Sect. 6. "Where the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, contained in the said oath or notice, are, together with other lands, tenements, and hereditaments, belonging to the person taking such oath, or delivering such notice, liable to any charges, rents, or incumbrances, within the true intent and meaning, and for the purposes of this act, the lands, tenements, and hereditaments, contained in the said oath or notice, shall be deemed and taken to be liable and chargeable, only so far as the other lands, tenements, and hereditaments so jointly charged, are not sufficient to pay, satisfy, or discharge the same." Qualification by Sect. 7. "Where the qualification required by this act, or any part thereof, consists of rent, it shall be sufficient to specify in such oath or notice rent only. as aforesaid, so much of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, out of which such rent is issuing, as shall be of sufficient value to answer such rent." Sect. 8. "In case the plaintiff or informer in any such action, suit, or Action disconinformation, shall discontinue the same, otherwise than aforesaid, or be tinued. nonsuit, or judgment be otherwise given against him, then and in any of the said cases, the person against whom such action shall have been brought, shall recover treble costs.' Sect. 9. "Only one penalty of 1007. shall be recovered from the same per- Only one penalty. son by virtue of this act, or of an act made in the fifth year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An act for the further qualification of justices of the peace, for the same or any other offence committed by the same person, before the bringing of the action, suit, or information, upon which one penalty of 100%. shall have been recovered, and due notice given to the defendant of the commencement of such action, suit, or information; any thing in this or the same act to the contrary notwithstanding." Sect. 10. "Where an action, suit, or information shall be brought, and Subsequent action due notice given thereof as aforesaid, no proceedings shall be had upon any for prior offence. subsequent action, suit, or information against the same person, for any offence committed before the time of giving such notice as aforesaid; but the Court, where such subsequent action, suit, or information shall be brought, may, upon the defendant's motion, stay proceedings upon every such subsequent action, suit, or information, so as such first action, suit, or information be prosecuted without fraud, and with effect, it being hereby declared, that no action, suit, or information, which shall not be so prosecuted, shall be deemed or construed to be an action, suit, or information, within the intent and meaning of this act." Sect. 11. "Every action, bill, plaint, or information, given by this or the said Limitation of acformer act, shall be commenced within the space of six calendar months after tions. the fact upon which the same is grounded shall have been committed." Sect. 12. "This act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend, or Places excepted. be construed to extend, to any city or town, being a county of itself, or to any other city, town, cinque port, or liberty, having justices of the peace within their respective limits and precincts, by charter, commission, or otherwise; but that in every such city, town, liberty, and place, such persons may be capable to be justices of the peace, and in such manner ouly, as they might have been if this act had never been made; any thing hereinbefore contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding." Sect. 13. "Nothing in this act, or in an act passed in the fifth year of Persons excepted. his present Majesty's reign, intituled, An act for the further qualification of justices of the peace, contained, shall extend to any peer, or lord of Parliament, or to the lords or others of his Majesty's most honourable privy council, or to the justices of either bench, or to the barons of the Court of Exchequer, or to his Majesty's attorney or solicitor-general, or to the justices of great sessions for the county palatine of Chester, and the several counties of the principality of Wales (a), within their respective jurisdictions, or to the eldest son or heir apparent of any peer or lord of Parliament, or of any person qualified to serve as a knight of a shire, by an act made in the ninth year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An (a) The 1 Wm. IV. c. 70, abolishes the Welch judicature, &c. See ales, Vol. V. Peers, &c. Eldest son, or heir apparent of any Decor Person qualified to serve QUALIFICA- 18 Geo. 2, c. 20. Heads of houses, &c. Other oaths, viz. of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration. Different oath for Declaration in lieu test. act to secure the freedom of Parliaments, by the further qualifying members to sit in the House of Commons; any thing herein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding." Sect. 14. "Nothing in this act, or in the said act of the fifth year of the reign of his present Majesty contained, shall extend, or be construed to extend, to incapacitate or exclude the officers of the board of green cloth from being justices of the peace within the verge of his Majesty's palaces, or to incapacitate or exclude the commissioners and principal officers of the navy, or the two under secretaries in each of the offices of principal secretary of state, or the secretary of Chelsea College, from being justices of the peace in or for such counties or places where they usually have been justices of the peace; any thing herein contained to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding." Sect. 15." This act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend, or be construed to extend, to any of the heads of colleges or halls in either of the two universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or to the vice-chancellor of either of the said universities, or to the mayor of the city of Oxford, or of the town of Cambridge, but that they may be and act as justices of the peace of and in the several counties of Oxford, Berks, and Cambridge, and the cities and towns within the same, and execute the office thereof as fully and freely in all respects as heretofore they have lawfully used to execute the same, as if this act had never been made; any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding." It is necessary that a justice of the peace do also, within six months, take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, in one of the Courts at Westminster, or at the general or quarter sessions of the place where he shall be or reside, as other persons qualifying for offices. But the recent statute, the 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, has substituted another oath in the place of those above named, to be taken by persons professing the Roman Catholic religion. See the act, title Popery, Vol. V. In addition to these oaths, until the recent act of 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, jusof the sacramental tices were required, within six months after admittance to office, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, according to the usage of the church of England, in some public church, upon some Lord's day, immediately after divine service and sermon; and to produce, on taking the oaths, a certificate, under the hands of the minister and churchwardens, that they had in such manner and form received the sacrament, besides proving the same fact on the oath of two witnesses. But by this statute of 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, so much of all former acts as imposed the necessity of receiving the sacrament as a qualification for offices was repealed; and instead of producing such certificate and proof, the justice, within six months after his admission to office, is required to make and subscribe the following declaration :— Where to be made and subscribed. Omission of subscribing it does not subject the party to any penalty. His acts not void or voidable as to the right of any party not privy to the omission. "I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, on the true faith of a Christian, that I will never exercise any pow er, authority, or influence, which I may possess, by virtue of the office of justice of the peace, to injure or weaken the Protestant church, as it is by law established in England, or to disturb the said church, or the bishops and clergy of the said church, in the possession of any rights or privileges to which such church, or the said bishops or clergy, are or may be entitled." Sect. 6. This declaration may be made and subscribed in the Court of Chancery, in the Court of King's Bench, or at the quarter sessions for the county where the magistrate resides; and is to be preserved among the records of the Court in which it is made. Sect. 5. The omission to subscribe it does not, like a neglect to receive the sacrament, subject the party acting as a magistrate to any penalty; it only renders his appointment void. Sect. 9. While he continues to appear in the execution of the office, his acts are not void or voidable as to the rights of any party not privy to the omission, and can subject no such party to any indictment or action. QUALIFICA TIONS. &c. N. B. There is a clause of indemnity in some act of Parliament almost every session to give further time to justices of the peace to take the said oaths of allegiance, &c., provided they take the same within the time therein 18 Geo. 2, c. 20. specified, and qualify according to stat. 18 Geo. II. c. 20. And provided Indemnity for not also, that the same shall not extend to any person against whom final judg- taking in time. ment shall have been given; nor to exempt any such justice from such penalties who shall act without being duly qualified. See 11 Geo. IV. c. 9. lified. It has been held that a person who has qualified for the office of a justice Becoming diɛquaof peace, and acts as such, must have a clear estate of 100l. per annum, in law or in equity, for his own use in possession; and 2ndly, that, in an action against a person for the penalty given by the stat. 18 Geo. II. c. 20, for acting as a magistrate without a proper qualification, no notice of action is necessary under stat. 24 Geo. II. c. 44. Wright v. Horton, Holt, N. P. C. 458. This was an action of debt upon the stat. 18 Geo. II. c. 20, brought against the defendant to recover a penalty of 1007. for acting as a justice of peace in the county of York, not being duly qualified by law. It appeared that the defendant had taken the benefit of an insolvent act in January 1814, subsequent to which time he had repeatedly acted as a magistrate, without acquiring any new qualification. He had qualified originally in 1802. No notice of this action had been given by the plaintiff to the defendant.-For the defendant it was contended, that the plaintiff was bound to prove a notice of action according to the provisions of the stat. 24 Geo. II. c. 44. The defendant had acted as a magistrate, and was therefore entitled to the privileges and protection of that office. But Wood, B., ruled, that he was not within the act. The question to be tried is, was he a magistrate? It was then contended, that if they were enabled to shew when Mr. Horton was discharged from prison, and that there was a fair probability that his estate would pay his debts, and leave a sufficient surplus to uphold the qualification of a magistrate, the present action would not lie. A legal estate in land was not necessary; an estate in equity was sufficient. They, therefore, proposed to shew, that there would be a surplus of 100l. per annum after paying Mr. Horton's debts. Wood, B.-All the defendant's estate is now vested in the clerk of the peace. His legal and equitable rights are equally transferable to his creditors. We cannot take an account here, and declare a surplus in his favour. The defendant may ultimately be entitled to qualify; but, at present, he has not the title which the act of Parliament requires.-Verdict for plaintiff. But the acts of a justice of the peace, who has not duly qualified himself, are not absolutely void: and, therefore, persons seizing goods under a warrant of distress signed by a justice who had not taken the oaths at the general sessions, nor delivered in the certificate required, are not trespassers. Margate Pier Company v. George Hannam, James Dyson, esquires, and two others. 3 B. & A.266. That was an action of trespass for taking goods: the defendant pleaded-Not guilty. Two questions were raised in the case; the first was, whether the plaintiffs were liable to be rated to the poor. The Court decided that they were; and their judgment was grounded on the special provisions of the acts of Parliament creating the company, and the peculiar nature of the property. The second question was, whether the warrant of distress, signed by the defendants, Hannam and Dyson, was legal; and that depended upon the question, whether the acts done by Dyson, as a justice for the cinque ports, were valid, he having omitted to deliver in a certificate, or to take the oath at the general sessions in the cinque ports, as required by the acts of Parliament. Abbott, C. J., delivered the judgment of the Court as follows: "This was an action of trespass, brought for levying certain poor rates for the parish of St. John the Baptist, in the Isle of Thanet. There had been three rates, all regularly made and published. Two of the three had been duly allowed by two of the justices of the cinque ports. The third was allowed by the defendants, Hannam and Dyson, acting as such justices the warrants of distress had been issued by these defendants, and executed by the other two defendants, one of whom was an overseer of the poor, and the other a constable of the parish. Copies of the warrants had The acts of a juswho has not duly qualified, are not absolutely void. tice of the peace, QUALIFICA- 6 been demanded, and notice of the action given. A case was reserved at the as justices of the peace by virtue of offices in corporations, have been ousted of their offices from some defect in their election or appointment; and although all acts, properly corporate and official, done by such persons, are void, yet acts done by them as justices, or in a judicial character, have in no instance been thought invalid. This distinction is well known. The interest of the public at large requires that the acts done should be sustained: sufficient effect is given to the statutes by considering them as penal upon the party acting. No pecuniary penalty, indeed, is imposed by the stat. 51 Geo. III.; but a justice acting contrary to its prohibitory clause will subject himself, if not to the penalty of the 18 Geo. II., yet certainly to a prosecution by indictment. For these reasons we think there must be a judgment of nonsuit." DURATION OF OFFICE, &c. minable. Office of Justice, how Determinable]-Any justice may be discharged from Office, how deterthe commission by writ under the great seal. The King may determine the commission at his pleasure; and that either expressed, as by writ under the great seal, or by implication, by making a new commission, and leaving out the former justices' names. But until notice, or publishing of the new commission, the acts of the former justices are good in law. Dalt. c. 3. The death or abdication of the King determines the authority of all the justices named by him in the commission. But by stat. 1 Ann. st. 1, c. 8, s. 2, no patent or grant of any office or employment shall determine by the King's death or demise, but shall continue in force for six months after, unless in the mean time made void by his successor, which is done by a new commission; for every new commission supersedes the former. 1 Bla. Com. 353. Formerly, it was thought, that if a man named in any commission of the peace had afterwards a new dignity conferred upon him, this determined his office, as he no longer answered to the description given in the commission; 1 Bla. Com. 353; but it was long ago enacted, by the 1 Edw. VI. c. 7, that "although any justice of the peace be made duke, archbishop, marquis, earl, viscount, baron, bishop, knight, justice of either bench, or serjeant at law, yet he shall remain justice, and have authority to execute the same." Ante, 452. But to mayors and chief officers in corporations, which have the authority of justices of the peace, or of conservators of the peace, by grant under the King's letters patent to them and their successors, the authority remaineth, notwithstanding the King's death or demise. Dalt. c. 3. Neither can the King discharge these at his pleasure; but yet such grants and charters may for some great and general defect, or miscarriage, in the execution of the powers herein granted, be repealed, and the liberties seized. Dalt. c. 3, p. 8. III. The Places wherein Justices out of Sessions have Jurisdiction (a). How far depend ant on the King's demise. A new dignity being conferred, the office. does not determine Officers in corporations keep their office independent of King's demise. IN treating of the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, as regards the place Jurisdiction of. where the act or offence was committed, we have to consider two things:one is, how far a justice can act when he is out of the county;-and the other is, when he is in the county, how far his power extends to other counties. As to the former case, when he is out of the county.-It is said that the justices have no coercive power when out of the county; and therefore, that an order of bastardy, or for payment of labourer's wages, made by them out of the county, is not binding. Yet it is said, that recognizances and informations voluntarily taken before them in any place are good. 2 Hawk, c. 8, s. 28. (a) By a bill now before Parliament, uncertainty of its passing into a law will the jurisdiction of justices of the peace justify its not being inserted here. is proposed to be much extended. The When out of county. |