PART II.

OF THE PREVENTION OF PUBLIC OFFENCES.

TITLE I. Of lawful resistance.

II. Of the intervention of officers of justice.

This part embraces a variety of practical rules, which have not heretofore been made the subject of statutory enactment. With the exception of provisions in former statutes, for holding parties to keep the peace, and for the suppression of riots by the power of the county, or of the executive authority of the state, the duties of both officers and citizens, in the prevention of offences, have been left entirely to the regulation of the common law. The consequence has been, that those, who, in a sudden emergency, are required to aid in the preservation of public order, have been left wholly uninformed as to their duty, unless as they may, (which has not often been the case,) have obtained it from the almost inaccessible sources to which they must resort.

The hardship of the necessity, which is thus cast upon the citizen, of either neglecting the performance of a duty which he owes to society, or of doing so at the peril of a transgression of the law, of which he is wholly uninformed, is well expressed by Mr. Livingston, in his report of a Criminal Code for Louisiana, p. 201. "The first dictates of common sense," says he, " inform an individual that he has a right to defend himself. The laws of society impose the obligation upon him of defending others, and of enforcing the execution of the laws. Magistrates and executive officers are required by official duty, to prevent or arrest violence and depredation; and the military force is told that it must assist the civil power, when legally called on. All this, the general language of the law gives the citizen to understand. But in our state

it has never deigned to make such a record of its will as may enable any one, desirous of obeying, to discover boundaries between legal acts and transgression, in the performance of this duty. A correct moral sense, a determination to injure no one, may, with respect to a man's own actions, render a knowledge of positive law less necessary; but no prudence can foresee or prevent the necessity of self-defence; and every man may be called on in some capacity to protect others, or to defend the peace of the state; and yet, with every inclination to perform the duties of a good citizen on these occasions, he is continually arrested by the unavoidable doubts which must arise as to the propriety of personal exertion in the particular case, or the extent to which he may carry it."

Fully concurring in these views, the Commissioners have felt called upon to propose, at least a land mark, by which the right and the duty referred to, are distinctly defined. In doing so, they have deemed it proper to declare the cases in which, according to the common law, lawful resistance to the commission of a public offence may be made, either by the party about to be injured, or by other parties, or by the inintervention of public officers; and have accordingly introduced into the code, a variety of provisions of a practical nature, embracing these important subjects. These provisions include, in additiou to the matters above enumerated, security to keep the peace,-police in cities and villages, and their. attendance at exposed places, and the suppression of riots.

TITLE I

OF LAWFUL RESISTANCE.

CHAPTER I. General provisions.

II. Resistance by the party about to be injured.
III. Resistance by other parties.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL PROVISIONS, RESPECTING LAWFUL RESISTANCE.

SECTION 60. Lawful resistance, by whom made.

$60. Lawful resistance to the commission of a public

offence may be made,

1. By the party about to be injured:

2. By other parties.

CHAPTER II.

RESISTANCE BY THE PARTY ABOUT TO BE INJURED.

SECTION 61. In what cases, and to what extent.

§61. Resistance sufficient to prevent the offence, may be made by the party about to be injured,

1. To prevent an offence against his person :

2. To prevent an illegal attempt, by force, to take or injure property in his lawful possession.

CHAPTER III.

RESISTANCE BY OTHER PARTIES.

SECTION 62. In what cases.

§ 62. Any other person, in aid or defence of the person about to be injured, may make resistance, sufficient to prevent the offence.

TITLE 11.

OF THE INTERVENTION OF THE OFFICERS OF JUSTICE.

CHAPTER I. Intervention of public officers, in general.

II. Security to keep the peace.

III. Police in cities and villages, and their attendance at exposed places.
IV. Suppression of riots.

CHAPTER. I.

INTERVENTION OF PUBLIC OFFICERS, IN GENERAL.

SECTION 63. In what cases.

64. Persons acting in their aid, justified.

63. Public offences may be prevented by the intervention of the officers of justice,

1. By requiring security to keep the peace:

2. By forming a police in cities and villages, and by requiring their attendance in exposed places:

3. By suppressing riots.

§61. When the officers of justice are authorised to act in the prevention of public offences, other persons, who by their command act in their aid, are justified in so doing.

66.

CHAPTER II.

SECURITY TO KEEP THE PEACE.

SECTION 65. Information of threatened offence.
Examination of complainant and witnesses.
67. Warrant of arrest.

68. Proceedings, on complaint being controverted.
69. Person complained of, when to be discharged
70. Security to keep the peace, when required.

71. Effect of giving or refusing to give security.

72. Person committed for not giving security, how discharged.

73. Undertaking, to be transmitted to sessions.

74. Security, when required, for assault, &c., in presence of a court or magistrate.

75. Appearance of party bound, upon his undertaking.

76. Person bound, may be discharged, if complainant do not appear.

77. Proceedings in sessions, on appearance of both parties.

78. Undertaking, when broken.

79. Undertaking, when, and how to be prosecuted.

80. Evidence of breach.

81. Security for the peace, not required, except according to this chapter.

The provisions of this chapter are condensed and simplified from, and are the same in substance as those contained in 2 R. S., 3d ed. 781, 782, sec. 2-14.

§ 65. An information may be laid before any of the magistrates mentioned in section 147, that a person has threatened to commit an offence against the person or property of another.

§ 66. When the information is laid before the magistrate, he must examine on oath the complainant and any witnesses he may produce, and must take their depositions in writing, and cause them to be subscribed by the parties making them.

§ 67. If it appear from the depositions, that there is just reason to fear the commission of the offence threatened, by the person complained of, the magistrate must