100 Pardons, Reprieves, S;c. [Ch.VII.Sec.II. larly in murder, it shall be expressed whether it was committed by lying in wait, assault, or malice prepense. This statute is, it will be observed, confined to cases of treasons, murder, and rape. With respect to other offences, it seems, that if no legal proceedings have been commenced against offenders, they will be protected by a general and indefinite pardon of * all felo- nies or misdemeanors by them committed,' although the of- fences of which they have been guilty be not specifically pointed out, and designated in the charter. Thus, a general pardon of all misprisions, trespasses, offences, and contempts, in- cludes a contempt in making a false return, striking in West- minster Hall, barratry, a premunire, and (it is said) any crime which is not capital {a). However, no charter of pardon can be extended beyond its express and clear purport and mean- ing ; and, therefore, a pardon of all felonies will not include such offences as are not strictly such in legal contemplation, as piracies, &c. {b). And if the King, after reciting in his char- ter an attainder of felony, pardon the execution only, his Ma- jesty does not thereby pardon the felony itself, or any other consequence of it, besides the execution {c). Where there is any doubt the leaning is, however, in favour of the subject, for whose benefit the pardon was granted (rf). The pardon of a principal before conviction necessarily enures to the benefit of the accessary also, by implication of law; because he cannot be arraigned before the conviction of the principal {e), A pardon to A. and B. of all offences whereof they are indicted, must be taken severally, from the nature of the thing; because the offences are several, and consequently so is the operation of the pardon (/). " The King pardons his loving and obedient subjects:" this extends to aliens, if here at the time, though not made denizens [g). The general rule is that if a felony has its commencement, but not its com- pletion, before the pardon is granted, the pardon operates in favor of the prisoner, as it would have done if the felony had been complete before the pardon. By pardoning the act, the consequences of it are pardoned also; though such conse- (a) Lev. 106. Sid. 211. 5 Mod. 52. don, F. (i) See 4 Bla. Com. 400. (/) Dyer, 34. Moore, 164. Lord (c) 6 Co. R. 13. Baym. 1*203. (d) 4 Bla. Com. 400, 1. (g) Per Hob. 271. (#) Cro. Kl. SO, 1. 5 Bac. Ab. Par- quences
