The relation and 14 Edw. 3, c. 9, the word "Bailiffs seems to comprise as The Sheriff is the immediate officer to all the Courts at Westin which he minster to execute writs, and whom the law presumes to be stands to the Courts and indifferent between party and party (k). to the world. The extent diction. The law likewise intends him to be a lay person, and to have no skill in the science of the law, and whether a writ comes to him by authority or without authority (l), or is awarded against whom (m) it lieth not, he cannot doubt or dispute its validity quia parere necesse est. "The power of a Sheriff does not extend beyond his county, of his juris- but by special authority from the Queen, as by an Habeas Corpus, he is in other counties sheriff to a special intent, and the law adjudges the removal of the prisoner of the same Sheriff in every county; and by this means it is said there may be two Sheriffs in one county, namely, one to a special intent, and the other to all general intents and purposes" (n). This rule, so laid down in Plowden, is true as to the Sheriff's judicial, but as to his ministerial acts not so, for the latter may in general be executed dehors his county; for example, he may make his return anywhere in England (o), for what is true or false is universally So. So the assignment of a bail-bond or a panel may be made anywhere in England, but not out of England, for he is an officer only in England (p). So if the Sheriff of N. have a man in custody in N., and the Sheriff is in another county, and a writ is delivered to him against that person, he is in custody immediately upon that writ (q). So if a prisoner of his own wrong shall make an escape and fly into another county, the (j) Co. Litt. 168, b; 2 Inst. 18. (1) As to fees on such writ, see (m) Dyer, 69, b; Countess of Rutland's case, 6 Rep. 54, a; Tarlton v. Fisher, 2 Dougl. 671; Cameron v. Lightfoot, 2 W. Bl. 1190; Crossley v. Shaw, 2 W. Bl. 1085; Jackson v. Hunter, 6 Term Rep. 73; Lloyd v. Wood, 5 Adol. & Ellis, 232. This Sheriff or his officers, upon fresh pursuit, may take him again in another county (r). The office of Sheriff cannot be apportioned, divided or The office abridged (s); and, therefore, although the Queen may deter- cannot be apportioned, mine this his office at her pleasure (being appointed "durante divided, or bene placito" (t)), yet she cannot determine it in part as for one abridged. town or one hundred, or any other part; neither can she abridge the Sheriff of any thing incident or belonging to his office, for the office is entire, and so it must continue in that entirety for the whole county, without any fraction or diminution (except by act of parliament, or that she make some town, &c. a county of itself, and appoint a Sheriff thereto;) neither can the office be determined, nor any part thereof, without and until a new Sheriff be made for the execution and administration of justice, except it be by his own death, for on the demise of the Crown " he may hold his office six months, unless sooner displaced by the successor" (u); nor does it determine by becoming a peer on his father's death, though the dignity descends in time of parliament, so that he ought to attend parliament as a peer (r). The office may descend to and be executed by a female; for Executed Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, had by a female. the office of Hereditary Sheriff of Westmoreland, and at the assizes at Appleby she sat with the judges on the bench (y). The Courts take judicial notice of the ministerial officer of all Judicially counties (z). (r) Plowd. 37; Dalt. 23. (s) Milton's case, 4 Co. 33; Wood's Inst. 71. (t) See" Warrant of Appointment;" 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 99; 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 105, s. 4. (u) 1 Ann. st. 1, c. 8. (x) Cro. Eliz. 12, pl. 3; 25 Eliz. C. B., Mordant's case. (y) Hargrave's Notes, Co. Litt. 326 a. (*) 8 Mod. Ca. 252; 1 Salk. Rep. 266. noticed. Landed qualifica tion. SECTION II. QUALIFICATION. THE Statute de Vicecomitibus (a) declares "that none shall be Sheriff except he have sufficient (b) land within the same shire where he shall be Sheriff, to answer the king and the people;" but this landed qualification as to quantity is wholly undefined, either by statute or common law; yet as there are many onerous duties cast upon him, for which the law has not provided distinctly any remuneration, men of substance are for the most part appointed to the office, that they may be able to bear those duties with more ease and dignity (c). Again, by the principles of the common law, no salary is incident to the office, and this is another reason for appointing men of substance to the office; but by statute law salaries have formerly been granted, and still are in the statute book in some counties, as in Wales (d), where every Sheriff within the twelve shires hath for his fee yearly 5l., the Sheriff of Cambridgeshire (e), and the two knights of the shire (incorporated by the name of the Wardens of the Wages), have 107. rent, payable out of the shire manor; namely, lands assured to Serjeant Hinde and his heirs, within the manor of Maddingly, in the same county: so in counties corporate and towns, by virtue of some bye-law, an allowance is made to the Sheriffs, as in London (ƒ), from 400l. to 500l. a year, to each of them: so in Scotland, the Sheriffs Depute have salaries, as in the case of Sir Walter Scott, who, as Sheriff Depute of Selkirkshire, had an annual salary of 300l. a year, which he held from the 16th day of December, 1799, until his death, in 1832 (g). (a) Edw. 2, c. 16, st. 2; 4 Edw. 3, c. 9; 5 Edw. 3, c. 4; see also 28 Edw. 1, c. 13, s. 8. (b) The construction of the term "sufficient" rests with the Great Offcers of State and Judges, who have, on all occasions that I have witnessed the ceremony, allowed the plea of "no sufficient land within the county," as an excuse of course. (c) Graham v. Grill, 2 M. & S. 297. (f) See the Report of the Municipal Corporation Commissioners, relative to the corporation of the city of London, tit. "Corporate Officers.' (g) Lockhart's Life of Scott, vol. i. p. 318; 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 101. It was once laid down by Lord Holt (h), "that the Queen Larwood's hath an interest in every subject, and a right to his service, and case. no man can be exempt from the office of Sheriff but by act of parliament or letters-patent." Four years only before this case (in 1690 (i)), a different doctrine of law prevailed, at least its truth as an universal proposition was denied, and in 1767 (k), by one of the ablest and most eloquent judgments on record, delivered in the House of Peers, by Lord Mansfield, it was at length set at rest, "that a Dissenter was not compellable to qualify himself by taking the Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, and that a Dissenter's election to the office was null and void." Acts. Now, however, as the disabling statutes (1), upon which all Test and this disputation arose, are repealed as to the sacramental test, Corporation and as regards her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, an oath in unison with their religious creed (m) has been substituted instead of the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, the law may be briefly stated thus: no man is exempt from the office of Sheriff (n) but by act of parliament; letters-patent; by disability arising from a judgment in law (o); or by reason of the office being incompatible with another (p). 1. The persons disabled by act of parliament from holding the office, are the following: Firstly. No militia officer, during the time he is acting in that Militia capacity, shall be obliged to serve the office (q). Secondly. No one who hath already served the office of Sheriff of any county, shall be, within three years next ensuing, chosen again, if there be other in the said county of sufficient possessions and goods (r) to answer to the Queen and the people. (h) Larwood's case, 1 Ld. Raym. 32; 1 Salk. 167; S. C. 4 Mod. 274, n. See also Pelham's case, Savil, 43; Salop's case, 9 Co. 46 b; Mo. 111. (i) Mayor of Guildford v. Clark, 2 Ventr. 247. (k) Harrison v. Evans, Cowp. 393. See also Lord Mansfield's judgment, reported in 2 Burn's Eccl. Law, 220, 8th edit.; Bro. P. C. 10. (1) 13 Car. 2, st. 2, c. 1; 25 Car. 2, c. 2; 16 Geo. 2, c. 30, repealed as to so much as imposed the necessity of taking the sacrament, by 9 Geo. 4, c. 17, and 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 28. The acts relating to declarations against (m) 10 Geo. 4, c. 7. (r) 1 Rich. 2, c. 11; the words of Officers. riff. Former She-"The Under-sheriff, and all other officers within the city of London, which now be or shall be at all times, excepted; and such counties only except in which divers of the King's liege people be inheritable to the office of Sheriffs at this day, and also such persons as have estate of freehold in the office of Sheriffs at this day, and except the letters-patent made to them of the office of Sheriffs, and their Under-sheriffs and clerks” (s). Bailiff to a lord. Magistrate. A prisoner for debt or excommunicated. Attorney. Thirdly. "None that is steward or bailiff to a great lord shall be made Sheriff, except he be out of office, but that he be such as can entirely attend to execute the office of Sheriff for the King and the people" (t). Fourthly. Although a Sheriff is virtute officii a conservator of the peace, yet it is declared (u), "that all and every acts to be done by any Sheriff, by authority of any commission of the peace, during the time of his Sheriffwick, shall be void. But when he is out of office, he may act by force of the same commission (v). 2. By letters patent; no instance of this has occurred to us in practice or in research. 3. By a disability arising from a judgment in law (x): a prisoner for debt is not bound to remove his disability (y), but (for reasons not very intelligible on the face of the reports, or otherwise) a person excommunicated (z) is bound to remove his disability. 4. By reason of the office being incompatible with another (a). An attorney in actual practice is exempt on this ground, for he cannot necessarily be attendant on the Superior Courts and his County at the same time. The great Lord Mansfield, in the authority referred to, considered this exemption as the privilege of the Court of which he is an officer, and not the privilege of the attorney himself; being so, with the greatest (s) 23 Hen. 6, c. 7. No person who has once served the office in London and Middlesex is again eligible; Act of Common Council, 7th April, 1748. A person who has paid the fine (unless he afterwards become an Alderman,) is also for ever exempt.Ibid. (t) 9 Edw. 2, c. 16, st. 2. (x) Salk. 108; 4 Mod. 273. (a) Mayor of Norwich v. Berry, 4 Burr. Rep. 2114. |