ABSTRACT
The appeal was a far older form of procedure than the indictment, and may be said to have had a criminal as well as a civil aspect. It had the double object of satisfying the private party for his loss, and the king for the breach of his peace. The presentment, which is the other parent of our criminal procedure, had an origin distinct from the appeal. So far, then, as criminal liability is founded upon wrong-doing in any sense, and so far as the threats and punishments of the law are intended to deter men from bringing about various harmful results, they must be confined to cases where circumstances making the conduct dangerous were known. The law of manslaughter contains another doctrine which should be referred to in order to complete the understanding of the general principles of the criminal law.
