And for the matter itself, it is manifest enough, that which we now call murder, robbery, theft, and other practices of felons, are the same that we call felony, and crimes in their own nature without the help of statute. Nor is it the manner of punishment, that distinguisheth the nature of one crime from another; but the mind of the offender and the mischief he intendeth, considered together with the circumstances of person, time, and place. _L._ Of felonies, the greatest crime is murder. _P._ And what is murder? _L._ Murder is the killing of a man upon malice forethought, as by a weapon, or by poison, or any way, if it be done upon antecedent meditation; or thus, murder is the killing of a man in cold blood. _P._ I think there is a good definition of murder set down by statute, 52 _Henry III, c. 25_, in these words: Murder, from henceforth, shall not be judged before our justices, where it is found misfortune only, but it shall take place in such as are slain by felony, and not otherwise. And Sir Edward Coke interpreting this statute, 2 _Inst._ p. 148, saith, that the mischief before this statute was, that he that killed a man by misfortune, as by doing any act that was not against law, and yet against his intent the death of a man ensued, this was adjudged murder. But I find no proof of that he allegeth, nor find I any such law among the laws of the Saxons set forth by Mr. Lambard. For the word, it is, as Sir Edward Coke noteth, old Saxon, and amongst them it signified no more than a man slain in the field or other place, the author of his death not known. And according hereunto, Bracton, who lived in the time of Magna Charta, defineth it, fol. 134, thus: Murder is the secret killing of a man, when none besides the killer and his companions saw or knew it; so that it was not known who did it, nor fresh suit could be made after the doer. Therefore, every such killing was called murder, before it could be known whether it could be by felony or not; for a man may be found dead that kills himself, or was lawfully killed by another. This name of murder came to be the more horrid, when it was secretly done, for that it made every man to consider of their own danger, and him that saw the dead body, to boggle at it, as a horse will do at a dead horse. And to prevent the same, they had laws in force, to amerce the hundred where it was done, in a sum defined by law to be the price of his life. For in those days, the lives of all sorts of men were valued by money, and the value set down in their written laws. And therefore Sir Edward Coke was mistaken, in that he thought that killing a man by misfortune before the statute of Marlebridge, was adjudged murder. And those secret murders were abominated by the people, for that they were liable to so great a pecuniary punishment for suffering the malefactor to escape. But this grievance was by Canutus, when he reigned, soon eased. For he made a