Compassing

Compassing [fr. compasser, Fr., to encircle, con, with, and passus, a step, Lat.], imagining or contriving. To compass or imagine the death of the king, of his queen, or of their eldest son and heir is treason by 25 Edw. 3, c. 2. 'Compassing' or 'imagining' are here synonymous terms, the word 'compass' signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect; but this compassing or imagining, being an act of the mind, cannot fall under any judicial cognizance unless it be demonstrated by some open, or overt, act, See 4 Bl. Com. 78.