430 HOUSE. 
HOUS'AGE, f The money paid for laying up goods 
in a houfe. 
HOUSATON'ICK, a river of the American States, 
which unites with the Nauga'tic in the ftate of ConneCti- 
cut, and forms the Stratford at Derby. 
HOUSE,/, [from huy, Sax. huys, Dut. hufe, Scot.] A 
place wherein a man lives; a place of human abode.— 
Houfes are built to live in, not to look on; therefore let 
ufe. be preferred before uniformity, except where both 
may be had. Bacon. —Any place of abode : 
The bees with fmoke, the doves with noifome flench, 
Are from their hives and houfes driven away. Shakefpeare. 
Place in which religious or fludious perfons live in com¬ 
mon ; monaftery; college.—Theodofms arrived at a reli¬ 
gious houfe in the city, where now Coiiftantia reilded. Ad- 
difon. —The manner of living ; the table.—He kept a mi- 
ferable houfe , but the blame was laid wholly upon madam. 
Swift .—In judicial aftrology, it implies one twelfth part of 
the horofeope. See the article Astrology, vol.ii. p. 310. 
•—Family of anceftors ; defeendants, and kindred 5 race: 
The red rofe and the white are on his face. 
The fatal colours of our driving houfes. Shakcfpeare. 
A body of the parliament; the lords or commons col¬ 
lectively confidered.-—Nor were the crimes objected againfl 
him fo clear as to give convincing fatisfaCtion to the ma¬ 
jor part of both houfes, elpecially that of the lords. King 
Charles. 
It is laid down as a general rule in the practice of the 
Englifh laws, that the fheriff, in executing any judicial 
writ, cannot break open the door of a dwelling-houfe : 
this privilege, which is facred to a man’s habitation, arifes 
from the- great regard the law has to every man’s lafety 
and quiet, and therefore protects them from the incon¬ 
veniences which mult neceffarily attend an unlimited 
power in the fheriff, and his officers, in this refpeft ; 
hence, by Magna Charta, every man’s houfe is called his 
caltle. Co. 91. 3 Ihjl. 162. Yet in favour of executions, 
which are the life of the law, and elpecially in cafes of 
great neceffity, or where the fafety of the king and com¬ 
monwealth are concerned, this general cafe hath the fol¬ 
lowing exceptions, ift. That, whenever the procefs is at 
the fait of the king, the fheriff or his officer may, after 
requell to have the door opened, and refufal, break and 
enter the houfe to do execution, either on the party’s 
goods, or to take his body, as the cafe ffiall be. 5 Co. 91. 
But this lhall not be done under any general warrant, a 
point of law eftabliffied in the celebrated Mr. Wilkes’s 
cafe, which had the good effect of more firmly fixing the 
corner-pillar of our admired Constitution, and but for 
which the venerable fabric might have mouldered into 
duff and ruins, 2dlv. In a writ of feifin or habere facias 
poffeffwnem in ejectment, the fheriff may juftify breaking 
open the door, if denied entrance by the tenant; for the 
end of the writ being to give the party full and actual 
polfeffion, confequently the fheriff mult have all power 
neceffary for this end ; beiides, in this cafe the law does 
not, after the judgment, look upon the houfe as belong¬ 
ing to the tenant, but to him who has recovered. 5 Co. 91. 
3dly. Alfo this privilege of a man’s houfe relates only 
to fuch execution as afteCts himfelf; and therefore if a 
feri facias be directed to the Iheriff to levy the goods of 
A. and it happens that A.’s goods are in the houfe of B. 
if after requeit made by the Iheriff to B. to deliver thefe 
goods, he refufes, the fheriff may juftify the breaking and 
entering his houle. 5 Co. 93. 4thly. It hath been adjudged, 
that the fheriff', on a fieri facias, may break open the door 
of a barn, Handing at a diftance from the dwelling-houfe, 
without requefting the owner to open the door ; in the 
fame manner as he may enter a clofe, See.. 1 Keb. 698. 
5thly. So on a fieri facias, when the fheriff or his officers 
are once in the houfe, they may break open any chamber- 
door or trunks for completing the execution. 2 Show. 87. 
fitlily. So if the Iheriff’s bailiffs enter the houfe, the door 
being open, and the owner locks them in, the fheriff may* 
juftify breaking open the door, for the fetting at liberty 
the bailiffs: for if, in this cafe, he were obliged to ftay 
till he could procure a homine replcgiando, it might be 
highly inconvenient; alfo it feems that, in this cale, the 
locking in the bailiffs is fuch a difturbance to the exe¬ 
cution, that the court will grant an attachment for it. 
Palm. 52. 7thly. That if the fheriff, in executing a writ, 
breaks open a door where he has no authority for fo do¬ 
ing by law, yet the execution is good, and the party has 
no other remedy but an aCtion of trelpafs againfl: the fhe¬ 
riff. $ Co. 93. . | 
Therefore, as the dwelling-houfe of every man is facred, 
if thieves come to fob or kill him', and the owner or his 
fervant kill the thieves in defending him and his houfe, 
that is not felony, nor ffiall he forfeit any thing. 2 Inft. 316. 
See in this volume Homicide. Commiflioners of bank¬ 
ruptcy cannot break open a houfe to fearch for the bank¬ 
rupt’s goods, unlefs it be the houfe of the bankrupt. 
2 Show. 24.7.—The hundred is liable to damages by the 
burning of houfes. 9 Geo. I. c. 22. 
To HOUSE, v. a. To harbour; to admit torefidence 
Slander lives upon fucceffion, 
For ever houfed where it gets polfeffion. Shakcfpeare ._ 
To flielter ; to keep under a roof: 
Wit in northern climates will not blow, 
Except, like orange-trees, ’tis hous'd from fnow. Dryden■*. 
To drive to fhelter.—E’en now we hous'd him in the ab¬ 
bey here. Shahefpeare. 
To HOUSE, v. n. To take flielter; to'keep abode; to- 
refide.—Graze w'here you will, you fhall not houfe with- 
me. Shakcfpeare .—To have an aftroiogical ftation in the 
heavens: 
In fear of this, obferve the ftarry figns. 
Where Saturn houfes, and where Hermes joins. Dryden „ 
HOU'SE-BREAKER,/! Burglar; one who makes his 
way into houfes to fteal.—All koufe-breakers and fharpers- 
had thief wuitten in their foreheads. L'Efirange .. 
HOU'SE-BREAKING, f. Burglary.—When he hears 
of a rogue to be tried for robbing or houfe-breaking, he 
will fend the whole paper to the government. Swift. 
HOUSE of CORREC'TION. In every county of Eng¬ 
land there fhall be a houfe of correction built at the charge 
of the county, with conveniences for the fetting of peo¬ 
ple to work, or every juftice of peace fhall forfeit five 
pounds 3 and the juftices in feffions are to appoint go¬ 
vernors or mailers of fuch houfes of correction, and their 
falaries, &c. which are to be paid quarterly by the trea- 
furer out of the county ftock. Thefe governors are to Jet 
the perfons lent on work, arid moderately correCt'them, 
by whipping, See. and to yield a true account every quar- 
ter-feffions of perfons committed to their cuftody ; and, if 
they fufferany to efcapeor negleCt their duty, the juftices- 
may fine them. 7 Jac. I. c. 4. 14 Geo. II. c. 33. 
The houfe of correction is chiefly for the punifhing of 
idle and diforderly perfons ; parents of baftard children, 
beggars, fervants running away ; trefpaffers, rogues, va¬ 
gabonds, See. Poor perfons refufing to work are to be 
there whipped, and fet to work and labour; and any per- 
fon who lives extravagantly, having no vifible eftate to 
fupport him, may be lent to the houfe of correction, and 
fet at work there, and may be continued there until he 
gives the juftice fatisfaCtion in refpeCt to his living; but 
not be whipped. A perfon muff be convicted of vagrancy 
See. before he is ordered to be whipped. 2 Bu/Jl. 351. 
Bridewell is alfo a prifon for correction in London, 
and one may be fent thither. Style 57. 
By ftats. 14 Geo. II. c. 33, 17 Geo. II. c. 5, upon pre- 
fentmentof the grand jury, or under flat. 22 Geo. III. c. 64, 
on prefentment of any one juftice, on view, the juftices 
at feflions may build, or purchafedand for building, or 
enlarge, buy, or hire, fit houfes of correction. And the 
juftices are to take care that the houfe of correction be 
1 provided 
