Elizabeth Entituled An Act for the Relief of the Poor These are to Will and Require you whose Names are here Under-written That you together with the Church-wardens of your Parish for the Time being do according to the Form of the same Statute take Order from Time to Time for the Year to come for the setting to Work the Poor within your Parish and for raising a convenient Stock of some Wares or Stuffs in your Town to that Purpose and providing necessary Relief for such as are Lame and Impotent amongst you and for the placing Apprentices such Children whose Parents are not able to Maintain them And hereof see that you fail not at your Peril Dated c. Under the Hands and Seals of us c. This Warrant must be under the Hands and Seals of two Justices of the County The Form of a Warrant to Distrain such as refuse to pay their Rates to the Poor c. To the Church-wardens and other Overseers of the Poor within the Parish of K. and every of them Warwick Forasmuch as we are Credible Informed or that it hath been duly proved before us That the Persons here under-named do refuse to Contribute or pay the Summs of Money here undermentioned set upon their Heads being sessed and rated upon them severally for and towards the necessary Relief of the Poor of your said Town according to the Form of the Statute in that behalf lately provided These are therefore in his Majesties Name straitly to charge and command you and every of you forthwith to require the said Persons so refusing to be before us to shew cause of their said Refusal and if they or any of them shall refuse to come before us that then immediately you do Levy all and every the said several Sums of Mony unpaid and all Arrearages thereof of all and every the said Persons so refusing by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods you rendring to the said Parties the Over-plus that shall remain upon the Sale of the said Goods if any be and this shall be a sufficient Warrant for your so doing Dated c. ☞ Note the Parties offending must be named here c. CHAP. XXI The Form of a Warrant for suppressing an Ale-house Surrey W. L. and C. L. two of his Majesty's Justices of Peace within the said County of S. To the Constables of G. and either of them Greeting Whereas we are credibly informed that M. B. of your Town Victualler is himself a Man of Evil Behaviour and besides doth suffer Evil Rule and Disorder to be kept in his House contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm These are therefore to will and command you forthwith to repair to the House of the said M. B. and to charge him to surcease keeping any longer any Ale-house or Tipling-house and from common selling of Ale or Beer at his Peril and withal that you cause his Sign to be pulled down and hereof fail not as you and either of you will answer the contrary at your Peril Given under our Hands and Seals at T. the Day of and in the Year of the Reign of our most Gracious Sovereign Lord King William the third c. But it is usual with the Justices e'er they grant this last Warrant or a Warrant to Levy Monies forfeited by Ale-house Haunters to send for the Offenders and Examin them of the Offence that the Truth may be known and that the Information be not upon the Account of Brangling or Malice between the Parties so informed against and the Party informing but the Truth known upon plain Conviction Forfeitures in the latter Case may be Levyed upon refusal to pay by Distresses and Sale of Goods and for want of such Distress the Offenders set in the Stocks c. See more in the Office of a Constable in this Book CHAP. XXII Supersedeas Grantable by Justices of the Peace to supercede Warrants c. their Forms The Form of a Supersedeas by a Justice of Peace Sussex R. D. Esquire one of the Justices of Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King within the County of Sussex To the Sheriffs Bailiffs Constables and other of the Faithful Ministers of our Sovereign Lord within the said County and to every of them sendeth Greeting Forasmuch as L. T. of C. c. Husbandman hath personally come before me at D. c. and hath found sufficient Sureties that is to say W. C. and R. B. c. Yeomen either of which hath undertaken for the said L. T. under the pain of Twenty Pounds and the said L. T. hath undertaken for himself under the pain of Forty Pounds that he the said L. T. shall well and truly keep the Peace towards our Sovereign Lord and all his Leige People and especially towards R. M. of c. Baker and also that he shall personally appear before the Justices of the Peace of our said Sovereign Lord at the next General Sessions of the Peace to be holden for this County of Sussex Therefore on the behalf of our said Sovereign Lord I command you and every of you that you utterly forbear to Arrest Attatch Take or Imprison or otherwise by any means for the said occasion to molest the said L. T. and if you have for the said occasion and no other taken or imprisoned him that then you do cause him to be delivered and set at Liberty without farther Delay Given at D. in the County aforesaid under my Hand and Seal this 29 of January c. ☞ Note a Supersedeas of this Nature is held good though the Sureties are not named nor the Summ they are penally obliged in yet it is better to express them both for in such case if it shall appear the Sureties are not sufficiently Responsible nor bound in sufficient Summs better Sureties may be taken and accordingly all the Supersedeas issuing out of the Court of Chancery King's-bench and Common-pleas do mention the Names of the Sureties and the Summs they are obliged in for the Delinquents forth-coming to answer c. And further note that upon good Sureties taken for the good Behaviour a Supersedeas of good Behaviour may be granted as for the Peace Mutatis mutandis Crompt 237. Also a Supersedeas de capias indictamentum de Transgressione and so of an Exigent may be granted by the Justices of Peace out of the Sessions otherwise it would be Mischievous for the Party not only by Reason of his Imprisonment but also that he may be outlawed before the Sessions if so it were that the Justices of Peace might not take Sureties of him for his Appearance and all is no more than to appear and answer to the Indictment And these according to Crompton's Opinion Cromp. 234. may be granted by one Justice of the Peace and with him agree the Books of Entries However Lambert thinketh it not in the lawful Power of any one Justice of Peace to grant such Supersedeas at this Day but that it must run in the Names
it 898. and is held to appoint the first High and Petty Constables in England which Offices have ever since continued in good Esteem nay the Saxon Word makes the Antiquity of Constables plain in Etymology The Saxon being Coning or Cyng and Staple or Stable which signifies a Stay or Prop to the King that is to the Government in laying Hands on Offenders and bringing them to Justice and though the High Constable of England's Office usually a Noble Man appointed by the King is ceased yet the High Constables of Hundreds in a great measure retain and hold up the Power as to what concerns the Civil Government and these are chosen most usually in each County by the Justices in their General Quarter Sessions or their respective Divisions for they have Power to give them Authority and to discharge them of their Office as they shall see cause The High Constable is as it were Overseer or Director of the Petty Constables Headboroughs or Tything-men which are chosen under him in the respective Towns Villages or Precincts within his Hundred or such Franchises as are under his Jurisdiction by the consent of the Inhabitants or the Majority of them and their Duty it is to execute the High Constables Office in his Absence in keeping the Peace and good Order in their respective Limits and upon the High Constables Order to be aiding and assisting to him so far as concerns his Office And now since both these are necessarily Sworn upon entring on their respective Offices it will be requisite for the better understanding of what they undertake by entring on so weighty a Trust to set down the Form of their respective Oaths before the Justices c. The Oath to be taken by a High Constable You shall swear that you shall well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the office of a Constable you shall see and cause his Majestys Peace to be well and truly kept and preserved so far as in your Power lyeth you shall Arrest all such Persons as in your sight or presence shall Ride or go Armed offensively or shall commit or make any Riot Affray or any other Breach of his Majestys Peace you shall do your best Endeavour upon complaint to you made to apprehend all Felons Barretors and Rioters or Persons Riotously assembled and if any such Offenders shall make resistance with force you shall Levy Hue and Cry and shall pursue them till they be taken you shall do your best endeavour that the Watch in and about your Hundred be duly kept for the apprehending Vagabonds Rogues Night-walkers Eves-droppers Scouts and other suspected Persons and of such as go Armed and the like and that Hue and Cry be duly rais'd pursued according to the Statute of Winchester against Murtherers Thieves and other Felons and that the Statutes made for Rogues Vagabonds and such other idle Persons as come within your Bounds and Limits be duly put in Execution you shall have a watchful Eye upon such Persons as shall maintain or keep any Common House or Place where any unlawful Gamâ— is or shall be used as also to such as shall frequent or use such Places or shall use or exerâ—c se any unlawful Games there or elsewhere contrary to the Statutes At your Sessions Aâ— size or Leets you shall present all and every the Offences done contrary to the Statutes of the 1.4 and 21 of James the first to restrain the inordinate haunting and tipling in Inns Ale-houses and other Victualling Houses and for the repressing Drunkeness you shall there likewise true presentment make of all Blood-sheddings Affrays Outcries Rescous and other Offences committed or done against the Kings Majestys Peace within your Limits you shall once every Year during your Office present at the Quarter Sessions all Popish Recusants within your Liberty and their Children above Nine Years Old and their Servants viz. their Monthly Absence from the Church 3 Jacobi 1. Chap. 4. You shall well and duly execute all Precepts and Warrants to you directed from the Justices of the Peace of the County or Superior Officers you shall be aiding to your Neighbours against unlawful purveyances In time of Hay or Corn Harvest upon request you shall cause all Persons meet to serve by the day for the Mowing Reaping or getting in of Corn and Hay you shall in Easter Week cause your Parishoners to chuse your Surveyors for the mending the High Ways in your Parish or Liberty and you shall well and duly according to your Knowledge Power and Ability do and execute all other things belonging to the Office and Duty of a Constable so long as you shall continue in the said Office By this Tenor of an Oath a Constable may gain a considerable Light into what he is to do in the Management and Execution of his Office being as it were an Epitome of what I shall hereafter set down more intelligibly and plainly to be understood But this Oath is often administred in Abstract to a Petty Constable Tything-man c. So that what I now recite suffices The Petty Constable c. his Oath You shall swear that you well and truly execute the Office of a Tything-man of the Tything of B. or Headborough c. his Majesties Peace in your Person you shall keep and see it kept in others as much in you lyeth in the Presence of the High Constable you shall be aiding and assisting to him and in his Absence you shall execute his Office according to your Power and Knowledge till an other be chosen in your Place or you be Legally Discharged So help you God The High Constables in their respective Hundreds are Conservators of the Peace at Common Law as are the Petty Constables in their respective Towns and Liberties and have a large Power to back and support them in the Execution of their Office if they proceed within the Bounds of it for it is so ordered that if an Action be brought against a Constable Headborough c. or their Assistants for any thing done by reason of their respective Offices they may plead the General Issue and give the special matter in Evidence 7 Jac. 1. Chap. 5. 21 Jac. 1. Chap. 22. Wingate's Abridg. Stat. Tit. Evidence c. And if it so happen any Action be brought against one or more of them it is so provided that it shall be layed in the County where the Fact commenced and if the Verdict pass for the Defendant he is to have double Costs and this to be recovered as other Defendants recover their Costs by 7 Jacobi 1. Chap. 5. 21 Jacobi Chap. 1â— Windg Abridg. Stat. Tit. Evidence For indeed a Constable Legally chosen is compelled to serve the Office being a fit Man able of Body and in Substance and it would go hard if for every trivial slip he should run the risk of being Ruined by Vexatious Suits for if a Constable c. Legally Elected to the Office do refuse to serve and take the Oath unless
Money shall be had to the use of the Parish where the Distress is first made for though they pass through several Parishes yet are they to pay but 20 s. for one Journey 3 Car. 1. Chap. 1. Dalton Chap. 50. Folio 134. If any Bull-baiting Bear-baiting Enterludes or other unlawful Games and Pastimes of the like Nature be held in the Parish or out of the Parish on the Lords Day upon Warrant to him directed the Constables c. may levy 3 s. 8 d. by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods rendring the Overplus to the Owner if any bâ—â— or set the Party for want of such Distress in the Stocks by the space of 3 Hours but then the Party offending must be questioned within the space of a Month after the Offence committed 1 Caroli 1. Chap. 1 Dalt Just P. Chap. 23. Folio 6â— None shall do any work by Labour or Business on the Lords Day Works of Necessity and Charity only excepted but that the Offender if above the Age of 14 Years or upwards shall forfeit 5 s. None shall cry and expose to sale any Wares that Day on pain to forfeit them except Milk and that before Nine in the Morning and after Four in the Afternoon No Drover Higler Horsecourser Butcher or their Servants shall Travel on the Lords Day upon pain of forfeiting 20 s. No Person shall Travel on this Day on Horseback or with Boat or Wherry unless on extraordinary Occasions to be allowed by a Justice of the Peace or Head Officer of the Place under penalty of forfeiting 5 s. No Hackny Coaches to Travel that day unless such as are allowed by the late Act of his present Majesty King William 3. c. for Licensing Hackney Coaches c. 29 Caroli 2. Chap. 7. And Penalties upon this Act are for the use of the Poor of the Parish where they are levied or the Offence committed saving the Justice or other Head Officer may reward the Informer if he think fit with a Third Part. And further note that the Prosecution of this Act must be made within 10 Days after the Fact committed Dressing Meat in Inns Cooks Shops and private Families are not prohibited on the Lords Day by the Statute of 29 Caroli 2. And for the better encouragement of the Mackrel Fishery they are in the Season to be Sold on this Day but before and after Sermon time only CHAP. XLIX The Office and Duty of a Constable c. required about hired Servants Labourers c. IF Labourers are wanting in Harvest or Hay time the Party so standing in need may require the Constable to cause such Persons as he thinks fit to Mow Reap or do any Work relating to getting in the Hay and Corn Harvest and they to be payed by the Day according as they are able to perform and if they shall refuse to work after they are requested thereunto by the Constable he has Power to set them in the Stocks by the space of two Days and one Night and upon the Constables neglect to perform his Duty in this Case he forfeits 40 s. 5 Eliz. Chap 14. Servants c. After the time of their Work be expired they being employed in Husbandry or any Arts appointed in that Statute they shall not depart the Parish City or Town where they last served to any other without a Testimonial that is in a Town Corporate under the Hand and Seal of the Chief Magistrate and two Housholders there and in the Country under the Hands and Seals of the Constable or other Officers and two Housholders of the said Town or Parish where he or she last served and the Minister is to receive Two Pence for Registring the said Testimonial which is to be delivered by him to the Party whose Name is mentioned therein according to the Statute of the 5 Eliz. Chap. 5. and the Testimonial is to run in this Form The Form of a Testimonial c. Memorandum That John Digs Servant to James Dillion of Stretham in the County of Surry Grazier is licensed to depart from his said Master and is at full Liberty to serve elsewhere according to the Statute in that Case made and provided in Witness whereof we have hereunto set our Hands and Seals on the 28th of September in the 12th Year of the Reign of our Gracious Sovereign Lord King William the Third and in the Year of our Lord 1700. James Wade Constable of Stretham Housholders there Richard Tims John Nobs If the Party lives with a Widow or any single Person then instead of Master set down Mistress or Dame with the Womans Name and the Name of the Servant be it Man or Maid Servant or what else they term themselves and if the Parties they live with be Handycrafts or any other Calling their Calling with their Names and the place of Abode must be set down and testified in all respects as aforesaid He or She that Entertains any Servant without such a Testimonial forfeits Five Pounds being lawfully Convicted upon Indictment before the Justices in Sessions and every Servant not producing such a Testimonial to the Mayor Constable Churchwarden Minister or other Officers impowered to inspect it may be Imprisoned till such a one be procured and if he or she procure not one in 21 Days ensuing the Day of Imprisonment or produce a false and counterfeit one he or she so doing is to be Whipt and used as a Vagabond 5 Elizabeth Chap. 4. Dalton Just P. Chap. 31. Folio 63. And this Statute relating to Testimonials was punctually observed tho' of latter days it has not been much regarded that people taking Servants at they knew not what Hand have been frequently Robbed by them not knowing afterwards where to find them or enquire after them and therefore it would be well if it was yet strictly kept in use and indeed the penalties are in as much force to be inflicted as ever CHAP. L. The Office of a Constable as to what he is to do relating to Popish Recusants and Conventicles ANY one exceeding Sixteen Years of Age being a Popish Recusant must within 40 Days after Conviction repair to their usual and known Dwellings and not to remove five Miles thence under Penalty of forfeiting all their Goods Lands and Chattels Anuities c. during Life and if they can assign no certain place of Aboad then are they to repair to the place of their Birth or where their Father or Mother dwell if they are living and in 20 days after their Arrival give in their Names to the Minister Constable and Headborough in Writing which Minister is to enter them in a Book to be kept for the purpose and he with the said Officers are to certify the same the next Quarter Sessions where the Justices of Peace are obliged to cause the same to be inrolled 35 Eliz. Chap. 2. Wingate's Stat. Title Crown Note that the Church Wardens and Constables of every Parish or one of them and where there are none such the
of them or against the Owner of the Goods in case any after the Distress have been found to come to his Use or Possession by such means But note that in case any such Distress or Sale as aforesaid shall be made by Virtue or Colour of this Act for Rent pretended to be Arrear and due when in truth there is no Rent in Arrear or due to the person or persons Distraining or to him or them in whose Name or Names or Right such Distress shall be taken as aforesaid his Executors and Administrators shall and may by Action of Trespass upon the Case to be brought against the person or persons so Distraining or either of them his or their Executors or Administrators recover double the Value of the Goods and Chattels so Distrained and Sold as likewise full Costs of Suit Note that Hay Corn or any Grain are not to be hastily or wastfully removed from the Premises before due Appraisement and Sale to the damage of the Owner in scattering or wasting it c. CHAP. LXII What relates to the Office of a Constable in providing Carriages for the King c. ACcording to the Statute of 1 Jacobi 2. In this Case the Clerk or chief Officer of His Majesty's Carriages shall 3 Days before His Majesty's Arrival give notice to the Neighbouring Justices two or more of them by Warrant from the Green-cloth to provide such a number of able Carriages as shall be requisite for the Service to be drawn by 4 able Horses or six Oxen or four Oxen and two Horses to meet and be ready at the Time appointed to Load without delay and for so Loading they are to receive in Hand after the rate of Six-pence a Mile and not to be compelled to go above a Days Journey from their Habitations and the Carriages Summoned to give their Attendance on Default being Convicted of Neglect or Refusal by the Oath of the Constable or other Officer or two other credible Witnesses before the said Justices of Peace of the County or Mayor or other Chief Officers of the City or Corporation where he or they so neglecting inhabit and who have a Power to tender the said Oath the party so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit the Summ of Forty Shilling to the King's Use forthwith to be levied by Distress and Sale of Goods the Over plus if any be to be returned to the Owner and this to be done by Warrant from the said Justice of Peace Mayor or other Officer and in Case any Justice Constable or any other Officer shall take any Gift or Reward to excuse any person from this Service or shall injuriously charge or grieve any person through Hatred Envy or Evil Will who ought not to make such Carriage or Impress more Carriages than shall be directed by Warrant of the Green Cloth upon Proof and Conviction thereof the Party so offending shall forfeit the Sum of Ten Pound to the Party grieved or to any other who shall sue for the same to be recovered by Action of Debt in any of the King's Courts of Record wherein no Essoign Protection or Wager of Law shall be allowed and if any Person or Persons shall Impress any Horses Oxen Cart Wain or Carriages for the King's Service other than such as are lawfully impowered he or they so offending upon due Proof and Conviction shall incur and suffer the Punishments contained in the Act of 12 Car. 2. All High Constables Mayors Bayliffs and other Officers who warn the said Carriages or whose Duty it is so to do must make a Return in Writing to the Clerk or other Officer of the Carriages of the Names and Places of Abode of every such Person who is so warned to bring in his Cart or Carriage so that the Defaulters may be known and the said Officers appointed by the Act to warn them may be Discharged and Indemnified and the Defaulters punished as aforesaid CHAP. LXIII The Office and Duty of a Constable relating to the King's Game Fishery Excise and Custom UPon a Warrant directed to a Constable Headborough c. under the Hands and Seals of two or more Justices of the Peace the Constable c. may search suspected Houses for Setting-Dogs Nets and other Tackle for taking Pheasants Partridges and other the King's Game and destroy them so found but in Case they have Free Warren or are Lords of the Mannour or are Freeholders of Forty Pounds per Annum or more of Estate of Inheritance or Eighty Pounds per Annum for Term of Life or be worth in Goods 400 l. they are exempted from this Seizure As to the Constables Office relating to Fishery he may by Warrant under the Hand and Seal of a Justice of Peace apprehend such as destroy the Spawn or Fry of Fish along the Sea-shore or in any Creek or Haven or within five Miles of the Mouth of either of them or such as fish with unlawful Nets to destroy the young Fry the Meshes of their Nets not being 3 Inches and a half between Knot and Knot for which Default they are to pay 10 Shillings to be levied by Distress and Sale of Goods the Overplus to be returned to the Owner if any remain 3 Jacobi 1. Chap. 12. Wingate's Abridg Title Fish Fishers Fishing And for the Encouragement of the English Fishery if any Herrings Ling Cod or Pilchards Fresh or Salt Dry or Bloated or any Eels or Congers or Salmon he â—â—ought in and uttered to Sale by Foreigners it may be lawful for the Constable Headborough c. or any other Person to seize them the one half to the poor of the Parish and the other half to the use of him that seizes and if any one shall refuse to assist a Constable or other Officer hereto impowered on this occasion being commanded so to assist him in the King's Name he upon complaint and Proof of such contempt lies liable to be prisoned and fined at the Discretion of the Justice before whom he shall be convicted 18 Caroli 2. Chap. 2. As to the Duty of a Constable relating to the Excise note that he is to be aiding and assisting when required to the Gaugers and Under-Officers employed therein and to go with them in the Night time to such Houses where any Liquors are to be gauged They are moreo-to levy Forfeitures where a Conviction is made before the Justices or Commissioners of any Concealment Fraud or the like thereupon by Warrant for that purpose directed to make Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and to render the Overplus if any be to the Owner and for want of such Distress to carry the Party so offending upon commitment to Goal there to remain till there be Satisfaction made and upon Warrant directed to a Constable from the Commissioners he is to summon all Alehouse-keepers within his Division at such Days and Places as shall be appointed in the said Warrant from time to time c. As to what concerns the Constables Office relating to Customs