Help with criminal records

[echokilo]

Can anyone tell me what NO BILL means under the ACQUITTED and DISCHARGED column on criminal records from 1861 please?

This link may help (if you have ancestry accesss):

http://search.ancestr...=Thomas&ln=Jones&st=g

[carolegif]

I had that on some of my husband's ancestors. I presumed they didn't have to pay costs.

[echokilo]

Not sure, as this is a manslaughter charge ................

[dotty.]

From the county archivist:

Those against whom a bill of indictment (that is, a formal criminal charge) had been made were first placed before a grand jury, whose function was to hear evidence for the Crown. If it was decided that there was a case to be answered by the accused, the indictment was declared to be a ‘true bill’ (billa vera); if not it was ‘no bill’ (ignoramus)[meaning we do not know]. In the former case, the accused then went forward to a full trial. The grand jury procedure was abolished in 1933.

[dotty.]

Therefore , I guess in your ancestors case, the Grand Jury did not find the Crown prosecutor's evidence sound enough to take the matter to the Crown Court for a trial. therefore it looks like the case was dropped and the defendant aquitted, which does not mean they were found 'not guilty' as the trial did not go ahead. I think that seems to be the case anyway,

[echokilo]

Thanks Dotty - comprehensive answer, as always. Much appreciated.

[carolegif]

That is why then he got 3 months but with no bill. he was found guilty at a smaller court. he got 6 months the following year for the same thing - Assaulting a policeman!

[dotty.]

He was abit of a bad lad then, but there's a woman there sentenced to death for murder! wonder how she went on

[carolegif]

If you look at some of the sentences (especially on the Old bailey site) it is heartbreaking. Children transported for stealing an apple or a loaf of bread (one 8 year old sentenced to death for stealing a piece of ribbon). I think that to take someone's property was considered more serious than assault. You had to earn things you wanted not steal other peoples' stuff.