to imprison a man yet have they not power in any case to deliver a man imprisoned again And therefore if a Constable in case of an Affray commit an Affrayor to the Prison the Constable may not afterward set him at liberty again Or if he take a man upon a suspicion of Fellony and he doth afterwards perceive some cause to make him believe the party apprehended is Innocent in the matter yet may not the Constable deliver him but he must continue in Prison untill he may be delivered by order of Law either at the Sessions or otherwise as the cause shall be And yet if an Officer shall only put the Affrayors apart into the Stocks or into some House or Room as it seems he may untill the hear be past in this case the Officer of his own head may set them at liberty again 21. Every person that shall be Allowance Charge of a Prisoner sent to Gaol by a Justice of Peace having means and ability of his own must bear his own charges to be levyed of his Goods and Chattels by the Constable upon a Warrant to him sent by a Justice of Peace and not having goods then to be born by the Parish where the Fellon is apprehended by an indifferent Assessment to be made by the Constables and Church-wardens and two or more of the Inhabitants by allowance of a Justice Numb 20 of Peace 22. If any of these Officers What Pleas these Officers shall have being said 21 Jac. 12. 7 Jac. 5. shall be sued for any thing done by them in the execution of their Offices or if any suit be brought against their Deputies or any others which in their aide or assistance or by their commandement shall doe any thing touching their Offices this Action must be laid in the County where the thing was done otherwise the Defendant shall be found not guilty howsoever the case be And in all Actions brought against them for the causes aforesaid they need not plead the speciall matter but may plead the generall issue and give the speciall matter in evidence And if the Verdict upon triall pass with the Officer or the Plantiff be Nonsuit or suffer his Action to be discontinued the Defendant shall recover his double costs susteined in Costs the said Suit 23. These Officers all the rest hereafter named must take care that they take nothing of any man for any work they do in the Extortion execution of their office more than is allowed them and is their due for this offence in them is extortion and punishable by Fine and Imprisonment 24. These Officers as well as other Account are to give an account to the Parishoners of the monies they doe any way receive And this if they refuse to doe they may no doubt be compelled unto by the Justices of the Peace at their Quarter-Sessions 25. And as touching Numb 21 the disbursments of these Officers about the execution Expences and disbursments of Officers of their Office as for the carriage of Prisoners to Gaol the conveying of Rogues and the like whereby any speciall Act of Parliament they are to be allowed it or any thing towards it and the means of recovering it is set down there they shall have the same allowance and they must pursue that means for the recovery of it And so in all cases where the offender is sent to Goal by a Justice there is a means appointed by the Statute of 3 Jac. 10. by the sale of the offendors Goods or a Rate by the Parish as before But in other cases also it seems very reasonable that they should be allowed it again from the Parish and if the Parish will not allow it perhaps the Justices of Peace upon the complaint of the Officer may devise some way and doubtlesse they will doe what they can to relieve him And therefore he is to call his Neighbours or as many as will come and with them or without them if they refuse make an equall Rate sufficient to pay all his necessary charges and expences in the doing of his Office and it will be good to get a Justice hand to it if he can and if any refuse to pay it let him complain to the Justice of Peace who will either binde him that refuseth to the Quarter-Sessions or finde some other way to bring him to reason But as touching their ordinary expences for meat drink c. in their travells for this it seems there is no remedy but that the Officers themselves must bear it Howbeit in these things the custome of the place is to be continued SECT 2. Of the Office of the High and Petit-Constable about the Peace THe authority and duty of all these Officers High-Constable and Petit-Constable by the Common-Law consisteth much about the Peace of the Common-wealth and herein in three things First In foreseeing that nothing be done that tendeth either directly or by means to the breach of the Peace Secondly in quieting or pacifying those that are occupied in the breach of the Peace And thirdly In punishing such as have already broken the Peace And here lest any man should be deceived Breach of the Peace what it is in the not understanding what is meant by the breach of the Peace it must be known That by the breach of the Peace is to be understood not only that fighting which we commonly call the breach of the Peace but also that every Murther Rape Man-slaughter and other Fellony whatsoever and every Affraying or putting in fear the People of this Common-wealth whether it be by unlawfull wearing of Armour or by assembling of people to doe any unlawfull act are taken to be disturbances and breaches of the Peace For the better preventing of the breach of Numb 1 the Peace and that nothing be done against it First Any one of these Officers may without Warrant from a Justice of Peace ex officio Against suspected persons as Nightwalkers and the like Stat. of Winchester 13 Ed. 1. 4. 5 Ed. 5. 14. 13 H. 7. 10. Fitz. Office J P. 200. 1 H. 7. 7 Bro. Tres 432. and of his own authority by night or day arrest suspected persons strangers and others that walk in the night and sleep in the day or haunt Bawdy-houses or other suspicious places or shall doe or commit any outrage or misdemeanor For if a Constable be informed of a lewd man and woman that are together and about to be incontinent and lewd he may take with him so many of his neighbours as he will and arrest the same man and woman or any such disorderly person and bring them to a Justice of Peace to be bound to the good behaviour 2. And the better to apprehend such persons Bawdrie they are to see and take care that Watch and Ward be duely kept And for this these things are to be known 1. None but Inhabitants of the same Town are compellable to Watch and Ward 2. It must
such like cases a man may justifie the arresting of the party suspected 3. What shall be said a sufficient cause of suspicion Tryal what not shal be tryed by the Judges 4. It is the duty of these Officers to doe their utmost indeavour with all diligence to finde out and apprehend Fellons And if there shall be herein any neglect found in them especially if it be for favour or reward they may be grievously punished And for this Search cause they may and they must after a Fellony is done either by or without the Warrant of some Justice of Peace make diligent search for him that did it in all such places within their Numb 10 Liberty as they shall understand to be likely to finde him in for it is the chief part of their Office to represse Fellony and albeit it be a mans house he doth dwell in which they doe suspect the Fellon to be in yet they may enter in there to search and if the owner of the house upon request will not open his dores Braking of a house open lawfull it seems the Officer may break open the dores upon him to come in to search And so also it seems the Officer may search for goods stoln as he may for the Fellon himself that doth steal them and if the Officer upon search cannot finde the Fellon it is his duty to raise a Hue and Cry and send him directing it to these Officers whose duty it is carefully to Hue and Cry pursue them as soon as they receive them and it is the duty of all other men being called upon by Officers and at the Cry of the Country to be ready to pursue and arrest Fellons and upon the Hue and Cry any man may atrest him that is taken with the things be he never so honest and he may deliver him and the goods to the Constable of the Town to be kept safely 5. If they be about to arrest any man suspected of Fellony they may require the aid Ayd and help of others both to arrest and carry to prison the party suspected and the parties required must in this case help them at their perill 6. If a private man arrest another man as he may upon his own suspicion and then deliver him to the Constable of the place he 10 Ed. 4. 17. Fitz. J. P. 21. must then look to him that he suffer him not to escape at his perill but that he bring him and the party with him that did arrest him to Carrying of a Prisoner to Gaâ—lâ— a Justice of Peace or that he bring the party arrested to the Gaole for in this case the Constable may not refuse to take charge of a Fellon so brought unto him by another And if there be no Constable of the place where the party is apprehended and the party that doth arrest doth bring the prisoner to the Constable of the next Parish it seems this Constable in this case is bound to take charge of him at his perill 7. If a man flie for Fellonie the Constable Seizâ—re of Goods Fitz. J. P. 201. of the Village where his Goods are must seize them and keep them safe and not part with any of them but so much only as is needfull for the sustentation of the Prisoner and if the Numb 11 goods be impaired the Constable must answer for them and therefore it will be his wisdom to take them by Inventory and in the presence of honest neighbours 8. An Action of Trespass was brought by a man for an Assault and Battery of his Servant whereby he did lose his service three dayes and the Defendant pleaded that A was robbed at midnight of Goods to the value of two pounds whereupon the said A came to the Constable and prayed him to search for the Search suspicious persons and to apprehend and arrest them and accordingly he did search and Arrest found the same servant walking suspiciously in the street in the night and therefore he would have arrested him but the said servant fled and would not yeeld to the arrest and the Defendant by the Constables commandement pursued and took him This was adjudged a good Plea in Barre For when a Fellony is committed the Constable or any others upon suspicion of persons that are suspicious may arrest them and if they will not yeeld to the arrest but assault him or them that doth arrest him they may justifie the beating of him for that he doth resist the Peace Beating justifiable Hue and Cry 29 Ed. 3 9. Pulton de Pace 12. 5 H. 7. 4. and Justice of the Common-wealth when he doth forcibly strive to flie and not to be justified by it If a Hue and Cry be levyed and pursued that a Horse of such a colour or mark so many Beasts of such a sort or age or so many Sheep of such a brand be stoln and Numb 12 one is taken leading or driving of the said Horses Beasts or Sheep In this case it is lawfull for these Officers or any other man to stay and apprehend him and if he that doth apprehend him be not an Officer he may commit him to the Constable of the place where he is apprehended and by him to be put in the Stocks or safe kept until he be delivered by course of Law though the party apprehended be not a man of evill name or fame but a man of good credit for seeing the Law hath by the Hue and Cry accused him he must be by a course of Law again acquitted and discharged And in this case he that is so taken shall not have an Action of Trespass Fals-imprisonment Arrest or other remedy against him that pid apprehend him or against the Constable to whom he was committed albeit he be afterwards acquit of the Fellony In an Action of Fals-imprisonment the Defendant pleaded 27 H. 8. 13. That there was a Fellony done and he suspected the Plaintiff to have done it and therefore he arrested him In this case this was held no good Plea for he should have shewed some ground and cause of his suspicion And in an Action of fall-imprisonment it is no Plea for the Defendant to plead That it was told him that the Plaintiff had brought the Cattel to the Town and put them in a blinde corner and that there was great cause of suspicion that the Plaintiff had stoln them whereupon he did arrest him for suspicion only without a Fellony committed is no cause to arrest another And in an Action of false-imprisonment the Defendant pleaded That J. S. was poysoned and that the common voyce and fame of the Countrie was That the 5 H. 7. 4. 2 H. 7. 15. 11 Ed. 4. 4. Plaintiff had poysoned him whereupon the Defendant apprehended the Plaintiff and committed him to prison as was lawfull for him to doe And this was adjudged a good Plea in Barre of the said Action for common voyce and fame of the Country
is cause of suspicion of Fellony when a Fellony is committed but when there is no Fellony done it seems this is not cause sufficient to warrant the arresting of such a person And yet as before it appeareth the accusation of a man where no Fellony in truth is done by Hue and Cry is cause sufficient to warrant the arresting of such a person as is described by the Hue and Cry In an Action of Fals-imprisonment the Defendant did plead That before the imprisonment A. B. was slain at C. and that the Plaintiff was in the 7 H. 4. 10. Dyer 276. company of those who killed him at the time of the Fellony committed and the common voyce and fame of the Countrie at C. was that the Plaintiff was party to the Fellony whereupon the Defendant finding the Plaintiff at C. arrested him for suspicion of Folony and committed him to the Sheriff c. and this was allowed a good and sufficient Plea 9. If a man doe assault another in or neet Imprisoning him that doth attempt to rob Fitz. Bar. 202. 2 Ed. 4. 26. Numb 13. Carrying one to a Justice or to Gaole the high-way to rob him and he that doth make this assault is taken and brought to the Constable of the place In this case the Constable must take him to his ward and carry him before a Justice of Peace to give sureties for his good behaviour In an Action of Trespass of Assault and Battery and Fals-imprisonment the Defendant pleaded That the Plaintiff lay in wait in a high-way to rob such persons as travelled that way and assaied to rob one L. and drew his sword and commanded the same L. to deliver his purse whereupon L. fled and levyed Hue and Cry and this Defendant be ing travelling that way pursued the Plaintiff and took him and committed him to the Constable Arrest to be put in the Stocks who did it accordingly and this was adjudged a good justification for every man may arrest him that doth a Fellony or him who maketh it apparent that he doth intend and goe about to commit a Fellony for that he doth thereby manifest himself to be a principall breaker of Law and Peace of the Nation 10. The Constable is to levy Hue and Cry Hue and Cry when there is cause and to send it East West North and South and it is best to express in the Hue and Cry the nature of the thing stoln colour and marks and to describe the number of Fellons their Horse Apparel c. And this Officer receiving a Hue and Cry after a Fellon must with all speed make diligent pursuit with Horse and Foot after the offendors from Town to Town the way it is sent and make diligent search in his own Town And the Constable and Hundred both may be punished for neglect herein And all other men must hereupon be industrious to take them Hitherto for the most part we have shewed you nothing but what is of the primitive and immediate authority and duty of these Officers and what they may and must doe ex Officio without any commandement or authority from others But for as much as a great part of their duty especially concerning the Peace resteth in making of due execution of the Precepts of higher Officers and especially of the Justices of Peace who be as it were immediately set over them We are therefore in the next place to shew you some part of that which they are to doe in that behalf Albeit these Officers be subject to the commandements In executing of the Precepts of others of the justices of Gaole-delivery of Oyer and Terminer and of some higher Justices yea and to the Precepts of Sheriffs Lamb. Const off Numb 14. Coroners and Stewards of Leets and of other Officers in some certain Cases yet because they are called upon most commonly by the Justices of Peace so as at this day their Office is for the most part conversant about the execution of their Warrants For if the Justice of Peace doth understand by complaint that any man hath stoln or slain or any Servant or Laborour without License hath departed out of his Masters service or any that liveth idly or suspectedly knowing once in what Parish he is he doth write to any one of these Officers to command him to bring this person before him and then he doth examine him and if he finde cause he doth commit him to some Constable or Officer to convey him to the Gaole there to abide till the Justices meet at their Quarter-Sessions or at their Gaole-delivery that the Law may either condemn or acquit him And to these Precepts these Officers ought especially to shew themselves obedient and then also especially when their Aide is called for to suppress Ryots unlawfull Assemblies and such like notorious breaches of the Peace And 1. howsoever it be so that if a Felloâ— Search Dalt J. P. 289. man have Goods stoln and he doth suspect that such a man hath stoln them and he complain thereof to the Constable so that now Numb 15 the Constable hath cause to suspect him also That the Constable in this case of his own authority without Warrant from a Justice of Peace may search for the Goods and the Fellon and if he finde the Goods seize them and if he finde the Fellon apprehend him yet for the most part the Constable not knowing his authority or the danger is so fearfull and remiss herein that he doth nothing until he have a Warrant of a Justice of Peace to provoke and enable him so to doe And if such a Warrant be sent to him from a Justice of Peace to search Search after Goods stoln and the party that is suspected to steal them the Constable may and must execute this Warrant accordingly 2. If a Warrant come to any of these Officers from a Justice of Peace to bring such a man before him to give Sureties for the Peace or Good-behaviour In this Case the Officer cannot make a Deputy or command another to doe it Deputy Dalt J. P. 290 291. Dalt J. P. 291. Coo. 5. 59. Broo. Faux Impr. 2. Warrant but he may require the aid of others to help himself in the doing of it 3. If a Warrant be directed to this Officer from the Justice of Peace to bring any person before some Justice of the Peace of the County for the Peace or Good-behaviour and the cause as it ought to be is set down in the Warrant In this Case the duty of the Officer is first to finde out the party and having found him to require him in the name of the Keepers of the Libertie of England to goe with him to a Justice of Peace to put in security according to the Warrant The which if he refuse or delay to doe or if he offer to â—un away from him or resist him then must the Officer forthwith arrest him and convey him to the Prison if the Warrant
there is no remedy but by complaint to the Lord cheif Justices or the Judges of the Circuit c. If the Constable be chosen by the Jury in a Leet and the man chosen be unfit and the Steward of the Leet doth perceive it in this case it seemes the Steward himself may elect and swear another man more fit and refuse and discharge him that is so chosen by the Jury And it is held also That in default of the Leet or otherwise where there shall be just cause every Justice of Peace ex officio may remove the old Constable and choose and swear a new one and that for this purpose he may send forth his Warrant to require such Person to come in and take his Oath before such Justice of the Peace Also there was as it seems another way of discharging and removing of this Officer by a Warrant from the King to the Custome Prescription Sheriffe of the the County and to the High-Constable of the Hundred whereof see a president in Daltons Just. of Peace fol. 322. 5. No custome or prescription to exempt any man not exempted as before or to warrant an undue election contrary to the rules before laid down will availe or shall be allowed unto any person or Tything 6. If a man be chosen to this Office in a Leet and he refuse to take the charge thereof upon him he may be fined for this contempt in the same Leet And if he be chosen at the Sessions or by one Justice of Peace out of Sessions and he refuse to take his oath he Numb 1. Deputy may be Indicted and fined at the Sessions for this contempt 7. A Constable chosen and sworn may make what Deputies he will under himself to execute his Office for there is no doubt but in time of sicknesse and at other times also he may if he will execute his Office by Deputy but the Officer himself must expect to answer for all the mis-doings of his Deputies And if one man be chosen an Officer and he desire to have a Deputy and to have him sworn and allowed if the Deputy be sufficient and be allowed and sworn in this case the Deputy and not the other is the Officer and therefore the Duputy must answer for himself and his doings and not the other for him But the making of a Deputy in this case is rather by tolleration than by Law and so hath it been delivered by the Judges The form of the Oath of a Constable YOu shall swear well and faithfully to serve the Common-wealth in the Office of a Constable You shall see the publique Peace to be well and duely kept and preserved to the utmost of your power You shall arrest all such persons as in your presence shall ride or goe armed offensively or shall commit or make any Riot Affray or other Breach of the publique Peace You shall doe your best endeavour upon complaint to you made to apprehend all Fellons Barators Riotors or persons riotously assembled and if any such offendors shall make resistance with force you shall levie Hue and Cry and shall pursue them untill they he taken You shall doe your best endeavour that the watch in your town be duely kept and that Hue and Cry he duely pursued according to the Statutes And that the Statute made for punishing of Rogues Vagabonds and Night-walkers and such other idle and wandring persons coming within your liberties be duely put in execution You shall have a watchfull Eye to such persons as shall maintain or keep any common house or place where any unlawfull games or playes are or shall be used as also to such as shall frequent or use such places or shall exercise or use any unlawfull games or playes there or elsewhere contrary to the Statute And you shall have a care for the maintenance of Archery according to the Statute At your Assizes Sessions or Leet you shall present all and every the offences committed or done contrary to the Statutes made and provided for the restraint of the inordinate haunting and tipling in Taverns Innes Alehouses and other Victualing-houses and for the repressing of drunkennesse and prophane swearing You shall true Presentment make of all Blood-shedding Affraies Outcryes Rescues and other offences committed or done against the publique Peace within your limits You shall well and duly execute all Precepts and Warrants to you directed from the Justices of the Peace and others in Authority in this County And you shall well and duly according to your Knowledge Power and Ability doe and execute all other things belonging to the Office of a Constable so long as you shall continue in the said Office So help you God Or thus more briefly YOu shall swear that you shall well and duly execute the Office of Constable or Tything-man for the Parish or Tything of S. for this next yeer or half a yeer as the Case is and untill another be sworn in your room or you shall be legally discharged thereof So help you God CHAP. VIII Of the Power and Duty of the High-Constable and petty-Constable in common and one with another And of some few things the petty-Constable and not the High-Constable is to doe THese Officers and their Offices as they had a far greater Authority than now they have so have they been of far greater account than now they be For by the ancient Common-lawes before there were any Justices of Peace made the Constables of every Village had a kinde of Rule within the same Village and were to keep the Peace there and therefore the Constable was called the Ruler of the Village and it is thought that at that time the Authority and account of these Officers was much like to the Authority and account of the Justices of the Peace at this day and therefore they had then the same Titles of Conservators of the Peace given unto them which is given to the Justices of Peace at this day Sed tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis For this is vanished now and there is but little signe of it for at this day they doe for the most part but execute the Commands of others yet somewhat there is remaining as the footsteps of what formerly they had the which to set forth is our labor in this place For the opening whereof we shall observe his method First we shall shew what all Constables High and Low Tything-men Borshollers c. may and must doe and what is their common and equall Duty and Authority and then next what the High-Constable may and must doe more than the petty-Constable c. and wherein these Officers have a distinct and severall duty one from another and then we shall shew what the Constables of some great Townes may doe in some speciall Cases SECT 1. Certain generall Rules and Cases about these things FOR the further cleering and opening of these things observe these Rules and Cases following 1. Every of these
more bound there to doe any of the things that doe belong to their office than any Numb 9 other man is Ninthly that in case of pursuit Ayde Broo. Ry. 3. Tresp 431. 3 H. 7. 10. 13 H. 7. 10. 38 Ed. 3. 8. Dalt J. P. 303. and apprehension of Fellons and carrying them to Gaole in case of suppressing Insurections allaying of Affrayes keeping of the Peace execution of the Warrants of Justices of the Peace and the like any of these Officers when need shall be may require the ayde and assistance of so many of his Neighbours or others of all sorts of able men above fifteen years of age as he shall think meet and so also he may doe in case where a man is hurt and dangerously wounded for the apprehending and arresting of him that gave the wound and so also he may doe when a Warrant is sent unto him for the apprehending of a popish Recusant by speciall provision of the Statute of 3 Jac. cap. 4. And if any such person being required by any of these Officers in any such case shall refuse or neglect to aide them he may be fined and imprisoned for it at the Quarter Sessions Tenthly these Officers if they cannot otherwise Numb 10 get in may justifie the breaking open of Breaking of a house Coo. 5. 92. Dalt J. P. 176. 177. 13 Ed. 4. 9. 3. Jac. 4. any mans house in these Cases following viz. to search after or arrest any Person for Treason or Felony or suspicion thereof that is or is thought to be in the House to take a man that hath dangerously hurt another and is fled into the House to appease an affray that is in the House to apprehend a Popish Recusant upon a Warrant to break open the house and upon a Warrant for the Peace or good Behaviour by the opinion of Popham and Clerk Judges of Assise at Cambridge And so generally in all cases wherein the Keepers of the Liberty are Party or where they have any Interest in the business And yet it seems in case of a Warrant to apprehend an Alehouse-keeper for selling without licence and to carry him to Bridewell upon the second Conviction it was doubted by the Judges in their Resol 1633. Sect. 11. But in all these cases the Officer Numb 11 before he doth break open the house Fresh pursuit Pl. 37. Dalt J. Peace 23. Arrest out of the Officers precinct To what Gaol a Prisoner may be carried must signifie the cause of his comming and require them to open the dores Eleventhly where an Officer hath power to arrest a man and being coming to doe it the party doth flye into another County or Hundred in this case the Officer may presently pursue him whithersoever he shall so flie and arrest him there albeit it be in another Hundred or County out of his own Precinct Twelfthly if a man commit a Fellony in one County and be arrested Numb 12 in another County for the same by the fresh Daltons J. P. 297. 298. pursuit of the Officer or some other pursuing him thither in this case the Prisoner must be carried to the Gaole of the County where he is taken and not to the Gaole of the other County And if a Constable be coming to arrest Affrayors and they fly into another County and he pursue and take them there in this case he must bring them before a Justice of Peace of the same County where they are taken where the Officer can doe no more than a private man But if the flight be only into a priviledged or other place in the same County in this case the Officer may in his fresh pursuit thither take him and diâ—pose of him as an Officer and as if he took him within the limits of his own Parish And if a Constable arrest a man upon a Warrant from a Justice of Peace and after the arrest the party of his own wrong getteth away and flyeth into another County in this case the Officer may pursue him and take him there and bring him back to the same Justice of Peace from whom the Warrant came Thirteenthly Nmb. 13 It is dangerous to oppose or hinder Resisting an Officer Coo. 4. 40. 9. 96. Broo. Tres 296. 21 H. 7. 39. Lamb. J. P. 29. 298. Dalt J. P. 297. Murder Trespasse Good behaviour these Officers in the doing and execution of their office For to kill any one of these officers in the doing of his office is wilfull murder and causeth unavoydable death or to beat or wound any such Officer in the doing of his office is a great Trespass to be recompenced with great Dammages And otherwise to abuse any such Officer in the doing of his office is a great Misdemeanour that may cause the offender to be bound to the good Behaviour And if the party that is to be arrested shall make resistance make an assault upon the Officer or labour to get away the Officer may justifie the beating yea and the Beating wounding of him also or he may imprison him in the Stocks for the same But upon a Stocks Warrant of a Justice of Peace for the Peace or good behaviour if the party resist or flye before he be arrested it is said the Officer cannot justifie the beating of him yet if the Officer please he may soon arrest him for if he be a known Officer and doe but say to the Party I arrest you in the name of the Keepers Arrest of the libertie of England albeit he never And so was the opinion of the Lord Keeper the Lord Chief Justice 5. Car. Murder justfiable lay hands upon him this is an Arrest in Law And if a Warrant be sent to any of these Officers to Arrest one Indicted of Fellony he may justifie the killing of the Party if he cannot otherwise take him or being taken if he resist and fly when he is taken Fourteenthly Where any of these Numb 14 Officers hath Arrested a man and hath power Fitz. Cor. 61. 288. 328. When an Officer may imprison a man in another place then the common Prison to imprison him it is held that he may not imprison him in his own house or in any other place but the common prison and the prison also of the same County for he may not carry him to the Gaol of another County except it be in some speciall Case as where one Gaol doth serve for divers Counties or the like and yet upon resonable request as Fitz. Barra 202. 20 E. 4. 6. 10 Ed. 4. 17. 22 Ed. 4. 35. 3 H. 4. 9. Kelw. 45. 11 E. 4. 7. Stocks because it is night or because the Officer doth want strengâ—h enough to carry him to the Goal or to the Justice or because he doth fear a Rescue will be made upon him or the like in these Cases the Officer may put the party in the Stocks and keep him there for a reasonable time viz. untill the morning if
if a Justice of Peace send a generall Warrant to an Officer to carry J. S. to Gaol or to bring him before him and express no cause why it seems to me reasonable in both these cases the Officer in the doing hereof is excusable But if the Justice have not good cause for it he may be sued for it And so perhaps he may be though he have cause for the not expressing of it within his Warrant If this Officer doe arrest any man under Warrant pretence of a Warrant let him be sure he have the Warrant first For if the Officer first arrest and bring the man to the Justice and then get a Warrant to doe it this will not make the arrest lawfull 5. A Warrant of a Justice of Peace by word of mouth is as good in some Cases as a Warrant by writing As if a Ryot or other breach of the Peace be in his presence he may by word of mouth command the Officers or any other to arrest the offendors to finde Sureties of the good Behaviour in the first or Peace in the last Case and if they refuse to put in Sureties he may by word of mouth command to convey them to the Gaole But in other Cases he cannot give warrant to an Officer that is absent and out of his presence and if he send a Warrant by Message only to an Officer to arrest a man and carry him to Gaole the Constable may refuse to doe it 6. If any Warrant come from a Justice of Peace to one of these Officers to doe a thing the Officer himself must doe it and he cannot by word or writing make a Deputy or Deputy command another to doe it but he may call what ayde he will 7. In the execution of these Warrants he is to take great care that he follow the contents of his Warrant and not to exceed it for that may be dangerous And yet this must be understood that when any thing is commanded all that doth necessarily conduce to the doing of that thing and without which it cannot be done is commanded also and therefore all that and so much may be done albeit it be not set down in express words in the Warrant And it is said that if a Warrant be made to J. S. and J. K. to arrest J. D. In this Case either of them alone may make the Arrest 8. A Constable or other Coo. 9. 69. 6. 54. 8 Ed. 4. 15. Dalt J. P. 28. sworn or known Officer albeit he be not known to the party arrested needs not to shew his Warrant to the man when he comes to serve it upon him although he demand it but otherwise it is when he that is no Officer shall arrest a man upon a Justice of Peace warrant for he must shew his warrant and the sworn or known Officer also must upon the arrest of the party declare the contents of the Warrant to him 9. A Constable or the Coo. 9. 69. like Officer giveth sufficient notice what he is when he saith to the Party I arrest you in the Arrest what it is name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England c. for this is an arrest in Law and therefore in this case the party arrested at his perill must obey though he know him not to be an Officer for if he have no lawfull Warrant the party grieved may hereupon have his Action of false imprisonment against him 10. The Officer must take care that he take the very party named in the Warrant and not another for if a Warrant be intended against J. S. who is the Delinquent but it be sent against J. D. another man in this Case the Officer cannot arrest J. S. but must arrest J. D. 11. If the Prosecutor for the Peace or good Behaviour after the Warrant sent agree yet the Officer must execute his Warrant 18. When any one of these Officers hath Numb 18 arrested any man for any cause the Officer must take great heed that he doe keep the Prisoner safe and not suffer him to escape Dalt J. P. 292. Escape especially if the arrest be for matter of Fellony for in this Case if he willingly suffer him to escape this offence is Fellony in the Officer And be the cause of the Arrest whatsoever it will if the Officer doe willingly or unwillingly and negligently suffer him to escape and doe not take him again he shall be fined for it according to his offence by the discretion of those that shall be Judges of the cause 11 H. 4. 25. Stamf. 35. for Officers in these Cases may require what help they will And lest any Officer should flatter himself that he may escape with an easie Fine he is to know that the Judges of his fault may set his Fine equall to the value oâ— all his goods if his offence so require And if an Officer take a man upon a Warrant from a Justice of Peace and then letteth him goe and taketh his word that he shall come again to him such a day to goe to the Justice of Peace Arrest and the party cometh not this is an escape in the Officer for which he may be punished and the Officer as it seems cannot now arrest him upon this Warrant But if the party in this or any such like Case escape of his own wrong without the consent of the Officer the Officer in a fresh pursuit may take him again albeit he be out of his sight and out of his Precinct as is before shewed Nineteenthly Numb 19 The Gaoler must receive the Prisoner offered Duty of the Gaoler 4 Ed. 3. 10. 11 Ed. 4. 7. Bro. Faux Impr. 24. 25. 27. unto him freely without taking any thing of them that bring him But it is said that a Gaoler is not bound to receive any Prisoner from an officer immediately but by a Justice of Peace Warrant But it is not safe for a Gaoler to refuse such a Prisoner for if a Constable may in some cases must is bound by the duty of his place to bring some Offenders to Gaol without any Warrant of a Justice of Peace as he is the Gaoler is bound to receive them so brought And if a man be arrested for Fellony and the Constable carry him to the Gaol and the Gaoler will not receive him it is said the Constable must bring him back to the Town where he was taken and that the Town must be at the charges of keeping him untill the next Gaol-delivery But howsoever the Officer must look to him for fear of an escape and in this case the best way for the Officer is to get a Justice of Peace his Warrant to send the Prisoner to the Gaol and hereupon the Gaoler doubtlesse will receive him Twentiethly In what case an Officer maey set a Prisoner at liberty again Fitz. Office of J. P. 130. These Officers albeit they have power in divers cases before and after shewed
alay it when it is And therefore in case of Affrayes they are to labour carefully and speedily to appease them wherein these things are to be known 1. If any of these Officers shall see a man presently bent and in fury going about to breake the Peace as by using of hot words or the like by which an Affray is like to grow he may and must straitly charge and command the Persons at debate in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England to keep the Peace c. and to avoyd upon pain of imprisonment And if there be nothing but words between the parties it seeme the Constable can doe no more but this and may not lay hands on them unless they goe further But 2. If the parties at variance will not hereupon obey the Officer and depart but goe on further to threaten to beat hurt or kill and especially if either of them draw weapon or give or attempt to give any blow then the Officer may and must keep them assunder by force and for that purpose if there be need may use his Ayde his own weapon amd may call and require others to help him who at their perils must doe 21 H. 7. 21. Fitz. J. P. 130. so 3. And if the affrayors shall still proceed and goe from words to blows the Officer and his assistants may by force apprehend the Affrayors and cause them to render themselves and put them in the Stocks or in some other Prison or place untill the heat be past or if it be in the night untill the morning or they may carry them unto the next Gaole or to a Justice of Peace 4. If the Affray be great and dangerous the Officers may make Proclamation that the Affrayors shall depart and if they refuse or resist they may commit them to prison in the Stocks or other fit place till the heat Imprisonment be over or that they can carry them to a Justice to finde Sureties especially if any man be hurt in the Affray 5. If the Officer or 21 H. 7. 21. Lamb J. P. 141. 142. any of his Assistants in this service shall be hurt by the Affrayors they shall have good remedy against the Affrayors But if the Affrayors be hurt by the officers or their Assistants in doing of their duty herein the Affrayors shall have no remedy against them For if the Affrayors shall resist and refuse to obey the Officer In Officer may beat c. this case he may beat or wound them and Justifie the doing thereof And yet if another man that is no Officer of his own head shall take upon him to part Affrayors as he may and in the parting of them he hurt one of them In this Case he that is hurt shall have an actiof Trespass against him that did hurt him 6. If he that doth make the Affray when he doth see the Officer coming to arrest him shall flye into a house the Officer may in the Breaking open of a house lawfull Fitz. J. P. 130. Dalt J. P. 28. 29. Lamb. J. P. 143. 144. Arrest out of his Precinct fresh pursuit of him break open the dores upon him to take him and justifie it and if he flie out of the Officers libery into another Hundred or Tything or into a Franchise in the same County when he seeth the Officer coming to arrest him the Officer may upon a fresh pursuit follow him and take him there and so may he also where he doth flie out of one County into another But in this last case when the Officer doth apprehend the party in another County he can doe no more with him than a private man may doe viz. carry him before some Justice of the Peace of that County wherein he is taken to cause him there to finde Sureties for the Peace Eliz. J. P. 130. 7. If two men be fighting together in either of their own or another mans house the dores being shut in this case the Officer if he cannot otherwise get in may break open the dores to get in to keep the Peace albeit neither of the parties be hurt 8. In these cases before the Officer may and ought to carry them before some Justice of the Peace to finde Sureties for the Peace because they have broken the Peace already and are meet to be bound that they shall not break it again 9 Ed. 4 26. 10 Ed. 4. 17. 9. It is said that the Constable carrying the Affrayors to Gaole may himself take bond of them to the use of the Keepers of the Liberty for the keeping of the Peace the which bond he is to certifie into the Fxchequer or Chancery from whence the Process is to be made if the Peace be broken and thereupon deliver them and that if they will not finde Sureties the Constable may imprison them untill they doe finde Sureties But this is not used any where It is thererefore safe to carry them to a Justice of Peace 10. When the Officer doth carry the Affrayor to Prison or to a Justice of Peace so that he is bound over to appear at the Quarter-Sessions or Goal-delivery to answer it in these Cases the Officer must see then that he appear at the next Quarter-Sessions of the Peace or the next Goale-delivery there to object against the Affrayor as there shall be cause 11. If one make an assault and affray upon the 21 H. 7. 21. 5 H. 7. 7. 6. Lamb. J. P. 14. Fitz. J. P. 14. Officer himself he may take the Party carry him to a Justice of Peace or to prison as he may in case of an Affray done upon another man 12. If an Affray be made in the presence of the Constable and he doe not his endeavor to pacifie it he may be fined for it at the Sessions according to the discretion of the Justices But if the Affray be in another place and notice be given thereof to the Constable and he doe not his best to pacifie it it is said he shall not be fined for this but let this be doubted and Constables advised not to trust to it but to doe their utmost to suppress all Affrays and keep the publique Peace every where within their Precincts And in this Case every private man being present and during the time of the Affray may and must doe his best to quench and alay it But he may not hurt or imprison the Affrayors unless some man be hurt in the Affray Numb 7 3. For the duty of these Officers after the After the peace is broken Peace is broken If the Peace be but newly and freshly broken by an Affray the officer Bro. Faux Imp. 6. Fitz. J. P. 131. Dalt J. P. 29. 38 Ed. 3. 6. 12. Ass 56. 10 H. 7. 20. Poult de pace 13. have notice of it it hath been said he may arrest the parties and carry them before a Justice of Peace to finde Surety for the Peace because they
have broken the same already and are meet to be bound that they shall not thenceforth break it again But it seems this is not Law at this day for it hath been resolved that a Constable ex Officio and without a Warrant from a Justice of Peace may not imprison any man for an assault or affray except he be present at the affray himself In Skarrets Case Hll. 37 Eliz. C B. But in all Cases where an Affray is past this Officer may by Warrant from a Justice of Peace take and imprison the Affrayors and in case where Arrest one is hurt in the Affray and thereby in peril of death he may ex Officio and without any such Warrant arrest and imprison the Affrayors For in this Case when one hath received a dangerous hurt in the affray the officer after the Affray is past may and must arrest and imprison him that did the hurt till he give Surety to appear at the next Gaol-delivery or otherwise he may with less labor than to carry him to Gaole carry him to a Justice of Peace who ought to take such order as the party may give such Surety For the Fact may fall out to be Fellony if he that is hurt happen to dye within a year and a day next after the hurt done And if the Officer doe not so or suffer such a Person to escape he may be deeply fined for it And in this Case also it is said that the officer may after he hath arrested him that gave the wound keep him a while in some other place out of the common Prison untill it may be known whether the party wil live or not If Fellons or Murderers be in the Village Numb 8 and these Officers of the Village have notice of Against persons committing Fellony or suspect of Fellony Fitz. J. P. 201. 1 R. 3. 3. Lamb. Office of Const 17. them it is their duty to gather men together and to apprehend them And if any Fellon be taken it is the Constables office to see him conveyed safely to Gaol And any other man as well as an Officer may arrest and keep in hold such a man as he doth know to have committed any Fellony And as touching persons suspect of Fellony it is said That if any man doth suspect any other man of any Fellony that he hath committed and doe declare the same to any one of these Officers that thereupon he may if the party suspect be within the limits of his Office arrest and bring him with him he shall doe well to bring the other party that did suspect him to the Justice of Peace to be examined But as touching the arresting of another man upon the suspicion of a third Person it seems the Law is otherwise For it is the opinion of the whole Court in the 17 Ed. 4. 5. 11 Ed. 4. 4. Bro. Faux Impr. 24. and in 5 H. 7. 4. That one cannot imprison another man upon the suspicion of a third man for Fellony unless he himself have some cause of suspicion also And that one man albeit he be an Officer cannot justifie the imprisonment of another man susppcted by a third man and at his commandement that doth suspect And of this opinion was Mr. Justice Bridgman and the whole Court of the Marches of Wales And therefore it was held there that if I suspect a man for Fellony and give notice hereof to the Constable that he cannot arrest him upon my suspicion And yet when I have arrested him upon mine own suspicion and delivered him to the Constable that in this case the Constable must look to him at his peril And if the Constable from this doe receive a suspicion of him as he may upon a fame or any flight report I think it reasonable and justifiable in him to arrest him But as touching this matter and for the cleering of this point these things are to be known 1. That any one of these Officers or any other 9 Ed. 4. 26. 17 Ed. 4. 5. 20 Ed. 4. 6. Bro. Faux Impr. 27. private person whatsoever having cause to suspect another of a Felony committed by Murder or Theft may himself arrest and apprehend such person suspect but herein he whosoever he be must take heed to three things 1. That there be a Fellony committed or at least confidently reported to be committed for otherwise there can be no good cause to suspect any man 2. That there be some cause to suspect the party arrested more than another 3. That after the arrest the party that doth arrest him doth carry him to a Justice of Peace or to the common Gaole to the end that the party accused may be Indicted or acquitted at the next Sessions c. Or if it be a private man that doth make the arrest that he doe deliver the party arrested to the Constables c. of the place 2. These or any or either of these are Causes of suspicion of a man for Fellony 29 Ed. 3. 39. 9. 4 H. 7. 4. 7 H. 4. 35. 27 H. 8. 21. 14 H. 8. 16. 2 H. 7. 15. 11 Ed. 3. 44. 21 H. 7. 27. Fiâ—z J. P. 201. Numb 9. held to be sufficient causes of suspicion 1. That the person suspect is Indicted for the same Fellony 2. If the Fellony be a Murder that he was present at the time of the Murder committed with a Sword drawn in his hand 3. That the person suspect is a person of evill name or is a Vagarant in the Country where the Fellony was done 4. If the Fellony be a Robbery and the party suspect is found with some part of the goods in his hands 5. If one apprehended for the same Fellony hath taken his oath upon a Book that the party suspect is one of the Fellons 6. That it is the common fame and report of the Country that the party suspect did the fact 7. If the party suspect doth flie upon the Fellony committed 8. If there be a Hue and Cry out against the Fellon and the person suspect and apprehended is such a person as is described by the Hue and Cry or if the Fellony be for stealing of Cattel and the party suspect is taken driving such Cattel as are set forth by the Hue and Cry to be stoln And yet hereby an honest man may be apprehended for a Hue and Cry may be raised where no Fellony is done But in this case he that raised it may be punished and he that doth arrest the party is to be excused or there may be no other cause to suspect this man but the possession of the goods and he might come by them lawfully howsoever this is cause enough to give him that doth arrest ground of suspicion 9. If J. S. would have arresteh one that had robbed him and the party suspect forbid him and saith he shall not arrest him this is sufficient cause to make him to be suspected for an accessary And therefore in all these and
the Goods of the Parish the Parishioners may remove him and choose another although it be before his year be expired Also it seems the party that doth steal or take away any Goods belonging to the Church may be punished for it as for a Sacrilegious offence And if these Church-wardens from whom the Goods be taken dye or be out of their Office their successors as some think may sue for and recover them or the damages for them Or if these Church-wardens may not the old Church-wardens may sue for and recover the same And if anything have been used time out of minde to be paid towards the Church and it be now withheld the Church-wardens may sue for the same in a Court of Equity But as touching any Estate of Lands or the profits of any Lands the Church-wardens are not to meddle at all insomuch That if the Walls Windows or Dores of the Church be broken down or the Trees in the Church-yard cut down or the Grass thereof be eaten up the Parson or Vicar nor the Church-wardems shall have an Action for it for they are a Corporation onely as to moveable Goods And therefore they cannot take Estates of Lands to them by name of Church-wardens only in Fee-simple for life or years to the use of the Church And if a Feoffment be made of any Land to others to the use of Parishoners or to the use of the Church-wardens of a Parish this is a voyd use in Law and they shall take nothing by this conveyance 37 H. 6. 30. 11 H. 4. 12. 8 Ed. 4. 6. F. N. B. 91. 11 H. 7. 27. 12 H. 7. 10. F. N. B. 52. 54. 2. These Officers are bound by the very Numb 4 common Law to take care and look to the In making of Reparations Body of the Church and the Tower that the same be sufficiently repaired kept and maintained and that if any of the necessary Ornaments therein appointed for the worship of God he decayed that they be repaired again for there must be alwayes in a readiness all things necessary to the preaching of the Word and Administration of the Sacraments And they are to see that their Bells be in case and fit for use But if the Chancel the which in most if not in all places is to be repaired by the Parson or any Isle in the Church the which any man doth claim by prescription to himself or his house in particulat be in decay the Church-wardens are not bound to repaire this And now by the new Ordinance of Parliament they may raise money not to build a new Church quite down nor to repaire a Cathedral or Collegiate Church but they may raise money to maintain or repaire a Parochiall Church provide Books Bread and Wine for the Sacrament repaire Bread and Wine the â—nclosures of the Church yard or burying place and to all other things that doe belong to their Office And further they must make such reparations as any Justice of Peace shall under his Hand and Seal appoint about any part of the Church 3. These Officers as it seems by the Numb 5 Common Law are to order the Seats in the In disposing of Seats Church and to appoint every man and woman where they shall sit And yet if any man have an Isle or a seat in an Isle or by-place out of the body of the Church unto which he may make a right by prescription as that which time out of minde hath belonged or appertained unto his house in this case neither the Church wardens nor any other can turn him out of it And albeit one may not prescribe to have a Seat in the body of the Church as belonging to his house yet if the case be so that a man hath time out of minde had such a Seat or Seat-place in the body of a Church as appertaining to his house in this case the Church wardens ought not without very good cause to remove him 12 H. 7. 27. 4. These Officers also may by the very Numb 6 Common Law to enable themselves for the In making and levying of Rates execution of their Office in the Particulars aforesaid may set Rates and Taxes upon the Parishioners for the payment of money And as touching this point and to shew how the law is at this day upon the new Ordinance these things are to be known 1. These Officers with the Over-seers of the Poor of the Parish or the greater part of them together must now make these Rates for if they be otherwise made there is no means to recover them 2. These Rates may be made before there be present need as before the Church fall or be in danger of ruine or the like 3. These Officers may by these Rates raise money for the buying of Books providing of Bread and Wine repairing of the Church-yard or Burying place for the Kings Bench and Marshalsey and other Payments And so also as it seems for the repair of the Church the Tower and the Bells 4. For this they may rate In making Rates every Inhabitant and Occupier of Lands Tythes Impropriate Woods or other Hereditaments within the Parish 5. The Church-wardens must give publick notice in the Church when and where the Rate is to be made Howbeit if the Parishioners after such notice given will not come or coming will not agree to the Rate in this case the Church-wardens and Over-seers of the Poor alone or the major part of them may make the Rate But a Rate made now without giving notice thereof before hand to the Parish is not good 6. This Rate must be equall and for this cause It must be upon every Parishioner and not upon some of the Parishioners only and it must be set upon every one of them equally viz. according to the quantity and quality of his Estate and Lands within the Parish wherein they may rate by the Yard Acre or otherwise as they think fit so as it be equall and according to the true value by an equall proportion And if one of another Parish have Lands in the Parish where the Rate is made in his own occupation in this case they may rate him to Church Payments according to the value of his Land And this Albeit there be no house upon it and albeit the Owner and Occupier dwell in another Parish for as to this purpose he shall be called a Parishioner and therefore he may Parishioner if he please come unto and frequent the Church of that Parish as he doth the Church of the Parish wherein he lives And where the Land-lord and Tenant both doe live out of the Parish it seems the Curch-wardens may rate either of them at their Election And yet some hold that in these and such like cases the Rate must be alwayes set upon the Occupier of the Land and not upon the Land-lord And if the Farmer or Occupier of the Land doe live within the Parish where the Rate is made there
the parties to be married and of their Parents Guardians and Overseers 2. This he is to publish or cause to be published three several Lords dayes then next following at the close of the morning exercise in the Church or Chappel or if the parties to be married desire it in the Market-place next thereunto on three Market dayes in three several weeks next following between the hours of eleven and two of the Clock 3. Upon request of the parties concerned he is to make a true Certificate of the due performance hereof 4. If any exception be made against the same intended marriage he must insert the same with the name of the person making the exception and his place of abode in the Certificate of publication 5. It were very convenient for him to be present at the Marriage for he is to attend the Justice of Peace to subscribe the entire of the Marriage 6. He is to call for receive and keep the old Church-Book and to call for of the Parish a new Register parchment Book which the Parish must provide and he must keep And therein he is fairly to enter in writing all the publication of Marriages Marriages Births of Children and Burials of all sorts of persons and the names of every of them and the dayes of the moneth and year of publications Marriages Byrths and Burials and the Parents Guardians or Over-seers names And for this his Fees are as followeth For the publication and Certificate of a Marriage twelve pence and for the entry of the Marriage twelve pence And for the entry of the Birth of a Child four pence And for the entire of the death of any man four pence And for all this for poor People that live upon Almes nothing But by the Ordinance of 3. Jan. 1644. it was ordained That such a Book should be provided by every Parish and kept by the Minister and other Officers of the Church and that therein the names of all Children and their Parents the time of their Byrth and Baptism and of all persons Married and the time of all Buried and the time of their Birth and Burial be written and set down by the Minister there And that the same Book shall be shewed forth by such as keep it to all persons reasonably desiring to search for any such thing or take a Copie or procure a Certificate thereof So that now by this the Minister must take care of this also for this power is not taken from him by the new Law being in the affirmative Therefore he and the Register must doe it together or else he must be made Register and this is the best way CHAP. XV. Of a Parish-Clerk and his Office THe Parish Clerk is a Lay Officer of a Parish chosen according to the Custom of the place to attend upon the Minister and Church-wardens about holy things This Officer may be a Lay man and is to be chosen according to the Custom of the place if usually the Parish have chosen him so he must be chosen and that election will stand and no Canon of the Church when Canons were in force could have altered it And therefore in this Case if the Parish according to Custom had chosen one man and Minister of the Parish and the Bishop or Chancellor of the Diocess had chosen another according to the Canon the Clerk chosen by the Parish should have stood And the ordinary might not have deprived him Jac. Co. B. Candict and Plom case Hughs Rep. 163. Nor can the Parson of a Parish put a Clerk so chosen out of his place without cause or interrupt him he may have an Action against him as another man that is interrupted in any Lay Office March Rep. 101. pl. 174. His Office lyeth only in and about these things To set the Bread and Wine and Cups decently upon the Communion Table to provide water for Baptising make and keep clean the Church put the Bible and C for the Minister begin the Psalm ring the Bell or Bells and such like things See the same case If any of the Parishioners withhold his wages His wages he may be relieved herein by any two Justices of Peace who may by Warrant require payment thereof And these two Justices may by Warrant under their Hands and Seals order the Parishioners to pay it And if they refuse as it seems send their Warrant to levy it by distress and sale of Goods and for lack hereof send the partie to Gaole till he pay it But without Question the two Justices may binde the Parishioners over to the Quarter Sessions one year if the Parishioner refuse to obey their Order the Sessions may binde them to the Good-Behaviour or upon Indictment for their contempt fine and imprison them Ordin 9. Feb. 1647. CHAP. XVI Of a Hayward of a Parish or Mannor and his Office THe Haward or Hayward of a What. Parish is an Officer of a Parish chosen and sworn in a Leet for the Town to be the common Heard of the Town Kytch 46. The Law taketh not His Office much notice of this Officer but it is said He is to keep the Hedges of the inclosed Grounds of the Parish so that they be not cropt nor broken down and the Grass of the Parish from the destruction of Cattel so that Hay be made thereof That he is to execute such Process of the Lords Court as doe come from the Lord or his Steward of his Court there That he is to present all Pownd breaches made there and all Wayffs and Estrays that shall come there But if he doe not so we know no Law to enforce him to it nor to punish him for neglect of it But the best use that we know is or can be made of him is to look to the common Fields and Commons of the Parish and to doe his best to prevent and to restrain Trespasses and spoil But herein he can doe nothing more than any other Servant nor otherwise then as a Servant to the parties trespassed and by authority or allowance from them CHAP. XVII Of the Bayliff or Reeve of a Mannor and his Office THe Bayliff or Reeve of a Mannor What he is is an Officer of a Mannor chosen by the Lord of a Mannor to dispose of his Affairs concerning the Mannor Of this Officer the Law doth take some more notice And his Office is said to lye in these things 1. He is to collect the Lords Rents Fines His Office Haryots Amercements and other profits happening within the Mannor as they grow due 2. He may seize or distrain for them Ex Officio where seizure and distress is justifiable as Bayliff without any special command of the Lord. 3. He may also pay any Rent due out of the Mannor to any other person 4. It said said He may also order his Masters Husbandrie distrain Beasts damage fesant repair any houses hayes or pales and for that purpose cut down any Timber or Trees That he may