THE   POWEE  TO   GRANT  PARDONS.  461

that  such  a  pardon,  if  received  before  conviction,  should  be
pleaded  in  bar  of  the  indictment ;  but  if  received  after  con-
viction and  before  sentence,  should  be  pleaded  in  arrest  of
judgment.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  at  the  present  day
it  would  be  considered  sufficient  to  present  such  a  pardon  to
the  notice  of  the  court  by  motion,  and  that  a  formal  plea  would
not  be  required.  Even  in  the  English  law  such  formality  was
not  required  in  at  least  one  instance.  Where  Parliament
pardons  all  persons,  without  any  description  of  their  offences,
they  need  not  plead  the  act  of  grace,  but  the  courts  will  take
judicial  notice  thereof.^

Pardons  issued  before  conviction,  or  trial,  or  indictment,  oi
any  official  proceeding,  are  well  known  to  the  English  law ;
indeed  there  is  no  doubt  that  anciently  they  were  more  com-
mon than  any  other  kind.  Of  course  they  assume  that  a  par-
ticular person  has,  before  the  act  of  grace,  committed  some
offence  against  the  laws,  for  which  he  would  be  criminally
liable.  They  must  apply  to  an  existing  state  of  circum-
stances, where  the  liability  has  been  fixed,  and  nothing  re-
mains to  be  done  but  to  enforce  that  liability  through  the
remedial  process  of  the  courts.
