design to kill: but it amounts to so much, because it would be of most pernicious consequence, if, under pretence of suspecting felony, any private person might break open a house, or kill another; and also because such arrest upon suspicion is barely permitted by the law, and not enjoined, as in the case of those who are present when a felony is committed. 4. There is yet another species of arrest wherein both officers and private men are concerned, and that is upon an hue and cry raised upon a felony committed. An hue (from huer, to shout and cry), hutesium, et clamor, is the old common law process of pursuing, with horn and with voice, all felons, and such as have dangerously wounded another.t It is also mentioned by statute Westm. 1. 3 Edw. 1. c. 9. and 4 Edw. I. de officio coronatoris. But the principal statute, relative to this matter, is that of Winchester, 13 Edw. I. c. 1 and 4. which directs, that from thenceforth every country shall be so well kept, that immediately upon robberies and felonies committed, fresh suit shall be made from town to town, and from county to county; and that hue and cry shall be raised upon the felons, and that they that keep the town shall follow with hue and cry with all the town and the towns near; and so hue and cry shall be made from town to town, until they be taken and delivered to the sheriff. And that such hue and cry may more effectually be made, the hundred is bound by the same statute, cap. 3. to answer for all robberies therein committed, unless they take the felon; which is the foundation of an action against the hundred," in case of any loss by robbery. By statute 27 Eliz. c. 13. no hue and cry is sufficient, unless made with both horsemen and footmen. And by statute 8 Geo. II. c. 16. the constable or like officer, refusing or neglecting to make hue and cry, forfeits 51.: and the whole vill or district is still in strictness liable to be amerced, according to the law of Alfred, if any felony be committed therein and the felon escapes. An institution, which hath long prevailed in many of the eastern countries, and hath in part been introduced even into the Mogul empire, about the beginning of the last century; which is said to have t Bracton. l. 3. tr. 2. c. 1. u See Vol. III. pag. 149. §1. Mirr. c. 2. § 6. effectually delivered that vast territory from the plague of robbers, by making in some places the villages, in others the officer of justice, responsible for all the robberies committed within their respective districts." Hue and cry* may be raised either by precept of a justice of the peace, or by a peace officer, or by any private man that knows of a felony. The party raising it must acquaint the constable of the vill with all the circumstances which he knows of the felony, and the person of the felon; and thereupon the constable is to search his own town, and raise all the neighbouring vills, and make pursuit with horse and foot; and in the prosecution of such hue and cry the constable and his attendants have the same powers, protections, and indemnification, as if acting under the warrant of a justice of the peace. But if a man wantonly or maliciously raises an hue and cry, without cause, he shall be severely punished as a disturber of the public peace.y In order to encourage farther the apprehending of certain felons, rewards and immunities are bestowed on such as bring them to justice, by divers acts of parliament. The statute 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 8. enacts, that such as apprehend a highwayman, and prosecute him to conviction, shall receive a reward of 401. from the public; to be paid to them (or, if killed in the endeavour to take him, their executors) by the sheriff of the county; besides the horse, furniture, arms, money, and other goods taken upon the person of such robber; with a reservation of the right of any person from whom the same may have been stolen : to which the statute 8 Geo. II. c. 16. superadds 10l. to be paid by the hundred indemnified by such taking. By statutes 6 & 7 W. III. c. 17. and 15 Geo. II. c. 28. persons apprehending and convicting any offender against those statutes, respecting the coinage, shall, in case the offence be treason or felony, receive a reward of forty pounds; or ten pounds, if it only amount to counterfeiting the copper coin. By statute 10 & 11 W. III. c. 23. any person apprehending and prosecuting to conviction a felon guilty of burglary, housebreaking, horsestealing, or private larciny to the value of 5s. from any shop, warehouse, coach-house, or stable, shall be excused from all parish offices. And by w Mod. Un. Hist. vi. 383. vii. 156. x 2 Hal. P. C. 100-104. statute 5 Ann. c. 31. any person so apprehending and prosecuting a burglar, or felonious housebreaker (or, if killed in the attempt, his executors) shall be entitled to a reward of 401. By statute 6 Geo. I. c. 23. persons discovering, apprehending, and prosecuting to conviction, any person taking reward for helping others to their stolen goods, shall be entitled to forty pounds. By statute 14 Geo. II. c. 6. explained by 15 Geo. II. c. 34. any person apprehending and prosecuting to conviction such as steal, or kill with an intent to steal, any sheep or other cattle specified in the latter of the said acts, shall for every such conviction receive a reward of ten pounds. Lastly, by statute 16 Geo. II. c. 15. and 8 Geo. III. c. 15. persons discovering, apprehending, and convicting felons and others being found at large during the term for which they are ordered to be transported, shall receive a reward of twenty Founds. CHAP. XXII. OF COMMITMENT AND BAIL. WHEN a delinquent is arrested by any of the means mentioned in the preceding chapter, he ought regularly to be carried before a justice of the peace: and how he is there to be treated, I shall next shew, under the second head, of commitment and bail. The justice before whom such prisoner is brought, is bound immediately to examine the circumstances of the crime alleged and to this end by statute 2 & 3 Ph. & M. c. 10. he is to take in writing the examination of such prisoner, and the information of those who bring him which, Mr. Lambard observes, was the first warrant given for the examination of a felon in the English law. For, at the com 2 The satutes 4 & 5 W. & M. c. 8. 6 & 7 W. III. c. 17. and 5 Ann. c. 31. (together with 3 Geo. I. c. 15. § 4. which directs the method of re-imbursing the sheriffs) are extended to the county palatine of Durham, by stat. 14 Geo. III. c. 46. a Eirenarch. b. 2. c. 7. mon law, nemo tenebatur prodere seipsum: and his fault was not to be wrung out of himself, but rather to be discovered by other means, and other men. If upon this inquiry it manifestly appears, that either no such crime was committed, or that the suspicion entertained of the prisoner was wholly groundless, in such cases only it is lawful totally to discharge him. Otherwise he must either be committed to prison, or give bail; that is, put in securities for his appearance, to answer the charges against him. This commitment therefore being only for safe custody, wherever bail will answer the same intention, it ought to be taken; as in most of the inferior crimes: but in felonies, and other offences of a capital nature, no bail can be a security equivalent to the actual custody of the person. For what is there that a man may not be induced to forfeit, to save his own life; and what satisfaction or indemnity is it to the public, to seize the effects of them who have bailed a murderer, if the murderer himself be suffered to escape with impunity? Upon a principle similar to which, the Athenian magistrates, when they took a solemn oath, never to keep a citizen in bonds that could give three sureties of the same quality with himself, did it with an exception to such as had embezzled the public money or been guilty of treasonable practices. What the nature of bail is, hath been shewn in the preceding book, viz. a delivery of bailment, of a person to his sureties, upon their giving (together with himself) sufficient security for his appearance: he being supposed to continue in their friendly custody, instead of going to gaol. In civil cases we have seen that every defendant is bailable; but in criminal matters it is otherwise. Let us therefore inquire in what cases the party accused ought, or ought not, to be admitted to bail. And, first, to refuse or delay to bail any person bailable, is an offence against the liberty of the subject, in any magistrate by the common law, as well as by the statute Westm. 1. 3 Edw. I. c. 15. and the habeas corpus act, 31 Car. II. c. 2. And, lest the intention of the law should be frustrated by the justices requiring bail to a greater amount than the nature of the case demands, it b Pott. Antiq. b. 1. c. 18. c See Vol. III. pag. 266. d 2 Hawk. P. C. 90. 4 e is expressly declared by statute 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 1. that excessive bail ought not to be required; though what bail should be called excessive, must be left to the courts, on considering the circumstances of the case, to determine. And, on the other hand, if the magistrate takes insufficient bail, he is liable to be fined, if the criminal doth not appear. Bail may be taken either in court, or in some particular cases by the sheriff, coroner, or other magistrate: but most usually by the justices of the peace. Regularly, in all offences either against the common law or act of parliament, that are below felony, the offender ought to be admitted to bail, unless it be prohibited by some special act of parliament. In order therefore more precisely to ascertain what offences are bailable, : Let us next see, who may not be admitted to bail, or, what offences are not bailable. And here I shall not consider any one of those cases in which bail is ousted by statute, from prisoners convicted of particular offences; for then such imprisonment without bail is part of their sentence and punishment. But where the imprisonment is only for safe custody before the conviction, and not for punishment afterwards, in such cases bail is ousted or taken away, wherever the offence is of a very enormous nature for then the public is entitled to demand nothing less than the highest security that can be given, viz. the body of the accused; in order to ensure that justice shall be done upon him, if guilty. Such persons therefore, as the author of the mirror observes, have no other sureties but the four walls of a prison. By the ancient common law, before and since the conquest, all felonies were bailable, till murder was excepted by statute: so that persons might be admitted to bail before conviction almost in every case. But the statute Westm. 1. 3 Edw. I. c. 15. takes away the power of bailing in treason, and in divers instances of felony. The statutes 23 Hen. VI. c. 9. and 1 & 2 Ph. & Mar, c. 13. give farther regulations in this lonia solet accusatus per plegios dimitti, præterquam in placito de homicidio, ubi ad terrorem aliter statutum est. Glanv. . 14. In omnibus placitis de fe- c. 1. |