in Law, one of the modes of prosecuting an offender. See PROSECUTION.

In English law, it is a written accusation of one or more persons of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to, indicted and presented upon oath by, a grand jury. To this end, the sheriff of every county is bound to return to every session of the peace, and every commission of eyre and terminer, and of general gaol delivery, twenty-four good and lawful men of the county, some out of every hundred, to inquire, present, do, and execute all those things, which on the part of our lord the king shall then and there be commanded them. They ought to be freeholders; but to what amount is uncertain: which seems to be causis omissis, and as proper to be supplied by the legislature as the qualifications of the petit jury; which were formerly equally vague and uncertain, but are now settled by several acts of parliament. However, they are usually gentlemen of the best figure in the county. As many as appear upon this panel, are sworn upon the grand jury, to the amount of twelve at the least, and not more than twenty-three; that twelve may be a majority. Which number, as well as the constitution itself, we find ex-Wilk, exactly described so early as the laws of King Ethelred: Exarant seniores duodecim thani, et prefectus cum eis, ut jurent. In the time of King Richard I. (according to Hoveden), the process of electing the grand jury, ordained by that prince, was as follows: Four knights were to be taken from the county at large, who chose two more out of every hundred; which two associated to themselves ten other principal freemen, and those twelve were to answer concerning all particulars relating to their own district. This number was probably found too large and inconvenient; but the traces of this institution still remain, in that some of the jury must be summoned out of every hundred. This grand jury are previously instructed in the articles of their inquiry, by a charge from the judge who presides upon the bench. They then withdraw to sit and receive indictments, which are preferred to them in the name of the king, but at the suit of any private prosecutor; and they are only to hear evidence on behalf of the prosecution; for the finding of an indictment is only in the nature of an inquiry or accusation, which is afterwards to be tried and determined; and the grand jury are only to inquire upon their oaths, whether there be sufficient cause to call upon the party to answer it. A grand jury, however, ought to be thoroughly persuaded of the truth of an indictment, so far as their evidence goes; and not to rest satisfied merely with remote probabilities; a doctrine that might be applied to very oppressive purposes.

The grand jury are sworn to inquire only for the body of the county, pro corpore comitatus; and therefore they cannot regularly inquire of a fact done out of that county for which they are sworn, unless particularly enabled by act of parliament. And to so high a nicety was this matter anciently carried, that where a man was wounded in one county, and died in another, the offender was at common law indictable in neither, because no complete act of felony was done in any one of them: but by statute 2d and 3d Edw. VI. c. 24, he is now indictable in the county where the party died. And by statute 2 Geo. II. c. 21, if the stroke or poisoning be in England, and the death upon the sea or out of England, or vice versa, the offenders, and their accessories, may be indicted in the county where either the death, poisoning, or stroke, shall happen. And so in some other cases; as particularly, where treason is committed out of the realm, it may be inquired of in any county within the realm, as the king shall direct, in pursuance of statutes 26 Hen. VIII. c. 13; 33 Hen. VIII. c. 23; 35 Hen. VIII. c. 2. 5. 6. 7. Edw. VI. c. 11. And counterfeiters, washers, or minishers, of the current coin, together with all manner of felons and their accessories, may, by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 6, confirmed and explained by 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26. § 75, 76.) be indicted and tried for those offenses, if committed in any part of Wales, before the justices of gaol-delivery and of the peace, in the next adjoining county of England where the king's writ runneth; that is, at present in the county of Hereford or Salop; and not, as it should seem, in the county of Chester or Monmouth: the one being a county palatine where the king's writ did not run; and the other a part of Wales, in 26 Hen. VIII. Murders also, whether committed in England, or in foreign parts, may, by virtue of the statute 33 Hen. VIII. c. 23, be inquired of and tried by the king's special commission in any shire or place in the kingdom. By statute 10 and 11 W. III. c. 25, all robberies, and other capital crimes, committed in Newfoundland, may be inquired of and tried in any county in England. Offences against the black act, 9 Geo. I. c. 22, may be inquired of and tried in any county of England, at the option of the prosecutor. So felonies, in destroying turnpikes, or works upon navigable rivers, erected by authority of parliament, may, by statutes 8 Geo. II. c. 20. and 13 Geo. III. c. 84, be inquired of and tried in any adjacent county. By statute 26 Geo. II. c. 19, plundering or stealing from any vessel in distress or wrecked, or breaking any ship contrary to 11 Ann. statute 2. c. 18, may be prosecuted either in the county where the fact is committed, or in any county next adjoining; and if committed in Wales, then in the next adjoining English county: by which is understood to be meant, such English county as, by the statute 26 Hen. VIII. above mentioned, had before a concurrent jurisdiction of felonies committed in Wales. Felonies committed out of the realm, in burning or destroying the king's ships, magazines, or stores, may, by statute 12 Geo. III. c. 24, be inquired of and tried in any county of England, or in the place where the offence is committed. By statute 13 Geo. III. c. 63, misdemeanors committed in India may be tried upon information or indictment in the court of king's bench in England; and a mode is marked out for examining witnesses by commission, and transmitting their deposition to the court. But, in general, all offences must be inquired into, as well as tried, in the county where the fact is committed. Yet if larceny be committed in one county, and the goods carried into another, the offender may be indicted in either: for the offence is complete in both. Or he may be indicted in England for larceny in Scotland, and carrying the goods with him into England, or vice versa; or for receiving in one part of the united kingdom goods that have been stolen in another. But for robbery, burglary, and the like, he can only be indicted where the fact was actually committed: for though the carrying away and keeping of the goods is a continuation of the original taking, and is therefore larceny in the second county, yet it is not a robbery or burglary in that jurisdiction. And if a person be indicted in one county for larceny of goods originally taken in another, and be thereof convicted, or stands mute, he shall not be admitted to his clergy; provided the original taking be attended with such circumstances as would have ousted him of his clergy by virtue of any statute made previous to the year 1691.

When the grand jury have heard the evidence, if they think it a groundless accusation, they used formerly to endorse on the back of the bill, Ignoramus; or, We know nothing of it: intimating, that though the facts might possibly be true, that truth did not appear to them. But now they assert in English more absolutely, Not a true bill; or (which is the better way) Not found; and then the party is discharged without farther answer. But a fresh bill may afterwards be preferred to a subsequent grand jury. If they are satisfied of the truth of the accusation, they then indorse upon it, "A true bill;" anciently, Billa vera. The indictment is then said to be found, and the party stands indicted. But to find a bill, there must at least Indictments—twelve of the jury agree: for so tender is the law of England of the lives of the subjects, that no man can be convicted at the suit of the king of any capital offence, unless by the unanimous voice of twenty-four of his equals and neighbours; that is, by twelve at least of the grand jury, in the first place, assenting to the accusation; and afterwards by the whole petit jury of twelve more, finding him guilty upon his trial. But if twelve of the grand jury assent, it is a good presentment, though some of the rest disagree. And the indictment, when so found, is publicly delivered into court.

Indictments must have a precise and sufficient certainty. By statute 1 Hen. V. c. 5, all indictments must set forth the Christian name, surname, and addition of the state and degree, mystery, town, or place, and the county of the offender; and all this to identify his person. The time and place are also to be ascertained, by naming the day and township in which the fact was committed: though a mistake in these points is in general not held to be material, provided the time be laid previous to the finding of the indictment, and the place to be within the jurisdiction of the court; unless where the place is laid, not merely as a venue, but as part of the description of the fact. But sometimes the time may be very material, where there is any limitation in point of time assigned for the prosecution of offenders; as by the statute 7 Will. III. c. 3, which enacts, that no prosecution shall be had for any of the treasons or misprisions therein mentioned (except an assassination designed or attempted on the person of the king), unless the bill of indictment be found within three years after the offence committed: and, in case of murder, the time of the death must be laid within a year and a day after the mortal stroke was given. The offence itself must also be set forth with clearness and certainty; and in some crimes particular words of art must be used, which are so appropriated by the law to express the precise idea which it entertains of the offence, that no other words, however synonymous they may seem, are capable of doing it. Thus, in treason, the facts must be laid to be done "treasonably, and against his allegiance;" ancientsly, "proditori et contra ligamentia suae debilitatis;" else the indictment is void. In indictments for murder, it is necessary to say that the party indicted "murdered," not "killed" or "slain" the other; which, till the late statute, was expressed in Latin by the word murdravit. In all indictments for felonies, the adverb "feloniously," "felonice," must be used; and for burglaries also, "burglariter," or, in English, "burglariously:" and all these to ascertain the intent. In rapes, the word rapuit, or "ravished," is necessary, and must not be expressed by any periphrasis, in order to render the crime certain. So in larcenies also, the words "felonice cepit et deportavit," "feloniously took or carried away," are necessary to every indictment; for these only can express the very offence. Also, in indictments for murder, the length and depth of the wound should in general be expressed, in order that it may appear to the court to have been of a mortal nature: but if it goes through the body, then its dimensions are immaterial, for that is apparently sufficient to have been the cause of the death. Also, where a limb, or the like, is absolutely cut off, there such description is needless. Lastly, in indictments, the value of the thing which is the subject or instrument of the offence must sometimes be expressed. In indictments for larcenies this is necessary, that it may appear whether it be grand or petit larceny; and whether entitled or not to the benefit of clergy. In homicides of all sorts it is necessary; as the weapon with which it was committed is forfeited to the king as a deadland. For the manner of process upon an indictment, see Process.

in Scots Law, the name of the summons, or libel, upon which criminals are cited before the court of justiciary to stand trial. See Law Index.

Plea to INDICTMENT. See PLEA.