trates or private persons for the suppression of crime are in full force. Lord Loughborough, in his charge at the trial of the rioters of 1780, stated that many persons had fallen into the mistake of supposing that, until the expiration of the hour, they were to remain passive, and the mob were to have their sway (n). The exact form of the proclamation must be used, excepting of course "The Queen" for "The King;" although the statute says words "like in effect" (0).

Closing public houses.] Besides the powers conferred upon justices in suppressing riots, &c. before mentioned, stat. 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 68, s. 21, provides that it shall be lawful for any one justice, acting for any county where any riot shall happen, or for any one or more justices of the peace of the county where any riot is expected to take place, to direct that any person selling spirits or beer by retail, and keeping any house or place for that purpose, situate within their respective jurisdictions, and in or near the place where such riot shall happen, or be expected to take place, shall close his house for such length of time as such justice or justices shall order or direct. Besides the authority of the justices, already mentioned, in suppressing gross violations of the public peace, they are invested, by the provisions of other statutes, with special powers in suppressing particular offences. By the Convention Act (p) justices are authorized within their respective jurisdictions to disperse all unlawful assemblies, and, if resisted, to enter into the same, and to apprehend all persons offending in that behalf.

Peace Preservation Act.] By the Peace Preservation Act (q) it is lawful for any person to apprehend any person found carrying any gun or other fire-arm, or any sword, &c., ammunition, &c. contrary to the proclamation; and it shall be lawful for any J. P., &c. to search any person whom he may suspect in having any gun, pistol, or other fire-arm, &c. contrary to the provisions.

(n) See 5 C. & P. 261; and R. v. Furzey, 6 C. & P. 81.

(9) R. v. Child, 4 C. & P. 443; R.. Woolcock, 5 C. & P. 516.

(p) 33 Geo. III., c. 29.

(9) See 11 Vic. c. 2 continued, as enacted by 19 & 20 Vic. c. 36, by the

23 & 24 Vic. c. 138, to the 1st July, 1862. This latter act requires printed copies of the proclamation to be posted within the district, and contains the form of declaration to be made by the constable.

of the act, and to keep and detain the same to and for the use of

Her Majesty.

Meetings for the training to use of arms.] By 60 Geo. III. and 1 Geo. IV. c. 1, all meetings and assemblies of persons for the purpose of training themselves, or of being trained or drilled to the use of arms, or for the purpose of practising military exercise, without any lawful authority from His Majesty or the Lord Lieutenant, or two justices of the peace of the county, are illegal ; and it shall be lawful for any J. P. or for any constable, or for any other person acting in their aid, to disperse such unlawful assembly, and to arrest and detain any person present at, or aiding, assisting, or abetting any such assembly or meeting; and it shall be lawful for the J. P. who shall arrest, or before whom any person so arrested shall be brought, to commit such person for trial for such offence, unless he shall give sufficient bail for his appearance at the next assizes, or general or quarter sessions of the peace, to answer to any indictment which may be preferred against him for such offence (r).

Party processions.] By 13 Vic. c. 2 (s), all assemblies of persons who meet and parade together, or who shall have among them fire-arms, banners, &c., the displaying whereof may provoke animosity, shall be unlawful assemblies, and the offenders shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 2 gives power to any J. P. to command such assemblies to disperse, and gives the form of proclamation to be read to disperse the meeting :

"Our Sovereign Lady the Queen doth charge and command all persons being here assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart, upon pain of fine or imprisonment, according to the statute passed in the 13th year of the reign of Queen Victoria, to restrain party processions in Ireland.

"God save the Queen."

any public building or place, or who shall publicly meet or parade with other persons, &c. shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and any justice may authorize a constable to enter any building or place, to remove such flag, &c.

If the persons do not disperse within a quarter of an hour after the proclamation has been read, the J. P. may seize the flags, &c. and arrest the offenders, with or without a warrant ; and any two justices of the peace may proceed against them in a summary way.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE EXAMINATION.

THE duty comprehended under this title imposes one of the most arduous of those which a justice of the peace has to fulfil, as well as one of the most important to the interests of society.

The examination of the prosecutor is called "the information," which is taken in order to lay a foundation for all the subsequent proceedings; or, in other words, for the purpose of stating such a probable ground of suspicion in the breast of the justice, that an offence within his cognizance and jurisdiction has been committed, as will justify him in calling into action. that authority with which he is invested for the detection of crime (a). And the information should show upon its face a charge of an offence over which the magistrate has jurisdiction, so as to protect the justice, and that it may appear he has been acting within his jurisdiction.

The statute 14 & 15 Vic. c. 93, s. 14, requires the evidence against the accused to be taken by "depositions on oath and in writing." Pigot, C. B., in giving judgment in Laurenson v. Hill (b), is reported to have said, "This provision is as essential for the general purposes of the administration of justice as it is for the protection of the accused; and it would be not merely to evade, but to frustrate the acts of parliament, to hold that the warrant could be sustained by oral proof-dependent upon fleeting memories, and probably with conflicting testimony-of oral evidence, alleged to have been given before the magistrate previ(a) See 1 Dick, J., 620. (b) 10 Ir. C. L. R., 185.

ously to the committal, but excluded from the written sworn "information," to which, as the foundation for the committal, the warrant, in reciting "the complaint on oath," must be taken to refer. If there were no written deposition, the committal would have been without authority of law, whatever might have been the oral evidence, for it would have been in direct violation of the mandatory provisions of an act of parliament. If the depositions contain nothing that by any intendment can convey a charge of a criminal offence, the oral evidence, which is not contained in it, is as incapable of sustaining the committal as if there had been no written deposition at all. The case of Caudle v. Seymour (c), although it dealt not with a warrant of committal, but a warrant to enforce the appearance of the accused, well illustrates the duty of a magistrate in taking evidence upon a criminal charge. Lord Denman there held that, "to give him jurisdiction over the individual accused there should have been an information properly laid." For these reasons it is, in my judgment, perfectly clear that the issuing of the warrant in this case, not founded upon an information on oath and in writing, imputing a criminal offence, but founded on a complaint of an alleged civil wrong, was an act done by the defendant without any jurisdiction or legal authority."

The examination of witnesses requires equal care. It frequently happens that the informant or the police can apprise the magistrate of one or more persons who ought to be examined as to their knowledge, general or particular, respecting the commission of the offence. It may sometimes happen that, from the secrecy with which, or the hours at which, the crime was committed, none such suggested themselves to him, but may to the mind of the magistrate. In either of these events, it becomes his duty to obtain the testimony of such persons. It frequently happens in criminal prosecutions, that there are witnesses of two different descriptions, willing and unwilling. With all of them it is a practice to be recommended, but with the latter class absolutely necessary, that their examinations should

(c) 1 Q. B., 889.

be taken separately, and not in the hearing of one another; and that no one who has already passed his examination should be permitted, if it be possible to avoid it, to inform any other who has still to undergo that process, to what particulars his own discoveries have extended. This caution presents the best method of preventing any conspiracy to overwhelm a prisoner, from motives of interest or resentment, as it does to resist a combination to defeat a prosecution, from those of favour or affection.

Taking evidence in indictable offences.] The 14 & 15 Vic. c. 93, specifically points out to magistrates how evidence is to be taken in proceedings for indictable offences. Before the justice commits for trial, or holds to bail a person charged with an indictable crime, he must take the evidence of those who know the facts of the case, in the presence of the accused, who is at liberty to question the witnesses. The same statute confers

ample powers on justices to procure the attendance of witnesses. The mode by which their informations are taken and the rules regulating the same are identical, whether the case be made to found an arrest or a committal (d).

Procuring attendance of witnesses, documents, &c.] When it appears to a magistrate that any person within his jurisdiction can give material evidence for the prosecution in cases of indictable offences, or for the complainant or defendant in cases of summary jurisdiction, and will not voluntarily appear, he may issue a summons (e) requiring him to appear and give evidence, and bring with him and produce for examination such documents and papers as the justice requires; and in any case of an indictable crime or offence, if the magistrate has reason to suppose that the person will not attend and give evidence, or in any case where summoned he has neglected or refused to appear (the information being in writing and on oath), he may issue a warrant to arrest such person, and compel him to produce such

(d) To save repetition, so much of the statute and practice as relates to taking evidence upon summary convictions, and that are identical with those on the investigation of indict

able offences, are here united and set out.

(e) For form, see schedule to 14 & 15 Vic. c. 93.