102 Pardons^ Reprieves^ <§c [Ch. VII. Sec. I. The law of transportation is founded on several statutes (a) which provide generally, that the transportaticMi shall have the effect of a pardon under the great seal, as to the offence for which the offender was transported. By the word transpor- tation, in the statute 8 G. 3. c. 1 5. is meant not merely the con- veying the felon to the place of transportation, but his being so conveyed and remaining there during the term for which he is ordered to be transported; and therefore a felon at- tainted is not by that statute restored to his civil rights till after the expiration of the term for which he was ordered to be so transported {h). ^ihly. Effect of a Pardon, The King's pardon, if general m its purport and sufficient in other respects, obliterates every stain which the law attached to the offender. Generally speaking, it puts him in the same situation as that in which he stood before he committed the pardoned offence; and frees him from the penalties and forfeitures to which the law subjected his person and pro- perty (c). Though a pardon cannot wash away those doubts with which the evidence of one who has committed a serious offence will be received; yet in point of law, a legal pardon impliedly removes the stigma and restores a man to credit, so as to enable him to be a witness {d)i and it so far makes him a new man as to entitle him, according to some of our old books, to bring an action against any one who scan- dalizes him in respect of the crime pardoned (^ ). When the offender's property and civil rights have once vested in the King they cannot be restored to the offender, nor are they divested from his Majesty by a mere pardon, without a clause of restitution [f). It seems however that a (a) 4 G. I.e. 11. 6 G. 1. c. 2r>. 8 Cro. Cas. 115. G. 3. c. 15. 30 G. 3. c. 47. See (e) See Bac. Ab. Pardon, H. Hob. 2 B. and Aid. 258. 67,81,2. (Jb) Ibid. (/) 1 Saand. 362, 3. 1 Lev. 120. (c) 4 Bla. Com. 402, Bac. Ab. Par- Bac. Ab. Pardon, H. 2 Mod. 53. 3 don, H. Mod. 104. 2 B. and Aid. 277, 8, per (rf) 1 Ventr. 349. 2 Hal. P. C. 278. Abbott, C. J. 4 SUte Tr. 082. Gully's Ca«e, 1 Leach. clause
