People v. Gill

6 Cal. 637 (1856)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Gill (D) hit another person. Before his victim died, a new law was passed to set up degrees of murder and manslaughter. D was charged in an indictment with the act of murder committed on March 22, 1856. D was convicted of murder in the second degree. The act defining murder in the second degree was not passed until April 16, 1856. D was convicted and appealed. A clause in the act provided that in trials for crimes committed before its passage, the party shall be tried by the laws in force at that time. The People (P) claimed that the crime was not completed until the party died, which was after the passage of the new law.