1 chastise and punish all persons offending against the form of those ordinances and statutes, or any of them, in the county aforesaid, as according to the form of those ordinances and statutes shall be fit to be done; and to cause to come before you, or any of you, all those persons who shall threaten any of our people in their person, or with burning their houses, to find sufficient security for the peace, or for their good behaviour towards us and our people; and if they shall refuse to find such security, then to cause them to be safely kept in our prison until they have found such security (7). We have also assigned, and by these presents do assign, you, or every two or more of you, of whom the aforesaid A.B., &c., we will shall be one, our justices, in and throughout the county aforesaid (as well within the liberties as without), to inquire by the oath of good and lawful men of our county aforesaid, and by all other lawful ways and means, by whom the truth of the matter may be better known, of all and all manner of treasons, murders, manslaughters, burnings, unlawful assemblies, felonies, robberies, witchcrafts, enchantments, sorceries, magic arts, trespasses, forestallings, regratings, engrossings, and extortions whatsoever, and of all and singular other misdeeds and offences, of which the justices of our peace can or ought lawfully to inquire, by whomsoever and howsoever done or committed, or that hereafter shall happen howsoever to be done or committed in the county aforesaid; and also of all those who presume, by unlawful assemblies, to be disturbers of our peace and of our people within our said county; and also of all those who, in the county aforesaid, have either gone or ridden, or that hereafter shall presume to go or ride, in companies with armed force against our peace, to the disturbance of our peace; and also of all those who in like manner have lain in wait, or hereafter shall presume to lie in wait, to maim or kill our people; and also of all inn-holders, and of all and singular other persons who have offended or attempted, or hereafter shall presume to offend or attempt, in the abuse of weights and measures, or in the sale of victuals against the form of the ordinances and statutes, or any of them, in that behalf made for the common good of our kingdom of Ireland, and of our people thereof, in the county aforesaid; as also of all sheriffs, bailiffs, seneschals, constables, gaolers, and other officers whatsoever, who, in the execution of their offices about the premises, or any of them, have unlawfully demeaned themselves, or that hereafter shall presume unlawfully to demean themselves, or have been, or hereafter shall be, care (1) The security should be limited to a certain period. Grady v. Hunt, Ir.J.N.S. 10; Prickett v. Greatrex, 8 Q.B. 1020. less, remiss, or negligent in the county aforesaid; and of all and singular articles and circumstances, and all other things whatsoever, by whomsoever, and howsoever done or perpetrated in the county aforesaid; or that shall hereafter there happen howsoever to be done or attempted in any wise more fully concerning the truth of the premises, or any of them; and to inspect all indictments whatsoever, so before you, or any of you, taken, or to be taken, or made before others, late justices of the peace in the county aforesaid, and not as yet determined; and to make and continue the process thereupon against all and singular persons so indicted, which hereafter shall happen to be indicted before you, until they be apprehended, render themselves, or be outlawed; and to hear and determine all and singular the matters aforesaid (treason excepted), according to the laws and statutes of our kingdom of Ireland, as in the like case has been used, and ought to be done; and to chastise and punish the said persons offending, and every of them, for their offences, by fines, ransoms, amerciaments, forfeitures, or otherwise as ought and hath been used to be done according to the laws and customs of our kingdom of Ireland, or the form of the ordinances or statutes aforesaid; and to discharge our gaols of all prisoners therein detained and imprisoned for felony. Provided always, that if a case of difficulty upon the determination of any of the premises shall happen to arise before you, or any two or more of you, then do not you, or any two or more of you, proceeded to give judgment thereon, except it be in the presence of one of your justices of one or other bench, or one of the barons of our Exchequer, or of one of our counsel learned in the law. And we therefore command you and every of you that you diligently attend the keeping of the peace, ordinances, and statutes, and all and singular other the premises; and at certain days and places which you, or any two or more of you, as aforesaid, shall in that behalf appoint, you make inquiries upon the premises; and hear and determine all and singular the premises (except as before excepted), and perform and fulfil the same in form aforesaid, doing therein that which to justice appertaineth, according to the laws and customs of our said kingdom of Ireland, saving to us the amerciaments and other things to us thereof belonging. We also command, by virtue of these presents, our sheriff of our county aforesaid, that at certain days and places which you, or any two or more of you, shall make known to him as aforesaid, he cause to come before you, or any two or more of you, as aforesaid, such and so many good and lawful men of his bailiewick (as well within liberties as without), by whom the truth of the matter in the premises may be better known and inquired of. Lastly, we have assigned you the aforesaid X. Y., keeper of the rolls of our peace in our said county: and therefore you shall cause to be brought before you and your said companions at the said days and place, the writs, precepts, processes, and indictments aforesaid, that the same may be inspected, and by a due course of law determined, as aforesaid. Witness, &c. In addition to the commission, the person so appointed receives a dedimus, with the oaths prescribed for Protestants and Roman Catholics annexed. After the usual oath has been administered, the newly-appointed justice retains his commission; the dedimus and oath being returned to the Crown and Hanaper Office (m), with a certificate endorsed on the back of the dedimus by the magistrate who has administered the oath, that the newly-appointed justice has taken it. Who may administer the oath.] The magistrate who administers the oath must be a justice of the peace for the county to which such person has been appointed, or one of the divisional justices of the Dublin metropolis. J. P. becoming disqualified from acting.] A magistrate may become disqualified from acting as a justice of the peace by reason of holding other offices. By 7 Wm. III., c. 13, Ir. s. 3, no sheriff or sub-sheriff of any county shall exercise the office of J. P. during the time that he shall act as sheriff or sub-sheriff in the same county, under the penalty of £20, and his acts shall be void. So 13 & 14 Geo. III., c. 18, provides that no treasurer of a county shall, during his continuance in office, exercise the office of J. P. in such county (n). Formerly it was thought that if a man was named in any commission of the peace, and had afterwards a new dignity conferred upon him, that this determined his office, he no longer answering the description of the commission; but by 10 Car. I. st. 2, c. 14, s. 4, it was provided, that although a person be made or created a duke, peer, &c., judge, serjeant-at-law, or sheriff, yet he should remain a justice, and have full power to execute his office. (m) Either by hand or by post. (n) By 6 Wm. IV., c. 13, stipendiary magistrates are disabled from holding any other office under the act; by 2 Geo. I., c. 11, no attorney is allowed to practise in civil bills in the county for which he is a justice. Form of Supersedeas.] VICTORIA, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith and soforth, to our trusty and well-beloved A.B., Esquire, greeting. Whereas by our Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland, we did constitute and appoint you the said A.B., one of our Justices and Keepers of our Peace within our County of D., as by the said Letters Patent may appear. We, being willing (at your own request) (o) to exonerate you in this particular, do therefore direct and command, that immediately after sight or receiving of this our writ you are superseded from further acting in the said office of Justice or Keeper of the Peace within the said County, and that all recognizances and other writings whatsoever relating to the peace of our said County now remaining in your hands you do forthwith deliver, or cause the same to be delivered, to the Keeper of our Records of the said County, or his Deputy, that our other Justices of the Peace for the said County may do therein as to justice shall appertain. Witness our Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland at Dublin, the day of - in the of our Reign. year CHAPTER II. OF THE JURISDICTION OF JUSTICES OUT OF QUARTER SESSIONS. THE jurisdiction of the J.P. out of quarter sessions is derived either from his commission, which explains his duties, or, as is most usual, from some particular act of parliament (a). The examination and punishment of offences in a summary manner by J.P's. out of their sessions, and without the intervention of a jury, or an open trial, are founded entirely upon a special authority conferred and regulated by statute. No new offence is cognizable in this manner unless expressly made so by act of parliament (b); nor can any power expressly given to a justice, to do a particular act, be enlarged by inference (c). (0) Should the writ be pro rege, these words, "at your own request," must be omitted. (a) Dalt. c. 5, p. 15; 3 Burn. 1009. (b) Saville, 144. (c) Paley Conv. 15. Where their duty is imperative or discretionary.] In some cases the justice has a discretionary duty to take cognizance of the matter (d); in others, as is most usual, the duty is imperative (e). It has been observed by Lord Mansfield that this discretionary power, when applied to a court of justice, means sound discretion guided by law. It must be governed by rule and not by humour; it must not be arbitrary, vague, and fanciful; but legal and regular (f). In most cases a J.P. is imperatively called upon to act; and generally where the statute directs the doing of a thing for the sake of justice or the public good, the word may is the same as shall, and is imperative on the justice to proceed (g). When statute applicable to Ireland.] Magistrates when called upon to act under a particular statute, may often feel embarrassed to know whether its provisions apply to Ireland, when the act is silent on the subject. The following rules will assist them in coming to a right conclusion: All acts of parliament made in England before 10 Hen. VIL, c. 22 (h), are by that statute declared to be in force within the realm of Ireland. The people of Ireland are not bound by acts passed in the parliament of England subsequent to Poyning's act, save in respect of those classes of statutes mentioned in the 21 & 22 Geo. III., c. 48, Ir. (2). From the Union (1) all acts of parliament extend to Ireland whether expressly mentioned or not, unless that portion of the United Kingdom be expressly excepted, or the intention to except it be otherwise plainly shewn. (d) R. v. Broderip, 7 D. & R. 861; 5 B. & C. 239; R. v. Buckinghamshire Js., 2 D. & R. 689. (e) 3 Burn. 560; Selwood v. Mount, 9 C. & P. 75; R. v. Tod. 1 Str. 530; R. v. Bolton, 1 Q.B. 66; Davey, ex parte, 2 Dowl. N. S. 24; 14 & 15 Vic. c. 93, s. 21. (f) R. v. Wilkes, 4 Burr. 2539. (g) R. v. Barlow, 2 Salk. 609; R. v. Eyre, 4 B. & Ald. 271; De Beavoir v. Welch, 7 B. & C. 278; 3 Burns. 1011. The statutes conferring authority upon justices vary in terms are used for that purpose; by some they (i) See the Address to the Crown from the Irish House of Commons, 22nd Feb. 1782, and the 21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 48, Ir.; and see also 6 Geo. I., Eng., c. 65, repealed by 22 Geo. III., Eng., c. 53, and 23 Geo. III., Eng., c. 28. 6) 39 & 40 Geo. III., c. 67. |