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virtue of an execution (or "attachment,") issued by L. M., Esquire, a justice of the peace of county, and to you delivered in favor of A. B., against the goods and chattels of C. D., and intend to prosecute my claim to the same, according to the statute in such case made and provided.

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Sir:-Please take notice that the following described property, to wit: (describe the property,) levied upon by virtue of an execution, (or "attachment,") issued by L. M., a justice of the peace of

county, and in favor of A. B., against the goods and chattels of C. D., to me delivered, has been claimed by E. F., who has notified me that he intends to prosecute his claim to the same, according to the statute in such case made and provided.

You are, therefore, notified that the said claim will be tried before the said justice (or, if he is absent from the county or unable to attend, then say, "before G. H., a justice of the peace of the county of the said L. M. being absent from said county," or, "unable to attend,") and the subscriber and a jury then and there to be summoned and sworn, at the office of in said county, on the

day of

18—, at

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in

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Form of Subpoena for Witness on trial of right of property.

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The People of the State of Illinois to J. K., &c. :

You are hereby commanded to appear before L. M., a justice of the peace of the said county, and R. S., constable of the said county, at the office of the said

in

(or "next,") at o'clock in the

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on the

day of

instant, noon, to testify before them and a jury of the county, on a claim of property made by E. F., to the goods and chattels levied upon by the said constable, by virtue of an execution, (or "attachment,") to him delivered in favor of A. B.,

against the goods and chattels of C. D.; and this you are not to omit under the penalty of the law.

Given under the hand and seal of the said justice, this

185-.

day of

L. M., J. P. [SEAL].

Form of Finding of the Jury on a trial of the right of property.

A. B.

vs

C. D.

Before L. M., Esquire, Justice, and R. S., Constable.

We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being the jury called to try the right of property on a claim made by E. F. to the following described goods and chattels, to wit: (describe them accurately,) levied upon by R. S., constable, by virtue of an execution, (or "attachment,") issued by L. M., Esquire, a justice of the peace of the county of in favor of A. B., against the goods and chattels of C. D., do upon our oaths say that the property of the said goods and chattels so claimed is (or " is not ") in said claimant. (Or, if part only, say, "of the following described articles, to wit: [describe them,] part of the above so claimed, is in said claimant."

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The People of the State of Illinois to any Constable of said County, GREETING:

dollars and

We command you that of the goods and chattels of C. D., in your county, you make the sum of cents, which E. F. lately recovered before the undersigned, a justice of the peace of the said county, for his costs by him laid out and expended, in a certain trial of the right of property, before the said justice and R. S., constable of the said county, and a jury for that purpose summoned and sworn, wherein the said E. F. was claimant, and the said C. D. was defendant.

of

Given under the hand and seal of the said justice, the

185-.

day

L. M., J. P. [SEAL.]

Forthcoming Bond to Constable in case of Appeal.

Know all men by these presents, that we, A. B. and C. D., are held and firmly bound unto E. F., a constable of the county of

the sum of

in

dollars, (double the amount in the execution,) to he paid to the said E. F., constable, as aforesaid, to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents.

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day of

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18-.

Sealed with our seals, and dated the Whereas, an execution has been issued by L. M., Esquire, a justice of the peace of the county of and delivered to the above named constable, in favor of G. H., against the goods and chattels of I. J., under and by virtue of which the said constable has levied upon the goods and chattels following, to wit: (here describe the property.) Now, therefore, the condition of this obligation is such, that if the said I. J. shall deliver the said goods and chattels to the said constable, o'clock in the

on the first day of

next, at

noon, at

the dwelling house of the said A. B., so that the said goods and chattels may be then and there sold to satisfy the said execution, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force.

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PART FOURTH.

OF THE CONSTABLE, HIS ELECTION AND QUALIFICATION, AND THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF CONSTABLES IN BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASES.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE OFFICE OF CONSTABLE.

I. OF THE CONSTABLE.

II. OF THE ELECTION OF CONSTABLES.

1. In Counties not adopting Township Organization.
2. In Counties adopting Township Organization.

III. OF QUALIFICATION.

1. In Counties not adopting Township Organization. 2. In Counties adopting Township Organization. IV. SPECIAL CONSTABLES, WHEN AND HOW APPOINTED.

I. OF THE CONSTABLE.

The office of constable is one of great antiquity; so old, indeed, that in the statute of Winchester, which was enacted in 1276, it is mentioned as having long existed. The word constable has afforded matter of much disquisition among the learned. Some trace it to the Hebrew, others to the Greek, and many derive it from the German.1

"The word constable," says Sir William Blackstone, "is frequently said to be derived from the Saxon, koning-stapel, and to signify the support of the king. But as we borrowed the name as well as the office of constable from the French, I am rather inclined to deduce it, with Sir Henry Spelman and Dr. Cowel, from that language; wherein it is plainly derived from the Latin, comes stabuli, an officer well known in

(1) Constables' Manl. 5.

the empire; 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."1

This great office of lord high constable has been disused in England, except only upon great and solemn occasions, as the king's coronation and the like, since the attainder of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, under King Henry VIII.; and in France it was suppressed about a century after, by an edict of Louis XIII. ; but from his high office, as it is said, this lower constableship was first drawn and fetched, and is, as it were, a very finger of that hand. For the statute of Winchester, which first appoints them, directs that for the better keeping of the peace, two constables, in every hundred and franchise, shall inspect all matters relating to arms and armor.

In England, from whence the office of constable has been borrowed in this country, constables are of two sorts, high constables and petty constables. The former are appointed at the court leets of the franchise or hundred over which they preside, or in default of that, by the justices at their quarter sessions. The petty constables are inferior officers in every town and parish, subordinate to the high constable of the hundred. These petty constables have two offices united in them, the one ancient, the other modern. Their ancient office is that of headborough, tithingman or borsholder, and who are as ancient as the time of King Alfred, A. D. 871; their more modern office is that of constable merely, which was appointed so lately as the reign of Edward III., in order to assist the high constable.

By the common law, the general duty of all constables, both high and petty, is to keep the peace in their several districts; and to that purpose they are armed with very large powers, of arresting and imprisoning, of breaking open houses, and the like.*

By various legislative enactments, the duties of constables have been materially extended from that of the common law, which has occurred in consequence of the increased powers of justices of the peace. Constables are, by the common law, it is said, regarded as the proper and known officers of justices of the peace ; and it is laid down, that, in England, if an act of parliament direct that a justice shall issue a warrant, and do not state to whom it shall be directed, it must be directed to the constable and not the sheriff. 6

(1) 1 Bl. Com. 355.

(2) Ibid.

(4) 1 Bl. Com. 356.

(5) 1 Salk. 381.

(3) Lambard.

(6) 1 Chit. Crim. L. 38.

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