And in committing for trial, care must be taken not to commit for trial at the sessions, for an offence of which the sessions have not jurisdiction. See ante, pp. 57-59. For offences committed on the high seas, or on land beyond the sea, the commitment must be to the common gaol of the county, &c. within which the committing justice has jurisdiction. Supra. If the prisoner is not to be tried within that jurisdiction, he is afterwards removed by habeas corpus to the gaol of the county or place in which the trial is to be. It is objected (S.), that this section obliges the justices to discharge or commit the party immediately after all the evidence on the part of the prosecution against the accused shall have been heard; and it is loudly complained that this will deprive the accused of an opportunity of proving his innocence, by calling witnesses before the magistrate to prove an alibi, &c. This objection proceeds from a misunderstanding of the duties of a justice of peace, in the case of a person brought before him charged with an indictable offence. His duties are analogous to those of a grand jury; he is not to try the case, not to weigh the evidence on both sides and strike a balance, but merely to ascertain whether there is evidence enough against the prisoner to warrant his being sent for trial before a jury of his country. The learned objector might as well complain that by the law, as it stands at present, the accused party is not allowed to send his witnesses before the grand jury, when they are considering the bill against him. FORM. (T. 1.) Warrant of Commitment. To the constable of· and to the keeper of the [house of correction] at, in the said [county] of Whereas A. B. was this day charged before me, J. S., one of her Majesty's justices of the peace in and for the said [county] of on the oath of C. D. of --, farmer, and others, for that [&c., stating shortly the offence]: these are therefore to command you the said constable of to take the said A. B., and him safely to convey to the [house of correction] at aforesaid, and there to deliver him to the keeper thereof, together with this precept; and I do hereby command you the said keeper of the said [house of correction] to receive the said A. B. into your custody in the said [house of correction], and there safely keep him until he shall be thence delivered by due course of law. Given under my hand and seal, this the year of our Lord at in the in day of [county] aforesaid. J. S. (L. S.) thereof, how and by whom paid. J. P. 300. XXVI. And be it enacted, that the constable or any Conveying of the constables or other persons, to whom the said prisoner to gaol. warrant of commitment shall be directed, shall convey such accused person therein named or described to the gaol or other prison mentioned in such warrant, and there deliver him, together with such warrant, to the gaoler, keeper, or governor of such gaol or prison, who shall thereupon give such constable or other person so delivering such prisoner into his custody a receipt (T. 2) Post, p. 83. for such prisoner, setting forth the state and condition in which such prisoner was when he was delivered into the custody of such gaoler, keeper, or governor; and in Costs all cases where such constable or other person shall be entitled to his costs or expenses for conveying such person to such prison as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the justice or justices who shall have committed the accused party, or for any justice of the peace in and for the said county, riding, division, or other place of exclusive jurisdiction wherein the offence is alleged in the said warrant to have been committed, to ascertain the sum which ought to be paid to such constable or other person for conveying such prisoner to such gaol or prison, and also the sum which should reasonably be allowed him for his expenses in returning, and thereupon such justice shall make an order (T. 2) upon the treasurer of such county, Post, p. 84. riding, division, liberty, or place of exclusive jurisdiction, or if such place of exclusive jurisdiction shall be contributory to the county rate of any county, riding, or division, then upon the treasurer of such county, riding, or division respectively, or, in the county of Middlesex, upon the overseers of the poor of the parish or place within which the offence is alleged to have been committed, for payment to such constable or other person of the sums so ascertained to be payable to him in that behalf; and the said treasurer or overseers, upon such order being produced to him or them respectively, shall pay the amount thereof to such constable or other person producing the same, or to any person who shall present the same to him or them for payment: provided never theless, that if it shall appear to the justice or justices, by whom any such warrant of commitment against such prisoner shall be granted as aforesaid, that such prisoner hath money sufficient to pay the expenses, or some part thereof, of conveying him to such gaol or prison, it shall be lawful for such justice or justices, in his or their discretion, to order such money or a sufficient part thereof to be applied to such purpose. NOTE. The constable or person to whom the warrant is directed, must execute it, by conveying the prisoner to the gaol or house of correction mentioned in it, and delivering him to the keeper thereof, who will give him a receipt for the prisoner in the form infra, T. 2. Or if the warrant be directed to two or more, any one or more of them may execute it; and the party executing it may, if it be necessary, procure some person to assist him. As to the constable's expenses in executing the warrant, by conveying the prisoner to gaol:-it will be perceived that there is a list of these expenses at the foot of the gaoler's receipt, in the form infra, T. 2; and this being laid before the committing justice, or before some justice of the peace for the county or other district within which the offence is alleged to have been committed, such justice, having examined the constable as to the items, will in his discretion allow such expenses as he may deem reasonable, and the sums he thinks ought to be allowed not only for conveying the prisoner to gaol, and his subsistence on the journey, but also for the constable's expenses in returning. There are cases, however, in which a constable is not entitled to be paid; as for instance, where warrants are executed by the policemen of a borough, or other constables paid by wages or salary for the performance of all their duties ;then of course nothing is to be allowed them for executing the warrant, except for necessary extra expenses, such as necessary carriage hire, or the necessary subsistence of the prisoner, or the like. There is a proviso at the end of the above section, enabling the committing justice, in his discretion, to order any money found upon the prisoner to be applied to or towards the payment of the expenses of conveying him to prison. The stat. 3 J. 1, c. 10, s. 1, went much further than that, and enacted that if the offender should be of sufficient ability to pay the expenses of his being conveyed to prison, and the charges of such as may guard him thither, he should do so; or if he refused, the justice committing him might, by his warrant, command the constable of the hundred or township where the offender dwelt, or from whence he should be committed, or where he should have goods within the county, &c., to sell so much of the offender's goods as, in the discretion of the said justice, should be sufficient to pay such charges and expenses, the goods to be appraised by four honest inhabitants of the parish where such goods should be, and the surplus (if any) delivered to the party. 3 J. 1, c. 10, s. 1. The legislature, by the present Act, were not prepared to go so far; but still, as there possibly might be cases in which it might be proper to compel the prisoner to pay these expenses, when he happened not to have sufficient money upon his person at the time of his caption, it was thought advisable not to repeal this statute of James, and it now remains in force, and not at all affected by what is here enacted. FORM. (T. 2.) Gaoler's receipt to the Constable for the Prisoner; and Justice's Order thereon for payment of the Constable's Expenses in executing the Commitment. I hereby certify, that I have received from W. T., constable of the body of A. B., together with a warrant under the hand and seal of J. S. esquire, one of her Majesty's justices of the peace for the [county] of· ; and that the said A. B. was [sober, or as the case may be,] at the time he was so delivered into my custody. Constable's expenses: P. K. Keeper of the house of correction [or common gaol] at For conveying the above A. B. from to [by railway] at per mile For conveying him to and from the railway station For subsistence of prisoner whilst in custody after commitment, days at per day For his lodging night Constable days, at [One] assistant [if necessary] at per day per day per days,} Total £ £ s. d. To R. W. esquire, treasurer of the said [county] of Whereas W. T., constable of in the county of hath produced unto me, J. P., one of her Majesty's justices of the peace in and for the said county of (wherein the offence hereinafter mentioned is alleged to have been committed), the above receipt of P. K., keeper of the [house of correction] at -: and whereas, in pursuance of the statute in such case made and provided, I have ascertained that the sum which ought to be paid to the said W. T. for conveying the said A. B. from in the said county of· , : to the said house of correction is Defendant entitled to copies of the depositions. 1 J. P. 297. the above order. £ XXVII. And be it enacted, that at any time after all the examinations aforesaid shall have been completed, and before the first day of the assizes or sessions or other first sitting of the court at which any person so committed to prison or admitted to bail as aforesaid is to be tried, such person may require, and shall be entitled to have, of and from the officer or person having the custody of the same, copies of the depositions on which he shall have been committed or bailed, on payment of a reasonable sum for the same, not exceeding at the rate of three halfpence for each folio of ninety words. NOTE. The examinations must be completed, and the defendant finally committed or admitted to bail, before he is entitled to have copies of the examinations against him. This clause is thus far the same, and nearly in the same words, as stat. 6 & 7 W. 4, c. 114, s. 3; and upon that statute it was holden that a prisoner, merely remanded for re-examination, had no right to copies of the depositions as far as they had then gone; he |