A Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanors, Vol. 3 of 3 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanors, Vol. 3 of 3

Malice may be either express or implied by law. Express malice is, when one person kills another with a sedate deliberate mind and formed design: such formed design being evidenced by external circumstances, discovering the inward intention; as lying in wait, antecedent menaces, former grudges, and concerted schemes to do the party some bodily harm. (e) And malice is implied by law from any deliberate cruel act committed by one person against another, how ever sudden: (f) thus where a man kills another suddenly without any, or without a considerable provocation, the law implies malice for no person, unless of an abandoned heart, would be guilty of such an act upon a slight or 110 apparent cause. (9) So if a man wilfully poisons another; in such a deliberate act the law presumes malice, though no particular enmity can be proved. (71) And where one is killed in consequence of such a wilful act as shews the person by whom it is committed to be an enemy to all mankind, the law will infer a general malice from such depraved inclination to mischief. (i)

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