362 OFFICE OF CONSTABLES. 



all proceedings, arraignments, and judgments in criminal 



causes. 



These offices The marshal s office is to attend the persons of the judges 

 are in the at their coming, sitting, and going from their sessions or 



Sn! diSP ~ COUrt 



The crier is, tanquam publicus pr&co, to call for such 



persons whose appearances are necessary, and to impose 

 silence to the people. 



The Office of Justice of Peace. 



The office of There is a commission under the great seal of England 

 justice of peace, to certain gentlemen, giving them power to preserve the 

 peace, and to resist and punish all turbulent persons, whose 

 misdemeanors may tend to the disquiet of the people ; and 

 these be called justices of the peace, and every of them 

 may well and truly be called eirenarcha. 



The chief of them is called custos rotulorum, in whose 

 custody all the records of their proceedings are resident. 



Others there are of that number called justices of peace 

 and quorum, because in their commission they have power 

 to sit and determine causes concerning breach of peace and 

 misbehaviour. The words of their commission are con 

 ceived thus, quorum such and such, unum vel duos, &c. esse 

 volumits ; and without some one or more of the quorum, no 

 sessions can be holden ; and for the avoiding of a super 

 fluous number of such justices (for through the ambition 

 Justice of peace of many it is counted a credit to be burthened with that 

 appointed by authority), the statute of 38 H. VIII. hath expressly prohi- 

 teeper. bited that there shall ^ ^ ut eight j us ^ ces O f t h e pea ce in 



every county. These justices hold their sessions quarterly. 

 In every shire where the commission of the peace is estab 

 lished, there is a clerk of the peace for the entering and en 

 grossing of all proceedings before the said justices. And 

 this officer is appointed by the custos rotulorum. 



The Office of Sherifs. 



Every shire hath a sheriff, which word, being of the 

 Saxon English, is as much as to say shire-reeve, or minister 

 of the county : his function or office is twofold, namely, 



1. Ministerial. 



2. Judicial. 



34 H. 8. c. 16. 1. He is the minister and executioner of all the process 

 and precepts of the courts of law, and therefore ought to 

 make return and certificate. 



