

>TABLE, LORD HIUH, OF SCoTI 



-TKI.LATIOy. 



IM 



they > IM brought Iwfure m^it^r*^*" The Muuici|>;i! ' 



nUin* a (imiUr but lam coiuprvhnuuvo provision, authorising 

 - am nonctable appointed under that Act, while uu duty, to apprehend 

 all i'tlle and <u*>rdriy pereuns within the borough whom he ahaU find 

 disturbing the public peace, or whom be shall have jiut cauee to lusptct 

 of intention to commit a felony." Boaide* theee pacific authorities, 

 however, which apply only to the metropolitan police district nn.l thu 

 boroughe affected by the Municipal Corporat.ona Act, there U no iluubt 

 that in general a cunctable, by virtue of his common-law autboritf, 

 may top any pereon carrying by night a bundle or good* under cir- 

 cumstance* of reasonable suspicion ; and if, upon examining him, his 

 suapicioOB are not removed, he may detain him in hia ouatody. A 

 constable has also a general authority to apprehend for offence* against 

 the Vagrant Act, 4 & 5 Oo. IV., c, 83, or against the larceny Act or 

 the llaliciou* Injuries Act, 7 ft 8 (Jo... IV., c. 2 and SO. 



4. In the execution of a warrant a constable acts no longer as a 

 ooneeivator of the peace, but aa a minUterial officer to the magistrate 

 who signs it He U the pn>|r ,.:t:eer to a justice of the peace, and is 

 bound by law to execute his warrants, and may be indicted for dis- 

 obeying them. It is his duty to execute the warrant of a magistrate 

 as aoon as it comes to his hands ; and where he arrests or distrains, or 

 does any other act within I . though it U not absolutely 

 necessary by law that he should show his warrant, he ought always to 

 give notice of it, and he will be wise to produce it in all cases where 

 it is demanded. If, however, he act out of his precinct, or be not 

 trworn and commonly known, he must show his warrant if demanded ; 

 but as the warrant constitutes his justification, he is not required to 

 part with it out of his possession. If the constable has a legal warrant 

 to arrest for felony, or even breach of the peace, he may break open 

 doors after having demanded admittance and given notice of liin 

 warrant ; and if, after such notice, he is resisted and killed, it will lie 

 murder If a warrant be directed to a constable by hia name of office 



. . he is autiiurititl by the 5 Oeo. IV., c. 18, to the tome extent as 

 when the warrant is addressed to him by his own personal name, to 

 execute it out of his own congtablewick, provided it be within the 

 jurisdiction of the magistrate who signs it ; but he is not bound to do 

 so, and may in all cases make his election whether he will go beyond 

 his own precincts or not. 



5. The law has made several provisions for the indemnity and pro- 

 tection of constables in the proper discharge of their duty. Thus by 

 the St.it. 7 Jac. I., c 5, if an action be brought against a constable for 

 anything done by virtue of his office, he may plead the general issue 

 and give the special matter in evidence; and if he recovers, he is 

 entitled, by the 5 & 6 Viet., c. 97, to full costs. Formerly if a magis- 

 trate granted a warrant in a matter over which he had no jurisdiction, 

 the officer who executed it was liable to an action of trespass for so 

 doing ; but by the 24 Qeo. II., c. 44, s. 6, it is enacted that no action 

 shall be brought against any constable for anything done in obuclieuce 

 to the warrant of a justice of the peace, unless he has neglected or 

 refused to show his warrant on being required so to do. And if, after 

 he has shown his warrant, any action is brought against the constable 

 alone, without joining the justice who signed the warrant, the 

 defendant, on producing the warrant at the trial, is entitled to a 

 verdict, notwithstanding the defect of the justice's jurisdiction ; and if 

 the action be brought against the constable jointly with the justice, 

 the constable is entitled to a verdict on proof of the warrant. By the 

 8th sect of the same statute, all actions against constables for anything 

 done in the execution of their office must be brought within .six months. 

 For the further protection of constables, the stat. 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, s. 25, 

 enacts that persons convicted of assaults upon peace-officers in the due 

 execution of their duty may be imprisoned with hard labour for two 

 years, and be fined or required to find sureties for keeping the peace. 



the guidance of the metropolitan police force, the commis- 

 sioners deliver to each of the men printed directions, which contain an 

 accurate and perspicuous summary of the laws relating to the duties, 

 liabilities, and indemnities of constables. In those boroughs which 

 have adopted a new system of police under the Municipal Corporations 

 Act, similar codes of instruction have been issued to the constables. 

 (For fuller information upon the whole of this subject, see Viuer's 

 ' Abridgment,' Bacon's ' Abridgment," Burn's ' Justice,' title ' Constable,' 

 and Blackstone's ' Commentaries,' by R. M. Kerr, LL I)., vol. i.) 



I;LE, LORD HIUH,' OF SCOTLAND, in the 12th 



century we find the office in possession of Hugh de Morvill, of the 

 family of the De Morvilles, barons of Burgh, co. Cumberland, con- 

 temporary with one Kdward, Concstabulus ; himself constable of 

 Scotland, and the possessor of vast estates in Tcviotdale, Lauderdale, 

 Lothian, Clydesdale, and Cuningbame. He died in 1162, and the 

 office was enjoyed by his descendants till it came to John Coinyn, earl 

 ban, who was deprived of it in the year 1308 for lii ; adherence 

 to the Baliol interest Sir Cilln-rt do Hay, of Krrol, was then made 

 const .nid during pleasure ; nnd in 1811 the office was 



aa David de Stratbbogio, earl of Athol, in like manner 

 during pleasure ; btit he being noon afterwards outlawed for espousing 

 the enure of Baliol, Sir Oilbcrt de Hay, before mentioned, got the office 

 in fee and heritage in the year 1314 ; since which time the constable's 

 staff, then put into his hands by Bruce, has remained in the i: : .,,i 



ly. 

 The office and jurisdiction of the lord high constable of .Scotland 



a tbuse of the like officer in England. No formal il! 



the powers of the lord iusticiar of Scotland, such aa took place at 



B breaking up of the aiua regis of England, was ever made in tin- 

 former kingdom ; nor when in the course of years this happen, 

 the once large powers of the justiciar paas to the like officers in 1 1 

 country as in the .-tl,. r. On the new modelling of the jr, ' 

 of England by King Edward I., the constable and mare* : 

 over a court of chivalry, with jurisdiction in nutters of honour and 

 anna. But in these, the constable of r had juriwl 



His jurisdiction was of the nature 

 Henry VIII. c. 12, in the lord steward of the king'- 

 his absence) of the treasurer, comptroller, and steward of the marshal- 

 sea; for according to the Li-gen Male. II . le- judged jointly with the 

 mareachal in all transgressions c immitted within ccrtiin limit 

 king's court But even this jurisdiction seouis to have been exercised 

 in fact by the lord justiciar; the cam-table only protesting again -t the 

 interference with his powers. In the reign of King Charles I. a com- 

 mission was issued to inquire int tin- n.iiure and extent of tli- 

 stable's jurisdiction ; and they reported that it extended to all olu . 

 ami riots committed within four miles of the king's person, or 

 parliament or privy council. No alteration was made at the 1 

 and by tli.- .ict .0 Gen. II. c 43 which swept away so man;, 

 heritable jurisdictions the office and jurisdiction of the lord high 

 constable of Scotland were expressly reserved. 



CO' I. 1>F." [I',,! v, 1LS OF THE ( 



cii.VSTANT, a quantity which remains the same tl; 

 problem. Thus in the question, required that point of a circle which 

 18 at a given distance from a given straight line, the radius of the 

 circle is a constant. If the problem require the use of twenty 1 1 : : 

 points of the circle, the radius is the same for all. 



A constant may be determinate, or it may be indeterminate or 

 arbitrary. Thus the proportion between the circumference and dia- 

 meter of a circle is a determinate constant, being 355 

 nearly ; but in the problem, required the relation which exists 1 

 the abscissa and ordinate of a circle, the radius of that circle is au 

 arbitrary constant 



The term constant is frequently applied to any remarkable i>. 

 necessary number which enters a question, as follows : By 

 of aberration is meant that one constant by the detennin.v 

 the aberration is obtained from its known laws at any _ 

 this case it is the maximum aberration, or about 20 j". [ABERRATION.] 

 Thus we have the constant of nutation, the constant of friction, &c. 



Nothing is more common in mathematical works than tin 

 rai-iativn uf c<tn: /</'., which appears a contradiction. But its m< 

 is as follows : A quantity which upon one supposition would i 

 constant, becomes variable by the introduction of another 

 Thus, taking into account the earth's attraction only, the S 

 the moon's node is constant; but by the attraction of the mm and 

 planets, its place is slowly changed. In this case one of the constants 

 is said to vary. 



CONSTELLATION (a putting together of stars), the name of one 

 of those groups of stars into which the whole heavens are dividt <!. and 

 to each of which is imagined to belong the figure of a man, an animal, 

 or some other object, natural or artificial. 



The history of the constellations is a matter of mythological ant 

 the most curious features of which are connected with tli.- twelve signs 

 or constellations of the ZODIAC, or the sun's apparent yearly track. It 

 is sufficient for us here to say, that it is certain we derive our > 

 lations for the most port from the Greeks, and that it is no 

 certain that they derived them from the East, though it is highly pro- 

 bable that they altered the legends to suit their own inytholog 

 in some instances even the figures. Their firmament, if it i-. . 

 itself to recording the vast and striking events of their mythic .-. 

 as in Argo or Hercules, might bear an external presumption of 

 ality. whieh it wants altogether while so prominent 

 the Great Bear represents nothing but the unimportant at 

 story of CaUisto. But while we are just in possession of KU: 

 knowledge to deny the- original formation of tli :..:is to the 



Greeks, ami i n to the Ej:\ not enough to say 



in what nation tli -tructed. 



The mcth ^ the conste'lations, though in many ill-; 



it gives groups \\ hirh are striking to the naked eye, is one of the worst 

 which could have l-en invented for the modem ]>itr|>oses of astronomy. 

 A dragon winding round th 

 extruding his arms and legs between hall 



i their included stars in any manner whieh will lend t<. 

 combinations. So that in our modem ratalogucs. though \ Di 

 and ; Dmconis arc raid to be in the same 

 is purely one of names, and suggests i< 



fii instances in whieh i-tais I., mini: the n-une ,,f 



i Ser. 



'lall proceed to describe the methods by which the stars in a 

 constellation arc di ' the plan we have adopted in the 



present work. The letters of Bayer are generally adopted for all tli. 

 in his maps. The stars were ranged by him in order of brilliancy, as 

 they appeared to the naked eye, about the year 1600. The Greek letters 

 were first used, and afterwards the Italic small letters. Thus, r, 

 mo.it brilliant star in a constellation ace. Tiling t 



