process and proceedings of courts or officers of justice shall not be served or executed upon Sunday.1 The second section of the article is as follows: There shall be no shooting, hunting, fishing, sporting, playing, horse racing, gaming, frequenting of tippling houses, or any unlawful exercises or pastimes on the first day of the week called Sunday; nor shall any person travel on that day, unless in cases of necessity or charity, or in going to or returning from some church or place of worship within the distance of twenty miles, or in going for medical aid or medicines, or in visiting the sick and returning, or in carrying the mail of the United States, or in going express by order of some public officer, or in removing his family or household furniture when such removal was commenced on some other day; nor shall there be any servile laboring or working on that day, excepting works of necessity and charity, unless done by some person who uniformly keeps the last day of the week, called Saturday, as holy time, and does not work or labor on that day, and whose labor shall not disturb other persons in their observance of the first day of the week as holy time. Every person, being of the age of fourteen years, shall forfeit one dollar for each offence.2 The next section declares that no person shall expose to sale any wares, merchandise, fruit, herbs, goods, or chattels on Sunday, except meats, milk and fish, which may be sold at any time before nine o'clock in the morning; and the articles so exposed shall be forfeited to the use of the poor, and may be seized by virtue of a warrant for that purpose, which any justice of the peace of the county, or mayor, recorder or alderman of the city is authorized to issue upon conviction of the offender. If property is exposed to imminent danger, it is not a violalation of the statute prohibiting labor on the Sabbath to preserve it on Sunday and remove it to a place of safety. 1 R. S., 675, § 65; vide 3 John., 257; 15 id., 177; 12 id., 178; 1 Cow., 75; 8 id., 27; 12 Wend., 59; 8 Barb., 384. 4 1 R. S., 676, § 66. 1 R. S., 676, § 67. • Parmalee v. Wilks, 22 Barb., 540; vide 1 Hill, 76. SECTION XXVII. GENERAL PROVISIONS TO ENFORCE THE PROHIBITIONS OF THE THREE LAST SECTIONS. Whenever complaint shall be made to any justice of the peace, mayor, recorder or alderman of a violation of either the provisions contained in the three last sections, relative to profane swearing, the disturbance of religious meetings, or the observance of Sunday, or when any of such violations shall happen in the presence of such officer, he shall cause the offender to be brought before him, and shall proceed summarily to inquire into the facts, and, if the person charged be found guilty, a record of his conviction shall be made and signed by such officer before issuing any process to enforce the same; which conviction shall be final, and shall not be re-examined upon the merits in any court. No prosecution shall be maintained for any of the violations specified in the preceding section of the statute, unless the same be instituted by the actual issuing of process to apprehend the offender, or by his actual appearance to answer the complaint within twenty days next after the offence committed.2 Upon a conviction being had for any of the offences in the last three sections specified, where no other special provision is made for the collection of the penalties incurred, the magistrate, before whom the same is made, shall issue an execution to any constable of the county, commanding him to levy the said penalties and the costs of the conviction by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the offender, and in case sufficient goods and chattels cannot be found, then to commit such offender to such common jail of the county, for such time as shall be specified in such execution, not less than one day nor more than three days.3 Within thirty days after any such conviction shall be had, the magistrate making the same shall cause to be filed in the office of the clerk of the county a certificate of such conviction, briefly 1 1 R. S., 677, § 72; amended, in case of disturbance of religious meetings, so as to allow jury, vide ante. stating the offence charged, the conviction and judgment thereon, and if any fine has been collected, the amount thereof, and to whom paid.1 In all prosecutions for any of the offences specified in the three last sections, the like fees shall be allowed and taken as in civil suits before justices of the peace, which shall in no case exceed five dollars, and be paid by the party offending, over and above the penalties incurred. But in case of the imprisonment of the offender, no charges or fees shall be allowed.2 SECTION XXVIII. RACING OF ANIMALS. It is made the duty of all officers concerned in the administratration of justice to attend at the place where they shall know, or be informed that any race is about to be run contrary to the provisions of law, and there give notice of the illegality thereof, and endeavor to prevent such race by dispersing the persons collected for the purpose of attending the same, and by all other ways and means in their power. Upon their own view of any persons offending against the provisions of the statute in relation to the racing of animals, as well as upon the testimony of others, such judges and justices shall issue warrants for the immediate apprehension of the persons so offending, to the end that they may be compelled to enter into recognizances, with sufficient sureties, for their good behavior, and for their appearance at some proper court to answer for said offences.3 SECTION XXIX. HAWKERS AND PEDDLERS. Any citizen may apprehend and detain any person who shall be found trading as a hawker or peddler without licenese, or contrary to the terms of his license, or who shall refuse to produce a license, in violation of the provisions of the Revised Statutes, and may convey the offender before any justice of of the peace in the town or county in which he shall be apprehended. It is made the duty of the overseers of the poor of the several towns in this State to enforce the provisions of the law in that respect, whenever any violation thereof within their respective towns shall come to their knowledge.1 It is made the the duty of such justice, if a sufficient license to authorize such trading be not produced to him, and the fact of trading be proved to him, either by the confession of the person apprehended or the oath of competent witnesses, to convict the offender of such offences against the provisions of the statute as shall be so confessed or proved; and to issue his warrant on such conviction, directed to some constable of the county in which the conviction shall be had, commanding such constable to cause the sum of twenty-five dollars, with costs, not to exceed five dollars, to be forthwith levied by distress and sale at public vendue of the goods, wares and merchandise of the offender; the moneys collected on such warrant, exclusive of the costs, are to be paid by the justice to the overseers of the town in which the offence shall have been committed.2 SECTION XXX. CRIMINAL CONTEMPTS. In the following cases, and no others, a justice of the peace may punish, as for a criminal contempt, persons guilty of the following acts: 1. Disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior towards such justice while engaged in the trial of a cause, or in the rendering of any judgment, or in any judicial proceedings which shall tend to interrupt such proceedings, or to impair the respect due to his authority. 2. Any breach of the peace, noise or other disturbance, tending to interrupt the official proceedings of a justice. 3. Resistance willfully offered by any person in the presence of a justice, to the execution of any lawful order or process made or issued by him. Punishment for contempts in the foregoing cases may be by fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding five 1 R. S., 576, § 8; Laws 1840, ch. 70, § 3. 1 R. S., 576, § 9. days, or both, in the discretion of the justice; but no person shall remain imprisoned for the non-payment of such fine more than ten days. Neither shall any person be punished for a contempt before a justice, until an opportunity shall have been given him to be heard in his defence; and for that purpose, a justice may issue a warrant to bring the offender before him. Upon convicting any person of a contempt, the justice shall make up a record of such conviction, stating therein the particular circumstances of the offence, and the judgment rendered thereon, which shall be subscribed by him, and filed in the office of the county clerk, within ten days after its date. The warrant of commitment for any contempt, shall set forth the particular circumstances of the offence, or it shall be void.1 Also when a witness attending before any justice in any cause, shall refuse to be sworn in any form prescribed by law, or to answer any pertinent and proper question, and the party at whose instance he attended, shall make oath that the testimony of such witness is so far material, that without it he cannot safely proceed in the trial of such cause, such justice may, by warrant, commit such witness to the jail of the county. Such warrant shall specify the cause for which the same was issued, and if it be for refusing to answer any question, such question shall be specified therein, and such witness shall be closely confined, pursuant to such warrant, until he submit to be sworn, or to answer, as the case may be.2 The judgment of a court having competent jurisdiction, cannot be reviewed on habeas corpus in cases of commitment for contempt as a witness, in refusing to answer questions relating to a criminal complaint; if the decision of the court be erroneous, the remedy is by certiorari or writ of error. The officer issuing the writ may, however, inquire whether the process of commitment be valid on its face, and also, whether any cause has arisen since the commitment, for putting an end to the imprisoment; and he may also inquire whether the committing magistrate had jurisdiction, and this, notwithstanding a recital of the necessary jurisdictional facts in the commitment.3 As a general rule, the propriety of a commitment for contempt, 12 R. S., 273, § 199, et seq. * 2 R. S., 273, §§ 204, 205. |