the justices of the peace. As regards administrative matters, the former powers of the justices have been vested, for the most part, in the county councils established by the Local Government Act, 1888, s. 3; but the reader will find [in the later editions of Dr. Burn's Justice of the Peace everything relating to this subject, both in antient and modern practice, collected with great care and accuracy.] And the authority of the justices and of the county councils respectively, as regards all the miscellaneous subject-matters of their jurisdiction, will be touched upon, more or less, in such subsequent parts of these Commentaries as relate to these several matters.

IV. Constables.-[The word constable is sometimes said to be derived from the Saxon koning-staple, and to signify the support of the king. But as we borrowed the name as well as the office of constable from the French, it seems more satisfactory to deduce it, with Sir Henry Spelman and Dr. Cowell, from that language; wherein it is plainly derived from the Latin comes stabuli, an officer well known in the empire, and who was so called because (like the great constable of France, as well as the lord high constable of England) he was to regulate all matters of chivalry, tilts, tournaments, and feats of arms, which were performed on horseback (m). The office of lord high constable hath been long disused in England, except upon great and solemn occasions; and the constables of whom we now speak are officers of a much humbler character, although they are said to have originally emanated from the office of the lord high constable (n).

Constables were formerly of two sorts, namely, high constables and petty constables. The high constables, who were ordained by the Statute of Winchester, 13 Edw. I. (1285), st. 2, c. 6 (o), were appointed at the

(m) Reeves, Hist. Eng. Law, vol. iii. p. 194; Hallam, Mid. Ages, vol. iii. p. 223, 7th edit.

(n) Lambard, Constables, 5.
(0) 4 Inst. 267.

[courts leet of the franchise or hundred over which they presided; or, in default of that, by the justices at their special sessions, as directed by the County Rates Act, 1844, s. 8. The proper duty of the high constable seems to be to keep the peace within the hundred (p), as the petty constable does within the parish or township; for the hundred was formerly answerable for all robberies committed therein by daylight. The high constables were also, by various statutes, charged with other duties, such as serving precepts and warrants or certain occasions.] But (the utility of these officers having become questionable) the justices for each county were directed by the High Constables Act, 1869, to consider and determine, whether it was necessary that the office of high constable. of each hundred, or other like district, within their jurisdiction, should be continued; and, as a matter of fact, they have now almost disappeared.

[The petty constables are inferior officers in every town and parish, formerly subordinate to the high constable of the hundred, and have two offices united in them, the one antient, the other modern. Their antient office was that of headborough, tithing man, or borsholder, officials who are as antient as the time of King Alfred; and their modern office that of constable merely, which was instituted about the reign of Edward the Third, for the assistance of the high constable (q). The chief duty of petty constables is the preservation of the peace, though they also have other particular duties assigned to them by Act of Parliament, notably the service of the summonses and and execution of warrants of justices of the peace, relative to the apprehension and commitment of offenders. the execution of these warrants, the petty constable enjoys certain protections similar to those conferred on the justices themselves; e.g., an action cannot be brought against him for what he does in his office, after the

(p) 4 Inst. ubi sup.

(q) Lamb. 9.

In

[expiration of six months from the commission of the act (r). And by the Constables Protection Act, 1750, neither he, nor those acting in aid of him, may be sued without making the justice who signed the warrant a joint defendant, and on production of such warrant at the trial of the cause, the jury shall give their verdict for the constable, notwithstanding any defect of jurisdiction in the magistrate.] Further, in some cases, before an action is brought against a constable, a demand must previously be made for a perusal and copy of the warrant under which he acted (s).

Petty constables were formerly chosen by the jury at the court leet, or, if no court leet were held, then by two justices of the peace (t); but, with the object of improving the character of the force, which had in modern times become very inadequate to the performance of its duties, it was provided, by the Parish Constables Act, 1842 (u), that the justices should annually issue precepts to the overseers of each parish in their county, not being within any borough under the Municipal Corporations Act, requiring them to return a list of a competent number-of men within such parish qualified and liable to serve as constables (c). In this class is included (subject, however, to numerous exceptions,) every able-bodied man there resident, between twenty-five and fifty-five years of age, who is rated to the poor rate or county rate, or is a tenant to the value of 41. per annum. It was further provided, by the same Act, that the justices, at a special petty sessions of the peace to be holden for that purpose, should revise the list, and choose therefrom such number

(r) Gosden v. Elfick (1849), 7 D. & L. 194; Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893.

(*) Constables Protection Act, 1750, s. 6. Notice before action is not now required (Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893).

(t) R. v. Mosley (1835), 3 Ad. & El. 488.

(u) Amended by the Parish Constables Acts, 1844, 1850, and 1872.

(x) R. v. The Overseers of North Bierley (1858), El. Bl. & El, 519. As to constables in boroughs, see Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, ss. 190-196; Borough Constables Act, 1883.

of persons as they should deem necessary, having regard to the extent and population of the parish; but no person who had already served was to be liable to do so again, till every other person liable should have served either in person or by substitute (y). It was also provided, that every person so chosen should serve for a year, or until another should be appointed in his stead, and, in case of his refusal to do so, should incur such penalties as in the Act provided; and fees, payable out of the poor rate, were to be allowed to the constables for the service of summonses and the execution of warrants, and for such other occasional services as the justices might think fit, according to a Table to be settled at quarter sessions, and approved by a secretary of state. Every constable appointed under the Act was, moreover, to have within his county, and also within all liberties and franchises, and detached parts of other counties situated therein, and also in every adjoining county, all the powers and privileges, and be liable to all the duties and responsibilities, which a constable before enjoyed, or was subject to, within his own constablewick, but was not to be bound to act beyond his own parish without the special warrant of a justice of the peace. But since the subsequent establishment of an efficient county police has made the statute a dead letter, it has been provided, by the Parish Constables Act, 1872, that no parish constables shall be appointed, unless for any parish in regard to which the magistrates for the county in quarter sessions determine that it is necessary; but (s. 4) paid parish constables may (on a resolution of the parish council, or meeting,) still be appointed in any parish not wholly or in part included in a borough.

With regard to incorporated boroughs, which, as above observed, are exempted from the operation of the Parish Constables Act, 1842, a police or constabulary force is R. v. Booth (1848),

(y) Parish Constables Act, 1850, s. 4; 12 Q. B. 884.

maintained in each for the preservation of the peace. This force is appointed by, and is under the superintendence of, the watch committee of the borough (2); but as regards boroughs, not being county boroughs, which according to the census of 1881 had a population of less than 10,000, the powers and duties of the watch committee have now ceased, and have been transferred to the council of the administrative county which comprises such borough (a).

In addition to the parochial and borough police, there are also the county constabulary, under the superintendence of a chief constable, an officer formerly appointed by the justices of each county subject to the approval of the secretary of state for the home department, but now, in common with the county police, subject to the standing joint committee of the quarter sessions and of the county council (b). The Acts relating to the county police are the County Police Acts, 1839 and 1840; the County Rates Act, 1844; the County and Borough Police Act, 1856; the County Police Act, 1857; the County and Borough Police Act, 1859; the Local Government Act, 1888; and the Police Act, 1890. The earlier Act of 1839 was permissive; but in 1856 every county was required to establish such a force (c). Under the provisions of these Acts the chief constable may, subject to the prescribed approbation, appoint such other constables as may quired, and also a superintendent to be at the head of the constables in each division; and may at his pleasure dismiss any of them, subject to the rules established for the government of the force (d).

(z) See the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, repealing and reenacting the provisions in that behalf contained in 5 & 6 Will. 4 (1835), c. 76; and (as to the watch rate) 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. (1837), c. 81, s. 3; 3 & 4 Vict. (1840), c. 28; and County and Borough Police Act, 1859, s. 5.

be re

(a) Local Government Act, 1888, s. 39.

(b) Ibid. s. 9.

(c) County and Borough Police Act, 1856, s. 1.

(d) County Police Act, 1839, ss. 6, 7.