The  case  was  then  adjourned  to  the  following  day,  when
the  prisoner  was  again  brought  up  before  the  same  magis-
trate. The  prosecutor  was  again  sworn,  and  Mr.  Smith,
the  magistrate's  clerk,  read  over  to  the  prosecutor  a  written
deposition  which  had  been  taken  previously  to  the  second
hearing.  Witness  cross-examined  the  prosecutor,  and  that
cross-examination,  or  some  part  of  it,  was  taken  down  by
Mr.  Smith,  and  from  his  notes  it  was  afterwards  copied,

(a)  2  Cox's  C.  C.  491.
z2


320  CASES  ON  THE

1860.         brought  before  the  magistrate,  and  signed  by  the  prosecu-
tor in  the  presence  of  the  prisoner.
His  Lordship. — A  fair  copy  ?

Witness. — Yes,  a  fair  copy  of  the  cross-examination
taken  down  on  the  copy,  which  had  been  previously  read.
His  Lordship  said,  on  this  evidence  he  should  hold
that  the  deposition  was  admissible  in  evidence.  In  the
London  police  offices,  where  a  great  number  of  charges
were  daily  heard,  it  was  the  constant  practice  to  have  the
abbreviated  notes  taken  during  the  examination  of  a  witness
by  the  magistrate's  clerk,  fair  copied,  in  full,  in  an  adjoin-
ing room,  and  that  copy  afterwards  read  over  in  the  pre-
sence of  the  prisoner,  and  signed  by  the  witness ;  and  the
business  of  these  offices  could  not  otherwise  be  carried  on.
He  thought  such  a  practice  not  only  convenient  but  within
the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  statute,  as  the  prisoner  had
full  opportunity  as  well  as  the  witness  of  objecting,  if  the
evidence  were  put  down  incorrectly.
The  deposition  was  then  given  in  evidence.
The  prisoner  was  afterwards  acquitted  on
the  facts  proved.
REGINA  ».  WRIGHT.
