Note 8 — THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF MARK AND PHILLIS, In 1755.

By stat. 22 Hen. VIII. ch. 9, a person of either sex, who was convicted of murdering another by poison, was to be boiled to death, and the offence was, by the same act, declared high treason; but this act was repealed by 1 Edw. VI. ch. 12, after several executions under it, including that of Margaret Davy, who poisoned her mistress. Though by the common law poisoning was deemed a most atrocious circumstance, it did not alter the punishment of the principal crime involved. The law considered only the crime, and not the manner in which it was committed.