10 
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taken ; and the fheriff may purftte a perfon efcaping into 
that or any other county ; and if he retakes the prifoner 
on frefli purfuit before action brought, it fhallexcufe the 
fherifF, for there the prifoner (hall be faid to be in exe¬ 
cution dill. 3 Rep. 44. And where the (heriffis to anfwer 
the debt and damages for fuch efcape, he fliall have his 
counter-remedy againft the party efcaping; and may take 
him at any time and place, and imprifon him till he hath 
fatisfied the lheriff as much as he hath paid to the plain¬ 
tiff. Cro. Eliz. 393. 
In criminal cafes, a man muff be committed to prifon by 
lawful mittimus. If a party is committed for treafon, to 
break prifon and efcape is felony ; but if a prifoner let 
out traitors, it will be treafon. 2 Inf. 590. Where one 
is imprifoned for petit larceny, or killing a man fc defc.n- 
dendo, See. to break prifon and efcape is not felony ; and 
if a prifon be fet on fire, not by the privity of the prifoner, 
he may bieak prifon for the fafety of his life. 2 Inf . 590. 
A gaoler refufing to receive a perfon arrefted by the con- 
ftable for felony, whereby he is let go, is guilty of an 
efcape; but there muff be an adtual arreft, which arreft 
muff be juftifiable, to make an efcape ; for if it be for a 
JuppoJ'ed crime, where no crime was committed, and the 
party is neither indidted nor appealed, it is no efcape to 
fuft’er a perfon to go at large. Fitz. Coron, 224. If a pri¬ 
vate perlon arreft another for fufpicion of felony, he is to 
deliver him to a public officer, who ought to have the 
cuftody of him ; for if he let him go, it will be an efcape. 
2 Hawk. P. C. c. 19. And if no officer will receive him, he 
is to deliver him to the townfhip where arrefted. 
If a gaoler fo clofely purfue a prifoner, who flies from 
him, that he retake him without loling fight of him, the 
law looks on the prifoner fo far in his power all the time, 
as not to adjudge fuch a flight to amount at all to an 
efcape ; but if the gaoler once lofe fight of the prifoner, 
and afterwards retake him, he feems in ftrifftnefs to be 
guilty of an efcape ; and a fortiori therefore, if he kill 
him in the purfuit, he is in like manner guilty, though 
he never loft fight of him, and could not otherwife take 
him, not only becaufe the king lofes the benefit he might 
have had from the attainder of the prifoner, by the for¬ 
feiture of his goods, See. but alfo becaufe the public jus¬ 
tice is not fo well fatisfied by the killing him in fuch an 
extrajudicial manner. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 19. 
Wherever a prifoner, by the negligence of his keeper, 
gets fo far out of his power that the keeper lofes fight of 
him, the keeper is finable at the diferetion of the court, 
notwithftanding he retook him immediately after ; for it 
feems agreed, that this is to be adjudged a negligent 
efcape, which implies an offence, and confequently puniffi- 
able. It is true, indeed, that in an adlion againft a gaoler for 
fuffering one arrefted in a civil action to efcape, it is a good 
exctife for the gaoler, that, before the adtion brought, he 
took the prifoner upon frefh fuit, which is well maintain¬ 
ed by (hewing that he purfued him immediately after no¬ 
tice of the efcape, though it were fome hours after it, 
and retook him ; but it does not from hence follow, that 
the like excufe will ferve for the negligent efcape of a 
criminal, becaufe this is an offence againft the public, but 
the other is only a private damage to the party : neither 
will it be an hardftiip to the officer, to be expofed to fuch 
punifhment as the court, in diferetion, fliall think fit to 
impofe upon him for the negligent efcape of a criminal, as 
it would be to be liable to an adtion of efcape, forfuffering a 
perfon in his cuftody, in a civil adfion, to efcape ; for that in 
the former cafe the court would moderate his fine according 
to the circumftances of the whole matter, and would cer¬ 
tainly mitigate, if not wholly excufe it, if he fhould ap¬ 
pear to have taken all reafonable care : but in the other 
cafe, if he fhould be liable to an adfion, his judgment 
•would not lie in the diferetion of the court, but he would 
be bound to pay the whole debt, for which the party was 
in cuftody, if the efcape fhould be adjudged againft him. 
2 Hawk. P. C. c. 19. 
It is enadted by flat. 31 Edw.Ml. c. 14, “ That the 
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efcape of thieves and felons, and the chattels of felons, 
and of fugitives, and alfo efcapes of clerks convicts, out 
of their ordinary’s prifon, from thenceforth to be judged 
before any of the king’s juftices, (hall be levied from time 
to time, as they fliall fall, as w’ell of the time paft.as time 
to come.” By which it feems to be implied, that other 
juftices, as well as thofe in eyre, may take cognizance of 
efcapes ; and it is certain, that juftices of gaol-delivery 
may punifli juftices of peace for a negligent efcape, in 
admitting perfons to bail, who are not bailable. And it 
is farther enadted by flat. 1 Rich. III. c. 3, “ That juf¬ 
tices of peace fliall have authority to inquire, in their 
feffions, of all manner of efcapes of every perfon arrefted 
and imprifoned for felony.” Wherever an efcape is fina¬ 
ble, the prefentment of it is traverfable ; but where the 
offence is amerciable only, there the prefentment is of it- 
felf conclufive. 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 19. 
Whoever de faElo occupies the office of gaoler, is liable 
to anfwer for a negligent efcape; and it is no way mate¬ 
rial whether his title to the office be legal or not. A 
fheriff is as much liable to anfwer for an efcape futfered by 
his bailiff, as it he had actually fuffered it himfelf, and 
the court may charge either the fheriff or bailiff for fuch 
an efcape ; and if a deputy gaoler be not fufficient to an¬ 
fwer a negligent efcape, his principal muft anfwer for him. 
Alfo, it is enadted, by flat. 19 Hen. VII. c. 10, “ That 
every fheriff have the cuftody of the king’s common gaols, 
during the time of his office, except all gaols whereof any 
perfon or perfons have the keeping of eftate of inheri¬ 
tance. And that all letters patent made for term of life, 
or years, of the keeping of the faid gaols, &c. fhall be 
annulled and void.” 
By flat. 16 Geo. II. c. 31, it is enadted, That perfons 
who any ways affift a prifoner, committed for treafon, or 
felony, to attempt his efcape from any gaol, fhall be ad¬ 
judged guilty of felony, and be tranfported ; and if the 
prifoner be committed for any other crime ; or upon pro- 
cefs for tool. debt, See. the offenders are liable to fine and 
imprifonment. And where any perfon conveys any arms, 
inftrument, or difguife, to a prifoner in gaol for felony, Sec. 
or for his ufe, in order to an efcape, it is likewife felony 
and tranfportation. Alfo if one affift any prifoner to efcape 
from any conftable, or other officer or perfon in whofe 
cuftody he is, by virtue of a warrant of commitment for 
felony, it is declared to be the like offence. And to af¬ 
fift felons convidt to make their efcape from the perfons 
to whom they are delivered to be tranfported, is felony 
without clergy. $P.Wms. 439. But no indidlment canbe 
maintained on this ftatute for contributing to the efcape of 
a prifonercommitted on fufpicion only. Hawk. P. C. ii. c. 21. 
ESCA'PE-WARRANT, f. in law: if any perfon 
committed or charged in cuftody in the King’s-bench or 
Fleet prifon, in execution, or on mefne procefs, go at 
large ; on oath thereof before a judge of the court where 
the adtion was brought, an efcape-warrant fliall be grant¬ 
ed, diredted to all fheriffs, See. throughout England, to 
retake the prifoner, and commit him to gaol where taken, 
there to remain till the debt is fatisfied : and a perfon may 
be taken on a Sunday upon an efcape-warrant. Stat. 1 
Ann. c. 6. 
ESCA'PEMENT, or Scafement, f. A general term 
for the manner of communicating the impulfe of the 
wheels in a clock or watch to the pendulum or balance. 
See Horology. 
ESCARA'Y, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile : five 
miles fouth of Calzida. 
ESCA'RGATOIRE, f. [Fr.] A nurfery of fnails.—■ 
At the Capuchins I law efcargatoires, which I took the 
more notice of, becaufe I do not remember to have met 
with any thing of the fame kind in other countries. It is 
a fquare place boarded in, and filled with a vaft quantity 
of large fnails, that are elteemed excellent food, when 
they are well drelfed. Addifon. 
ESCARI'GO, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Eeira: twelve miles north-weft of Penny Macor. 
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