prison, or place from which he or she shall have been brought, or in which he or she may be lawfully confined; and the Sheriff, gaoler, or other person having the custody of any offender, whose removal to Parkhurst prison shall be ordered in manner Parkhurst aforesaid, shall, with all convenient speed after the receipt of prison. any such order, convey or cause to be conveyed every such offender to Parkhurst prison, and shall there deliver him or her to the governor of the prison with a true copy, attested by such Sheriff or gaoler, of the caption and order of the Court by which such offender was sentenced, containing the sentence of every such offender by virtue whereof he or she shall be in the custody of such Sheriff or gaoler, and also a certificate specifying such particulars within the knowledge of the Sheriff or gaoler concerning such offender as may be from time to time directed by the Secretary of State; and the governor shall give a receipt in writing to the Sheriff or gaoler for his discharge; and all reasonable expenses which the Sheriff or gaoler shall incur in every such removal, shall be paid by the county, riding, division, city, borough, liberty, or place, for which the Court in which the offender was convicted shall have been holden." SECTION IX. DEPUTIES. By the Law Amendment Act (a)" the Sheriff of each county Deputies. in England and Wales (b) shall severally name a sufficient deputy, who shall be resident or have an office within one mile from the Inner Temple Hall, for the receipt of writs, granting warrants thereon, making returns thereto, and accepting of all rules and orders to be made on or touching the execution of any process or writ to be directed to such Sheriff." It will be observed, that no mention is made of the time or Time of apform of naming a deputy for such purposes, a reasonable time will pointment. therefore be allowed the Sheriff for that purpose; but for any laches in that behalf he would be liable in damages to the party aggrieved thereby, as if an arrest was lost by such non-appointment or the like: the form of nomination may be as follows: (a) 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42, s. 20. (b) As to the counties in Wales, Lancaster, Chester, and City of Chester, 1 Edw. 6, c. 10; 5 Edw. 6, c. 26; Durham, 31 Eliz. c. 9; and the Rules Deputy's appoint ment. Appointment. Cumberland J. D. Esq., High Sheriff of the county (or county palato wit. Štine) aforesaid, to M. A., gentleman. I do hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint you to be my deputy, for the receipt of writs, granting warrants thereon, making returns thereto, and accepting of all rules and orders to be made on or touching the execution of any process or writ to me as such Sheriff. Given under the seal of my office, this day of A. D. 1838. Replevin SECTION X. REPLEVIN CLERKS. By statute 1 & 2 Phil. & Mary, c. 12, s. 3, “for the more speedy delivery of cattle taken by way of distress, it is enacted, that every sheriff of shires, being no cities nor towns made shires, shall, at his first county day or within two months next after he hath received his patent of the office of sheriffwick (his warrant of appointment), depute, appoint, and proclaim in the shire town within his bailiwick four (a) deputies at the least, dwelling not above twelve miles one distant from another; which said deputies so appointed and proclaimed shall have authority in the Sheriff's name to make replevies and deliverance of such distresses, in such manner and form as the Sheriff may and ought to do; upon pain that every Sheriff for every month that he shall lack such deputy or deputies shall forfeit for every such offence 5l.," recoverable in a qui tam action of debt, or, &c. There must be an appointment to satisfy the statute, and the mere acting as replevin clerk will not suffice (b); but the appointment is not unfrequently made by a simple minute in the Court Book at the first county court day: it is, however, advisable for many reasons to grant them their respective deputations according to the following precedent: Cumberland J. D., Esq., Sheriff of the county (or county palatine) to wit. aforesaid, to M. A., gentleman. I do hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint you one of my deputies for making or granting replevins within the said county, pursuant to the statute in that case made and provided. Given under the seal of my office, this day of A. D. 1838. By the same Sheriff. The following advertisement is usually inserted in the News papers generally circulated in the county: (a) More are in general appointed and for the most part attorneys. (b) Griffiths v. Stephens, 1 Chit. Rep. 196. Cumberland The places and times appointed for holding the several to wita County Courts of J. D., Esq., Sheriff of the said County. The County Clerk is the Clerk of the County Court and also appointed by the Sheriff (a), when such appointment does take place; but it is quite optional on his part to appoint one or not. The appointment when made is in general made by a minute in the Court Book. If the Under-sheriff resides at a distance from the place of holding the Court, the Sheriff should depute some attorney at the place to do so. (a) Milton's Ca. 4 Co. 33. F CHAPTER II. COURTS. Judicial duties. Sheriff's Tourn. SEEING the High Sheriff now legally invested with the purple of his office and surrounded by his officers, equally in a situation to discharge their respective duties, we purpose examining his judicial character and the jurisdiction of the Courts over which he is called virtute officii to preside as judge. SECTION I. SHERIFF'S TOURN. As this Court (although for a period of nearly three centuries and an half, surviving in the meanwhile the rash hands of invading foreigners, constituting the chief criminal Court of the kingdom) is now but the shadow of what it was, its business having wholly devolved upon the Court of Quarter Sessions, its Jurisdiction present jurisdiction may be briefly laid down thus :-The Sheriff may now virtute officii receive indictments and presentments of all felonies that are felonies at common law, and all common nuisances, in order to deliver them to the justices of the peace at the next sessions; his power to determine being taken away by the 17th section of the Magna Charta (a). of. A Court of record. It is a Court of record and its style is "Curia visus franci plegü dominæ reginæ tenta apud C. coram vic. in turno suo tali die," &c. and holden according to the statute of 31 Edw. 3, c. 15. County SECTION II. COUNTY COURT. What has been said of the " Sheriff's Tourn" as respects its former jurisdiction, the effect of the Norman invasion upon it as (a) As to time, place, jurisdiction, requisites of indictments, &c., 2 Hawk. P. C. ch. 10; 2 Hale's P. C. 70; Dalt. 285; Dyer, 151, 211; Keilw. 192, 66; 2 Saund. 290; 12 Mod. 180; 8 Co. 38; Colebrook v. Elliott, 3 Burr. 1860. a tribunal of justice, and the final abridgment of its powers by the great charter, with equal truth apply to the County Court; both Courts seem originally to have had jurisdiction over criminal as well as over civil matters (6): but certain it is that this Court in practice was confined to civil pleas: the reason usually assigned by our legal antiquaries is, that the bishop was judge therein. together with the sheriff, and by the common law he was not to intermeddle in matters of blood: and pleas of the crown are at the present day as unknown in it as if they had never formed a component part of its business, being confined to civil disputes between subject and subject of a limited extent, exercising in Present general a jurisdiction concurrent with but sometimes exclusive jurisdiction. of that of the superior Courts (c). Court. The Sheriff's duties in this Court are in general of a minis- Sheriff's terial (d) and not of a judicial nature-being there, to use the duties in this language of Lord Coke, "edocere jura populo," his work being directory or declaratory-the mere register of the suitors or freeholders who are the real judges therein; yet as some of his acts herein are judicial and protected as such; for instance, in issuing his fi. fa. (e); for that reason, and for order's sake the subject is now considered. The Court is not a Court of record (f); its style is, "Cum- Not a Court berland to wit, the (1st) County Court of M. A., Esq., Sheriff of of record. the county aforesaid, held at C.," and holds plea either by plaint or by writ of justicies, which is in nature of a commission out of Jurisdiction Chancery to the Sheriff, empowering him to hold plea in any by plaint and justi personal action (not being vi et armis) to any amount (g). cies. The Court has jurisdiction by plaint in all personal actions By plaint. (not being vi et armis) under the value of 40s.(h), except in account (i); debt on record in other Courts; specialties; detinue In what of charters concerning freehold or inheritance; and in pleas concerning freehold; (Comyn, in his Digest, adds to the exception, (b) Glanv. 1. 1, c. 2, 3, 4; Fleta, lib. 2, c. 62; Bracton and Britton, passim. (c) Statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. 1, c. 8; 3 Bl. Comm. 35. (d) 4 Rep. 32; 6 Rep. 11; Dalt. 409. (e) Tinsley v. Nassau, 2 Car. & P. 582; M. & M. 52. (f) 8 Co. 41, c. 60. (g) Finch. 318; Fitz, Nat. Br. 152; 4 Inst. 266. (h) 2 Inst. 312; 4 Inst. 266. form of action, |