sheriff. And, that such hue and cry may more effectually be made, the hundred is bound by the same statute, to answer for all robberies therein committed, unless they take the felon. 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, protection, and indemnification, as if acting under the warrant of a justice of the peace. But if a man wantonly or maliciously raises a hue and cry, without cause, he shall be severely punished as a disturber of the public peace.

In order to encourage further 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 L. 40. from the public; to be paid to them (or, if killed in the endeavour to take him, to 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 sta

tute 8 Geo. II. c. 16. superadds L. 10. to be paid by the hundred indemnified by such taking. 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. Any person apprehending and prosecuting to conviction a felon guilty of burglary or private larceny to the value of 5s. from any shop, warehouse, coachhouse, or stable, shall be excused from all parish offices. And by 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 L. 40. 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 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 pounds.

CHAPTER XXII.

OF COMMITMENT AND BAIL.

WHEN a delinquent is arrested, he ought regularly to be carried before a justice of the peace. 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, he is to take in writing the examination of such prisoner, and the information of those who bring him. If upon this inquiry it manifestly appears, either that 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 charge 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? In civil cases we have seen that every defendant is bailable, but in criminal matters it is otherwise. Let us there

fore 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. And, it is expressly declared by statute 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 1. that excessive bail ought not to be required: though what bail shall 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 take insufficient bail, he is liable to be fined, if the criminal doth not appear. 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.

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 the 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 statute 1 & 2 Ph. &. M. c. 13. gives further regulations in this matter and upon the whole we may collect, that no justices of the peace can bail, 1. Upon an accusation of treason: nor, 2. Of murder: nor, 3. In case of manslaughter, if the prisoner be clearly the slayer, and not barely suspected to be so; or if any indictment be found against him: nor, 4. Such as, being committed for felony, have broken prison; because it not only carries a presumption of guilt, but is also superadding one felony to another: 5. Persons outlawed: 6. Such as have abjured the realm: 7. Approvers, of whom we shall speak in a subsequent chapter, and persons by them accused: 8. Persons taken with the mainour, or in the fact of felony : 9. Persons charged with arson 10. Excommunicated persons, taken by writ de excommunicato capiendo: all which are clearly not admissible to bail by the justices. Others are of a dubious nature; as, 11. Thieves openly defamed and known: 12. Persons charged with other felonies, or manifest and enormous offences, not being of good fame: and, 13. Accessories to felony, that labour under the same want of reputation. These seem to be in the discretion of the justices, whether bailable or not. The latter class are such as must be bailed upon offering sufficient surety; as, 14. Persons of good fame, charged with