Odger's English Common Law

TRIABLE SUMMARILY. 323
In addition to the grave assaults mentioned above, which
are triable on indictment at the Assizes or Quarter Sessions,
the Legislature has given to justices of the peace wide powers
of dealing with less serious assaults. In some cases the same
offence may be dealt with either summarily or by way of
indictment. Thus, to assault or obstruct a police officer
in the execution of his duty has, as we have seen, been
indictable since the year 1861 ; but many recent statutes
have enabled magistrates to deal summarily with the same
offence and sentence the offender to a term of imprison-
ment not exceeding six months or to impose a fine not
exceeding 5620. 1
Again, an assault on any female or on any boy under fourteen,
which is of such an aggravated nature that, in the opinion of
the justices, it cannot be sufficiently punished under the
provisions as to common assaults, is called an aggravated
assault. This offence is triable summarily either upon the
complaint of the party aggrieved or otherwise, and the
accused on conviction may be fined £20 (including costs) or
sent to prison for six months. 2 But he may elect to be tried
on indictment, and he may then be sentenced to one year's
imprisonment. 3
If a husband be convicted on indictment of any assault,
or summarily of an aggravated assault, on his wife and be
sentenced to a fine of more than £5 or to imprisonment for a
term exceeding two months, the Court 4 or magistrate can
grant her a separation order, which will have the force and
effect of a decree of judicial separation, and may also give to
the wife the legal custody of the children of the marriage
while under the age of sixteen, and order the husband to pay
her a sum not exceeding £2 a week for maintenance. 6
Lastly, any common assault may be dealt with summarily,
and here the procedure more nearly approaches the trial of a
civil action. For in the first place, the proceedings can only
1 See, for instance, 34 & 35 Vict. c. 112, s. 12, and 45 & 46 Vict. c. 5Q, ?, 195.
2 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 43.
s 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, s. 17.
* For an instance in which a judge of assize exercised this power, see R. v.
Knowles (1901), 65 J. P. 27.
s 58 & 59 Vict. c. 39, s. 4.
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