3. In England the single-judge system is universal, save in appeal; on the continent of Europe plurality of judges is insisted upon, save in the most trivial cases, where the punishment is insignificant. In most countries of the continent of Europe the whole machinery for the prevention, investigation and punishment of crime, is conducted by what is called theparquet, which represents society as a collective unit and not the individual injured. The head of the whole parquet in France is theprocureur-général, who holds equal rank with the members of the supreme court. Under him there are procureurs-généraux attached to each of the courts of appeal, of which in France there are twenty-six, and under each of these subordinate procureurs there are procureurs (prosecutors) of a lesser degree. The next stage to the parquet is thejuge d’instruction, who corresponds to the English magistrate, and is the most formidable personage in the whole system of French criminal law. He can detain and accuse a person in prison, can send for him at any time and ask him such questions as he pleases.
After the first examination the prisoner is entitled, in most European countries, to the assistance of counsel, but the powers of counsel are so limited that the juge d’instruction has a complete discretionary power regarding the investigation of the case. The natural consequence of this procedure is that the preliminary investigation really decides the ultimate result, and the final trial becomes more or less a solemn form.
The criminal law of Ireland is to a great extent the same as that of England, resting on the same common law and on statutes which extend to both countries or are in almost the same terms, and is administered by courts of assizeIreland.and quarter sessions, and by justices, as in England. In a few instances statutes passed for England or Great Britain before the Union have not been extended to Ireland, or statutes passed by the Irish parliament before the Union or by the British parliament since the Union create offences not known to English law. In Ireland the system of prosecution is nominally the same as in England, but in practice almost all prosecutions are instituted and conducted under the direction of the attorney-general for Ireland, who is a member of the government of the day, and so responsible to parliament, as in the case of the lord advocate. In Ireland, owing to the police being a centralized force, under the management of commissioners residing in Dublin, any prosecution which in England might be conducted by the local police, would in Ireland be conducted under the direction of the chief of the police in Dublin, who is necessarily in close communication with and under the control of the attorney-general.
In Scotland hardly any crimes are constituted by statute law, the common law being to the effect that if a judge will direct any act to be a crime, and a jury will convict, that act is a crime. This great elasticity of the commonScotland.law to include every sort of new crime which might arise was in times past very dangerous to political liberty, as it greatly enlarged the power of the crown to oppress political opponents, but in modern days it has its convenience in facilitating the punishment of persons committing crimes for the punishment of which in England a new act of parliament may be necessary. Criminal procedure in Scotland is regulated by an act of 1887 which greatly simplified indictments and proceedings. The prosecution of crime is in the hands of public officers, procurators fiscal, under the control of the lord advocate. Private prosecutions are possible, but rare. Except in the case of the law of treason, imported from England at the Union, no grand jury is required, and the indictments are filed by the public officer.
The criminal law of England forms the basis of the criminal law of all British possessions abroad, with a few exceptions,e.g.the Channel Islands (still subject to the custom of Normandy) and the anomalous case of Cyprus, whereOther British possessions.Mahommedan law is to some extent in force. As to India, seeinfra.
In many British colonies the criminal law has been codified or at the least consolidated. Criminal codes have been passed in Canada, New Zealand (1893), Queensland (1899) and W. Australia (1901). Many crown colonies have codes framed on the model prepared by the late Sir R. S. Wright for Jamaica and revised in 1901, and in British Guiana opportunity was taken (in 1893) to abolish the remnants of Roman-Dutch criminal law.
The criminal law of South Africa, which is based on the Roman-Dutch law, including theConstitutio Criminalis Carolina(1532), is not codified. In the Transvaal and Orange River colonies codes of criminal procedure are in force, drawn mainly from the common and statute law of the Cape Colony with the addition of provisions borrowed from English and colonial legislation.
In Mauritius the criminal law is comprised in a penal code of 1838 and a procedure code of 1853, which, with the incorporated amendments, are to be found in theRevised Laws of Mauritius(1903-1904), ii. 466 et seq. The penal code is based on the Code Napoléon.
“Criminal law has everywhere grown out of custom, and has in all civilized states been largely dealt with by direct legislation. In most civilized states (including Japan) it has been codified by statute, to the general satisfaction of theCodification.people; and the conspicuous success of the Indian penal code shows that English criminal law is susceptible of being so treated” (Bryce,Studies, ii. 34).
The expediency, if not the necessity, of codifying the criminal law of England has long been apparent. The writings of Bentham drew attention to many of its substantial defects, and the efforts of Romilly and Mackintosh led to certain improvements embodied in what are known as Peel’s Acts (1826 to 1832). In 1833, at the instance of Lord Chancellor Brougham, a royal commission was appointed to deal with the criminal law. The nature of the instructions indicate the crudity of the ideas then ruling as to codification. The commissioners were directed to digest into one statute all enactments touching crimes and the punishment thereof, and into another statute the provisions of the common unwritten law touching the same. The commission was renewed in 1836 and 1837, and in 1843 a second commission was appointed. Numerous and voluminous reports were published, including (1848) a bill for consolidating and amending the law as to crimes and punishments, and (1849) a like bill for criminal procedure, indicating that the commissioners had in the meantime learned the distinction between substantive and adjective law. Lord Brougham in 1848 unsuccessfully introduced the first bill, and in the end the only fruit of the reports has been certain amendments of procedure in 1851 and the passing of the seven Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861, which deal with the statute law as to theft, forgery, malicious injuries to property, coinage offences and offences against the person. The reports, however, proved of value in the revision of Macaulay’s draft of the Indian penal code, and led to the formation of the Statute Law Committee, which has relieved the statute book of much dead matter. On his return from India, impressed by the success of the Indian penal code, Sir J. Stephen made a strong effort to obtain codification. In 1878, at the instance of Lord Cairns, he prepared a draft code (based on his well-knownDigest of the Criminal Law), which was laid before parliament and then submitted to judicial criticism and revision. As a result of this revision a code bill was introduced in 1880; but a dissolution intervened and no serious effort was then made. The obstacle in the way is not lack of reports or digests on which to frame a code, but the incapacity of parliament to do the work itself, and its unwillingness to trust the work to other hands.
The Indian penal code and criminal procedure code, by their history, their form, and the extent and diversity of the races and peoples to which they apply, are perhaps the most important codes in the whole world. While theIndia.East India Company was merely a trading company holding certain forts and trading ports in India and elsewhere, such criminal justice as was administered under its auspices was in the main based on the English criminal law, said to have been introduced to some extent by the company’s charter of 1661, but reintroduced into the presidency laws by later charters of 1726, 1753 and 1774. (SeeNuncomar and Impey, by Sir J. Stephen.) From 1771 until 1860 the criminal law administered was the Mahommedan law. When in 1771 the East Indian Company determined to stand forth as diwan, Warren Hastings required the courts of the mofussil (provinces), as distinct from those of the presidency town of Fort William, to be guided in the administration of criminal justice by Mahommedan law, which under the Moguls had been used in criminal cases to the exclusion of Hindu law. Difficulties arose in administration, from the definition of crime, the nature of punishments, and in matters of procedure, which were removed by regulations and by enactments on English lines, especially in Bombay (1827); and great delays and considerable injustice were caused by the want of unity in judicial organization.
Between 1834 and 1837 Macaulay with three other commissioners, Macleod, Anderson and Millet, prepared a draft penal code for India, for which they drew not only upon English and Indian laws and regulations but also upon Livingstone’s Louisiana code and the Code Napoléon. Little or nothing was taken from the Mahommedan law. A revised draft of the penal code by Sir B. Peacock, Sir J. W. Colville and others was completed in 1856. In framing it the reports of the English criminal law commissioners (published after Macaulay’s draft code) were considered. The draft was presented to the legislative council in 1856, but owing to the mutiny and to objections from missionaries, &c., its passing was delayed till the 6th of October 1860. A draft scheme of criminal procedure was prepared in India in 1847-1848, which, after submission to a commission in England in 1853 (Government of India Act 1853), was moulded into a draft code which passed the India legislative council in 1861 (Act No. XXV.) and came into force in 1862. It has been re-enacted with amendments in 1872 (Act X.), 1882 (Act X.) and 1898 (Act V.).
The result is that in India the criminal law is the law of the conqueror, though for many civil purposes the law of race, religion and caste governs. Under the codes, one set of courts has been established throughout the country, composed of well-paid, well-educated judges, most of the higher judicial appointments being held by Englishmen; all those who hold subordinate judicial posts at the same time are subjected to a combined system of appeal and revision. The arrangement of the Indian penal code is natural as well as logical; its basis is the law of England stripped of technicality and local peculiarities, whilst certain modifications are introduced to meet the exigencies of a country such as British India. It opens with a chapter of general explanations, and interpretations of the terms used throughout the code. It then describes the various punishments to which offenders are liable; follows with a list of the exceptions regarding criminal responsibility under which a person who otherwise would be liable to punishment is exempted from the penal consequences of his act, such as offences committed by children, by accident or misfortune without any criminal intention, offences committed by lunatics, offences committed in the exercise of the right of private defence. It may be worth while to add, as an innovation on English law, that an act which results in harm so slight that no person of ordinary sense and temper would complain of such harm is not considered an offence under the code. Then follows a chapter on abetment, in other words, the instigation of a person to do a wrongful act. The next chapters deal with offences against the public, including the state, the army and navy, public tranquillity, public servants, contempts of the lawful authority of public servants, perjury; offences relating to coin and government stamps, to weights and measures; offences affecting the public health, safety, convenience, decency and morals; offences relating to religion; and offences relating to the human body, from murder down to the infliction of any hurt. The code then passes on to offences against property; offences relating to forgery, including trade marks, criminal breach of contracts for service; offences relating to marriage, defamation, criminal intimidation, insult and annoyance. Under this last head is included an attempt to cause a person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do, by inducing him to believe that he would otherwise become subject to Divine displeasure. The last chapter deals with attempts to commit offences punishable by the code with transportation or imprisonment, and the punishment is limited to one-half of the longest term provided for the offence had it been carried out.
One peculiarity of the Penal Code which has proved eminently successful lies in the system of illustration of the offence declared in every section by a brief statement of some concrete case. For instance, as illustration of the offence of an attempt to commit an offence the following examples are given:—I. “A. makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box, and finds on opening the box there is no jewel in it. He has done an act towards the commission of theft, and therefore is guilty under this section.II. “A. makes an attempt to pick the pocket of Z. by thrustinghis hand into Z.’s pocket. A. fails in the attempt in consequence of Z. having nothing in his pocket. A. is guilty under this section.”
One peculiarity of the Penal Code which has proved eminently successful lies in the system of illustration of the offence declared in every section by a brief statement of some concrete case. For instance, as illustration of the offence of an attempt to commit an offence the following examples are given:—
I. “A. makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box, and finds on opening the box there is no jewel in it. He has done an act towards the commission of theft, and therefore is guilty under this section.
II. “A. makes an attempt to pick the pocket of Z. by thrustinghis hand into Z.’s pocket. A. fails in the attempt in consequence of Z. having nothing in his pocket. A. is guilty under this section.”
Passing on to the system of criminal procedure which is set forth in detail in the Code of Criminal Procedure as amended in 1898, it is no doubt modelled on the English system, but with considerable modifications. The principalIndian code of criminal procedure.steps are—(1) arrest by the police and inquiries by the police; (2) the issue of summons or warrant by the magistrate; (3) the mode of procedure before the magistrate, who may either try the accused himself or commit him to the sessions or the High Court, according to the importance of the case; (4) procedure before the court of session; (5) appeals, reference and revision by the High Court.
Elaborate provision is made for the prevention of offences, as regards security for keeping the peace and for good behaviour, the dispersion of unlawful assemblies, the suppression of nuisances, disputes as to immovable property, which in all Oriental countries constitute one of the most frequent causes of a breach of the peace.
Ample provision is thus made for the prevention of offences, and the code next deals with the mode of prosecution of offences actually committed.
As a general rule, every offence is inquired into and tried by the court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction it was committed. Differing from the practice of continental countries, all offences, even attempts, may be prosecuted after any lapse of time. As in England, there is no statutory limitation to a criminal offence.
A simple procedure is provided for what are called summons cases, as distinguished from warrant cases—the first being offences for which a police officer may arrest without warrant, the second being offences where he must have a warrant, or, in other words, minor offences and important offences. In summons cases no formal charge need be framed. The magistrate tells the accused the particulars of the offence charged; if he admits his guilt, he is convicted; if he does not, evidence is taken, and a finding is given in accordance with the facts as proved. When the complaint is frivolous or vexatious, the magistrate has the power to fine the complainant. The code gives power of criminal appeal which goes much further than the system in England.
In cases tried by a jury, no appeal lies as to matters of fact, but it is allowed as to matters of law; in other cases, criminal appeal is admitted on matters of law and fact.
In addition to the system of appeal, the superior courts are entrusted with a power of revision, which is maintained automatically by the periodical transmission to the High Courts of calendars and statements of all cases tried by the inferior courts; and at the same time, whenever the High Court thinks fit, it can call for the record of any trial and pass such orders as it deems right. All sentences of death must be confirmed by the High Court. No appeal lies against an acquittal in any criminal case. This system of appeal, superintendence and revision would be totally inapplicable to England, but it has proved eminently successful as applied to the present social condition of the inhabitants of India. The appeals keep the judges up to their work, revision corrects all grave mistakes, superintendence is necessary as a kind of discipline over the conduct of judges, who are not subjected, as in England, to the criticism of enlightened public opinion.
These Indian codes form the basis of the penal, &c., codes in force in Ceylon (superseding there the Roman-Dutch law), the Straits Settlements, the Sudan and the East Africa protectorates.
It has already been stated that most European states have codified their criminal law. The earliest of continental codes is that of Charles V., promulgated in 1532, and known asConstitutio Criminalis Carolina. Austria madeForeign codes.further codes in 1768 (Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana) and 1787 (Emperor Joseph’s code). A new code was framed in 1803, and amended in 1852 by reference to the Code Napoléon; and in 1906 a completely new code existed in draft. The Hungarian penal code dates from 1880. The Bavarian code of 1768 of Maximilian, revised in 1861, and the Prussian code of 1780, have been superseded by the German penal code of 1872.
The most important of the continental criminal codes are those of France, theCode Pénal(1810) and theCode d’Instruction Criminelle(1808)—the work of Napoleon the Great and his advisers, which professedly incorporate much of the Roman law.
The Belgian codes (1867), and the Dutch penal code (1880), closely follow the French model. In Spain the penal code dates from 1870, the procedure code from 1886. The Spanish American republics for the most part also have codes. Portugal has a penal code (1852). In Italy the procedure code and the penal code, perhaps the completest yet framed, are of 1890. The Swedish code dates from 1864. The Norwegian code was passed in May 1902, and came into force in 1905. Japan has a code based on a study of European and American models; and Switzerland is framing a federal criminal code.
In the United States no federal criminal code is possible; but most states, following the lead of Louisiana, have digested their criminal law and procedure more or less effectually into penal codes.
(W. F. C.)
1“It is founded,” said Sir J. Fitzjames Stephen, writing in 1863, “on a set of loose definitions and descriptions of crimes, the most important of which are as old as Bracton. Upon this foundation there was built, principally in the course of the 18th century, an entire and irregular superstructure of acts of parliament, the enactments of which were for the most part intended to supply the deficiencies of the original system. These acts have been re-enacted twice over in the present generation—once between 1826 and 1832 and once in 1861; besides which they were all amended in 1837. Finally, every part of the whole system has been made the subject of judicial comments and constructions occasioned by particular cases, the great mass of which have arisen within the last fifty years.” (View of the Criminal Law of England, by J. Fitzjames Stephen.)2i.e.Itinerant justices. From the Latinin itinere, on a journey.
1“It is founded,” said Sir J. Fitzjames Stephen, writing in 1863, “on a set of loose definitions and descriptions of crimes, the most important of which are as old as Bracton. Upon this foundation there was built, principally in the course of the 18th century, an entire and irregular superstructure of acts of parliament, the enactments of which were for the most part intended to supply the deficiencies of the original system. These acts have been re-enacted twice over in the present generation—once between 1826 and 1832 and once in 1861; besides which they were all amended in 1837. Finally, every part of the whole system has been made the subject of judicial comments and constructions occasioned by particular cases, the great mass of which have arisen within the last fifty years.” (View of the Criminal Law of England, by J. Fitzjames Stephen.)
2i.e.Itinerant justices. From the Latinin itinere, on a journey.
CRIMINOLOGY,the name given to a new branch of social science, devoted to the discussion of the genesis of crime (q.v.), which has received much attention in recent years. The expression is one of modern coinage, and originated with the speculative theories first advanced by the school of sociologists which had the Italian savant, Professor Lombroso, at its head. He discovered or was supposed to have discovered a criminal type, the “instinctive” or “born” criminal, a creature who had come into the world predestined to evil deeds, and who could be surely recognized by certain stigmata, certain facial, physical, even moral birthmarks, the possession of which, presumably ineradicable, foredoomed him to the commission of crime. Dr Lombroso, in his ingenious workL’Uomo delinquente, found many attentive and appreciative, not to say bigoted followers. Large numbers of dissentients exist, however, and the conclusions of the Italian school have been warmly contested and on very plausible grounds. If the doctrines be fully accepted the whole theory of free-will breaks down, and we are faced with the paradox that we have no right to punish an irresponsible being who is impelled to crime by congenital causes, entirely beyond his control. The “instinctive” criminal, under this reasoning, must be classed with the lunatic whom we cannot justly, and practically never do, punish. There are other points on which proof of the existence of the criminal type fails absolutely. The whole theory illustrates a modern phase of psychological doctrine, and the subject has exercised such a potent effect on modern thought that the claims and pretensions of the Lombroso school must be examined and disposed of.
The alleged discovery of the “born-criminal” as a separate and distinct genus of the human species was first published by Dr Lombroso in 1876 as the result of long continued investigation and examination of a number of imprisoned criminals. The personality of this human monster was to be recognized by certain inherent moral and physical traits, not all displayed by the same individual but generally appearing in conjunction and then constituting the type. These traits have been defined as follows:—various brain and cerebral anomalies; receding foreheads; massive jaws, prognathous chins; skulls without symmetry; ears long, large and projecting (the earad ansa); noses rectilinear, wrinkles strongly marked, even in the young and in both sexes, hair abundant on the head, scanty on the cheeks and chin; eyes feline, fixed, cold, glassy, ferocious; bad repellent faces. Much stress is laid upon the physiognomy, and it is said that it is independent of nationality; two natives of the same country do not so nearly resemble each other as two criminals of different countries. Other peculiarities are:—great width of the extended arms (l’envergureof the French), extraordinary ape-like agility; left-handedness as well as ambi-dexterism; obtuse sense of smell, taste and sometimes of hearing, although the eyesight is superior to that of normal people. “In general,” to quote Lombroso, “the born criminal has projecting ears, thickhair and thin beard, projecting frontal eminences, enormous jaws, a square and protruding chin, large cheek bones and frequent gesticulation.” So much for the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the criminal. There remain the psychological or mental characteristics, so far as they have been observed. Moral insensibility is attributed to him, a dull conscience that never pricks and a general freedom from remorse. He is said to be generally lacking in intelligence, hence his stupidity, the want of proper precautions, both before and after an offence, which leads so often to his detection and capture. His vanity is strongly marked and shown in the pride taken in infamous achievements rather than personal appearance.
No sooner was this new theory made public than the very existence of the supposed type was questioned and more evidence demanded. A French savant declared that Lombroso’s portraits were very similar to the photographs of his friends. Save for the dirt, the recklessness, the weariness and the misery so often seen on it, the face of the criminal does not differ from that of an honest man’s. It was pointed out that if certain traits denoted the criminal, the converse should be seen in the honest man. A pertinent objection was that the deductions had been made from insufficient premises. The criminologists had worked upon a comparatively small number of criminals, and yet made their discoveries applicable to the whole class. The facts were collected from too small an area and no definite conclusions could be based upon them. Moreover, the criminologists were by no means unanimous. They differed amongst themselves and often contradicted one another as to the characteristics exhibited.
The controversy was long maintained. Many eminent persons have been arrayed on either side. In Italy Lombroso was supported by Colajanni, Ferri, Garofalo; in France by J. A. Lacassagne. In Germany Lombroso has found few followers; Dr Naëcke of Hubertusburg near Leipzig, one of the most eminent of German alienists, declined to admit there was any special animal type. Van Hamel of Amsterdam gives only a qualified approval. In England it stands generally condemned, because it gives no importance to circumstance and passing temptation, or to domestic or social environment, as affecting the causation of crime. Dr Nicholson of Broadmoor has said that “if the criminal is such by predestination, heredity or accidental flaws or anomalies in brain or physical structure, he is such for good and all; no cure is possible, all the plans and processes for his betterment, education, moral training and disciplinary treatment are nugatory and vain.” No weight can then be attached to evil example, or unfavourable social surroundings, in moulding and forming character, particularly during the more plastic periods of childhood and youth.
The pertinent question remains, has the study and development of criminology served any useful purpose? Little perhaps can come of it in its restricted sense, but it has taken a wider meaning and embraces larger researches. It has inquired into the sources and causes of crime, it has collected criminal statistics and deduced valuable lessons from them, it has sought and obtained guidance in the best methods of prevention, repression, and forms of procedure. The champions of law and order have been greatly aided by the criminologist in carrying on the continual combat with crime, and in dealing with the most complicated of social phenomena. The new science has, in fact, by accumulating a number of curious details, in recording the psychology, the secret desires, the springs of the criminal’s nefarious actions, his corrigibility or the reverse, “prepared the way to his sociological explanation” (Tarde). Thanks to the labours of the criminologist we are moving steadily forward to a future improved treatment of the criminal, and may thus arrive at the increased morality and greater safety of society. Very appreciable advance has been made in the increased attention paid to juvenile and adult crime, the acceptance of the theory, now well established, that there is an especially criminal age, a period when the moral fibre is weaker and more yielding to temptation to crime, when happily human nature is more malleable and susceptible to improvement and reform.
The study of criminology has, however, gone far to satisfy us that the true genesis of crime is not to be sought in the anatomical anomalies of individuals, or in the fact that there are people who under “any social conditions whatever and of any nationality at no matter what epoch, would have undoubtedly become murderers and thieves.” On the contrary it may be safely assumed that many such would have done no wrong if they had,e.g., been born rich, had been free from the pressing needs that drove them into crime, and had escaped the evil influences of their surroundings. The criminologists have strengthened the hands of administrators, have emphasized the paramount importance of child-rescue and judicious direction of adults, have held the balance between penal methods, advocating the moralizing effect of open-air labour as opposed to prolonged isolation, and have insisted upon the desirability of indefinite detention for all who have obstinately determined to wage perpetual war against society by the persistent perpetration of crime.
Authorities.—See A. Weingart,Kriminaltaktik, ein Handbuch für das Untersuchen von Verbrechen(Leipzig, 1904); F. H. Wines,Punishment and Reformation(New York, 1895); C. Perrier,Les Criminels(Paris, 1905); G. Macé,Femmes criminelles(Paris, 1904); E. Carpenter,Prisons, Police and Punishment(1905); R. R. Rentoul,Proposed Sterilization of certain Mental and Physical Degenerates(1904); R. Sommer,Kriminalpsychologie und strafrechtliche Psychopathologie auf naturwissenschaftlicher Grundlage(Leipzig, 1904); F. Kitzinger,Die internationale kriminalistische Vereinigung(1905); Reports of Committee on the best mode of giving efficiency to Secondary Punishments (1831-1832); Reports of the House of Commons Committee of 1853, of the royal commission of 1884, of the departmental committee of 1895, and the annual reports of H. M. inspectors for Great Britain and Ireland.
Authorities.—See A. Weingart,Kriminaltaktik, ein Handbuch für das Untersuchen von Verbrechen(Leipzig, 1904); F. H. Wines,Punishment and Reformation(New York, 1895); C. Perrier,Les Criminels(Paris, 1905); G. Macé,Femmes criminelles(Paris, 1904); E. Carpenter,Prisons, Police and Punishment(1905); R. R. Rentoul,Proposed Sterilization of certain Mental and Physical Degenerates(1904); R. Sommer,Kriminalpsychologie und strafrechtliche Psychopathologie auf naturwissenschaftlicher Grundlage(Leipzig, 1904); F. Kitzinger,Die internationale kriminalistische Vereinigung(1905); Reports of Committee on the best mode of giving efficiency to Secondary Punishments (1831-1832); Reports of the House of Commons Committee of 1853, of the royal commission of 1884, of the departmental committee of 1895, and the annual reports of H. M. inspectors for Great Britain and Ireland.
(A. G.)
CRIMMITZSCHAU,orKrimmitschau, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Pleisse and the main Leipzig-Hof railway, 7 m. N.W. from Zwickau. Pop. (1900) 22,845. The most important industries of the town are the manufacture of buckskin, the spinning of carded yarn and vicuna-wool, and the processes of dyeing, finishing and wool-spinning connected with these. Among other manufactures are brushes, boilers and the like, machinery, metal ware generally, the cases and other parts of watches. The town has a modern school (Realschule), a commercial school, and technical schools for weaving and finishing.
CRIMP(possibly connected with “crimp,” to draw together, or fold in parallel lines, in the sense of “confine”; the primary meaning, however, seems to be that of “agent,” and the word may be a distinct one, of which the origin is lost), an agent for the supplying of soldiers and sailors, by kidnapping, drugging, decoying or other illegal means. Crimps were formerly regularly employed in the days of impressment (q.v.). Now the term is used, first of any one who engages to supply merchant seamen without a licence from the Board of Trade, and is not either the owner, master or mate of the ship, or is not bona fide the servant, and in the constant employment of the owner, or is not a superintendent (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, § 111); and, with a wide application, of the extortionate lodging or boarding-house keepers, who are generally in league with the “crimp” proper.
Sections 212 to 219 inclusive of the above act provide for the protection of merchant seamen in the United Kingdom from imposition. Local authorities at seaports have power to make by-laws for the licensing and regulating of lodging-houses for sailors, and to inflict penalties for the infringement thereof. If this power be not exercised, the Board of Trade may do so. Penalties are also imposed by the act for overcharging by lodging-house keepers, for detaining of seamen’s effects, and for soliciting. Unauthorized persons are prohibited from boarding a ship in port without leave. The Board of Trade officer at a port may provide money for sending a seaman to his home on discharge, and may forward his wages after deducting the expenses. Facilities are also given for having wages sent home from foreign ports at a small charge. These provisions have practically killed “crimping” in the United Kingdom. In the ports of the United States of America crimping was long prevalent, especially on the Pacific coast, and its prevention was very difficult, but state regulations as to the licensing of boarding-houses, and the limitation of the amount of so-called “blood-money” paidby masters of vessels to the suppliers of crews to ships denuded by desertions, have reduced the abuse materially.
The term “to shanghai” is used of a more serious offence. Literally meaning “to ship to Shanghai,” in China, it is applied to the drugging or rendering unconscious by violence or other means of persons, whether sailors or not, and shipping them to distant ports, in order fraudulently to obtain money in advance of wages, or for the sake of the premium paid for supplying crews.
CRIMSON, the name of a strong, bright red colour tinged to a greater or less degree with purple. It is the colour of the dye produced from the dried bodies of the cochineal insect (Coccus cacti). The word, in its earlier formscremesin, crymysyn, alsocramoysin, cf. “cramoisy,” the name of a red cloth, is adapted from the Med. Lat.cremesinusforkermesinusorcarmesinus, the dye produced from the insectKermes(Coccus ilicis), Arab.quirmiz, which Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1898) connects with the Sanskritkrimi, cognate with Lat.vermisand Eng. “worm.” From the Lat.carminus, a shortened form of carmesinus, comes “carmine” (q.v.).
CRINAGORAS, of Mytilene, Greek epigrammatist, flourished during the reign of Augustus (Strabo xiii. p. 617). A number of epigrams appear under his name in the Greek Anthology. From inscriptions discovered at Mytilene, he appears to have been one of the ambassadors sent from that city to Rome in 45 and 26B.C.
The epigrams have been edited by M. Rubensohn (1888).
The epigrams have been edited by M. Rubensohn (1888).
CRINOLINE(a Fr. word formed of the Lat.crinis, hair, andlinum, thread), a stiffening material made of horse-hair and cotton or linen thread. Substitutes for this, such as the straw-like material used in making hat shapes, are also known by the same name. From the use of the material to expand ladies’ skirts the term was applied, during the third quarter of the 19th century, when the fashion of wearing greatly expanded skirts was at its height, to the whalebone and steel hoops employed to support the skirts thus worn (seeCostume). The term is also used of structures resembling these articles, especially of the framework of booms, spars and netting forming a protection for a warship against torpedo attack.
CRINUM, a genus (nat. ord. Amaryllidaceae) of bulbous plants with rather broad leaves and a solid leafless stem, bearing a cluster of handsome white or red funnel-shaped regular flowers. They are well known in cultivation, and owing to the wide distribution of the genus different methods are adopted with different species. Some require the hot, moist temperature of a stove; such areC. amabile, a native of Sumatra,C. amoenum(India),C. Balfourii(Socotra),C. giganteum(West tropical Africa),C. Kirkii(Zanzibar),C. latifolium(India),C. zeylanicum(tropical Asia and Africa), and others. Others thrive in a greenhouse; such areC. asiaticum, a widely distributed plant on the sea-coast of tropical Asia,C. capenseandC. longiflorum, from the Cape, andC. MacowaniandC. Mooreifrom Natal.C. asiaticum,C. capenseandC. Macowaniwill also thrive in sheltered positions in the garden.
CRIOBOLIUM, the sacrifice of a ram in the cult of Attis and the Great Mother. It seems to have been a special ceremony instituted after the rise, and on the analogy of the taurobolium (q.v.), which was performed in honour of the Great Mother, for the purpose of giving fuller recognition to Attis in the duality which he formed with the Mother. There is no evidence of its existence either in Asia or in Italy before the taurobolium came into prominence (afterA.D.134). When the criobolium was performed in conjunction with the taurobolium, the altar was almost invariably inscribed to both the Mother and Attis, while the inscription was to the Mother alone when the taurobolium only was performed. The celebration of the criobolium was widespread, and its importance such that it was sometimes performed in place of the taurobolium (Corp. Inscr. Lat.vi. 505, 506). The details and effect of the ceremony were no doubt similar to those of the taurobolium.
(G. Sn.)
CRIPPLE CREEK, a city and the county-seat of Teller county, almost at the geographical centre of Colorado, U.S.A., one of the phenomenal mining camps of the West. Pop. (1900) 10,147 (1408 foreign-born); (1910) 6206. The city is served by three railways—the Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District (a branch of the Colorado & Southern), the Midland Terminal (which connects at Divide, 30 m. distant by rail, with the Colorado Midland), and the Florence & Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek is situated on a mountain slope in a pocket amid the ranges, about 9600 ft. above the sea at the head of the stream after which it is named. The municipal water-supply is drawn from Pike’s Peak, 10 m. distant. The interest of the city is in its extraordinary mines and their history. Cripple Creek’s site was frequently prospected after 1860, and “colours” and gold “float” were always found, but not until February 1891 was the source discovered. Cripple Creek was at that time a cattle range. In 1891 the output of gold in the district was valued at $449, in 1892 at $583,010, and in the next three years at $2,010,367, $2,908,702 and $6,879,137 respectively. From 1891 to 1906 the total production of gold was valued at $168,584,331; in 19051the product of gold was valued at $15,411,724, the total for the whole state being valued at $25,023,973; in 1906 the output for the district was valued at $14,253,245, out of $23,210,629 for the entire state. The development of the camp into a yellow-pine town and then into something more like a substantial city was marvellously rapid. The first railway was completed in 1894. In the same year a great strike—one of the most famous in American industrial history—threatening civil war, temporarily closed the mines; in 1896 fire almost destroyed the city; in 1903-1904 a second strike, lasting more than a year and greater than the first, occurred. The first strike, which was for an eight-hour day and $3.00 wage, was won by the miners. The second, for the recognition outright of the union organization of the miners, secured only a reaffirmation of the former conditions. The ores are almost exclusively gold, tellurides being the most characteristic form, and occur in fissure veins. Outcroppings were very rare, as the veins were covered with loose wash, and this accounted for the late opening of the field. The field covers a district about 8 × 10 m. Some peculiarities of the ores have required the use of new methods in their treatment, and in general the development of mining methods and machinery is of a wonderful character. The whole surrounding country is seamed with miles of tunnels in granite, and the hillsides are dotted everywhere with enormous dumps. The most famous mines have been the “Independence” (1891) and the “Portland” (1892). The latter had in 1904 more than 25 m. of workings above the 1100-ft. level. In 1903 the El Paso drain was completed, to unwater the western half of the field to the 880-ft. level, greatly increasing many mine values and outputs; in 1906 the work of drainage was again taken up, and work on a long bore was begun in May 1907. There are smelters and cyanide extracters in the district, but the bulk of the ore product is shipped to other places for treatment. Among the towns around Cripple Creek in the same mining district is Victor, pop. (1910) 3162, incorporated in 1894, chartered as a city in 1898.
See W. Lindgren and F. L. Ransome,Geology and Gold Deposits of the Cripple Creek District, Colorado, with maps (Washington, 1906), being Professional Paper No. 54 of the United States Geological Survey; and Benjamin McKie Rastall,The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District; A Study in Industrial Evolution(Madison, Wis., 1908), a full account of the strikes of 1894 and of 1903-1904.
See W. Lindgren and F. L. Ransome,Geology and Gold Deposits of the Cripple Creek District, Colorado, with maps (Washington, 1906), being Professional Paper No. 54 of the United States Geological Survey; and Benjamin McKie Rastall,The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District; A Study in Industrial Evolution(Madison, Wis., 1908), a full account of the strikes of 1894 and of 1903-1904.
1The value of gold mined in 1899-1902 was greater, annually, than the product of 1905 or 1906; up to 1905 the greatest annual value was in 1900, $18,073,539.
1The value of gold mined in 1899-1902 was greater, annually, than the product of 1905 or 1906; up to 1905 the greatest annual value was in 1900, $18,073,539.
CRISA, orCrissa, in ancient geography, one of the oldest cities of Greece, situated in Phocis, on one of the spurs of Parnassus. Its name occurs both in theIliadand in the HomericHymns, where it is described as a powerful place, with a rich and fertile territory, reaching to the sea, and including within its limits the sanctuary of Pytho. As the town of Delphi grew up around the shrine, and the seaport of Cirrha arose on the Crisean Gulf, Crisa gradually lost much of its importance. By the ancients themselves the name of Cirrha was so often substituted for that of Crisa, that it soon became doubtful whetherthese names indicated the same city or not. The question was practically settled by the investigations of H. N. Ulrichs. From its position Cirrha commanded the approach to Delphi, and its inhabitants became obnoxious to the Greeks from the heavy tolls which they exacted from the devotees who thronged to the shrine. The Amphictyonic Council declared war (the first Sacred War) against the Criseans in 595B.C., and having taken the town, razed it to the ground, and consecrated its territory to the temple at Delphi. The plunder of the town was sold to defray the expenses of the Pythian games. In 339 the people of Amphissa began to rebuild the town of Cirrha and to cultivate the plain. This act brought on the second Sacred War, the conduct of which was entrusted by the Amphictyons to Philip of Macedon, who took Amphissa (mod. Salona) in the following year. The ruins of Crisa may be still seen where the ravine of the Pleistus joins the plain; its name is probably preserved by the modern Chryso.
See J. G. Frazer’sPausanias, v. 459 (note on x. 37.5).
See J. G. Frazer’sPausanias, v. 459 (note on x. 37.5).
(E. Gr.)
CRISPI, FRANCESCO(1819-1901), Italian statesman, was born at Ribéra in Sicily on the 4th of October 1819. In 1846 he established himself as advocate at Naples. On the outbreak of the Sicilian revolution at Palermo (January 12, 1848) he hastened to the island and took an active part in guiding the insurrection. Upon the restoration of the Bourbon government (May 15, 1849) he was excluded from the amnesty and compelled to flee to Piedmont. Here he unsuccessfully applied for a situation as communal secretary of Verolengo, and eked out a penurious existence by journalism. Implicated in the Mazzinian conspiracy at Milan (February 6, 1853), he was expelled from Piedmont, and obliged to take refuge at Malta, whence he fled to Paris. Expelled from France, he joined Mazzini in London, and continued to conspire for the redemption of Italy. On the 15th of June 1859 he returned to Italy after publishing a letter repudiating the aggrandizement of Piedmont, and proclaiming himself a republican and a partisan of national unity. Twice in that year he went the round of the Sicilian cities in disguise, and prepared the insurrectionary movement of 1860.
Upon his return to Genoa he organized, with Bertani, Bixio, Medici and Garibaldi, the expedition of the Thousand, and overcoming by a stratagem the hesitation of Garibaldi, secured the departure of the expedition on the 5th of May 1860. Disembarking at Marsala on the 11th, Crispi on the 13th, at Salemi, drew up the proclamation whereby Garibaldi assumed the dictatorship of Sicily, with the programme: “Italy and Victor Emmanuel.” After the fall of Palermo, Crispi was appointed minister of the interior and of finance in the Sicilian provisional government, but was shortly afterwards obliged to resign on account of the struggle between Garibaldi and the emissaries of Cavour with regard to the question of immediate annexation. Appointed secretary to Garibaldi, Crispi secured the resignation of Depretis, whom Garibaldi had appointed pro-dictator, and would have continued his fierce opposition to Cavour at Naples, where he had been placed by Garibaldi in the foreign office, had not the advent of the Italian regular troops and the annexation of the Two Sicilies to Italy brought about Garibaldi’s withdrawal to Caprera and Crispi’s own resignation. Entering parliament in 1861 as deputy of the extreme Left for Castelvetrano, Crispi acquired the reputation of being the most aggressive and most impetuous member of the republican party. In 1864, however, he made at the chamber a monarchical profession of faith, in the famous phrase afterwards repeated in his letter to Mazzini: “The monarchy unites us; the republic would divide us.” In 1860 he refused to enter the Ricasoli cabinet; in 1867 he worked to impede the Garibaldian invasion of the papal states, foreseeing the French occupation of Rome and the disaster of Mentana. By methods of the same character as those subsequently employed against himself by Cavallotti, he carried on the violent agitation known as the Lobbia affair, in which sundry conservative deputies were, on insufficient grounds, accused of corruption. On the outbreak of the Franco-German War he worked energetically to impede the projected alliance with France, and to drive the Lanza cabinet to Rome. The death of Ratazzi in 1873 induced Crispi’s friends to put forward his candidature to the leadership of the Left; but Crispi, anxious to reassure the crown, secured the election of Depretis. After the advent of the Left he was elected (November 1876) president of the chamber. During the autumn of 1877 he went to London, Paris and Berlin on a confidential mission, establishing cordial personal relationships with Gladstone, Granville and other English statesmen, and with Bismarck.
In December 1877 he replaced Nicotera as minister of the interior in the Depretis cabinet, his short term of office (70 days) being signalized by a series of important events. On January 9, 1878, the death of Victor Emmanuel and the accession of King Humbert enabled Crispi to secure the formal establishment of a unitary monarchy, the new monarch taking the title of Humbert I. of Italy instead of Humbert IV. of Savoy. The remains of Victor Emmanuel were interred in the Pantheon instead of being transported to the Savoy Mausoleum at Superga. On the 9th of February, 1879, the death of Pius IX. necessitated a conclave, the first to be held after the unification of Italy. Crispi, helped by Mancini and Cardinal Pecci (afterwards Leo XIII.), persuaded the Sacred College to hold the conclave in Rome, and prorogued the chamber lest any untoward manifestation should mar the solemnity of the event. The statesmanlike qualities displayed on this occasion were unavailing to avert the storm of indignation conjured up by Crispi’s opponents in connexion with a charge of bigamy not susceptible of legal proof. Crispi was compelled to resign office, although the judicial authorities upheld the invalidity of his early marriage, contracted at Malta in 1853, and ratified his subsequent union with Signora Barbagallo. For nine years Crispi remained politically under a cloud, but in 1887 returned to office as minister of the interior in the Depretis cabinet, succeeding to the premiership upon the death of Depretis (July 29, 1887).
One of his first acts as premier was a visit to Bismarck, whom he desired to consult upon the working of the Triple Alliance. Basing his foreign policy upon the alliance, as supplemented by the navalententewith Great Britain negotiated by his predecessor, Count Robilant, Crispi assumed a resolute attitude towards France, breaking off the prolonged and unfruitful negotiations for a new Franco-Italian commercial treaty, and refusing the French invitation to organize an Italian section at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. At home Crispi secured the adoption of the Sanitary and Commercial Codes, and reformed the administration of justice. Forsaken by his Radical friends, Crispi governed with the help of the Right until, on the 31st of January 1891, an intemperate allusion to thesante memorieof the conservative party led to his overthrow. In December 1893 the impotence of the Giolitti cabinet to restore public order, then menaced by disturbances in Sicily and in Lunigiana, gave rise to a general demand that Crispi should return to power. Upon resuming office he vigorously suppressed the disorders, and steadily supported the energetic remedies adopted by Sonnino, minister of finance, to save Italian credit, which had been severely shaken by the bank and financial crises of 1892-1893. Crispi’s uncompromising suppression of disorder, and his refusal to abandon either the Triple Alliance or the Eritrean colony, or to forsake his colleague Sonnino, caused a breach between him and the radical leader Cavallotti. Cavallotti then began against him a pitiless campaign of defamation. An unsuccessful attempt upon Crispi’s life by the anarchist Lega brought a momentary truce, but Cavallotti’s attacks were soon renewed more fiercely than ever. They produced so little effect that the general election of 1895 gave Crispi a huge majority, but, a year later, the defeat of the Italian army at Adowa in Abyssinia brought about his resignation. The ensuing Rudini cabinet lent itself to Cavallotti’s campaign, and at the end of 1897 the judicial authorities applied to the chamber for permission to prosecute Crispi for embezzlement. A parliamentary commission, appointed to inquire into the charges against him, discovered only that Crispi, on assuming office in 1893, had found the secret service coffers empty, andhad borrowed from a state bank the sum of £12,000 for secret service, repaying it with the monthly instalments granted in regular course by the treasury. The commission, considering this proceeding irregular, proposed, and the chamber adopted, a vote of censure, but refused to authorize a prosecution. Crispi resigned his seat in parliament, but was re-elected by an overwhelming majority in April 1898 by his Palermo constituents. For some time he took little part in active politics, chiefly on account of his growing blindness. A successful operation for cataract restored his eyesight in June 1900, and notwithstanding his 81 years he resumed to some extent his former political activity. Soon afterwards, however, his health began to give way permanently, and he died at Naples on the 12th of August 1901.
The importance of Crispi in Italian public life depended less upon the many reforms accomplished under his administrations than upon his intense patriotism, remarkable fibre, and capacity for administering to his fellow-countrymen the political tonic of which they stood in constant need. In regard to foreign politics he greatly contributed to raise Italian prestige and to dispel the reputation for untrustworthiness and vacillation acquired by many of his predecessors. If in regard to France his policy appeared to lack suavity and circumspection, it must be remembered that the French republic was then engaged in active anti-Italian schemes and was working, both at the Vatican and in the sphere of colonial politics, to create a situation that should compel Italy to bow to French exigencies and to abandon the Triple Alliance. Crispi was prepared to cultivate good relations with France, but refused to yield to pressure or to submit to dictation; and in this attitude he was firmly supported by the bulk of his fellow-countrymen. The criticism freely directed against him was based rather upon the circumstances of his unfortunate private life and the misdeeds of an unscrupulousentouragewhich traded upon his name than upon his personal or political shortcomings.