|| 944 
his officer, and £10 to answer costs; or by giving 
bail for his appearance in court. Arrest, which 
takes place before trial, in civil cases, is known 
in English law as arrest on mesne process ; if after 
trial and judgment, it is called arrest in execution, 
or on final process; but by 1° and 2° Vict. cap. 
110, no arrest on mesne process can be made be- 
fore a judgment has been obtained on a writ of 
summons; and by the statute 7° and 8° Vict. 
cap. 96, no person shall be taken or charged in 
| execution for the recovery of any debt not ex- 
| ceeding £20, exclusive of costs. 
In Scotland, imprisonment of a debtor usually 
proceeds under what is called Letters of Horning 
_ directed to messengers-at-arms, in which the 
debtor is charged to pay or perform within fifteen 
_ days under pain of being “ put to the horn,” or 
treated as a rebel. But magistrates of royal 
burghs can order direct execution, or act of ward- 
ing, against a debtor who has resided forty days 
within their jurisdiction, 
Peers of the realm, peers of Scotland, peeresses 
by birth, peeresses by marriage, not having after- 
wards intermarried with a commoner, members 
of parliament, and corporations, are privileged 
from arrests, and consequently from outlawries:; 
against them, therefore, the process to enforce 
_ appearance must be by summons and distress, 
instead of a capias. Clerks, attornies, and all 
other persons attending the courts of justice, are 
not liable to be arrested by the ordinary process 
of the court; but must be sued by bill—usually 
ealled a 621 of privilege—they being presumed to 
be personally present in court. Suitors, wit- 
nesses, and other persons necessarily attending 
any court of record upon business, are not to be 
arrested during their actual attendance, which 
_ includes the time of their coming and returning. 
A bankrupt coming to surrender ; witnesses pro- 
perly summoned before commissioners of bank- 
ruptey, or other commissioners under the great 
seal; heirs, executors, or administrators, except 
on their own personal contracts, or in cases of 
devastavit, are exempted from arrests. Clergy- 
| men performing divine service, and not merely 
staying in the church with a fraudulent design, 
are, for the time, privileged from arrests, by stat. 
50° Edw, III, cap. 5, and 1° Ric, II, cap, 16; and 
likewise members of convocations actually at- 
tending thereon, by stat. 8° Henry VI. cap. 1. 
Ambassadors and their domestic servants are not 
liable to arrests, By stat, 31° Geo. II, cap, 10, no 
_ seamen on board his majesty’s ships can be ar- 
rested for any debt, unless the same be sworn to 
amount to at least £20; but by the annual 
mutiny acts, a soldier may be arrested for a debt 
of half that value, but not toa less amount, In 
an action against husband and wife, the husband 
_ alone is liable to be arrested. No person may be 
arrested in the king’s presence; nor within the 
bounds of his royal palace; nor in any place 
where the king’s justices are actually sitting. 
| Besides, the king hath a special prerogative 
ARREST. 
—which, however, is very rarely exercised—by 
virtue of which he may grant a writ of protec, 
tion, to privilege a defendant from all personal- 
and many real suits, for one year at a time, and 
no longer; in respect of such person being en- 
gaged in his service abroad. By the stat. 29° Oar. 
II, cap. 7, no arrest can be made, nor process 
served upon a Sunday, except for treason, felony, 
or breach of the peace. 
Arrest, in criminal cases, is defined to be, the 
apprehending or restraining one’s person, in or- 
der that he may be forthcoming to answer an 
alleged or suspected crime. To this species of 
arrest all persons whatsoever are liable without 
distinction; but no one may be arrested, unless 
charged with such a crime as will at least justify 
holding him to bail, Arrest, in criminal cases, 
may be made in four ways, 
1, By warrant, which may be granted, in ex- 
traordinary cases, by the privy council, or the 
secretaries of state; but ordinarily by justices of | 
the peace. In the latter case, the warrant should 
be under the hand and seal of the justice, setting 
forth the time and place of making, and the cause 
for which it is made; and it should be directed 
to the constable, or other peace officer, requiring 
him to bring the party either generally before 
any justice of the peace for the county, or only | 
before the justice who granted it; the warrant 
in the latter case being called a specdal warrant. | 
General warrants to apprehend all persons sus- | 
pected, without specially naming or describing 
an individual, are void and illegal. When the 
officer receives a warrant, he is bound to execute 
it, so far as the jurisdiction of the magistrate and 
himself extends, A warrant from the chief, or 
other justice of the King’s bench, extends all 
over the kingdom: but the warrant of a justice 
of the peace in one county must be backed or 
countersigned by a justice of the peace in another, 
before it can be executed there. This practice of 
backing warrants had long prevailed without law, 
but was at length sanctioned by the statutes 23° 
Geo. II. cap, 26, and 24° Geo, II. cap. 55. In 
criminal cases, an officer may break open doors, 
or use any degree of force that may be necessary 
to execute his warrant. Magistrates may grant 
warrant to arrest parties who are charged with 
offences over which they have themselves no 
jurisdiction : thus a sheriff may commit for 
treason, or the magistrate of a burgh for murder, 
or upon pleas of the Crown, 
2, Arrests may be executed without warrant 
by a justice of the peace, by the sheriff, the cor- 
oner, the constable, by watchmen, and by police- 
men; or by any private individual specially in- 
vested pro hoc vice with the powers and privileges 
necessary for such execution. 
3, All private persons who happen to be pre- 
sent when a folony is committed, are bound by 
the law to arrest the felon, on pain of fine and 
imprisonment, if he escapes through their negli- 
gence. They will be justified even in breaking 
