Schwartz v. State

Rodney, J.,

delivering the opinion of the Court:

In order to clearly determine the purpose and effect of the Statute it may not be improper to briefly consider the condition of the law prior to its passage.

*486At the early common law only one degree of principal was recognized in the commission of a crime. It was subsequently recognized, however, that the offense of one who was present but who was not the actual perpetrator of the crime itself was to be considered in a different light from the offense of one who was not present, even though he had aided or counseled the commission of the act. From…