At the present day, the chief business of a high constable is not appropriated to them as such, but only as officers to execute the precepts of justices of the peace. The original and proper authority of a high constable seems to have been precisely the same as that of a petty constable. The surveying of bridges, the issuing of precepts regarding the appointment of overseers for the poor, surveying of highways, assessing the land tax and window duties, the viewing of armour, are official duties vested in him as matters of convenience and not of necessity, and which is a matter of discretion with justices of the peace whom they will appoint. Also as a matter of convenience, other duties have been superadded to this office, by different acts of parliament, such as the issuing precepts for licensing ale-houses, for levying county rates, and for returning lists of jurors.

All the inhabitants of a town are liable in turn to serve the office of high constable, but to this there are of course exceptions. The president, commons, and fellows of the faculty of physic in London, are exempt, also surgeons in London, apothecaries in, and for several miles round London, and in the country also, where they have a seven years' apprenticeship. A sworn attorney or other officer of the courts at Westminster, may be chosen, but can be discharged from serving by a writ of privilege, as his attendance on the courts being indispensable, incapacitates him from performing the necessary duties of the office; barristers and the servants of members of parliament are likewise for the same reasons exempt. Aldermen of London, although chosen, cannot be compelled to serve; officers of the guards are not exempt from serving, although both officers and men of the militia are. The clergy, and all dissenting preachers, after subscribing and taking the oaths, are exempt; so likewise is the prosecutor of a felon to conviction.

This office being entirely ministerial, and noways judicial, a constable may appoint a deputy, in the case of sickness or absence, or any other cause, but he must answer for the faithful execution of his office by his deputy. Dissenters who scruple to take the oaths may also appoint a deputy.

By the common law every high and petty constable are conservators of the peace. And therefore whoever makes any affray or assault on another person in the presence of a constable, or threatens to kill, beat, or hurt another, or in any way breaks the peace, he may commit such offender to the stocks, or any place of custody, and afterwards carry him before a justice or to jail, until he finds security to keep the peace. But a constable, not being a judge of record, cannot take any man's oath for an offence not committed in his own view.

When a constable is chosen, and on entry to his office, he takes the following oath :

"You shall well and truly serve our sovereign lord the king in the office

of Constable, for the township of

for the year ensuing, (or until you be lawfully discharged therefrom, or until another shall be sworn in your place ;) you shall well and truly do and execute all things belonging to the said office, according to the best of your skill and knowledge. So help you God."

MARESCHAL OF ENGLAND.-This office was executed partly in the king's army in time of war, and partly in his court in time of peace. His military functions consisted partly in conjunction with the constable in giving certificates to the barons of their having duly performed the services required of them in the king's armies, from which it would appear that these officers had a legal superintendency over the royal army. It appears, however, from Rymer, that in Edward I.'s reign, the Mareschal's post was in the vanguard, and that it was his duty as well as the Constable's, to muster the forces. Mr Madox (Hist. of the Exch.) relates that his civil duties were to provide for the security of the king's person in his palace, to distribute the lodgings there, to preserve the peace and order in the king's household, and to determine controversies arising among them. He also performed certain acts either by himself or his substitutes at the king's coronation, at the marriages and interments of any member of the royal family, at the creation of barons and knights, and at other great and ceremonious assemblies of the king's court. It is said in the dialogue de Scaccario, that no business of importance ought to be done without consulting the mareschal. In the reign of Henry II., this high office was held by a family who seems to have taken their name from thence, and were only of the rank of barons; but under Richard I., William Mareschal having obtained the earldom of Pembroke, was afterwards styled Earl Mareschal and as from that time this office has continued in the possession of earls, though of different houses, it is now always called the office of Earl Mareschal and its power seems to have increased from the dignity of the noblemen who have held it. At present the duke of Norfolk is hereditary Earl Mareschal of England. Originally it signified master of the horse to

the king.

:

SENESCHAL.-The office of seneschal was much the same as that of grand justiciary, and indeed they were so closely allied, that they could not very well subsist together, their functions and dignity being nearly the same. In the time of the early Norman sovereigns, it was inferior to the grand justiciary, and does not appear to have been very different from the office of lord steward of the household at present, but its jurisdiction afterwards was greatly increased.

THE GRAND JUSTICIARY OF ENGLAND.-Spelman says, that originally under this office were executed the several powers and functions of the chief justice of the king's bench, the chief justice of the common pleas, the chief baron of the exchequer, and the master of the wards. He was too great

for a subject; but the office was neither hereditary nor held for life; and he was obliged to appoint a number of deputies. Several persons were frequently found in commission in the execution of the office, which deprived it of its dangerous splendour. Mr Madox relates, (Hist. of the Exch.) that for some time after the conquest, the chief justiciary used to do many acts, which afterwards appertained to the treasurer's office. Notwithstanding, there was a treasurer then among the great officers of the king's court, of whose functions the same author gives this account. "It seems to have been the part or duty of the treasurer in ancient times, to act with the other barons of the exchequer in the government of the king's revenue, to examine and control accountants, to direct the entries made in the great roll, to attest the writs issued for levying the king's revenue, to supervise the issuing and receiving the king's treasure at the receipt of the exchequer, and in a word, to provide for, and take care of, the king's profit."

In the dialogue de scaccario it is stated, that the grand justiciary of England" was great in the exchequer as well as in the court, so that nothing of moment was or could be done there, without his consent or advice," and that he usually presided under the king in the court of exchequer; next to him sat the chancellor, then the constable, then the chamberlain, and lastly the mareschal; but the power of the justiciary declined in proportion as that of the chancellor increased, and it is supposed that the increase of power and splendour acquired by the chancellors was in a great measure owing to the greatness of some of the illustrious individuals who had borne that office. Madox likewise says, "that the splendour of the king's court appeared very much in the greatness of his officers and ministers. some of them were so great and splendid, as instead of augmenting served to diminish the splendour of their master, and attract the eyes of his other subjects from himself to them;" among which number was this office of grand justiciary, and perhaps that may have been one cause of its abolition.

But

Henry VIII. first appointed Lord Lieutenants of counties to act as representatives of the crown, to keep their respective counties in military order.

The English counties are divided into six circuits for the accommodation of the judges, called the Home, Norfolk, Western, Oxford, Midland, and Northern. Two judges are fixed to go upon each of these, at the assizes appointed to be held twice-a year; but in the cities of Durham and Carlisle, the towns of Newcastle and Appleby, which are in the Northern and long circuits, the assizes are held only once a-year in autumn. Middlesex being the supreme court of justice, and Cheshire being a county palatine, have peculiar privileges, and therefore excluded from the circuits.

There are three counties which are pre-eminently called counties palatine, viz. Lancaster, Chester, and Durham, the two latter have been so

termed ever since the conquest; and Lancaster was created a county palatine by Henry III., in favour of Edward Plantagenet, first earl and duke of Lancaster. Pembroke and Hexham also, were anciently counties palatine; Hexham belonged to the archbishop of York, but was stripped of its privileges in the fourteenth year of Elizabeth's reign, and reduced to be part of the county of Northumberland. The power of Pembroke as a county palatine was abolished in the twenty-seventh year of Henry VIII.

SHERIFFS.-The Sheriff is an officer of very great antiquity, and performs all the king's business in the counties; and although he be still called vice-comes, yet he is entirely independent of, and not subject to the earl; the king, by his letters patent, committing custodiam comitatus to the sheriff, and him alone.

Sheriffs were formerly chosen by the inhabitants of the several counties. In confirmation of which, it was ordained, by statute 28, Edward I., that the people should elect their sheriffs in every shire, except where the shrievalty was hereditary in any family. In some counties the sheriffs were hereditary, as they still continue to be in the county of Westmoreland. In Scotland the sheriffs were hereditary, till the crown resumed that office after the attempt of prince Charles Edward to win the crown of his ancestors, and there the crown appoints deputies, who again appoint substitutes to act for them. The city of London has the inheritance of the shrievalty of Middlesex vested in their corporation by charter. But these popular elections growing tumultuous, they were put an end to by the statute 9 Edward II., which enacted that the sheriff's should from thenceforth be assigned by the chancellor, treasurer, and the judges, as being persons to whom the same trust might with confidence be reposed. And it is now customary, that all the judges, together with the other great officers and privy councillors, meet in the exchequer on the morrow of St Martin, and then and there the judges propose three persons to be reported to the king, who afterwards appoints one of them to be sheriff.

Sheriffs, by virtue of several old statutes, are to continue in their office only one year in England, and yet it is said that a sheriff may be appointed during the king's pleasure, and such is the form of the king's writ. No man who has served the office of sheriff for one year, can be compelled to serve the same again within three years after.

It is of the utmost importance to have the sheriff appointed according to law, when his power and duty is considered. These are either as a judge, as the keeper of the king's peace, as a ministerial officer of the superior courts of justice, or as the king's bailiff.

In his judicial capacity he is to hear and determine all causes of forty shillings value and under in his county court, and he has also a judicial power in divers other civil cases. He is likewise to decide the elections of knights of the shire, (subject to the control of the house of commons,) of

coroners, and of verderors; to judge of the qualification of voters, turn such as he shall determine to be duly elected.

and re

As the keeper of the king's peace, both by common law and special commission, he is the first man in the county, and superior in rank to any nobleman therein during his office. He may apprehend, and commit to prison, all persons who break or attempt to break the peace; and may bind any one in recognizance to keep the king's peace. He not only may, but he is bound, ex officio, to pursue and take all traitors, murderers, felons, and other misdoers, and commit them to jail for safe custody. He is also to defend his county against any of the king's enemies when they come into the land; and for this purpose, as well as for keeping the peace and pursuing felons, he may command all the people of his county to attend him; which is called the posse comitatus, or power of the county: and this summons, every person above fifteen years old, and under the degree of a peer, is bound to attend upon warning, under pain of fine and imprisonment.

In his ministerial capacity, the sheriff is bound to execute all processes issuing from the king's courts of justice. In the commencement of civil causes, he is to serve the writ, to arrest and to take bail; when the cause comes to trial, he must summon and return the jury; when it is determined, he must see the judgment of the court carried into execution. In criminal cases, he also arrests and imprisons, he returns the jury, he has the custody of the delinquent, and he executes the sentence of the court, though it extends to death itself.

As the king's bailiff, it is his business to preserve the king's rights within his bailiwick; for so his county is frequently called in the writs. He must seize to the king's use all lands devolved to the crown by attainder or escheat; must levy all fines and forfeitures; must seize and keep all waifs, wrecks, estrays, and the like, unless they be granted to some subject; and must also collect the king's rents within his bailiwick, if commanded by process from the Exchequer.

For the execution of these various offices, the sheriff has many inferior officers under him as under sheriff, bailiff, and jailers: who must neither buy, sell, nor farm their offices, under forfeiture of £500.

The under sheriff usually performs all the duties of the office, a very few only excepted, where the personal presence of the high sheriff is necessary. But no under sheriff shall continue in his office more than one year, and if he does he forfeits £200. And no under sheriff shall practise as an attorney during the time he holds the office, for this would be a great inlet to partiality and oppression.

Bailiff's or sheriff's officers, are either bailiffs of hundreds or special bailiffs. Bailiffs of hundreds are officers appointed over those respective districts by the sheriffs, to collect fines therein; to summon juries, to attend the judges and justices of the assizes and quarter sessions, and also to