THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE AND PARISH OFFICER. East Endia Company. [1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 61.] THE 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 61, s. 6, enacts, "That if any person shall be convicted of making a false oath, touching any of the matters directed or required by that act, (an act to regulate the appropriation of unclaimed shares of prize money, belonging to soldiers or seamen in the service of the East India Company) to be testified on oath, such person so convicted shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and liable to be punished as persons guilty of perjury in England. Any person making a false certain East India prize money, to be deemed guilty of perjury." oath relative to "And if any person shall corruptly procure or suborn any other person Persons suborning. to swear falsely in any such oath, such person being duly convicted of such procuring and suborning shall suffer such pains, &c. as persons con victed of perjury are liable to." See further as to perjury in general, post, Perjury, Vol. V. As to forgery on, see Forgery, Vol. III. Ecclesiastics and Ecclesiastical Courts. See Clergy, Church, Egyptians. [22 H. VIII. c. 10; 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 4; 5 El. c. 20; 1 Geo. IV. c. 116.] THESE are a strange kind of commonwealth among themselves, of wan- Gypsies. dering impostors and jugglers, who made their first appearance in Germany about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and have since spread themselves all over Europe and Asia. They were originally called Zinganees by the Turks, from their captain, Zinganeus; who, when Sultan Selim conquered Egypt, about the year 1517, refused to submit to the Turkish yoke, and retired into the deserts, where they lived by rapine and plunder, and frequently came down into the plains of Egypt, committing VOL. II. B GYPSIES. Description of, by 22 H. 8. c. 10. great outrages in the towns upon the Nile, under the dominion of the Turks. But being at length subdued and banished from Egypt, they dispersed themselves in small parties into every country in the known world; and, as they were natives of Egypt, a country where the occult sciences, or black art, as it was called, was supposed to have arrived to great perfection, and which, in that credulous age, was in great vogue with persons of all religions and persuasions, they found the people, wherever they came, very easily imposed on. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xliii. p. 271. In the compass of a very few years, they gained such a number of idle proselytes, who imitated their language and complexion, and betook themselves to the same arts of chiromancy, begging, and pilfering, that they became troublesome, and even formidable, to most of the states of Europe. Hence they were expelled from France in the year 1560, and from Spain in 1591. And the government in England took the alarm much earlier ; for, in 1530, they are described by the statute of the 22 H. VIII. c. 10, as "outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandize, who have come into this realin, and gone from shire to shire, and place to place, in great company, and used great, subtil, and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in hand, that they by palmestry could tell men's and women's fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and subtilty have deceived the people of their money, and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies." Wherefore they are directed to avoid the realm, and not to return, under pain of imprisonment, and forfeiture of their goods and chattels: and, upon their trials for any felony which they may have committed, they shall not be entitled to a jury 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 4. de medietate linguæ. And afterwards it was enacted by stat. 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 4, and 5 El. c. 20, that if any such persons shall be imported into this kingdom, the importer shall forfeit 407. And if the Egyptians themselves remain one month in this kingdom, or if any person being fourteen years old, whether a natural born subject or stranger, which hath been seen or found in the fellowship of such Egyptians, or which hath disguised him or herself like them, shall remain in the same one month at one or several times, it is felony without benefit of clergy. And Sir Matthew Hale informs us, that at one Suffolk assizes no less than thirteen gypsies were executed upon these statutes, a few years before the Restoration. But, to the honour of our national humanity, there are no instances more modern than this, of carrying these laws into execution. 4 Black. Com. 166. And by stat. 23 G. III. c. 51, the said stat. 5 El. c. 20. is repealed. 5 Eliz. C. 20. 5 Eliz. c. 20, repealed by 22 Geo. 3. c. 51. 1 Geo. 4. c. 116. And now, by stat. 1 G. IV. c. 116, after reciting that, "by the stat. 1 & 2 P. & M. c. 4, it is enacted, that if any of the persons called Egyptians which shall be transported and conveyed into this realm of England or Wales do continue and remain within the same by the space of one month, that then he or they so offending shall, by virtue of this act, be deemed and judged a felon or felons, and shall therefore suffer pains of death, loss of lands and goods, as in cases of felony, by the order of the common law of this realm, and shall, upon the trial of them or any of them therein, so tried in the county, and by the inhabitants of the county or place where they or he shall be apprehended or taken, and not per medietate linguæ, and shall lose the benefit and privilege of sanctuary and clergy," it is enacted "that so much of the said act as is herein-before recited shall be, and the same is hereby repealed." Election. See Bribery, Vol. I. Parliament, Vol. III. As Embezzlement. See Cheat, Vol. I. Larceny, Vol. III. Emigration. THE statute 4 Geo. IV. c. 84. regulates the number of passengers and the quantity of provisions, &c. to be taken out by ships carrying emigrants to any foreign place out of Europe not within the straits of Gibraltar. That act repeals stats. 43 G. III. c. 56; 53 G. III. c. 36; 56 G. III. c. 83, c. 114; and 57 Geo. III. c. 10. Engines, Destroying of. See Mines, Manufactures, Malicious Enjuries to Property, Vol. III. Spring Guns, Vol. V. Engrossing. See post, Forestalling, Vol. II. Entry, Forcible. See post, Forcible Entry, Vol. II. Escape. See also Rescue, Prison-Breaking, Vol. V. THIS is to be understood of escapes in criminal cases; and not in civil cases, as for debt, or the like. An escape is, where one that is arrested gaineth his liberty before he is Escape, what. delivered by the course of law. Terms de la Ley. Escapes are of three kinds. 1. By a person who hath the offender in Several kinds his custody; this is properly called an escape. 2. Caused by a stranger; thereof. this is commonly called a rescue. 3. By the party himself; either without force, which is simply an escape, or with force, which is prison-breaking. Rescue and Prison-breaking are treated of under their respective titles: and this title treats only of escapes properly so called. Concerning which we will treat in the following order: I. Escape by the Party himself, 4. [13 Geo. III. c. 31; 44 Geo. III. c. 92; 45 Geo. III. c. 92; 11. Escape suffered by a private Person, 4. III. Escape suffered by an Officer, 4. IV. What is a voluntary, and what a negligent, Escape, 5. V. Concerning the retaking of a Person escaped, 6. VI. Indictment for an Escape, 7. VII. Trial and Conviction for, 7. VIII. Punishment of, 8. [37 Geo. III. c. 140; 52 Geo. III. c. 156; 9 Geo. IV. c. 6.] IX. Aiding in attempting to escape, 10. [16 Geo. II. c. 31; 4 Geo. IV. c. 64.] X. Forms. Escape by party himself. Persons escaping from G. B. to Ireland, or from Ire apprehended and I. Escape by the Party himself. As all persons are bound to submit themselves to the judgment of the law, and to be ready to be justified by it, whoever in any case refuses to undergo that imprisonment which the law thinks fit to put upon him, and frees himself from it by any artifice before such time as he is delivered by due course of law, is guilty of a high contempt, punishable with fine and imprisonment. 2 Haw. c. 17, s. 5; 4 Black. Com. 129. But escape, committed by the party himself, belongs more properly to the title Prison-breaking, post, Vol. V. By stat. 44 Geo. III. c. 92, s. 3, offenders against whom any warrant shall be issued, escaping from Ireland into England, or Scotland, may be land to G. B., to be apprehended by an indorsed warrant, and conveyed to Ireland; and the fourth section of the act makes the same provision as to offenders escaping from England or Scotland into Ireland, being apprehended and conveyed back again to England or Scotland. brought back again. Escape by a private person. The apprehension of persons escaping from England into Scotland, and from Scotland into England, is provided for by stat. 13 Geo. III. c. 31. And as to admitting persons apprehended in England, Scotland, and Ireland, to bail, for bailable offences, see stat. 45 Geo. III. c. 92, and 54 Geo. III. c. 186; which latter stat. s. 2. enacts, that all warrants issued in England, Scotland, or Ireland, respectively, may and shall be indorsed and executed, and enforced and acted upon, in any part of the united kingdom, in like manner as is directed by stat. 13 Geo. III. c. 31, in relation to warrants issued or granted in England and Scotland respectively, as fully as if all the provisions of the said act were made part of this act, as to every part of the united kingdom, and as to all justices of the peace, sheriff's officers, constables, or other officer or officers of the peace in Ireland, as well as in England and Scotland respectively. See also post, Warrant, Vol. V. II. Escape suffered by a private Person. It seems to be a good general rule, that wherever any person hath another lawfully in his custody, whether upon an arrest made by himself or another, he is guilty of an escape, if he suffer him to go at large before he hath discharged himself of him, by delivering him over to some other who by law ought to have the custody of him. 2 Hawk. c. 20, s. 1. And the law is generally the same, in relation to escapes suffered by private persons, as by officers. Id. As to escapes procured by third persons, see post, Rescue, Vol. V. Escape by officer. III. Escape suffered by an Officer. Whenever an officer, having a party lawfully in his custody on a charge of felony, voluntarily permits him to escape, the officer is involved in the legal guilt of the crime charged on his prisoner, 2 Hawk. c. 19, s. 40. Where he negligently permits a prisoner to escape, he is guilty of a misdemeanor; and he is guilty in this degree if a prisoner in his charge commits suicide. Dalt. J. c. 159. It is laid down, that whoever, de facto, occupies the office of a gaoler, is liable to answer for a negligent escape, and that it is no way material whether his title to the office be legal or not. 2 Hawk. c. 19, s. 28. It appears to have been holden, that it is an escape in the constable to discharge a person committed to his custody by a watchman, as a loose and |