Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/49

cipal. If A then adviſes B to kill another, and B does it in the abſence of A, now B is principal, and A is acceſſory in the murder. And this holds, even though the party killed be not in rerum natura at the time of the advice given. As if A, the reputed father, adviſes B the mother of a baſtard child, unborn, to ſtrangle it when born, and ſhe does ſo; A is acceſſory to this murder^[n]. And it is alſo fettled^[o], that whoever procureth a felony to be committed, though it be by the intervention of a third perſon, is an acceſſory before the fact. It is likewiſe a rule, that he who in any wiſe commands or counſels another to commit an unlawful act, is acceſſory to all that enſues upon that unlawful act; but is not acceſſory to any act diſtinct from the other. As if A commands B to beat C, and B beats him ſo that he dies ; B is guilty of murder as principal, and A as acceſſory. But if A commands B to burn C's houſe; and he, in ſo doing, commits a robbery; now A, though acceſſory to the burning, is not acceſory to the robbery, for that is a thing of a diſtinct and unconſequential nature^[p]. But if the felony committed be the ſame in ſubſtance with that which is commanded, and only varying in ſome circumſtantial matters ; as if, upon a command to poiſon Titius, he is ſtabbed or ſhot that he dies; the commander is ſtill acceſſory to the murder, for the ſubſtance of the thing commanded was the death of Titius, and the manner of it's execution is a mere collateral circumſtance^[q].
3. An acceſſory after the fact may be, where a perſon, knowing a felony to have been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or aſſiſts the felon^[r]. Therefore, to make an acceſſory ex poſt facto, it is in the firſt place requiſite that he knows of the felony committed^[s]. In the next place, he muſt receive, relieve, comfort, or aſſiſt him. And, generally, any aſſiſtance whatever given to a felon, to hinder his being apprehended,

ⁿ  Dyer. 186. ^q  2 Hawk. P. C. 316.
^o  Foſter. 125. ^r  1 Hal. P. C. 618.
^p  1 Hal. P. C. 617. ^s  2 Hawk. P. C. 319.