to leave the defend ant to a raothia in arrest of judgment. 1 Cush. Mass. 189: When the application to . — quash is made on the part of the defendant, in English practice, the court generally re fuses to quash the indictment when it appears some enormous crime has been committed.
Comps, Dig. Indictment (H) • Wils. 325 ; 1 Salk. 372 ; 3 Term, 621 ; 5 Mod. 13; 6 id. 42 ; 3 Burr. 1841 ; Bacon, Abr. Indictment (K).
3. When the application is made on the put of the prosecution, the indictment will be quashed whenever it is defective so that tbe defendant cannot he convicted, and the prosecution appears to be bond fide. If the prosecution be instituted by the attorney general, he may, in some states, enter a nolle prosequi, which has the same effect. 1 Dougl. 239, 240. The application should be made before plea pleaded, Leach, 11; 4 State Tr. 232 ; 1 Hale, 35 ; Fost. 231, and before tbe defendant's reeognizance has been forfeited.
I Salk. 380. See CASSETUR BREVE.