IV. Warrant of Distress, &c. In many statutes, by which a pecuniary penalty is inflicted for offences punishable upon a summary conviction, the penalty is directed to be levied by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the offender; and in default of sufficient distress, the offender to be imprisoned, &c. In such cases, after conviction, a warrant of distress first issues; and, upon the constable, to whom it is directed, returning that the defendant has no sufficient distress upon which he can levy the penalty, a commitment then issues, to take the defendant, and imprison him. By stat. 5 Geo. 4, c. 18, s. 1, in every such case, it shall be lawful for the justice, at his discretion, to order the offender so convicted to be kept and detained in safe custody until return shall be made to such warrant of distress, unless such offender shall give sufficient security, to the satisfaction of such justice, for his appearance before him on such day as shall be appointed for the return of the warrant of distress, such day not being more than eight days from the time of taking such security; and such security the said justice is hereby empowered to take by way of recognizance or otherwise, as to him shall seem right or proper. Or, in case it shall appear to the satisfaction of such justice, either by the confession of the offender or otherwise, that he hath not goods or chattels within the jurisdiction of such justice, sufficient whereon to levy all such penalties and forfeitures, costs and charges, such justice may, at his discretion, without issuing any warrant of distress, commit the offender for such period of time, and in such and like manner, as if a warrant of distress had been issued, and nulla bona returned thereon. And by sect. 2, reciting, that by some acts, certain penalties are to be recovered before a justice or justices of the peace, and he or they are authorized to issue a warrant for levying such penalties by distress and sale of the goods of the offender, but no further remedy is provided in case no sufficient goods can be found whereon to levy such penalties: it is enacted, that if it appear, either upon the return to a warrant of distress, or by the confession of the offender or otherwise, that there are no sufficient goods whereon to levy the penalty, &c., the justice may commit the offender to the common gaol, for any term not exceeding three calendar months, unless the sum adjudged to be paid, and all costs and charges of the proceedings, shall be sooner paid; provided always that the amount of such costs and expenses shall be specified in such warrant of commitment. By sect. 3, where an offender is committed for non-payment of a penalty, &c. if he shall, at any time during the period of his imprisonment, pay or cause to be paid to the keeper of the prison the full amount of the penalty, costs, and charges, it shall be law ful for such keeper, and he is hereby required, forthwith to discharge such offender from his custody. By sect. 4, reciting that whereas cases may occur where the recovery of such penalty, by distress and sale, may appear to the justice to be attended with consequences ruinous to the of fender and his family: it is enacted, that justices shall be empowered, and they are hereby authorized, in all cases and upon all such occasions as to them shall seem fit, and where such consequences are likely to arise, to cause to be withheld the issue of any warrant of distress, and to commit the offender, immediately after conviction, and in default of payment of the penalty &c., to the common gaol or house of correction, for such time and in such manner as in that behalf is mentioned and directed by statute: provided it be by the desire and with the consent in writing of the party upon whose property the penalty would otherwise be to be levied. By stat. 27 Geo. 2, c. 20, s. 1, in a warrant of distress, it shall be lawful for the justice to order and direct the goods to be sold within a certain time to be therein limited, so as such time be not less than four days, nor more than eight days, unless the penalty, together with the reasonable charges of taking and keeping such distress, be sooner paid. And lastly, by stat. 33 Geo. 3, c. 55, s. 3, where a warrant of distress for a penalty &c. is issued, and sufficient distress cannot be found within the limits of the jurisdiction of the justice granting it, then, on oath thereof made by one witness before any justice of any other county or place, (which oath shall be by him certified by indorsement on such warrant), such penalty &c., or so much thereof as may not have been before levied or paid, shall and may, by virtue of such warrant and indorsement, be levied by the person to whom such warrant was originally directed, by distress and sale of the goods of the party in such other county or place. The following is the form of a Warrant of Distress. in the said county, and to all other constables in and for the said county. Whereas C. D., late of 2 in the said county, labourer, was on this day [or, on the day of -instant], duly convicted before [me], J. P., one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, for that he the said C.D." [&c. stating the offence, as in the conviction], "against the form of the statute in that case made and provided; and [I] the said J. P., thereupon adjudged the said C. D., for his said offence, to" [&c. setting out the adjudication, as in the conviction]: "and whereas the said C. D., being so convicted as aforesaid, and being required to pay the said sums, hath not paid the same or any part thereof, but therein hath made default; These are therefore to command you forthwith to make distress of the goods and chattels of the said C. D.; and if, within the space of [not less than four, nor more than eight days; see 27 G. 2, c. 20, s. 1, supra.] "days next after the making of such distress, the said sums, together with the reasonable charges of taking and keeping the said distress, shall not be paid, that then you do sell the said goods and chattels so by you distrained, and out of the money arising by such sale, that you do pay [one moiety of the said sum of -, so forfeited as aforesaid, together with the said sum of for costs, unto A. B., who hath informed me of the said offence; and the said other moiety of the said sum of so forfeited as aforesaid, unto the use of his Majesty," or, "unto the overseers of the poor of the said parish of where the said offence was committed, for the use of the poor of the said parish," or as the statute may require]; "rendering the overplus on demand unto the said C. D., the reasonable charges of taking, keeping, and selling the said distress, being first demanded. And if no such distress can be made, that then you certify the same unto me, to the end that such further proceedings may be had therein, as to the law doth appertain. Given under my hand and seal, this day of -, in the ninth year of the reign of our sovereign lord King George the Fourth. J. P. Constable's Return thereto. BERKSHIRE: I, W. T., constable of -, in the county aforesaid, do hereby certify J. P., esquire, one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, that by virtue of this warrant I have made diligent search for the goods and chattels of the within-mentioned C. D., and that I can find no sufficient goods or chattels of the said C. D. whereon to levy the sums within mentioned. Witness my hand, the in the year of our Lord 1828. - day of W. T. Commitment for want of Distress, BERKSHIRE: To the constable of in the said county, and to the keeper of the house of correction at, in the said county. Whereas C. D., late of was on the [ie] J. P., one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, for that he the said C. D." [&c. stating the offence, as in the conviction], "against the form of the statute in that case made and provided; and [I] the said J. P. thereupon adjudged the said C. D., for his said offence, to [&c. setting out the adjudication, as in the conviction]: "and whereas afterwards, on the day of, in the year aforesaid, [I] the said J. P. issued a warrant to the constable of - —, commanding him to levy the said sums by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the said C. D.; and whereas it appears to me, as well by the return of the said constable to the said warrant of distress as otherwise, that the said constable hath made diligent search for the goods and chattels of the said C. D., but that no sufficient distress can be found whereon to levy the same: These are therefore to command you, the said constable of aforesaid, to take the said C. D., and him safely to convey to the house of correction at aforesaid, and there to deliver him to the said keeper thereof, together with this precept; and I do hereby command you the said keeper of the said house of correction, to receive the said C. D. into the said house of correction, there to imprison him [and keep him to hard labour] for the space of calendar months, unless the said sums shall be sooner paid; and for your so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant. Given under my hand and seal, at -, in the county aforesaid, this -day of in the ninth year of the reign of our sovereign lord King George the Fourth. J. P. ADDENDA. As it was not certain, at the time the foregoing part of this work was printed, that the section of Lord Lansdowne's Act, which gives a summary jurisdiction to magistrates in cases of assault and battery, would pass the House of Lords, the following Forms were omitted in that part of the work in which they would otherwise have been inserted. ASSAULT AND BATTERY. Complaint for an Assault and Battery. BERKSHIRE, to wit:-Be it remembered, that on the of, in the year of our Lord county, A. B., of at day in the said in the county aforesaid, labourer, personally cometh before me, J. P., one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, and complaineth to and informeth me that C. D., of in the county aforesaid, labourer, on the last past, at the parish of in the day ofsaid county, did unlawfully assault and beat [“ assault or beat,”] him the said A. B. Taken and sworn before me, the A. B. The statute does not require this complaint to be in writing, or upon oath; but in cases where the justice may think it necessary to issue a warrant to apprehend the offender, it will be prudent to require this complaint to be reduced to writing and sworn to, before the warrant is granted. |