Offences against the Person.
tion or within such Period as the said Justices shall at the Time of the Conviction appoint, they may commit the Offender to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, there to be imprisoned, with or without Hard Labour, for any Term not exceeding Two Months, unless such Fine and Costs be sooner paid.
Persons convicted of aggravated Assaults on Females and Boys under Fourteen Years of Age may be imprisoned or fined.43. When any Person shall be charged before Two Justices of the Peace with an Assault or Battery upon any Male Child whose Age shall not in the Opinion of such Justices exceed Fourteen Years, or upon any Female, either upon the Complaint of the Party aggrieved or otherwise, the said Justices, if the Assault or Battery is of such an aggravated Nature that it cannot in their Opinion be sufficiently punished under the Provisions herein-before contained as to Common Assaults and Batteries, may proceed to hear and determine the same in a summary Way, and, if the same be proved, may convict the Person accused; and every such Offender shall be liable to be imprisoned in the Common Gaol or House of Correction, with or without Hard Labour, for any Period not exceeding Six Months, or to pay a fine not exceeding (together with Costs) the Sum of Twenty Pounds, and in default of Payment to be imprisoned in the Common Gaol or House of Correction, with or without Hard Labour, for any Period not exceeding Six Months, unless such Fine and Costs be sooner paid, and, if the Justices shall so think fit, in any of the said Cases, shall be bound to keep the Peace and be of good Behaviour for any Period not exceeding Six Months from the Expiration of such Sentence.
If the Magistrates dismiss the Complaint, they shall make out a Certificate to that Effect.44. If the Justices, upon the Hearing of any such Case of Assault or Battery upon the Merits, where the Complaint was preferred by or on the Behalf of the Party aggrieved, under either of the last Two preceeding Sections, shall deem the Offence not to be proved, or shall find the Assault or Battery to have been justified, or so trifling as not to merit any Punishment, and shall accordingly dismiss the Complaint, they shall forthwith make out a Certificate under their Hands stating the Fact of such Dismissal, and shall deliver such Certificate to the Party against whom the Complaint was preferred.
Certificate or Conviction shall be a Bar to any other Proceedings.45. If any Person, against whom any such Complaint as in either of the last Three preceding Sections mentioned shall have been preferred by or on the Behalf of the Party aggrieved, shall have obtained such Certificate, or, having been convicted, shall have paid the whole Amount adjudged to be paid, or shall have suffered the Imprisonment or Imprisonment with Hard Labour awarded, in every such Case he shall be released from all further or other Proceedings, Civil or Criminal, for the same Cause.
