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A50824 The new state of England under Their Majesties K. William and Q. Mary in three parts ... / by G.M. Miege, Guy, 1644-1718? 1691 (1691) Wing M2019A; ESTC R31230 424,335 944

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Office at Westminster are preserved all the Counterfoils of the Tallies ranged by Months and Years and by that means easily found out to be joyned with their respective Stock or Tally There is also the chief Vsher of the Exchequer an Office of Inheritance four Vnder-Vshers a Marshal and six Messengers As to the Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster also kept at Westminster it concerns particularly the Revenue belonging to that Dutchy long since annexed to the Crown The chief Judge of this Court is the Chancellour of the Dutchy assisted by the Attorney of the same Next to whom is the Receiver General the Vice-Chancellor of the Dutchy the two Auditors the Clerk of the Dutchy and a Messenger CHAP. VII Of the Sheriffs and their two Courts called the County-Court and the Sheriffs Turn of Justices of Peace and their quarter-Quarter-Sessions with an Account of the Grand Jury of the Coroners Clerks of the Markets and their Courts FOR the Civil Government of Counties Cities Towns and Villages there are divers Officers to whom belong several Courts for the due Administration of Justice First in every County except Durham and Westmorland there is a Sheriff which is a yearly Office the Power whereof extends all over the County except such Cities and Towns as are Counties of themselves that is which have the Priviledge of Counties In Middlesex only there are two Sheriffs upon the account of London the Capital City of the Kingdom The Sheriffs were heretofore chosen as Knights of the Shire by the Suffrages of the People But now they are appointed by the King after this manner First the Judges nominate six fit Men of each County that is Knights or Esquires of good Estates Out of that Number three are chosen by the Privy Counsellors and the twelve Judges assembled in the Exchequer and there sworn in order to it And out of this Number the King himself chuses whom he thinks fit Heretofore the same Sheriff served many years together and to this day this Office is hereditary to the Cliffords in the County of Westmorland by Charter from King John The Sheriffs Office is both Ministerial and Judicial As Ministerial he is to execute the Kings Mandates and all Writs directed to him out of the Kings Courts to Impannel Juries to bring Causes and Criminals to Trial and to see the Sentences executed In short there is no Execution of the Law but by the Sheriff for by him all Suits begin and all Process served He is likewise to collect all publick Profit as Taxes Fines Distresses and Amerciaments into the Kings Exche quer or where-ever the King shall appoint and to make such Payments out of it as he shall have due Order for At the Assizes he is to wait on and gard the Itinerant Judges so long as they continue within the County As to the Judicial Part of his Office he holds by virtue thereof two several Courts the one called the County-Court and the other the Sheriffs Turn The County-Court is held every Month by the Sheriff himself or his Deputy the Vnder Sheriff wherein he hears and determines Civil Causes of the County under 40 shillings which anciently was a considerable Sum. But this is no Court of Record The Sheriffs Turn is held twice a Year viz. within a month after Easter and within a mont● after Michaelmas In this Court he inquire of all Criminal Offences against the Common Law wherein he is not restrained by any Statute For all the Bishops Earls Barons and all such as have Hundreds of their own to be kept are exempted from the Jurisdiction of this Court. In short this is a Court of Record in all Things that belong to it 'T is the Kings Leet through all the County whereof the Sheriff is Judge this Court being incident to his Office The Justices of Peace anciently called Wardens or Gardians of the Peace are such amongst the Gentry and sometimes amongst the Clergy as are appointed by the Kings Commission to attend the Peace of the County where they dwell Their Original is from the first year of Edward the III but they were not called Justices till the 36th Year of his Reign Their Office is to call before them examine and commit to Prison Rioters wandering Rogues Thieves Murderers false Moneyers those that hold Conspiracies and almost all Delinquents that may occasion the Breach of Peace and Quiet to the Kings Subjects and to see them brought forth in due time to Trial. If any one Swears himself to be in danger of his Life upon the Threats of another he may bind him over to his good Behaviour and the Justice shall commit him to Prison unless the finds good Security for his good Behaviour during a Year and a Day Among the Justices of Peace the Number whereof is as His Majesty thinks fit there are some particularly called Justices of the Quorum from these Words in the Commission Quorum A.B. unum esse volumus As for Example Where a Commission is directed to seven Persons or any three of them Whereof A.B. and C.D. to be two these are said to be of the Quorum because the rest cannot proceed without them So that a Justice of Peace and Quorum is one without whom the rest of the Justices in some Cases cannot proceed Every Quarter or three Months the Justices of each County meet at the chief or Shire Town from whence this Court came to be called the Quarter Sessions Where the Grand Inquest or Jury of the County is summoned to appear who upon Oath are to inquire of Malefactors Rioters and suspected Persons The G and Jury do's commonly consist of 24 grave and substantial Gentlemen or some of the better sort or Yeomen chosen indifferently or at least ought so to be by the Sheriff out of the whole Shire to consider of all Bills of Inditement preferred to the Court. Which Bills they do either approve by Writing upon them Billa Vera or disallow by indorsing Ignoramus Presently upon the Allowance of a Bill the Party concerned is said to be Indited and is committed to Prison But what Bills are Disallowed are delivered to the Bench by whom they are forthwith cancelled or torn If the approved Bills touch Life and Death they are further referred to another Jury to be considered of because the Case is of such Importance but others of lighter moment are proceeded upon by fining the Delinquents without any more ado Unless the Party traverse the Inditement or challenge it for Insufficiency or remove the Cause to a higher Court by Certiorari in which two former Cases it is referred to another Jury and in the latter transmitted to a higher Court. In short the Trial is usually referred to the next Assizes when the Judges at Westminster go their Circuits Originally this Court seems to have been erected only for Matters touching the Peace but now it extends much further The Sheriff or his Under-Sheriff is bound to attend upon this Court with his Constables Bayliffs
the King's Court because the Authority thereof originally belongs to the Crown In short this Court first derived from the Sheriffs Turn is ordinarily Kept but twice a Year and that at certain times But there is another Court incident to every Mannor called Court-Baron because in ancient times every Lord of a Mannor was stiled Baron To this Court are all the Tenants Summoned that belong to the Mannor where part of the Tenants being Sworn make a Jury which is not called the Inquest but the Homage Here the Steward sits as Judge and directs the Jury to enquire of such Things as are proper for this Court. And these principally Inquire of Copy-holders and Free-holders that be dead since the last Court and bring in their Heirs and next Successors They likewise Inquire of any Incroachment or Intrusion of Tenants against the Lord or among themselves They also make Orders and Laws amongst themselves with a Penalty annexed for Transgressors payable to the Lord of the Mannor In short these Courts are of great Use for Men that are willing to be ordered by their Neighbours and who prefer their Quiet and Advantage in Husbandry to the Trouble and Charges of Law-Suits Otherwise either Party may procure a Writ out of a higher Court to remove the Plea to Westminster Courts-Baron may be held every three Weeks or at any longer time according to the Lords pleasure I conclude with Constables called in some Places Headboroughs and in others Tithing-men whose Office is only Ministerial These Men says Sir Thomas Smith were formerly called Custodes Pacis or Guardians of the Peace and were in much greater esteem than they be now whose Power and Authority he supposes to have been equal with that of the present Justices of Peace Lambert looks upon this Office as a Stream of that great Dignity lodged in the Lord High Constable of England Out of this high Magistracy says he were drawn those lower Constables which we call Constables of Hundreds and Franchises First ordained by the Statute of Winchester 13 Ed. I. which appoints for the Conservation of the Peace and view of Armour two Constables in every Hundred and Franchise called in Latine Constabularii Capitales in English High Constables And by reason of the Increase both of People and Offences others were made in process of time called Petty Constables which are of like Nature but of inferiour Authority to the other The Office of a Constable is properly to apprehend such as break the Peace and common Malefactors and even Persons suspected of any Crime upon a Charge given them or a Warrant for it from a Justice For a Badge of his Authority he carries a long Staff painted with the King's Arms and for a Surprise sometimes he uses a short Staff which he hides till he thinks it convenient to produce it The Party apprehended he keeps in his Custody till he can bring him before a Justice of Peace who upon a strict Examination of the Fact and hearing of the Evidence commits the Party to Prison if he sees cause in order to his Trial. Upon which the Constable conducts him to Prison and there delivers him to the Goalers Custody with the Committimus directed by the Justice of Peace to the Jayler And the Party mustly in Prison till the Justices of Peace do meet either at their quarter-Quarter-Sessions or at their Goal-Delivery when the Prisoners are by Law either condemned or acquit●ed When he is upon Duty and about to apprehend one he may call his Neighbours to aid and whoever declines to give him assistance is liable by Law to Punishment In case of Theft Robbery or Murder in a Country Town or Village and the Malefactor be upon flight the Constable having notice of it is to raise the Parish in pursuit of him And this is called Hue and Cry If the Malefactor be not found in the Parish the Constable and his Assistants are to go to the next to get the Hue and Cry raised there by the Constable of it In this manner the Hue and Cry is carried from Parish to Parish till the Criminal be found And that Parish which does not do its Duty but gives way by its Negligence for the Malefactors Escape is not only to pay a Fine to the King but must repay to the Party robbed his Damages When the Malefactor is taken he is presently carried by the Constable or any other by whom he was apprehended to a Justice of Peace Who examines the Malefactor writes the Examination and if he do confess his Confession Then he binds the Party robbed or him that sueth together with the Constable and so many as can give Evidence against the Malefactor to appear at the next Sessions of Goal-Delivery there to give their Evidence for the King He binds them in a Recognizance of 10. 20. 30. 40. or 100. l. more or less according to his Discretion and the quality of the Crime Which being certified under his hand fails not to be levied upon Recognizance if they fail of being there Thus the Constables which formerly had much the same Authority as our modern Justices of Peace are now subservient to them upon all Occasions either to bring the Criminals before them or to carry them by their Command to the common Prison And accordingly this Office does commonly fall into the hands of Tradesmen and Artificers and Men of small experience and ability who hold it for a Year there being commonly two of them to each Parish chosen by the Vestry But the hardest part of their Office in London especially is their Watching a Nights and walking the Rounds in their several Parishes But then they have the chief Command of the Watch and because seldom a greater Power appears abroad at that time therefore a Constable came to be called the King of the Night CHAP. IX Of the Assizes BEsides the publick Justice administred at four times of the Year in Westminster both for Civil and Criminal Causes the Twelve Judges take twice a Year a Progress in the Country and exercise their Judicial Power in the several Counties the King is pleased to appoint them for The Times of the Year fixt for it are presently after the end of Hilary-Term and after the end of Trinity Term that being called the Lent and this the Summer Assizes In relation to which England is divided into Six Parts called Circuits Viz. 1. Home-Circuit Comprehending Essex Hartford Sussex Surrey Kent 2. Norfolk Circuit Comprehending Bucks Bedford Huntington Cambridge Norfolk Suffolk 3. Midland Circuit Comprehending Warwick Leicester Derby Nottingham Lincoln Rutland Northampton 4. Oxford Circuit Comprehending Berks Oxon Glocester Monmouth Hereford Salop Stafford Worcester 5. Western Circuit Comprehending Southampton Wilts Dorset Somerset Cornwal Devon 6. Northern Circuit Comprehending York Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmorland Lancaster Besides the two Circuits for Wales viz. North and South Wales for each of which two Sergeants at Law are appointed Now these Courts are called Assizes and the Judges