To be conservator of the peace.

Sheriff's duty.

To endorse on process time

when received.

To execute process with diligence.

May return process by mail.

SEC. 3. The sheriff shall be a conservator of the peace in his county.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the sheriff within his county:

1st. To arrest and take before the nearest magistrate for examination, all persons who commit, or attempt to commit, a public offence in his presence, or who have committed a public offence:

2d. To prevent and suppress all affrays, breaches of the peace, riots, and insurrections, which may come to his knowledge.

3d. To execute the process, writs, warrants, and order of the courts of justice, or of judicial officers, when delivered to him for that purpose.

4th. To attend in person, or by deputy, all courts except justices', probate, and recorders' courts, at their respective terms, held within his county, and to obey their lawful orders and directions.

5th. To serve at the request of a party to any action or proceeding, notices and papers therein.

6th. In the execution of these duties, to command the aid of as many male inhabitants of his county as he may think proper and ne cessary. (1)

SEC. 5. When any process, writ, or order, shall be delivered to the sheriff to be executed, he shall endorse upon it the year, month, day, and hour, of its reception, and shall give to the person delivering it, if required, on payment of his fee, a written memorandum signed by him, specifying the names of the parties in the process, writ, or or der, the general nature thereof, and the time it was received. He shall also deliver to the party served a copy thereof, without charge to such party.

SEC. 6. A sheriff to whom any process, writ, order, or shall paper, be delivered, shall execute it with diligence according to its command, or as required by law, and shall return it without delay to the proper court or officer with his certificate endorsed thereon of the manner of its service or execution, or if not seryed or executed, the reasons of his failure. For a failure to do so, he shall be liable in an action to the party aggrieved for the sum of two hundred dollars, and for all damages sustained by him.

for

SEC. 7. When any process, writ, order or paper, is to be returned to a court, officer or person out of the county, the sheriff may ward it by mail, and on proof that it was mailed in season, properly directed, he shall be discharged from liability for a failure to return it.

(1) For further duties, see ante, page 233, sec. 3. Also, page 219-20-21-22 and 223. For duties in summoning juries, see chapter 104. For duties under revenue law, see chapter 127, art. 3, to end.

SEC. 8. If the sheriff to whom a writ of execution is delivered Refusing to levy' shall neglect or refuse, after being required by the creditor or his attorney, to levy upon or sell any property of the party charged in the writ, which is liable to be levied upon and sold, he shall be liable on his official bond to the creditor for the value of such property.

over moneys

SEC. 9. If a sheriff shall neglect or refuse to pay over, on demand, Refusing to pay to the person entitled, any money which may come into his hands by collected. virtue of his office, after deducting his legal fees, the amount thereof, with twenty-five per cent. damages and interest, at the rate of ten per cent. per month from the time of demand, may be recovered by such person from him and the sureties on his official bond, on application, upon five days' notice to the court in which the action is brought, or the judge thereof in vacation.

at county seat.

SEC. 10. The sheriff shall keep an office at the county seat of his To keep office county.

SEC. 11. The sheriff's office shall be kept open on all days except Office hours. Sundays, between the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon, and between the hours of two and five in the afternoon.

on sheriff.

SEC. 12. Service of a paper upon the sheriff may be made by deliv- Service of paper ering it to himself in person, or by delivering it to the under sheriff, or to one of his deputies, or to a person belonging to, and in the office during office hours, or if no such person be there, by leaving it in a conspicuous place in the office.

ARTICLE II.

UNDER AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS.

may be

SECTION 13. Each of the present sheriffs within thirty days after Under sheriffs the passage of this act, and each sheriff hereafter elected, immediate- appointed. ly after entering upon the duties of his office, shall appoint an under sheriff to hold the office during his pleasure, and shall make a similar appointment as often as a vacancy occurs in the office of under sheriff. He may also appoint as many deputies as he thinks proper, to hold their offices during his pleasure.

SEC. 14. The appointment of an under sheriff and of deputy sheriff Appointinent to be in writing. and also the revocation of any such appointment, shall be in writing, and filed in the office of the county clerk. The sheriff may require of each person appointed under sheriff, and of each of his deputies a Under sheriff to bond, with sureties for the faithful performance of his duties, but and take oath the sheriff shall be responsible for the official acts of the under sheriff and his deputies. Before entering upon their respective duties, the under sheriff and each of the deputies shall take

give bond

of office.

the oath of office, which shall be endorsed on their respective appointments.

SEC. 15. During the absence of the sheriff from his county, or when the sheriff, from sickness or any other cause, is unable to discharge the duties of his office, the under sheriff shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of that officer, and at other times shall perform such services relating to the duties of the sheriff as may be required of him by that officer. A deputy sheriff shall execute all orders, writs, and process of a court or judicial officer, delivered to him for that purpose, and may perform every act inciden tal thereto.

SEC. 16. The neglect, or misconduct in office of the under sheriff, or any deputy, shall be a breach of the official bond of the sheriff by whom they are appointed.

County jail to

be used

as a prison.

Keeper of jail.

County

jail may be erected.

ARTICLE III.

COUNTY JAILS.

The keeping of prisoners therein, and the protection thereof. SECTION 17. The county jail shall be kept by the sheriff and used as a prison.

1st. For the detention of persons committed as witnesses in a criminal action.

2d. For the detention of persons committed for trial for a public offence.

3d. For the confinement of

and

persons committed upon civil process:

4th. For the confinement of persons sentenced to confinement therein, upon conviction for a public offence, or for examination, charged with having committed a public offence.

SEC. 18. The sheriff may appoint a keeper of the county jail, for whose acts as such, he shall be responsible.

SEC. 19. The court of sessions of the county shall cause a county jail to be erected at the county seat, in case such jail has not been already erected, or shall provide some suitable place for the safe keeping of prisoners, which place, until the erection of a jail, is considered in this act as the county jail. The county jail, or the place provided as such, shall contain a sufficient number of rooms:

1st. For the confinement of persons committed for trial in criminal actions, separate and distinct from prisoners under sentence.

2d. For the confinement of prisoners under sentence.

3d. For the confinement of persons committed on civil process, or as

witnesses in criminal actions, separate from those mentioned in the last two subdivisions.

classified.

SEC. 20. Persons committed on criminal process and detained for Prisoners to be trial, persons convicted and under sentence, and persons committed upon civil process, shall on no pretence whatever be kept or put in the same room, nor shall male and female prisoners (except husband and wife) be kept or put in the same room.

of a contiguous

county may

be used.

SEC. 21. When there is no jail in the county, or when the jail be- When jail comes unfit or unsafe for the confinement of prisoners, the county judge may, by a written appointment filed with the county clerk, designate the jail of a contiguous county for the confinement of the prisoners of his county, or of any of them, and may at any time modify or annul the appointment.

in contiguous

county to

receive prisoners.

SEC. 22. A copy of the appointment certified by the county clerk Keepers of jail shall be served on the sheriff and keeper of the jail designated, who shall receive into his jail and safely keep all prisoners authorized to be confined therein, pursuant to the last section, and who shall be responsible for the safe keeping of the persons so committed in the same manner and to the same extent as if he was sheriff of the county for whose use his jail is designated, and with respect to the persons so committed he shall be deemed the sheriff of the county from which they were removed.

contiguous county to cease to be used.

SEC. 23. When a jail shall be erected in the county for whose use when jail in the designation was made, or its jail shall be rendered fit and safe for the confinement of prisoners, the county judge of that county shall, by a written revocation, filed with the county clerk thereof, declare that the necessity for the designation has ceased and that it is revoked. SEC. 24. The county clerk shall immediately serve a copy of the Prisoners to be revocation upon the sheriff of his county, who shall thereupon remove proper county. his prisoners to his own jail.

returned to

be removed

in case of fire.

SEC. 25. When a county jail or a building contiguous to it is on Prisoners may fire, and there is reason to apprehend that the prisoners may be injured or endangered, the sheriff or jailer shall remove them to a safe and convenient place and there confine them, so long as it may be necessary to avoid the danger.

SEC. 26. When a pestilence or contagious disease breaks out in or or pestilence. near to a jail, and the physician thereof certifies that it is liable to endanger the health of the prisoners, the county judge may by a written appointment designate a safe and convenient place in the county, or the jail of a contiguous county, as the place of their confinement. The appointment shall be filed in the office of the county clerk and shall authorize the sheriff to remove the prisoners to the place or jail

Physician to jail.

Papers served on jailer for prisoner.

Guard for jail.

Sheriff to receive

all persons

designated, and there confine them until they can be safely returned to the jail from which they were taken.

SEC. 27. The court of sessions of each county shall from time to time appoint a physician to the jail of the county.

SEC. 28. A sheriff or jailer upon whom a paper in a judicial proceeding directed to a prisoner in his custody is served, shall forthwith deliver it to the prisoner with a note thereon of the time of its service. For a neglect to do so he shall be liable to the prisoner for all damages occasioned thereby, and for wilful omission in this respect shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 29. The sheriff when he shall deem it necessary may, with the assent in writing of the county judge, or in a city of the mayor thereof, employ a temporary guard for the protection of the county jail or for the safe keeping of prisoners, the expenses of which shall be a county charge.

SEC. 30. The sheriff shall receive all persons committed to jail by duly committed. any competent authority, and shall provide them with necessary food, clothing, and bedding, for which he shall be allowed a reasonable compensation to be determined by the court of sessions or board of supervisors, and except as provided in the next section, paid out of the county treasury.

Prisoners on civil process when not to be received.

SEC. 31. Whenever a person is committed upon process in a civil action or proceeding, except when the people of this state are a party thereto, the sheriff shall not be bound to receive such person, unless security be given on the part of the party at whose instance the process is issued, by a deposit of money to meet the expenses for him of necessary food, clothing, and bedding, or to detain such person any longer than these expenses are provided for. This section shall not apply, however, to cases where a party is committed as a punishment for disobedience to the mandates, process, writs, or orders of the court.

What is an escape.

Penalty for

ARTICLE IV.

ESCAPES AND THE LIABILITIES OF SHERIFF THEREFOR.

SECTION 32. A prisoner committed to the county jail for trial or for examination or upon conviction for a public offence, shall be actually confined in the jail until he is legally discharged, and if he be permitted to go at large out of the jail, except by virtue of a legal order or process, it shall be an escape, and the sheriff or jailer permitting it shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be fined in any sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars.

SEC. 33. A sheriff who suffers the escape of a person arrested in a