426 
C 0 N 
CLN 
peace have ever since the institution of their 
office taken upon them as conservators of the 
peace; not only to swear the petty constables 
v ho have been chosen at a torn or leet, but 
aiso to nominate and swear those who have 
not been chosen at any such court, on' neg- 
lect of tfie sheriffs or lords to hold their 
courts, or to take care that such oflicers are 
appointed in them. And this power of the 
justices, having been coniirmed by the unin- 
terrupted usage of many ages,shall not now 
be disputed. 2 Haw. 65. 
The office, duty, power, fc. of constables. 
The originaf and proper authority of a high 
constable, as such, seems to be the very same 
within his hundred as that of the petty con- 
stable within his viil. The other branches of 
his office, such as the surveying of bridges, 
levying county rates ; the issuing precepts 
concerning the appointment of the overseers 
of the poor, surveyors of highways, assessors 
and collectors of the land-tax and window- 
duties, &e. ; are in him, not or necessity, but 
as matter of convenience. 4 Inst. 265. Every 
high or petty constable is by common law a 
conservator of the peace. 2 Ilaw. 33. The 
general duty of constables is to preserve the 
king’s peace in their several districts, for 
which purpose they are armed, as well by 
the common law as by the legislature, with 
the very large and serious powers of arresting 
and imprisoning their fellow-subjects, forcibly 
entering their dwellings, and other extensive 
'authorities, which it is highly their duty to 
exercise with becoming moderation and hu- 
manity. The high constable is as much the 
officer of the justices of the peace, as the 
eosstableof thevill. Fort. 128. 
The constable is the proper officer to the 
justice of the peace, and bound to execute his 
warrants. Hence it has been resolved, that 
where the statute authorizes a justice of the 
f ieace to convict a man of a crime, and to 
evy the penalty by warrant of distress, with- 
out saying 'to whom such warrant shall be 
directed, or by whom it shall be executed, 
the constable is the proper officer to serve 
such warrant, and indictable for disobeying 
it. 2 Haw. 262. 
But as the office of constable is by no 
means judicial, but wholly ministerial, he 
may execute such warrants, &c. directed to 
him, by deputy, if on account of indisposi- 
tion, absence, or other special cause,* he can- 
not conveniently do it m person. 2 Bur. 125<). 
The high constables shall, at the general or 
quarter sessions, if required, account for the 
general county rate by them received, on 
pain of being committed to gaol till they shall 
account ; and shall pay over the money in 
■their hands, according to the order of the 
said court, on like pain of imprisonment. 
And all their accounts and vouchers shall, 
after having been passed at such sessions, be 
deposited with the clerk of the peace, to be 
•kept among the records, and be inspected by 
any justice without fee. 12 Geo. II. c. 29. s. 8. 
Constables should be very careful to keep 
■in their custody whatever things they take 
upon felons. The same caution is to be ob- 
served in respect of such stolen goods as they 
take in the execution of such warrants. The 
law strictly requires this, that they may be 
produced in evidence upon the trial of the 
prisoner; for the identity of such things is to 
be proved upon the constable’s oath, as well 
as the time when taken, and place where, if 
CON 
therefore he suffer such goods to go even 
out of his sight, he weakens his evidence, if 
lie does not destroy it : and should the goods 
be by accident, or otherwise, lost, he is not 
only answerable to the court for acting wrong, 
which may defeat the prosecution, but also 
to the prosecutor for the value of the goods; 
nor will it be a sufficient plea to the court 
that heleft them in the hands of a justice, even 
by his command; for as they were taken by 
him, the law requires them at his hands. And 
as the goods taken on persons charged with 
felony, or by search-warrants, are, as the 
law terms it, in abeyance; after the jury have 
returned their verdict, if the prisoner be con- 
victed, the constable is to deliver such goods 
to the prosecutor. On the contrary, if the 
prisoner be acquitted, the goods revert to 
him, the cause of seizure being discharged; 
but if any difficulty should arise, the safest 
way is to pray the direction of the court. The 
duty of the constable indeed absolutely obliges 
him to produce such goods at the trial ; but 
after this is over, he should be careful how 
he brings them out of court, lest be should 
suffer by actions at law from both parties. 
An officer who has negligently suffered a 
prisoner to escape, may take him wherever 
he finds him, without mentioning any fresh 
pursuit. 
A person found guilty upon an indictment 
or presentment of a negligent escape of a 
criminal actually in his custody, is punishable 
by fine and imprisonment, according to the 
quality of the offence. 2 Haw. 134. 
But a voluntary escape is no felony, if the 
act done were not felony at the time of the 
escape made : as in case of a mortal wound 
given, and the party not dying till after the 
escape ; so that the offence was but a trespass 
at the time of the escape; but the officer may 
be fined to the value of his goods. Dault.c.129. 
An action brought against a constable, 
headborough, or tithingman, for any matter 
done by virtue of their office, shall be laid in 
the county where the fact was committed, 
and not elsewhere. 21 Jac. c. 12. s. 5. 
The constable executing a justice’s war- 
rant for levying a penalty, or other sum of 
money directed by an act of parliament, by 
distress, may d.educt his own reasonable 
charges of taking, keeping, and selling, the 
goods distrained, returning the overplus on 
demand. 27 Geo., II. 
The sheriff or steward of the leet having 
power to place a constable in his office, lias 
consequently a power of removing him. 2 
Haw. 63. And it has been the practice of 
the justices of the peace, for good cause, to 
displace such constables as have been chosen 
and sworn by them. 2 Haw. 65. 
If a constable shall continue more than a 
year in his office, the sessions may discharge 
him, and put another in his place, till the lord 
shall hold a leet ; and should the court or 
judge refuse to discharge a constable, the 
kings-bench may compel them by manda- 
mus. 2 Haw. 65. 
In the manner that constables are chosen 
they may be removed, and by the like au- 
thority; therefore, if there should be cause 
to remove an high constable, it has not been 
thought fit that any one or two justices should 
do it upon their discretion, but that it should 
be done by the greater part of the justices of 
that division, or at the sessions. Dalt. c. 28. 
Of Jfmdon co0{tblcs. The constables 
must be freemen of the city, and nominated 
by the inhabitants of the ward on St. Tho- 
mas's day, confirmed or disallowed at the next 
wardmote, and afterwards sworn into office 
at the next court of aldermen on (he Monday 
ensuing Twelfth-day. They swear to keep 
the king’s peace to the utmost of their power; 
to arrest affrayers, rioters, and such as make 
contests to the breach of the peace, and 
carry them to the house of correction, or 
compter of one of the sheriffs ; and in case of 
resistance, to make outcry to them, and pur- 
sue them from street to street, and from ward 
to ward, till they are arrested; to seaich for 
common nuisances in their respective wards, 
being required by scavengers, &c. and upon 
request to assist the beadle and raker in col- 
lecting their salaries and quarterage ; to pre- 
sent to the lord mayor and ministers of the 
city defaults relating to the ordinances of 
the city. They are to certify to the mayor’s 
court, once a month, the names and sur- 
names of all freemen deceased ; and also of 
the children of such freemen, being orphans. 
They are to certify the name, surname, place 
of dwelling, profession, and trade, of every 
person who shall just come into the ward, and 
keep a roll thereof, for which purpose they 
are to enquire once a month into what per- 
sons are come into the said ward; and if 
such persons are found to he ejected from 
any other ward for any misdemeanour, and 
refuse sureties for their good behaviour, they 
are to give them and their landlords warning 
to depart ; and on refusal, they may be im- 
prisoned, and the landlords lined a year’s 
rent. Rep. 129. 138. 
Constables are to keep watch and ward 
from the 10th of September to the 10th of 
March, from nine in the evening till seven 
the next morning, and from the 10th of 
March to the 10th of September, from ten 
in the evening till five next morning. They 
shall use their best endeavours for prevent- 
ing fires, robheries, and disorders, and ar- 
rest malefactors, and go twice or oftener 
about their wards in every night; and the 
watchmen are to apprehend all suspected 
persons, & e. and to deliver them to the con? 
stable of the night, who shall carry them be* 
fore a justice of the peace. Constables mis- 
behaving themselves to forfeit 205. ; and the 
lord mayor, or two justices for the city, may 
hear and determine offences, and levy penal- 
ties by distress and sale of goods, &c. They 
must place the king’s arms, and the arms of 
the city, over their doors, and if they reside 
in alleys, at the ends of such alleys towards 
the streets, to signify that a constable lives 
there. 
There are also constables of particular 
places, as constable of the Tower, of Dover- 
castle, of Windsor-castle, of the castle of Ca- 
ernarvon, and many other of the castles of 
Wales, whose office is the same with that of 
the castellani, or governors of castles. 
CONSTAT, in law, a certificate that the 
clerk of the pipe and auditors of the exche- 
quer grant at the request of any person who 
intends to plead or move in that court, for 
the discharge of any thing. A constat is 
superior to an ordinary certificate, because 
it contains nothing but what is evident on re- 
cord. 
CONSTELLATION, in astronomy, a 
system of several stars that are seen in the 
heavens near' to one another. Astronomers 
