Oyer and Terminer &c. at Philadelphia:
September Seſſions, 1783.
Respublica verſus Mesca et al.
This was an indictment againſt four Italians for the murder of Captain Pickles; and, upon the arraignment of the priſoners, the Court aſſigned Ingerſol and Swift as counſel for them. Theſe gentlemen then challenged the array, and moved for an award of a tales de medietate linguæ; but the Attorney General controverted the propriety of the motion, and it was twice argued, on the 25th and 29th of September.
The counſel for the priſoners urged, that the Stat. of Edw. 3. c. 13. was a beneficial law, encouraging foreigners to come into the country; that, in practice, it had been extended to Pennſylvania before the revolution, and ſound policy juſtified its continuance. In the courſe of their argument the following authorities were cited: 1 Pen. Laws 89. 28. Edw. 3. c 13. 4 Bl. Com. 352. 2 H. H. P. C. 271. 272. Dyer 304. Chart. of Ch. 2. to Penn. 2 Wils. 75. Salk. 411.
To prove the practice, Thomas Clifford, upon his ſolemn affirmation, ſtated, that in February 1764, a burglary was committed in his dwelling houſe in Philadelphia; that one Brinkloe, being apprehended upon ſuſpicion, accuſed William Frederick Ottenreed; whereupon they were both impriſoned and tried; and to the beſt of
