Charlotte Winsor will, it appears, escape all punishment for her
crimes, an 1, strange to say, the public will probably approve the escape. A legal principle worth fifty such lives as hers was en- dangered by her sentence. She hal been tried at the previous assizes, but the jury could not agree, and the judge, instead of starving them till they did, allowed them to be discharged. She was then tried again and sentenced, but her counsel contended that a jury in a criminal case could not be so discharged, and that his client was being placed a second time in jeopardy on the same charge, contrary to the law. The point was overruled, but has since been revived, and is thought so important that it has been laid before the twelve judges. The public will regret the failure of justice, but the principle is a dangerous one to give up, for two reasons. The Crown or a wealthy prosecutor may hunt a man to death by successive trials under pretence of new evidence, and juries will constantly find themselves unable to agree, thereby ex- posing the accused to months of imprisonment without a trial.
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