§476


Assault  on  Officer.  —  Assaults  and  other  like  offences  are  aggra-
vated by  being  committed  against  persons  in  ofiBcial  station,  espe-
cially when  in  the  actual  discharge  of  official  duties.^

§  471.  Offences  against  Elections  ^  —  (Preventing  Election  —  Brib-
ery —  Double  Voting  —  Buying  Office).  —  It  is  essential  to  the  exist-
ence and  functions  of  the  government  that  persons  be  designated
to  conduct  its  several  departments,  and  important  that  the  choice
be  free  and  wise.  Therefore  any  act  tending  to  defeat  these
objects  —  as  forcibly  or  unlawfully  preventing  an  election  from
being  held,^  bribing  or  corruptly  influencing  an  elector,*  receiving
as  an  elector  a  bribe,^  casting  more  than  one  vote,^  "  the  taking
or  giving  of  a  reward  for  offices  of  a  public  nature,"  ^  and  the
like — -'is  punishable  under  the  criminal  common  law.
§  472-476.  Spreading  False  News,  —  One  of  the  old  common-
law  offences,  confirmed  by  statutes  early  enough  in  date  to  be
common  law  in  this  country,  is  termed  the  spreading  of  false
news.  It  relates  primarily,  if  not  exclusively,  to  public  affairs, '
—  "  to  make  discord,"  as  Blackstone  expresses  it,  "  between  the
king  and  nobility,  or  concerning  any  great  man  of  the  realm." "


the  peace  is  indictable,  unless  the  words
are  spoken  to  him  in  his  presence.  Rex
V.  Weltje,  2  Camp.  142 ;  2  Stark.  Slan-
der, 194-197.  But  several  of  the  aboYe-
cited  cases  are  opposed  to  this  distinction.
1  Vol.  II.  §  42,  45,  49-51 ;  Oldfleld's
Case,  12  Co.  71.
2  Discussed  Stat.  Crimes,  §  802-843.
8  Reg.  u.  Soley,  11  Mod.  115.
4  Rex  V.  Cripland,  11  Mod.  387;  Rex
V.  Plympton,  2  Ld.  Raym.  1377  ;  Rex  a.
