Sec. 43. Duties of the nightwatch. "Dogb. If you meet a thief, you may suspect him, by virtue of your office, to be no true man; and, for such kind of men, the less you meddle or make with them, why, the more is for your honesty. 2 Watch. If we know him to be a thief, shall we not lay hands on him? Dogb. Truly, by your office, you may; but I think, they that touch pitch will be defiled: the most peaceable way for you, if you do take a thief, is, to let him show himself what he is, and steal out of your company. . Verg. If you hear a child cry in the night, you must call to the nurse and bid her still it. 2 Watch. How if the nurse be asleep, and will not hear us? Dogb. Why, then, depart in peace, and let the child wake her with crying; for the ewe that will not hear her lamb, when it baes, will never answer a calf, when he bleats." The same satire, which characterizes the Poet's feeling toward constables, justices and such like petty officers, manifests itself in this colloquy. That the thief should be let go, and even the crying child abandoned, if the premises of Sir Thos. Lucy and next morning was arraigned before Sir Thomas, who was a justice of the peace, of Charlecote, the bitter satire and ridicule which the Poet always heaps upon constables and justices, when they are introduced into his plays, would seem to furnish additional evidence of the truth of this report. In Love's Labour's Lost, the Constable is named "Dull" and he is made to say: "Dull. I'll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play on the tabor to the worthies, and let them dance the hay." And to this the schoolmaster replies: "Hol. Most dull, honest Dull, to our sport away." (Act V, Scene I.) In All's Well That Ends Well (Act II, Scene II) the constable is presented as about the lowest of officials, in the following verse: "Clo. From below your duke, to beneath your con stable, it will fit any question." 1 Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene III. nurse could not be found, is, indeed, an extreme criticism of such officers' duties, and the ignorance of such officer is presented by the fact that it was not known that a lamb bleats, while a calf baes. Back of this humor, however, is the legal proposition, embodied by the question of the Watch, as to his right to arrest without a warrant and the reply, that by virtue of his office, he had such right. This is strictly according to law, for any peace officer, such as a constable or watchman, may arrest without a warrant, when a crime is committed in his presènce, or when he has reasonable grounds to believe a felony has been committed and that the party arrested is the felon.1 Sec. 44. False imprisonment. "Dogb. This is the end of the charge. You, constable, are to present the prince's own person; if you meet the prince in the night, you may stay him. Verg. Nay, by'r lady, that I think, he cannot. Dogb. Five shillings to one on't, with any man that knows the statutes, he may stay him; marry, not without the prince be willing: for, indeed, the watch ought to offend no man; and it is an offense to stay a man against his will."2 This graceful backing down from a wrong position on the law, as such petty officers are accustomed to do, by drawing a nice distinction, such as is done in this case, is well presented here. The The charge that the constable represents the prince's own person, means as a conservator of the peace. charge that he possesses the authority to detain the prince himself, when questioned, leads to the adroit retraction, by the use of the distinction that he may be restrained, if he so desires. Then following this qualification of the former position, is the proper legal idea of a false im 13 Taunt. 14; 3 Campb. 420; 4 Bl. Comm. 292; 1 Saund. 77. 2 Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene III. prisonment or arrest, arising from a wrongful detention of any man, against his will. At common law, any unlawful restraint of a man's liberty, whether in a place used for imprisonment generally, or in a place so used on the particular occasion, with or without bolts and bars, constituted a false imprisonment. Of course the arrest of a criminal or one believed to have committed a known offense, was not within this rule, for, in such case the detention was not held to be wrongful. But that the elements of a false arrest were duly understood by the Poet, is evidenced by the last line of this verse. Sec. 45. Preliminary hearing.— "Dogb. Go, good partner, go; get you to Francis Seacoal; bid him bring his pen and inkhorn to the goal; we are now to examination these men. V'erg. And we must do it wisely. Dogb. We will spare for no wit, I warrant you; here's that (touching his forehead) shall drive some of them to a non-com: only get the learned writer to set down our excommunication, and meet me at the goal.3 As the evidence of the witnesses was all written down at the preliminary hearings, before magistrates, when one was charged with an offense, to preserve the evidence for the benefit of the court and jury, which would try the accused for the offense, this is the proceeding here referred to, in requesting the "pen and inkhorn," as a preliminary to the examination. The expression that some of the offenders shall be driven, by the play of his wit, "to a non-com," evidently means that he will push them to the extreme of madness. In legal parlance, a non-compos mentis is one not of sound 12 Bishop, Cr. Law, 669; 4 Bl. Comm. 218. mind or memory and the terms signify all species of madness, whether arising from idiocy, sickness, or otherwise.1 The abbreviation of these legal terms, by the constable, is no doubt used, to show his extreme ignorance and arrogance, like the suffix to the word "examine," in the third line; the egotistical assurance of the constable, and the use of the prefix and wrong use of the word in the last line of the verse quoted. Sec. 46. Examination before magistrate. "Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared? Verg. O, a stool and a cushion, for the sexton. Sexton. Which be the malefactors? Dogb. Marry, that am I and my partner. Verg. Nay, that's certain; we have the exhibition to examine. Sexton. But which are the offenders that are to be examined? Let them come before master constable."2 The ignorance of the constable is again portrayed, with seeming pleasure by the Poet, in this presentation of an examination before the magistrate. Such examinations were usually accomplished by bringing the witnesses and the accused before a justice of the peace or peace officer, and writing down the evidence of the witnesses. If no cause for his detention should be shown, the prisoner was discharged, but if a crime was uncovered, or sufficient suspicion attached to the charge, to warrant putting him upon his trial, the evidence of the witnesses was certified by the magistrate to the court where he was to be tried, with the recognizance of the witnesses and the prisoner was committed to jail or placed under bond to answer to the charges filed against him.3 The word malefactor. meaning a wrongdoer, is one who has committed some 1 Coke, Litt. 247; 4 Coke, 124; Shelford, Lun. 1. 'Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, Scene II. 2 Carr & K. 223; 4 Bl. Comm. 296; 2 Leach, Cr. Cas. 552. crime,' but as the term is usually only applied to a person, after conviction for some offense, it is irregular to so term one who is merely accused; but as it seemed a part of the Poet's plan to show how soon the conviction or holding of the accused would follow, in such a court, after the filing of the charge, the term is perhaps used with this intent, in this instance. Sec. 47. Householder. "Dogb. Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years?-O that he were here to write me down-an ass:-but, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass:-No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a householder: and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina; and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow, enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him:-Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down,-an ass."2 This portrayal of the ignorance of the constable, is another evidence of the Poet's dislike for this class of officers. The misnomer that the prisoner was full of "piety” instead of guilt, and that they did not "suspect' his place or years, as well as the bragging and egotistical bearing of the speaker, show the ignorant bravado that too often characterizes such petty officers. The claim to being a "householder," illustrates the basis of certain rights of citizenship which attach to a "householder," or one who has and provides for a household, as distinguished from one who is not so possessed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking of magistrates, in Henry V, said: "Cant. some, like magistrates, correct at home." (Act I, Scene II.) 1 Bouvier, Law Dict. . 2 Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, Scene II. |