8 Si 
C O M M I 
Tailed by lord Mansfield. Black. Rep. 1165. 16. Hardy, 
Horne Tooke, Thelwall, and others, were committed to 
the Tower, on a charge of high treafon, 33 Geo. III. 
(May 30, 1794,) by the privy council. 17. Thomas Crof's- 
field was committed to the Tower by the privy council, 
for high treafon, 34.Geo. III. Jan. 31, 1795. 
As to the manner of commitment, it is enabled by 
2 & 3 P. Si M. c. 10. that juftices of peace (hall examine 
perfons brought before them for felony, or fufpicion 
thereof, before they commit them to prifon, and (hall 
bind their accufers to give evidence a gain (l them. A juf- 
tice ot the peace may detain a prifoner a reafonable time, 
in order to examine him ; and it is laid, that three days 
is a reafonable time for this purpofe. 7. Hawk. P. C. c. 16. 
2 Infi. 52. 591. Every commitment muft be in writing, 
and under the hand and leal, and (hew the authority, of 
him that made it, and the time and place, and muft be 
directed to the keeper of the prilon. It may be either in 
tiie king’s name, and only felted by the juftice, or in the 
jultice’s name; It may command the jailer to keep the 
party in fate, and clofe cultody; for, this being what he 
is obliged to do by law, it can be no fault to command 
him fo to do. It ought to let forth the crime with con¬ 
venient certainty, whether the commitment be by the 
privy council, or any other authority, otlierwife the offi¬ 
cer is not punifnable by reafon of fuch mittimus for buf¬ 
fering the party to efcape; and the court, before whom 
he is removed by habeas corpus, ought to difcharge or 
bail him; and this doth not only hold where no caule at 
all is expreflfd in the commitment, but alfo where it is fo 
loofely let forth, that the court cannot judge whether it 
were a reafonable ground for imprifonment or not. 2 
Hawk. P. C. c. 16. 
A commitment for high treafon or felony in general, 
without expreffing the particular fpecies, has been held 
good. But now, fmce tiie habeas corpus aft, it feems 
that fuch a general commitment is not good ; and there¬ 
fore where A. and B. were committed for aiding and 
abetting fir James Montgomery to make his efcape, who 
was committed by a warrant of a fecretary of itate for 
high treafou, on a habeas corpus, they were admitted to 
bail, becaufe it did not appear of what fpecies of treafon 
fir James was guilty. Skin, 596. 1 Salk. 347. It is lafe to 
fet forth that the party is charged upon oath ; but this is 
not neceffary, for it hath been relblvecl, that a commit¬ 
ment for treafon, or for fufpicion of it, without fetting 
forth any particular acculation or ground of rhe fufpi¬ 
cion, is good. .This refolution was in the cafe of fir W. 
Wyndham, 2 Geo. I. who was committed by the fecre¬ 
tary of Hate, for high treafon, generally. 3 Vin. 513. It 
was confirmed by Pratt, chief juitice, in Wilkes’s cafe, 
committed by a fimilar warrant for a libel. And Mr. J. 
Folter lays, in cafes wherein the jullice of the peace hath 
jurifdiftion, the legality of iii^ warrant will never depend 
on the truth of the information whereon it is grounded. 
Curtis's Ca. 136. 
Every fuch mittimus ought to have a lawful conclu- 
fion, viz. that the party be lafely kept till he be delivered 
by law, or by order of law, or by due courfe of law ; or 
that he be kept till further order, (which (hall be intended 
of the order of law,) or to the like effeft; and, if the 
party he committed only for want of bail, it feems to be 
a good conclufion of the commitment, that he be kept 
till he find bail; but a commitment till the perfon who 
makes it (hall take further order, feems not to be good; 
and it feems that the party committed by fuch or any 
other irregular mittimus may be bailed. 2 Hawk. P. C. 
c. 16,. Alfo a commitment grounded on an aft of par¬ 
liament ought to be conformable to the method prelcribed 
by fuch ftutute; as where the churchwardens of North¬ 
ampton were committed on the 43 Eliz. c. 2. and the war¬ 
rant concluded in the common form, viz. “ until they be 
duly uncharged according to law;” but the fcatute ap¬ 
pointing, “ that the party (houid there remain until he 
ihould account,” tor want of fucli conclufion they were 
,Vov. rV. No, 244. 
T M E N T. 
difeharged. And, where a man is committed as a crimi¬ 
nal, the conclufion muft be, “ until he be delivered by due 
courfe of lawif he be committed for contumacy, it 
(houid be “ until he comply.” 
Ail commitments muft be to fome prifon within the 
realm of England. For, by 31 Car. II. c. 2. the habeas 
corpus aft, it is enafted, “ that no fubjeft of this realm, 
being an inhabitant or .reliant of this kingdom of Eng¬ 
land, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon- 
Tweed, (hall or may be fent prifoner into Scotland, Ire¬ 
land, Jerfey, Guernfey, Tangier, or into any parts, gar- 
rifons, iflands, or places, beyond the feas, which then 
were, or at any time after (houid be, within or without 
the dominions of his majefty.” 
By 14 Ed. III. c. 10. (heriffs (hall have the cuftody of 
the jails as before that time they were wont to have, and 
they (hall put in fuch under-keepers for whom they will 
anfwer. And this is confirmed by 19 Hen. VII. c. 10. 
Alfo by 5 Hen. IV. c. 10. it is enafted, “ that none ba 
imprifoned by any juftice of the peace, but only in the 
common jail, laving to lords, and others who have jails, 
their franchife in this cafe.” It feems that the king’s 
grant, fince the ftatute, 5 Hen. IV. c. 10. to private per¬ 
fons to have the cuftody of prifoners committed by juf¬ 
tices of peace, is void. And it is faid, that none can 
claim a prifon as a franchife, unlefs he have alio a jail- 
delivery. 11 & 12 W. III. c. 19. made perpetual by 6 G. I. 
c. 19. to enable juftices of peace to build and repair jails 
in their refpeftive counties, where a claufe like that in 
5 H, IV. c. 10. is inferted. Alfo it hath been held, that 
regularly no one can juftify the detaining a prifoner in 
cuftody out of the common jail, unlefs there be fome par¬ 
ticular reafon for fo doing ; as, if the party be fo dange- 
roufly lick, that fit would apparently hazard his life to fend 
him to the jai!; or, there be evident danger of a refcous 
from rebels, &c. yet conftant pra£iice feems to autborife 
a commitment to a meflenger; and it is faid that it (hall 
he intended to have been made in order for the carrying 
of the party to jail. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 16. And it is laid, 
that if a confcable bring a felon to jail, and the jailer re- 
fufe to receive him, the town where he is conftable ought 
to keep him till the next jail-delivery. 2 H. P. C. c. 16. 
A prifoner in the cuftody of the king’s meflenger, on 
a warrant from the fecretary of (fate, who is brought into 
the king’s-bench by habeas corpus to be bailed, but has 
not his bail ready, 1 cannot be committed to the fame cuf¬ 
tody he came in, but muft be committed to the cuftody 
of the marflial, which will prevent the neceffity of fiuihg 
out a new habeas corpus, as he may be brought up from 
the prifon of the court, by a rule of court, whenever he 
(hall be prepared to give bail. 1 Burr. 460. If a perfon 
arrefted in one county for a crime done in it, fly into an¬ 
other county, and be retaken there, he may be commit¬ 
ted by a juftice of the firft county to the jail of fuch 
county. But, by the better opinion, if he had before any 
arreft fled into fuch county, he mult be committed to the 
jail thereof by a juftice of fuch county. Dalt. c, 118. Alfo 
it feems to be laid down as a rule, that any offender may 
be committed to the jail next to the place where he was 
taken, whether it lie in the lame county or not. 2 HavSk, 
P.C. c. 16. By 6 Geo. I. c. 19. vagrants and other cri¬ 
minals, offenders, and perfons charged with (mall of¬ 
fences, may for fuch offences, or for want of liireties, be 
committed either to the common jail or houfe of correc¬ 
tion, as the juftices in their judgment (hall think proper. 
By 24 Geo. II. c. 53. if a perfon is apprehended, upon a 
Warrant indorfed in another county, for an offence not 
bailable; or, if he (hall not there find brdl, he (hall be 
carried back into the firft county, and be committed ; or, 
if bailable, bailed by the juftices. in fuch firit county. 
As to the charges of commitment, it is enafted by 3 
Jac. I. c. 10. that offendeis committed are to bear their 
own charges, and the charges of thofe who are appointed 
to guard them; and, if they refufe to pay, the charges 
may be levied by fide of their goods. And, by 27 Geo.ljf; 
IQ: K. c. 3, 
