The office and power of the coro

ner.

Judicial.

[*349 ]

inconvenient part of it (r). And by the statute 25 Geo. II. c. 29, extortion, neglect, or misbehaviour, are also made causes of removal.

The office and power of a coroner are also, like those of the sheriff, either judicial or ministerial; but principally judicial. This is in great measure ascertained by statute 4 Edw. I. de officio coronatoris; and consists, first, in inquiring, when any person is slain, or dies suddenly, or in prison, concerning the manner of his death. And this must be " super visum corporis" (s); for, if the body be not found, the coroner cannot sit (t). He must also sit at the very place where the death happened; and his inquiry is made by a jury from four, five, or six of the neighbouring towns, over whom he is to preside. If any be found guilty by this inquest of murder or other homicide, he is to commit them to prison for farther trial, and is also to inquire concerning their lands, goods, and chattels, which are forfeited thereby: but, whether it be homicide or not, he must inquire whether any deodand (24) has accrued to the king, or the lord of the franchise, by this death: and must certify the whole of this inquisition, (under his own seal and the seals of the jurors) (u), together with the evidence thereon, to the court of King's Bench, or the next assizes. Another branch of his office is to inquire concerning shipwrecks (25); and certify whether wreck or not, and who is in possession of the goods. Concerning treasure-trove (26), he is also to inquire who were the finders, and where it is, and whether any one be suspected of having found and concealed a treasure; "and that may be well perceived (saith the old statute of Edw. I.) where one liveth riotously, haunting taverns, and hath done so of long time:" whereupon he might be attached, and held to bail, upon this suspicion only.

The ministerial office of the coroner is only as the sheriff's Ministerial. substitute. For when just exception can be taken to the sheriff, for suspicion of partiality, (as that he is interested in the suit, or of kindred to either plaintiff or defendant), the process must then be awarded to the coroner, instead of the sheriff, for execution of the king's writs (v).

the peace.

III. The next species of subordinate magistrates, whom I III. Justices of am to consider, are justices of the peace; the principal of whom is the custos rotulorum, or keeper of the records of the county. The common law hath ever had a special care and regard for the conservation of the peace; for peace is the very end and foundation of civil society. And therefore, before the present constitution of justices was invented, there were peculiar officers appointed by the common law for the maintenance of the public peace. Of these some had, and still bave, this power annexed to other offices which they hold; others had it merely by itself, and were thence named custodes, or conservatores pacis. Those that were so, virtute officii, still continue: but the latter sort are superseded by the modern justices.

peace

The king's majesty (w) is, by his office and dignity royal, the principal conservator of the peace within all his dominions; and may give authority to any other to see the kept, and to punish such as break it: hence it is usually called the king's peace (27). The lord chancellor, or keeper, the lord treasurer, the lord high steward of England, the lord mareschal, the lord high constable of England, (when any such officers are in being), and all the justices of the court of king's bench, (by virtue of their offices), and the master of the rolls, (by prescription), are general conservators of the peace throughout the whole kingdom, and may commit all breakers of it, or bind them in recognizances to keep it (x): the other judges are only so in their own courts. The coroner is also a conservator of the peace within his own county (y); as is also the sheriff (z); and both of them may take a recogni

(27) Sec ante, pp. 116, 268; Vol. 4, pp. 2, 142.

zance or security for the peace. Constables, tything-men, and the like, are also conservators of the peace within their own jurisdictions; and may apprehend all breakers of the peace and commit them, till they find sureties for their keeping it (a).

Those that were, without any office, simply and merely conservators of the peace, either claimed that power by prescription (b); or were bound to exercise it by the tenure of their lands (c); or, lastly, were chosen by the freeholders in full county court before the sheriff; the writ for their election directing them to be chosen "de probioribus et potentioribus comitatus sui in custodes pacis" (d). But when Queen Isabel, the wife of Edward II., had contrived to depose her husband by a forced resignation of the crown, and had set up his son Edward III. in his place; this, being a thing then without example in England, it was feared would much alarm the people: especially as the old king was living, though hurried about from castle to castle, till at last he met with an untimely death. To prevent therefore any risings, or other disturbance of the peace, the new king sent writs to all the sheriffs in [ *351] England, the form of which is preserved by *Thomas Wal

singham (e), giving a plausible account of the manner of his
obtaining the crown; to wit, that it was done ipsius patris
beneplacito: and withal commanding each sheriff that the
peace be kept throughout his bailiwick, on pain and peril of
disinheritance, and loss of life and limb. And in a few weeks
after the date of these writs, it was ordained in parliament (ƒ),
that, for the better maintaining and keeping of the peace
every county, good men and lawful, which were no maintainers
of evil, or barretors in the country, should be assigned to keep
the peace.
peace. And in this
And in this manner, and upon this occasion, was
the election of the conservators of the peace taken from the
people (28), and given to the king (g); this assignment being
construed to be by the king's commission (h). But still they

(a) Lamb. 14.
(b) Ibid. 15.

(c) Ibid. 17.

(d) Ibid. 16.

(f) Stat. 1 Edw. III. c. 16.

(g) Lamb. 20.

in

(h) Stat. 4 Edw. III. c. 2; 18 Edw. III. st. 2, c. 2.

(e) Hist. A. D. 1327.

(28) See ante, p. 340, n. 4.

were only called conservators, wardens, or keepers of the peace, till the statute 34 Edw. III. c. 1, gave them the power of trying felonies; and then they acquired the more honourable appellation of justices (i).

peace, how ap

These justices are appointed by the king's special commis- Justices of the sion under the great seal, the form of which was settled by all pointed, the judges, A. D. 1590 (j). This appoints them all (k), jointly and severally, to keep the peace, and any two or more of them to inquire of and determine felonies and other misdemesnors: in which number some particular justices, or one of them, are directed to be always included, and no business to be done without their presence; the words of the commission running thus, "quorum aliquem vestrum, A. B., C. D., &c. unum esse volumus;" whence the persons so named are usually called justices of the quorum. And formerly it was customary to appoint only a select number of justices, eminent for their skill and discretion, to be of the quorum; but now the practice is to advance almost all of them to that dignity, naming them all over again in the quorum clause, except perhaps only some one inconsiderable person for the sake of propriety; and no exception is now allowable *for not expressing in the form of [*352 ] warrants, &c. that the justice who issued them is of the quorum (1). When any justice intends to act under this commission, he sues out a writ of dedimus potestatem, from the clerk of the crown in chancery, empowering certain persons therein named to administer the usual oaths to him; which done, he is at liberty to act.

Touching the number and qualifications of these justices, it was ordained by statute 18 Edw. III. c. 2, that two or three, of the best reputation in each county, shall be assigned to be keepers of the peace. But these being found rather too few for that purpose, it was provided by statute 34 Edw. III. c. 1, that one lord, and three or four of the most worthy men in the county, with some learned in the law, shall be made justices. in every county. But afterwards the number of justices, through the ambition of private persons, became so large, that it was thought necessary, by statute 12 Ric. II. c. 10,

(i) Lamb. 23.

(j) Ibid. 43.

(k) See the form itself, Lamb. 35;

Burn, tit. "Justices," s. 1.

(7) Stat. 26 Geo. II. c. 27. (See also stat. 7 Geo. III. c. 21).

and 14 Ric. II. c. 11, to restrain them at first to six, and afterwards to eight only. But this rule is now disregarded, and the cause seems to be, (as Lambard observed long ago) (m), that the growing number of statute laws, committed from time to time to the charge of justices of the peace, have occasioned also (and very reasonably) their increase to a larger number. And, as to their qualifications, the statutes just cited direct them to be of the best reputation, and most worthy men in the county; and the statute 13 Ric. II. c. 7, orders them to be of the most sufficient knights, esquires, and gentlemen of the law. Also by statute 2 Hen. V. st. 1, c. 4, and st. 2, c. 1, they must be resident in their several counties. And because, contrary to these statutes, men of small substance had crept into the commission, whose poverty made them both covetous and contemptible, it was enacted by statute 18 Hen. VI. c. 11, that no justice should be put in commission if he had not lands to the value of 201. per annum. And the rate of money being greatly altered since that time, it is now enacted by statute 5 Geo. II. c. 18, that every jus[ *353] tice, except as is therein excepted, shall have 100l. per annum clear of all deductions (29); and, if he acts without such qualification, he shall forfeit 1007. This qualification (n) is almost an equivalent to the 201. per annum required in Henry the Sixth's time; and of this (0) the justice must now make oath. Also it is provided by the act 5 Geo. II. that no practising attorney, solicitor, or proctor, shall be capable of acting as a justice of the peace (30).

Office determinable

As the office of these justices is conferred by the king, so (m) Lamb. 34.

(n) See Bishop Fleetwood's calcula

(29) The 18 Geo. II. c. 20, is the last statute which prescribes the qualifications of justices of the peace. This clear estate of 1001. per annum may consist of either freehold or copyhold, an estate of inheritance or for life, or even in a term for twenty-one years. A reversion or remainder after one or more lives of the value of 3001. per annum is also a qualification. But this does not extend to corporation justices,

tions in his Chronicon Pretiosum.
(0) Stat. 18 Geo. II. c. 20.

or to the eldest sons of peers, and of gentlemen qualified to be knights of shires, the officers of the board of green cloth, principal officers of the navy, under secretaries of state, heads of colleges, or to the mayors of Cambridge and Oxford, all of whom may act without any qualification by estate. -CH.

(30) For any county.-CH.