The United States vs. John Ramsay

Opinion op the Court. — It is true, as urged by the district attorney, that he who advises or counsels the commission of a murder, is, in point of morals, as guilty as the principal, and should, doubtless, be punished accordingly. In legal language, however, he is not guilty of murder, but is only accessory to it; and this distinction is preserved in all the books on criminal jurisprudence. It is said that the act of congress punishing murder necessarily embraces an accessory before the fact, and subjects him to the punishment of death. I cannot assent to the correctness of this position; but, on the contrary, applying the known rule that penal statutes must be construed strictly, I entertain no doubt that the point made by the prisoner’s counsel is well taken and must be sustained. Certainly, to commit the crime of wilful murder, and to be accessory to it, are different offences ; and in the trial of Burr for treason, Chief Justice ■Marshall very clearly lays down that proposition. That an accessory before the fact ought to be punished will not be questioned by any one, for he is, indeed, frequently involved in deeper guilt than the principal. This is a question, however, for the consideration of the legislative department, and this court is only authorized to try and punish such crimes as con gress expressly or by necessary implication have visited with known and Certain penalties, and the court has no common law jurisdiction in that respect. The defects in the criminal code of the United States have been severely felt, but it is for congress, not this court, to interpose and apply the corrective; and as I should not feel warranted in pronouncing sentence of death on the prisoner in case of conviction, I shall sustain the motion to quash the indictment, and direct him to be discharged, regretting, at the same time, that there is no law to reach his case. Prisoner discharged accordingly.