Gaolers. power of justices in quarter session to fine the Coroner for non attendance on them. INDICTMENT OF A CORONER FOR REFUSING TO TAKE AN County of.... {that on ...... day of...... in the.. ... year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George, &c. &c. one A. B. at .... in the said county of... was drowned and suffocated in a certain pond, and of that drowning and suffocating then and there died; and that the body of the said A. B. at...... aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, lay dead, of which one C. D. late of...... in the county aforesaid, gentleman, afterwards, to wit, on the said...... day of. . . . . . in the year aforesaid, then being one of the Coroners of our said Lord the King for the county aforesaid, at ...... aforesaid, had notice; nevertheless the said C. D. the duty of his office in that behalf not regarding, afterward, to wit, on the said...... day of. . . . . . in the year aforesaid, at...... aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, to execute his office of and concerning the premises, and to take inquisition for our said Lord the King, according to the laws and custom of the realm, unlawfully, obstinately, and contemptuously did neglect and refuse, and that the said C. D. no inquisition in that behalf as yet hath taken, to the great hindrance of justice, in contempt of our said Lord the King and his laws, and against the peace, &c. GAOLERS are the next in order of officers whose attendance upon the courts of quarter sessions is necessary; under which denomination are comprehended all persons who have the custody or superintendance of the prisons, to which the jurisdiction and cognizance of the sheriff, or the justices, of the county, extend; whatever may have been the usual title or appellation by which any of such gaolers may have been distinguished. Their principal business is to bring the prisoners in custody who are to take their trials; vagrants who have been committed, and are either to be discharged or further imprisoned; to receive the passes of such as are to be carried by them to their respective places of settlement;* and to take charge of such other prisoners as may be committed to their custody by the court. 32 Geo. 3. c. 45. s. 5. 7 But there are other duties also prescribed by divers acts of parliament. For example, " if the master of every house of correction shall not at every quarter session, yield a true account of all persons that have been committed to his custody; or if any person committed to his custody shall be troublesome to the county, by going abroad, or otherwise shall escape away from such house of correction before he shall be lawfully discharged therefrom, the justices in such session shall set such fine upon him as they think fit, to be paid to the treasurer.” * And by another statute, the justices in sessions are required "to call upon the Keeper of every house of correction within their jurisdiction, to produce to them in writing a list of the several persons then in their custody, with a description of the offence, and the time for which committed, distinguishing particularly those who by warrant of commitment are to be kept to hard labour, and also distinguishing the age and sex of every such person committed to hard labour, and in what trade or business he hath been employed, and what he hath been most accustomed to, and is best qualified for, and how he has behaved during his confinement. And by a still more recent statute "every Gaoler shall at the Michaelmas quarter session, yearly, deliver a certificate, signed and verified on oath before such court, (or in case of sickness or inability before a justice) expressing (after each of certain provisions there enumerated, and which are directed by previous statutes §) whether such provision is, or is not, complied with, or observed, within such gaol, and such certificate shall be read publicly in open court, in the presence of the grand jury, and entered on the records of the sessions." And the justices are further directed" to take such certificate into consideration, and to summon any such person named therein as shall seem meet; and every county Gaoler who shall neglect to deliver such certificate, shall forfeit 50l., and every other not a county Gaoler 20l., to be recovered in the courts of Westminster. * 7 Jac. 1. c. 4. 29 Geo. 3. c. 67. † 22 Geo. 3. c. 64. § See Pract. Expos. tit. GAOLER, sect. 2. FORM OF THE CERTIFICATE. Certificate to At the general quarter session of the peace for the said..... the Michaelmas holden at .... this...... day of...... in the year of our Lord ..... the certificate of.. in pursuance of the statute in this case made and provided respecting the gaol of...... Sessions. Constables. ties. By the statutes, also, for the relief of insolvent debtors, certain duties are imposed on Gaolers to be performed at sessions, which render their presence there necessary; as for example, by the very last statute of this kind,* they are required to deliver lists of the debtor prisoners in their custody, and to verify the same on oath, before the justices assembled. The salaries of Gaolers, also, occasionally become the subject of the justices' cognizance in sessions, under certain circumstances, unnecessary to be noticed further, than by reference to the statute, + the present purpose being answered, by only shewing the multiplied occasions for their attendance at the sessions. THE CONSTABLES, as well of hundreds, as of parishes, are bound to attend the quarter sessions. The Constables Chief Consta- of hundreds, or chief Constables, to make return of the bles, their du- warrants directed to them previous to the sessions, to receive the instructions of the justices, to make presentments relative to offences within their constablewicks, and to report the state of the King's peace within the same. Such at least are the general duties assigned to them by the nature, and from the original foundation, of their office. Beside these, however, innumerable others have, from time to time, been imposed upon them by statute, of an amount too considerable to be distinctly enumerated, to any profitable purpose here; as many of them, although more or less connected with their attendance upon the sessions, are to be executed out of them.§ § By way of example, and to show the inconvenient extent to which the particular notice of every law relative to these descriptions of duty, The petty Constables are called over, and fined by the Petty Constacourt if they do not attend. Their duties, relative to their bles. parishes, are, in a great degree, similar to those of their chiefs respecting the hundreds, with some additional ones; such as reporting the state of their respective parish stocks, giving evidence respecting the execution of warrants wherewith they may have been charged, and all other matters pertaining to their office, both as conservators of the peace, and as ministers of the justices. The chief Constables are moreover directed by statute,* "at the general, or quarter, sessions, if thereunto required, to account for the general county rate by them received, on pain of being committed to gaol, until they shall account; and shall pay over the money in their hands according to the order of the said court, on the like pain. And all the accounts and vouchers shall, after having been passed at the said sessions, be deposited with the clerk of the peace, to be kept among the records, and inspected by any justice without fee." They are also to deliver in the lists received from their To deliver liste petty constables of jurors, and to verify the same by oath. † the petty Conof jurors from t High, or chief Constables, are always chosen at some stables. session, either special, general, or quarterly, in order that High Constables appointed an officer, in whom all the acting magistrates of the county, and sworn at or division, have so great an interest, he being their immediate servant, and auxiliary, in the preservation of the peace, and the link between them and all the petty constables throughout their jurisdiction, may have, if they think fit, a would multiply these pages, one of them, by a recent statute, will be sufficient. "Within ten days after every session at which any Justice shall have returned any conviction, whereon he has received any fine or forfeiture, the clerk of the peace or town clerk shall deliver to the chief Constable of the district where any person shall reside, who shall be entitled to any share of such fines, an account in writing of such fines, &c. which chief Constable shall transmit an account thereof to the petty Constable of the parish, that notice may be given to the person entitled, &c."-41 Geo. 3. c. 29. 12 Geo. 2. c. 29. & 55 Geo. 3. c. 51. † 2 Geo. 2. c. 25. sessions. Petty Consta &c. there. voice in his nomination to the office. They are always sworn also into the office, either at some such session, or by warrant from the same. Petty Constables, too, though sometimes appointed in bles appointed courts-leet, according to ancient practice, and occasionally sworn into office either by the lord of such court, or by justices out of session, are now generally nominated by their respective parishes in vestry, and sworn into office by the justices at the quarter session, which is, on every account, the better and more regular mode. It has also been decided, that the justices in session are the proper judges where it is right to appoint Constables for places that have not had any before.‡ Mandamus will bles. So necessary a part of the general system, for the preserlie to compel vation of the peace, are Constables, that the court of King's justices to swear Consta- Bench will grant a mandamus to compel the justices to swear such as have been duly appointed; § and if, on the other hand, a Constable duly chosen refuse to take upon himself the office and be sworn, he may be indicted at the sessions, (or assizes,) and if convicted, shall be fined. Oaths to be Constables. stables. High Constables are required to take the oaths of alletaken by High giance, supremacy, and abjuration, as others who qualify for offices; ** but they are not required to receive the sacrament, or to subscribe the declaration against transubstantiaBy Petty Con- tion; and petty Constables are exempt from both species of test; but must take an oath of office, which has varied at different periods. That anciently in use has been preserved by Dalton, which it has been thought right to introduce here, only distinguishing such parts of it (by Italics) as have been superseded by modern statutes, or are become obsolete. You shall swear that you shall well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King, in the office of a Constable. You shall see and cause his Majesty's peace to be well and duly kept and preserved according to your power. You shall arrest all such |