Oath of office. Other oaths. Not to act as a solicitor. outlawry. "I, A. B. do swear, that I have not, nor "will, pay any sum or sums of money, or "other reward whatsoever, nor have given any "bond or other assurance to pay any money, fee, or profit, directly or indirectly, to any 66 person or persons whomsoever, for such no"mination or appointment. "So help me God." He must also take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, and comply with the usual forms of persons qualifying for offices. "No Clerk of the Peace, or his deputy, shall act as solicitor, attorney, or agent, or sue out any process at any general or quarter sessions, where he shall execute the office of Clerk of the Peace or deputy, on pain of 50l. to him who shall sue in twelve months with treble costs."* To certify to Beside issuing the processes, and recording the sheriff the proceedings, of the sessions, he is directed by statute "to certify into the King's Bench the names of such as shall be outlawed, attainted, or convicted of felony."† To deliver estreats. "Also to deliver to the Sheriff, within ten days after September 29th, yearly, a perfect estreat or schedule of all fines, and other forfeitures in Sessions."+ * 22. Geo. 2. c. 46. † 34 & 35 Hen. 8. c. 14. He is also obliged to deliver duplicates of these upon oath yearly to the Barons of the Exchequer; but as this portion of his duties is foreign to the limits of the subject under discussion, we must pass on to others which the practise of the court of Session of the Peace imposes on him. A general view of these is all that can be useful, without enumerating such as are only occasional, or directed by statutes of local interest, as filing the rules of friendly societies, and the lists of insolvent debtors seeking relief from the sessions, registering the recognizances of ale-house-keepers, and other matters of similar kinds. It is his duty, then, to read the commission, and the King's proclamation-to administer all oaths, whether to persons qualifying for offices, constables, jurors, or witnesses. Divers acts of parliament are directed to be read, and if not neglected, are read by the Clerk of the Peace. He calls upon the parties under recognizance, whether to prosecute, plead, or give evidence. He draws the indictments, arraigns the prisoners, and presents the bills to, and receives them from, the grand jury. He draws copies of traverses, makes out subpoenas and bench warrants, takes recognizances, receives the verdicts, and (where the undignified practice prevails of the chairman not pronouncing the judgment of the court,) he is the organ through which its opinion is given on subjects of muni Fees. cipal and parochial law, and its sentence of criminal offenders is passed. Further to enumerate his general duties would be superfluous, as they are partly to be collected from the established table of fees in the Appen. dix annexed hereto, and the remainder are pointed out by the different statutes which impose them, and which prescribe his remuneration. The more ancient fees of the Clerk of the Peace are established by usage, which gives them a sanction equivalent to that of the Legislature. It has therefore been decided that every Clerk of the Peace may legally demand. such fees as have been immemorially taken within his county, on such subjects with which no statute has interfered; and that the Justices in Session have no controul over them, so as either to augment, abridge, or remit them: and as they have no power to alter, so they have none to compel payment, but he must recover them by action. If they be such fees as are certain and determined, an action of indebitatus assumpsit, will lie, and if uncertain quantum meruit. It is said, however, that he is not bound" to enter judgment, or the like" at the suit of any, without having his legal fee for the same; but the distinction is taken, that if the court order any thing, without the suit of another, viz. ex officio, he is compellable to enter the same without fee.† * 1 Ld. Raym. 703.-12 Mod. Rep. 608. † Cromp. 159. But if, by colour of his office, he take more Extortion. than his due, it will be extortion, and punishable by fine and imprisonment, on indictment at common law. It should seem also that he is punishable under the statute 3 Edw. 1. c. 26, which inflicts for the penalty "the yielding twice as much as was received, beside being punished at the King's pleasure;" for though generally that statute has been construed to extend only to offices of anterior date, it has been decided to apply to Justices of the Peacé taking fees contrary to their oath at their admission into office, though that office was not instituted till long after.* Modern statutes having imposed a prodigious addition of business upon Justices in the Courts of Quarter Sessions, their officers have, of course, additional duties to perform, especially the Clerk of the Peace. In most of these instances, however, the particular statute imposing the burthen, apportions also the remuneration. There would be much difficulty, and no utility, result, from a particular enumeration of all these acts. It is sufficient, therefore, in this place to observe, that where a statute has determined his fee, it is equally extortion in him to demand more, as in the case of fees sanctioned by prescriptive usage; and, secondly, that where no particular sum has been prescribed, * Dalt. c. 41.-1 Hawk. 68. an analogy, by no means difficult to ascertain and observe, may well be resorted to as the guide of his discretion. The suitors of the court are not only protected against the corruption of the Clerk of the Peace, by the remedies already pointed out, but Negligence to a certain degree also against his negligence the Peace. by a particular statute, which enacts that "only of Clerk of two shillings shall be paid to him for drawing 1 Coroner. THE CORONER.-The office of Coroner is a very ancient one by the common law. Before the institution of justices, the Coroners were Conservators of the Peace, and persons of great. authority and dignity; insomuch, that none were eligible to the office under the degree of Knights. Since the appointment of Justices of the peace, much of the authority with which Coroners were invested, is superseded thereby, and transferred to the former. They are never * 10 & 11 W. 3, c. 23. |