CON 



CON 



which, tor the conservation of peace and 

 view of armour, appointed that two con- 

 stables should be chosen in every hun- 

 dred. These are what we now call high 

 constables, on account that the increase 

 of people and offences has nude it ne- 

 cessary to appoint others under these, 

 in every town, called petty constables, 

 who are of the like nature, though of in- 

 ferior authority to the other. The high 

 constable over the whole hundred is usu- 

 sually chosen and sworn into his office by 

 the justices of the peace in their sessions: 

 and as to petty constables in towns, vil- 

 lages, &c. the right of choosing them be- 

 longs to the courtleet, though they may be 

 elected by the parishioners. They are 

 appointed yearly, and ought to be men of 

 honesty, knowledge, and ability ; and if 

 they refuse to serve, or do not perform 

 their duty, they may be bound over to 

 the sessions and there indicted and fined. 

 Any constable, without a warrant from a 

 justice, may take into his custody any 

 persons that he sees committing felony, 

 or breaking the peace ; but if it be out of 

 his sight, as where a person is seized by 

 another, he cannot do it without a warrant. 



There are many persons exempted by 

 law from serving the office of constable : 

 these are, the ancient officers of any of 

 the colleges in the two universities, 

 counsellors, attornies and all other offi- 

 cers, whose attendance is required in the 

 courts of Westminster-hall, aldermen of 

 London, the president and fellows of the 

 fellowship of physic in London, surgeons 

 and apothecaries in London, and within 

 seven miles thereof, being free of the 

 company of apothecaries, and licensed 

 teachers or preachers in holy orders, in 

 a congregation legally tolerated, shall be 

 exempted from the office of a constable. 

 The prosecutor of a felon to conviction, 

 or the person to whom he shall assign the 

 certificate thereof, shall be discharged 

 from the office of constable. 



But generally speaking, every house- 

 keeper, inhabitant of the parish, and of 

 full age, is liable to fill the office of con- 

 stable : he ought, however, to be of the 

 abler sort of parishioners, as being more 

 likely to perform his duty with probity 

 and discretion. 



CONSTELLATION, in astronomy, a 

 system of several stars that are seen in 

 the heavens near to one another. Astro- 

 nomers not only mark out the stars, but 

 that they may better bring them into or- 

 der, they distinguish them by their situ- 

 ation and position in respect to each 

 other ; and therefore they distribute 



them into asterisms, or constellations, ai 

 lowing several stars to make up one con- 

 stellation: and for the better distinguish- 

 ing and observing them, they reduce the 

 constellations to the forms of animals, as 

 men, bulls, bears, &c. or to the images 

 of some things known, as of a crown, a 

 harp, a balance, &c. or give them the 

 names of those, whose memories, in con- 

 sideration of some notable exploit, they 

 had a mind to transmit to future ages. 

 See ASTRONOMT. 



CONSTITUTION, in matters of policy, 

 signifies the form of government esta- 

 blished in any country or kingdom. 



The constitution and government of a 

 country frequently dift'er, though the 

 latter should be founded on the former 

 in every particular. The two terms are 

 considered by some persons as synony- 

 mous, but accurate writers have ever 

 made the necessary distinction between 

 them. Lord Bolingbroke defines a con- 

 stitution to be a general system of laws, 

 institutions, and customs derived from the 

 immutable principles of reason, and ac- 

 cepted by the people ; and government, 

 the particular tenor of conduct pursued 

 by a chief and subordinate magistrate ; he 

 also asserts that the constitution of Great 

 Britain may remain fixed for ever, that 

 it is the basis on which her princes 

 ought to act, and a true criterion by 

 which their government must be appre- 

 ciated; hence, according to the princi- 

 ples of the revolution, and the present 

 settlement, the degree of submission 

 may be regulated, particularly as the 

 claim of descent is remote, and the choice 

 of the community was purposely direct- 

 ed to preserve the constitution. 



Men in the primitive ages might live 

 voluntarily under or be compelled by con- 

 quest to bear a government without a 

 constitution, but they soon (as Hooker 

 remarks) rejected the yoke, or made it 

 sit easy on their necks. Archdeacon 

 Paley says, a constitution is so much of 

 the laws of a country as marks the desig- 

 nation and form of its legislature, the 

 rights and functions of the legislative 

 body, and the nature and jurisdiction of 

 the courts of justice ; the constitution 

 therefore is the principal section or title 

 of the code of public laws, and the terms 

 constitutional, and unconstitutional, sig- 

 nify in this case legal and illegal. The 

 jurisprudence of England is composed of 

 ancient usages, acts of parliament, and 

 the decisions of the courts of law ; those 

 then are the sources whence the nature 

 and limits of her constitution are to be 



