from year to year, may not improbably become perpetual in fact, viz., the property and income tax. A tax of this kind was imposed in 1797, and continued till 1802, and was again revived in 1803, and continued until 1816. The present tax originated in 1842, and has varied in amount from time to time.

X. The tenth and last branch of the extraordinary revenue is the duty upon offices and pensions; consisting in an annual payment out of all salaries, fees, and perquisites of offices and pensions payable by the crown, exceeding the value of 1007. per

annum.

The respective produces of the several taxes before mentioned were originally separate and distinct funds; but since the union with Ireland, have formed The Consolidated Fund; pledged, in the first place, for the payment of the interest of the National Debt. That done, the surplus may be applied in reduction of the capital. But before any part of the revenue can be thus used, it stands mortgaged by parliament to raise an annual sum for the maintenance of the royal household and the civil list.

The expenses formerly defrayed by the civil list were those that in any shape relate to civil government; as the expenses of the royal household; the salaries of the judges, officers of state, and sovereign's servants; the appointments to foreign ambassadors; the maintenance of the royal family; the sovereign's private expenses, or privy purse; and other very numerous outgoings, as secret service money, pensions, and other bounties. But in the reign of William IV. various payments previously charged on the civil list, were made directly chargeable on the consolidated fund: in consequence of which a sum of 500,0007. a year at present suffices for the maintenance of the royal family, and for the payment of such other sums as are still charged on the civil list. Of the whole revenue, it may be stated shortly, that one moiety is required for the interest of the national debt; and that the greater portion of the residue is applied to the maintenance of the army and navy. Two Sinking Funds have been created for the gradual extinction of the Debt by the application of surplus revenue to its redemption.

We now come to those subordinate officers to whom the administration of public affairs is entrusted.

CHAPTER IX.

OF SUBORDINATE MAGISTRATES.

MAGISTRATES are either supreme, or those in whom the sovereign power resides; or subordinate, or those who act in an inferior or secondary sphere, whose rights and duties are now to be considered.

And herein we are not to investigate the powers and duties of the great officers of state; because they are not in that capacity in any considerable degree the object of our laws. Neither shall I here treat of the office of the judges; because they will find a more proper place in the third part of these commentaries. But the magistrates and officers, whose rights and duties we are now to consider, are such as have a jurisdiction and authority dispersedly throughout the kingdom, viz., sheriffs, coroners, justices of the peace, constables, surveyors of highways, and overseers and guardians of the poor.

I. The sheriff is an officer of great antiquity, his name being derived from two Saxon words-scire gerefa, the reeve, bailiff, or officer of the shire. He is called in Latin vice-comes, as being the deputy of the earl or comes; to whom the custody of the shire is said to have been committed at the first division of this kingdom into counties. But the earls, in process of time, were delivered of that burden, and the labour was laid on the sheriff; the king committing custodiam comitatus to the sheriff, and him alone.

Sheriffs were originally chosen by the inhabitants of the counties.* But these popular elections growing tumultuous, were put an end to, and under various statutes the sheriffs are now assigned by the chancellor, treasurer, and the judges, who meet for that purpose on the morrow of St. Martin, in the exchequer. The judges then and there propose three persons, to be reported to the sovereign, who afterwards appoints one *In some the sheriffs were hereditary. The corporation of London still has the shrievalty of Middlesex vested in it by charter.

of them to be sheriff, which ceremony is called pricking the sheriffs.

Sheriffs continue in their office one year: but till a new sheriff be named, his office is not determined, unless by his own death.

His functions are either as a judge, as the keeper of the peace, as a ministerial officer of the high court, or as the bailiff of the sovereign.

He presides, by his deputy, on writs of inquiry to assess damages in undefended actions; and in assessing the compensation to be paid to the owners for lands taken for making railways and other public works. He likewise decides the elections of knights of the shire, of coroners, and of verderers of the forest.

As keeper of the peace, he is the first man in the county. He may apprehend all persons who break the peace; he is bound to take all traitors, felons, and other misdoers; he is also to defend his county against the queen's enemies; and for these purposes may command the posse comitatus to attend him; and this summons every person above fifteen, and under the degree of a peer, is bound to attend, under pain of fine and imprisonment.

In his ministerial capacity he executes all process issuing from the high court and summons and returns juries at the assizes. In criminal matters he can arrest and imprison; and he executes sentence of death.

As the bailiff of the sovereign he is to preserve the rights of the crown within his bailiwick, as his county is called in the writs; a word introduced by the Normans, whose territory was formerly divided into bailiwicks. He must seize all lands devolved to the crown by escheat, levy all fines and forfeitures, and seize all waifs, wrecks, estrays, and the like, unless they be granted to some subject.

To execute these various offices, the sheriff has an undersheriff, who usually performs all the more important duties of the office, those only excepted where the personal presence of the sheriff is necessary; and bailiffs to summon juries, attend the judges and justices at the assizes and quarter sessions, and execute writs.

II. The coroner's is also a very ancient office, so called, coronator, because he has principally to do with pleas of the crown. The chief justice of the queen's bench division is the principal coroner in the realm, and may exercise the jurisdiction of a coroner in any part of the kingdom. The coroner is chosen by the freeholders of the county. In boroughs which have a court of quarter sessions, the town council appoints and pays the coroner for the borough. In other boroughs the coroner of the county has jurisdiction. He is chosen for life; but may be removed, either by being made sheriff, which is an office incompatible with the other, or for cause, such as extortion, neglect, inability, or misbehaviour in office. His office and power are also, like those of the sheriff, either judicial or ministerial, but principally judicial. This consists, first, in inquiring, when any person is slain, or dies suddenly, or in prison, concerning the manner of his death. And this must be "super visum corporis:" for, if the body be not found, the coroner cannot sit. His inquiry is made by a jury of twelve at least; and he may require the attendance of medical witnesses or assessors, and order a post mortem examination of the body. If any person be found guilty by this inquest of murder or other homicide, he is to commit him to prison for further trial. Another branch of his office is to inquire concerning shipwrecks and treasure trove. For the holding of all which inquests he may appoint a fit and proper person to act as his deputy.

His ministerial duty is only as the sheriff's substitute. For when just exception can be taken to the sheriff, the process is then to be executed by the coroner.

III. The justices of the peace, the principal of whom is the custos rotulorum, or keeper of the records of the county, are next in order.

The sovereign is the principal conservator of the peace; and may give authority to any person to see the peace kept, and to punish such as break it; hence it is usually called the queen's peace. The coroner is a conservator of the peace within his own county, as is also the sheriff. But the principal conservators of the peace are the justices nominated by commission under the great seal, which appoints them all, jointly and separately, to keep the peace, and any two or

more of them to inquire of and determine felonies and other misdemeanours.

These justices ought to be of the best reputation, and most worthy men in the county, and must have in real property 1007. per annum clear of all deductions, or a reversion or remainder with reserved rents amounting to 3007. per annum, or occupy in the county a house rated at 1007. per annum.

Their office is determinable, 1. By the demise of the crown; that is, in six months after. 2. By writ discharging any particular person from being any longer justice. 3. By writ of supersedeas. 4. By a new commission, which discharges all the former justices not included therein. 5. By accession to the office of sheriff or coroner.

The office and duty of a justice depend on the several statutes which have created objects of his jurisdiction. His commission, first, empowers him singly to conserve the peace. It also empowers any two or more to hear and determine felonies and other offences; which is their jurisdiction at sessions. And as to the powers given to them by the several statutes, which have heaped upon them such a variety of business, that few care to undertake, and fewer understand, the office; they are such, that the country is greatly obliged to any magistrate, that without sinister views of his own will engage in this troublesome service. And therefore, if a justice makes any slip, great indulgence is shown to him in the courts; for he cannot be sued for any oversight, without notice; so as to have an opportunity of making amends.

IV. The office of constable is of considerable antiquity. They were originally appointed at the court-leets of the franchise or hundred over which they preside, or, in default, by the justices, for the better keeping of the peace. They were called high, to distinguish them from the petty constables, instituted in the reign of Edward III. These latter have two offices: one ancient, the other modern. Their ancient office is that of headborough, tithing man, or borsholder; an office as ancient as the time of Alfred; their more modern office is that of constable merely, to assist the high constable. Both high and petty constables are now abolished, unless expressly continued; and chosen by the justices at a petty session holden yearly for that purpose.