Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/60

52 MURCIA a dependency of the caliphate of Cordova. In 1239 Mohammed Ali or Hudiel made it an in- dependent kingdom, but within a few years it was .united to Castile. It was divided in 1833 into the provinces of Murcia and Albacete. The chief port is Cartagena. H. The mod- ern Murcia comprises the southern part ot the ancient province, bounded S. E. by the Medi- terranean and drained by the Segura and its tributaries; area, 4,478 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 439 067. The S. and K W. portions are moun- tainous, and much of the soil is sterile, but near the rivers are some rich tracts whose prolinc vegetation has acquired for them the name of huertas or gardens. In the southeast are mines of lead and silver. III. A city, capital of the ancient and modern province, on the N. bank of the Segura, 220 m. S. E. of Madrid ; pop., T i _v j_ -| 1 A AAA T-f id ViAQT* MURDER MURDER, a crime defined by Blackstone as the unlawful killing of u any reasonable crea- ture in being, and under the king's peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied," by a person of sound memory and discretion. The element of "malice aforethought" is of the essence of murder. The greatest difficulty in determining whether a homicide be murder is generally connected with the question of malice. It is quite certain that the malice need not be malice against the individual killed ; for if one maliciously shoots at a person with in- tent to kill him, and missing him kills another, it is quite as much murder as If he had exe- cuted his intention. Nor indeed need it be di- rected against any person in particular. If one shoots into a crowd without knowing a person and kills one of them, it is murder ; for Murcia. de Murcia, and was formerly fortified. It is the residence of the bishop of Cartagena, and has 11 parish churches, a theological seminary, a college, several other learned institutions, an academy of music, a public library, and a botanic garden. The cathedral tower is very imposing, consisting of three quadrangular stages, each diminishing perimetrically and crowned with a dome. It is ascended to the top of the first stage by an inclined plane 320 paces long and of gradually increasing steep- ness. From the first stage a narrow stairway of 210 steps leads to the summit of the tow- er. The chief manufactures are earthenware, leather, coarse linen, silk thread, silks and baskets, mats, cordage, and sandals. Murcia was founded by the Moors, and during their supremacy was one of the seven metropolitan cities of Spain. It submitted to the Spaniards in 1243. In 1810 it was plundered by the French under Sebastiani. mani generis. Still there must be malice ; for probably no kind or de- gree of mere careless- ness or negligence would make a case of homicide one of murder. So if the death were caused by mere mistake, whether of law, of fact, or of the person, it would not be murder, unless it would have been murder if the law or fact or person had been what they were supposed to be. The principal exception to the necessity of proof of actual malice would seem to be where the death was caused with- out intention, but by the commission of or in at- tempting a felony. This distinction is so nice, that while, if one shooting at his neighbor's fowls with intent to destroy them shoots him by accident, this would not be murder, yet shooting them with intent to steal, and with the same result, would, it is said, be murder. Drunkenness has been considered in reference to manslaughter, and a somewhat similar rule is held as to murder; that is, intoxication, if it negatives the supposition of malice, would prevent the crime from being murder, unless it was a state of temporary in- sanity, purposely brought on that under it mur- der might be committed safely, in which case it would not be regarded as any excuse what- ever. Cases of compulsion have been some- what considered ; and it has been generally held that strict and actual compulsion was an excuse, but nothing less. If a captive on board a pirate were compelled to act with the crew in committing murder by threats of immediate death,, this compulsion would undoubtedly be