CONFEDERATION, government. The name given to that form of government which the American colonies, on shaking off the British yoke1, devised for their mutual2 safety and government.
2. The articles of confederation, (q. v.) were finally adopted on the 15th of November, 1777, and with the exception of Maryland, which, however, afterwards also agreed to them, were speedily adopted by the United States, and by which they were formed into a federal bod y, and went into force on the first day of March, 1781; 1 Story Const. 225; and so remained until the adoption3 of the present constitution, which acquired the force of the supreme4 law of the land on the first Wednesday of March, 1789. 5 Wheat. R. 420. Vide Articles of Confederation.
CONFERENCE, practice, legislation. In practice, it is the meeting of the parties or their attorneys in a cause, for the purpose of endeavoring to settle the same.
2. In legislation, when the senate and house of representatives cannot agree on a bill or resolution which it is desirable should be passed, committees are appointed by the two bodies respectively, who are called committees of confrence, and whose duty it is, if possible, to -reconcile the differences between them.
3. In the French law, this term is used to signify the similarity and comparison between two laws, or two systems of law; as the Roman and the common law. Encyclopedie, h. t.
4. In diplomacy5, conferences are verbal explanations between ministers of two nations at least, for the purpose of accelerating various difficulties and delays, necessarily attending written communications.
CONFESSION6, crim. law, evidence. The voluntary declaration made by a person who has committed a crime or misdemeanor, to another, of the agency or participation7 which he had in the same.
2. When made without bias8 or improper9 influence, confessions10 are admissible in evidence, as the highest and most satisfactory proof: because it is fairly presumed that no man would make such a confession against himself, if the facts confessed were not true but they are excluded, if liable to the of having been unfairly obtained.
3. Confessions should be received with great caution, as they are liable to many objections. There is danger of error from the misapprehension of witnesses, the misuse11 of words, the failure of a party to express his own meaning, the prisoner being oppressed by his unfortunate situation, and influenced by hope, fear, and sometimes a worse motive12, to male an untrue confession. See the case of the two Boorns in Greenl. Ev . 214, note 1; North American Review, vol. 10, p. 418; 6 Carr. & P. 451; Joy on Confess. s. 14, p. 100; and see1 Chit. Cr. Law, 85.
4. A confession must be made voluntarily, by the party himself, to another person. 1. It must be voluntary. A confession, forced from the mind by the flattery of hope, or the torture of fear, comes in so questionable13 a shape, when it is to be considered as evidence of guilt14, that Lo credit ought to be given to it. 1 Leach15, 263. This is the principle, but what amounts to a promise or a threat, is not so easily defined. Vide 2 East, P. C. 659; 2 Russ. on Cr. 644 4 Carr. & Payne, 387; S. C. 19 Eng. Com. L. Rep. 434; 1 Southard, R. 231 1 Wend. R. 625; 6 Wend. R. 268 5 Halst. R. 163 Mina's Trial, 10; 5 Rogers' Rec. 177 2 Overton, R. 86 1 Hayw. (N. C.) R, 482; 1 Carr. & Marsh16. 584. But it must be observed that a confession will be considered as voluntarily made, although it was made after a promise of favor or threat of punishment, by a person not in authority, over the prisoner. If, however, a person having such authority over him be present at the time, and he express no dissent17, evidence of such confession cannot be given. 8 Car. & Payne, 733.
5. - 2. The confession must be made by the party to be affected18 by it. It is evidence only against him. In case of a conspiracy19, the acts of one conspirator20 are the acts of all, while active in the progress of the conspiracy, but after it is over, the confession of one as to the part he and others took in the crime, is not evidence against any but himself. Phil. Ev. 76, 77; 2 Russ. on Cr. 653.
6. - 3. The confession must be to another person. It may be made to a private individual, or under examination before a magistrate21. The whole of the confession must be taken, together with whatever conversation took place at the time of the confession. Roscoe's Ev. N. P. 36; 1 Dall. R. 240 Id. 392; 3 Halst. 27 5 .2 Penna. R. 27; 1 Rogers' Rec. 66; 3 Wheeler's C. C. 533; 2 Bailey's R. 569; 5 Rand. R. 701.
7. Confession, in another sense, is where a prisoner being arraigned22 for an offence, confesses or admits the crmie with which he is charged, whereupon the plea of guilty is entered. Com Dig. Indictment23, K; Id. Justices, W 3; Arch. Cr. Pl. 1 2 1; Harr. Dig. b. t.; 20 Am. Jur. 68; Joy on Confession.
8. Confessions are classed into judicial24 and extra judicial. Judicial confessions are those made before a magistrate, or in court, in the due course of legal proceedings25; when made freely by the party, and with a full and perfect knowledge of their nature and consequences, they are sufficient to found a conviction. These confessions are such as are authorized26 by a statute27, as to take a preliminary examination in writing; or they are by putting in the plea of guilty to an indictment. Extra judicial confessions are those wbich are made by the part elsewhere than before a magistrate or in open court. 1 Greenl. Ev. 216. See, generally, 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3081-2.
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