the indictment. The indictment is a written accusation of one or more
several persons, preferred to and presented upon oath by a grand jury.
This written accusation, before being presented to the grand jury, is
properly termed a "bill;" and, in ordinary cases, it is generally
prepared by the clerk of the arraigns at the assizes, and by the clerk
of the peace at the quarter sessions; but, in cases of difficulty, it
is drawn by counsel. It consists of a formal technical statement of
the offence, which is engrossed upon parchment, upon the back of which
the names of the witnesses for the prosecution are indorsed. In
England it is delivered to the crier of the court, by whom the
witnesses are sworn to the truth of the evidence they are about to
give before the grand jury. In the trial now pending in the Court of
Queen's Bench in Ireland, a great question was raised as to whether a
recent statute, which, on the ground of convenience, enabled grand
juries in Ireland themselves to swear the witnesses, extended to
trials before the Queen's Bench. This question was decided in the
affirmative; therefore, in that country, the oath, in every case, must
be administered by the grand jury themselves; whereas, in this
country, the witnesses are sworn _in court_, and by the crier, as we
have already mentioned. The grand jury, ever since the days of King
Ethelred, must consist of twelve at least, and not more than
twenty-three. In the superior courts they are generally drawn from the
magistracy or superior classes of the community, being, as Mr Justice
Blackstone expresses it, "usually gentlemen of the best figure in the
county." They are duly sworn and instructed in the articles of their
enquiry by the judge who presides upon the bench. They then withdraw,
to sit and receive all bills which may be presented to them. When a
bill is thus presented, the witnesses are generally called in the
order in which their names appear upon the back of the bill. The grand
jury is, at most, to hear evidence only on behalf of the prosecution;