GAO 



GAR 



both within and without, by which per- 

 sons enter and depart; it is provided 

 with steps nailed upon the ship's-side, 

 nearly as low as the surface of the water, 

 and sometimes furnished with a railed 

 accommodation ladder. 



GANTLOPE, in sea affairs, commonly 

 pronounced gantlet, is a race which a 

 criminal is sentenced to run in a vessel 

 of war for felony, or some other heinous 

 offence. The whole ship's crew is dis- 

 posed in two rows, standing face to face 

 on both sides the deck, each person be- 

 ing 1 furnished with a small twisted cord, 

 having two or three knots in it; the de- 

 linquent is then stripped naked above 

 the waist, and obliged to pass forward 

 between the two rows a certain number 

 of times, rarely exceeding three, during 

 which every person is enjoined to give 

 him stripes as he runs along- : this is call- 

 ed " running the gantlet," and is seldom 

 inflicted but for crimes which excite ge- 

 neral antipathy among the seamen. 



GAOL, gaols cannot now be erected 

 by any less authority than an act of par- 

 liament. All prisons and goals belong to 

 the King, although a subject may have 

 the custody, or keeping of them. The 

 justices of the peace at their general 

 quarter-sessions, or the major part of 

 them, not less than seven, upon present- 

 ment made by the grand jury at the as- 

 sizes, of the insufficiency, inconveniency, 

 or want of repair of the gaol, may con- 

 tract for the building, repairing, or en- 

 larging it, &c. or for erecting any new 

 gaol within any distance not exceeding 

 two miles from the scite, and in that case 

 for selling the old gaol and its scite, the 

 contractors giving security to the clerk 

 of the peace for the performance of the 

 contract. 24 George III. c. 54. The 

 expenses to be paid out of, and in certain 

 cases money may be raised by mortgage 

 Upon, the county -rate. 



As there are several persons confined 

 in the county and city gaols, under sen- 

 tence, and orders made by one or more 

 justices at their sessions or otherwise, 

 upon conviction in a summary way, with- 

 out the intervention of a jury; it is by 

 24 George III. c. 56, enacted, that any 

 judge of assize, or two justices, within 

 whose jurisdiction such gaol is situate, 

 may remove such persons to any house 

 of correction within the same jurisdic- 

 tion, thert to be confined, and to remain 

 in execution of such sentence or order. 



For the relief of prisoners in gaols, 

 justices of the peace, in sessions, have 

 power to tax every parish in the county, 



not exceeding 6s. and Bd. per week, le- 

 viable by constables, and distributed by 

 collectors, &c. 12 Charles II. c. 29. But 

 it is observed by Lord Coke, that the 

 gaoler cannot refuse the prisoner vic- 

 tuals, for he ought not to suffer him to 

 die for want of sustenance. If any sub- 

 ject of this realm shall be committed to 

 any prison, for any criminal, or supposed 

 criminal matter, he shall not be removed 

 from thence, unless it be by habeas cor- 

 pus, or some other legal writ; or where 

 he is removed from one prison or place 

 to another, within the same county, in. 

 order to his trial or discharge ; or in case 

 of sudden fire, or infection, or other ne- 

 cessity : on pain that the person signing 

 any warrant for such removal, and he 

 who executes the same, shall forfeit to 

 the party grieved, 1001. for the first 

 offence, and 2001. for the second. Jus- 

 tices at sessions make regulations for the 

 gaols of the county, and there are statutes 

 forbidding the selling of spirits, or secret- 

 ly conveying them into gaols. 



GAOL delivery, by the law of the land, 

 that men might not be long detained in 

 prison, but might receive full and speedy 

 justice, commissions of gaol delivery are 

 issued out, directed to two of the judges, 

 and the clerk of assize, associated ; by 

 virtue of which commission, they have 

 power to try every prisoner in the gaol, 

 committed for any offence whatsoever. 

 This is one of the commissions by which 

 the judges sit at every assize. 



It is a frequent question, what can be 

 given ia evidence by the defendant upon 

 this plea, and the difficulty is to know, 

 when the matter of defence may be urg- 

 ed upon the general issue, or must be 

 specially pleaded upon the record. In 

 many cases, for the protection of justices, 

 constables, excise-officers, &c. they are, 

 by act of parliament, enabled to plead 

 the general issue, and give the special 

 matter for their justification under the 

 act in evidence. 



GARBOARD stroke, the plank next 

 the keel of a ship, one edge of which is 

 run into the rabbit made in the upper 

 edge of the keel on each side. 



GARCINA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of Laurent Garcin, M. JD. F. R. S. 

 a genus of the Dodecandria Monogynia 

 class and order. Natural order of Bi- 

 cornes, Linnaeus. Guttiferae, Jussieu. Es- 

 sential character: calyx four-leaved, in- 

 ferior; petals four; berry eight-seeded, 

 crowned with the peltate stigma. There 

 are three species. 



GARDANT, or GUAHDANT, in heral- 



