Sec.23. Assault and Battery is unlawfully to assault or threaten, or to strike or wound another.  Besides being liable to fine and imprisonment, the offender is liable also to the party injured for damages.

Sec.24.  A riot is the assembling together of three or more persons, with intent forcibly to injure the person or property of another, or to break the peace; or agreeing with each other to do such unlawful act, and making any movement or preparation therefor, though lawfully assembled.  When riotous persons are thus assembled, and are proceeding to commit offenses, any judge, justice, sheriff, or other ministerial officer, may in the name of the state, command them to disperse.  If they refuse, the peace officers are required to call upon all persons near to aid in taking the rioters into custody.  Persons refusing to assist may be fined.

Sec.25.  A sheriff or other officer voluntarily suffering a prisoner charged with or convicted of an offense, to escape, from his custody, is guilty of a misdemeanor.  To rescue a prisoner thus charged or convicted, is punishable in a similar manner.  It is also a misdemeanor to assist a criminal, with a view to effect his escape, though he does not escape from jail.

Sec.26.  A person taking upon himself to act as a public officer, and taking or keeping a person in custody unlawfully or without authority, is false imprisonment; for which the offender may be fined or imprisoned.

Sec.27.  The offenses mentioned in the last four sections, being of a lower grade than those defined in the preceding sections, and not being punishable in a state prison, are usually called misdemeanors, and are punishable by fine or imprisonment in a county jail.  There are numerous other misdemeanors and immoralities, as profane cursing and swearing, betting and gaming, horse racing, disturbing religious meetings, sabbath-breaking, trespasses and injury to property, and many disorderly practices, all of which are punishable in a like manner.

Law of Nations.

Chapter LXIII.

Origin and Progress of the Law of Nations; the Natural, Customary, and Conventional Laws of Nations.

Sec.1.  The law of nations consists of those rules by which intercourse between nations is regulated.  In its present improved state, the law of nations has not long existed.  Ancient nations were little governed by the principles of natural justice.  Little respect was paid by one nation to the persons and property of the citizens of another.  Robbery on land and sea was not only tolerated, but esteemed honorable; and prisoners of war were either put to death, or reduced to slavery.  By this rule of national law, commerce was destroyed, and perpetual enmity kept up between nations.

Sec.2.  Within the last three or four centuries, essential improvement in the law of nations has been made.  By the light of science and Christianity, the rights and obligations of nations have come to be better understood, and more generally regarded.  Commerce also has done much to improve the law, by showing that the true interests of a nation are promoted by peace and friendly intercourse.