Jackson, J.

1. The petitioner has been sentenced to one years rigorous imprisonment for stabbing a man in the neck with a spear, and 6 months rigorous imprisonment concurrently for hurting a man in S C. No. 158 of 1923, Coimbatore. In S.C. No. 157 of 1928 he was the complaint, with the plea that certain of the prosecution witnesses in S.C. No. 158 had set upon him.

2. There is no clear law as regards the procedure in counter cases, a defect which the legislature ought to remedy.

3. It is a generally recognized rule that such cases should be tried in quick succession by the same Judge, who should not pronounce judgment till the hearing of both cases is finished.

4. This precludes the danger of an accused being convicted before his whole case is before the Court, and also prevents there being conflicting judgments upon similar facts. But at the same time the rule involves obvious difficulty. It seems to infringe the fundamental principle that the Court must not import any facts into a., case which are not to be found upon the record. To take an illustration, suppose in the first of the cases, the accused succeeds in showing that the prosecution has failed to prove its charge, and th