200 PUBLIC BOOK IV. fervant with an .iron bar, and a fchoolmafter ftamped on his fcholar's belly ; fo that each of the fufferers died ; thefe were juftly held to be murders, becaufe the correction being exceflive, and fuch as could not proceed but from a bad heart, it was equi- valent to a deliberate act of {laughter 2 . Neither mall he be guilty of a lefs crime, who kills another in confequence of fuch a wilful act, as {hews him to be an enemy to all mankind in general j as going deliberately with a horfe ufed to ftrike, or dif- charging a gun, among a multitude of people a . So if a man refolves to kill the next man he meets, and does kill him, it is murder, although he knew him not ; for this is univerfal ma- lice. And, if two or more come together to do an unlawful act againft the king's peace, of which the probable confequence might be bloodlhed ; as to beat a man, to commit a riot, or to rob a park ; and one of them kills a man ; it is murder in them all, becaufe of the unlawful act, the malitla praecogitata, or evil intended beforehand b . ALSO in many cafes where no malice is exprefled, the law will imply it : as, where a man wilfully poifons another, in fuch a deliberate act the law prefumes malice, though no particular enmity can be proved c . And if a man kills another fuddenly, without any, or without a confiderable, provocation, the law implies malice ; for no perfon, unlefs of an abandoned heart, would be guilty of fuch an act, upon a flight or no apparent caufe. No affront, by words, or geftures only, is a fumcient provocation, fo as to excufe or extenuate fuch acts of violence as' manifeftly endanger the life of another d . But if the perfon fo provoked had unfortunately killed the other, by beating him in fuch a manner as {hewed only an intent to chaftife and not to kill him, the law fo far confiders the provocation of contume- lious behaviour, as to adjudge it only manflaughter, and not murder e . In like manner if one kills an officer of juftice, either
- i Hal. P. C 454. 473,474- " ' Hawk. P. C. 82. i Hal. P. C. 455,
i Hawk. P. C. 74. 45 6 - < ////. 84. e Foil. 291. c i Hal. P. C. 45;. civil
