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3d. "He must attend at the execution of the warrant, to shew them to the officer, who must see that they answer the description.

"And lastly, the owner must abide the event at his peril; for if the goods are not found, he is a trespasser, and the officer, being an innocent person, will be always a ready and convenient witness against him." 11 State Trials 321.

Under this head we must not omit the case of John Wilkes, Esq. in which the doctrine of general warrants was fully investigated. On a supposition that Mr. Wilkes was author of No. 45, of a periodical paper, entitled the "North Briton;" lord Halifax, then secretary of state, issued a general warrant for the seizure of Mr. Wilkes's papers. This warrant was executed by a constable and four of the king's messengers, attended by Mr. Wood, private secretary to lord Egremont.

Mr. Wilkes brought an action of trespass against Mr. Wood, who, it was proved on the trial, barely superintended the execution of the warrant. And the question was, whether those general warrants, though supported by precedents ever since the revolution, were legal ; and if they should be considered illegal, whether an action would lie against Mr. Wood. The chief justice Pratt, before whom the cause was tried, told the jury, that if they viewed Mr. Wood as party in the affair, they must find a verdict against him; provided they should conceive the warrant illegal; which he himself strongly enforced. The jury, after retiring about half an hour, returned a verdict for one thousand pounds damages. See the case at large, with the whole of the evidence, prefixed to Lofft's Reports.

IV. FORM OF A SEARCH WARRANT.

county, to wit.

Whereas I have received information, upon oath, from A J, that the following property, to wit (here describe the kind) has, within days last past, been feloniously taken, stolen, and carried away, out of the possession of the said A J, in the county aforesaid, and that the said A J hath probable cause to suspect, and doth suspect, that the said

are concealed in (mention the place in which the party suspects the property is concealed) of A O, of the said county, labourer. These are therefore, in the name of the commonwealth, to authorise and require you, with necessary and proper assistants, to enter, in the day time, into the (place suspected) of the said A O, and there diligently to search for the said and if the said or any part thereof, shall be found upon such search, that you bring the same, and also the body of the said A O, before me, or some other justice of the peace for this county, to be disposed of and dealt with according to law. Given under my hand and seal, &c.

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SERVANTS.

PERSONS contemplated by the act of the general assembly, under the denomination of servants, are neither slaves, hirelings who are citizens of this commonwealth, or convicts; the importation of which last, indeed, is expressly prohibited by law: but they are such as were formerly denominated indented servants, concerning whom, and convicts, many laws have been enacted, which have now become obsolete. See Hen. Stat. at Large, vol. i, ii, &c. Index, tit. SERVANTS.

As all the acts concerning servants, are now reduced into one, it will be sufficient, under this title, barely to refer to the law, and to give such an abstract of the several sections, as will enable the magistrate to apply the precedents to their proper places.

See Virginia Law, 1 Rev. Code, ch. 132, p. 247.

Sect. 1. All white persons, not being citizens of any of the confederated states of America, who shall come into this commonwealth, under contract, to serve another in any trade or occupation, shall be compellable to perform such contract, specifically, during the term thereof, or during so much of the same as shail not exceed seven years. Infants, under the age of fourteen years, brought in under the like contract, entered into with the consent of their father or guardian, shall serve till their age of twenty-one years only, or for such shorter term as the said contract shall have fixed.

Sect. 2. Prescribes the master's duty, in furnishing them in sufficient food, clothing, &c. and giving them a full suit of clothes at the expiration of their service.

Sect. 3. The contract may be assigned, by consent of the servant, in presence of a justice of the peace, attesting the same in writing; and shall pass to executors, administrators, and legatees.

Sect. 4. For disorderly behaviour, &c. a servant may be corrected by stripes, by order of a justice; or refusing to work, may be compelled thereto in like manner, and to serve two days for one lost. Expences for bringing home a runaway servant shall be compensated by further service, by order of court, after expiration of his time, or security to pay within six months.

Sect. 5. A master failing in the duties prescribed by this act, or guilty of injurious demeanor to his servant, is liable to have the servant discharged by order of court.

Sect. 6. Contracts between master and servant, during service, are void.

Sect. 7. Complaints of servants against masters, and of masters against servants, may be redressed in a summary way, by the court of the county wherein the servant, &c. resides.

Sect. 8. Servants may acquire property. If sick or disabled, shalt not be put away by their master, under penalty of thirty dollars, recoverable by the overseers of the poor, to whose action the master shall be also liable.

Sect. 9. White servants, on being purchased by a negro, mulatto, or Indian, shall become free.

Sect. 10. Persons dealing with a servant, without consent of his owner, forfeits four times the value of the thing bought, &c. recoverable by action on the case, and twenty dollars, recoverable by petition; and in default of payment, to receive thirty-nine lashes.

Sect. 11. Where free persons are punishable by fine, servants are punishable by whipping, at the rate of twenty lashes for every eight dollars; but shall not receive more than forty lashes at one time.

Sect. 12. Servants, when free, shall have their freedom recorded, and a certificate thereof from the clerk. If it be lost, the clerk may renew it. Persons entertaining a servant without a certificate shall pay the owner a dollar a day, recoverable by action of debt in any court. A servant making use of a forged certificate shall stand in the pillory two hours on a court day, and make reparation for loss of time, and the person forging shall forfeit thirty dollars, one moiety to the owner of the servant, and the other to the informer, recoverable in any court, and on failure of payment, or security to pay within six months, shall receive thirty-nine lashes.

On a conviction of a servant for hog-stealing, the master is liable to pay eight dollars, to be recompenced by further service. 1 Rev. Code, ch. 98, sect. 3, p. 177.

For penalties on masters of vessels for carrying servants out of the state, see title SLAVES.

(A) Assignment of a servant's indentures, under sect. 3.

(After the master makes the assignment, which may be in the usual form, the justice may make the following attestation.)

county, to wit.

I, JP, a justice of the peace for the county aforesaid, do hereby certify, that the above assignment was made in my presence, and in the presence of the within named A S, who did freely consent to the

same.

JP.

SHERIFFS.

THE word sheriff is derived from the Saxons, in whose language it signified the reeve or officer of the shire; so called, because on the division of England into counties or shires, the custody whereof was, committed to the earl, or comes, the business devolved on the sheriff as his deputy; whence he is called, in Latin, vice.comes. 1 Bl. Com.

339.

Sheriffs were first appointed, in Virginia, in the year 1634 (see Hen. Stat. at Large, vol. i, p. 223, 224.) and the country was then divided into counties or shires, as in England. (Ibid. p. 224.) Before that period, marshals performed the office of sheriff's. Ibid. p. 176, 201, 220.

Many parts of the duty of sheriffs having been already noticed, under the several heads to which the subject properly belongs, I shall confine this title to an abstract of the act of assembly, relating to the appointment and duties of sheriffs, and such points of useful informa tion arising under the common law, as it is essential for every sheriff to know.

By Virginia Laws (1 Rev. Code, ch. 80, p. 120, sect. 1.) the courts of each county, annually, in the month of June or July, shall nominate three persons in the commission of the peace, to the governor, one of which shall be commissioned by the governor, with the advice of council, to act as sheriff in such county.

Sect. 2. Every justice failing to nominate at the time above prescribed forfeits two hundred dollars.

Sect. 3. If a person is appointed sheriff, and fails within two months to enter into sufficient bonds, the clerk of the court, within one month thereafter, shall transmit to the governer a certificate of such failure, under the penalty of three hundred dollars.

Sect. 4. The person first commissioned failing to give bond in two months, or first nominated failing to apply for a commission in one month, the governor, &c. may issue a commission to some other person nominated; and if the person thereafter commissioned or nominated shall be guilty of a like neglect, the governor may commission some other person nominated.

But in these two last cases, the executive may suspend issuing a commission to some other in the nomination, on good cause shewn ta the contrary. See 2 Rev. Code, ch. 97, sect. 1, p. 122.

Sect. 5. If a sheriff dies, the vacancy may be supplied by the govern. ar, &c. out of some other in the nomination.

Sect. 6. Every sheriff, commissioned and qualified as above, shall continue in office for one year, and may, with his own consent and the

approbation of the executive, be continued for two years, and no lon.... ger; unless from some accident a successor shall have been prevented from qualifying, in which case the preceding sheriff shall con

tinue.

Sect. 7. When by the death of any sheriff, another shall be appointed at any other time than in the months of June or July, the governor &c. may continue such successor in office, until the court held in the month of June or July, next after his two years continuance therein, shall expire.

Sect. 8. Every person accepting the commission of sheriff, shail enter into bond with good security in the penalty of thirty thousand dollars, payable to the governor and his successors, for the true and faithful collecting, accounting for, and paying the taxes imposed by law in his county; the bond is to be taken, acknowledged in open court, and recorded; an attested copy is to be transmitted by the clerk to the auditor, which is to be admitted as evidence in any suit, motion, &c. thereon.

Sect. 9. Upon the refusal to act, or disability of any sheriff, the executive may appoint a collector, who shall, as to the collection of taxes, fully represent the sheriff.

And as to all other matters, the coroner shall act during the vacancy of the office of sheriff. 2 Rev. Code, p. 123, sect. 2.

Sect. 10. Every person accepting the commission of sheriff shall likewise enter into another bond, with two good and sufficient securities at the least, in the sum of with a condition in the following

form, to wit:

day of

The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the above bound A B is constituted and appointed sheriff of the county of by a commission from the governor, under the seal of the commonwealth, dated the last past, if therefore the said A B shall well and truly collect all levies, and account for and pay the same, in such manner as is by law directed, and also all fines, for feitures and amercements, accruing or becoming due to the commonwealth in the said county, and shall duly account for and pay the same to the treasurer of this commonwealth for the time being, for the use of the commonwealth, in like manner as is or shall be directed in case of public taxes, and shall in all other things truly and faithfully execute the said office of sheriff, during his continuance therein, thea the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.

And shall also enter into one other bond before such court, with the like securities, in the sum of with a condition in the following

form, to wit:

The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the above bound A B is constituted and appointed sheriff of the county of by commission from the governor, under the seal of the common. wealth, dated the last past, if therefore the said A B shall well and truly collect and receive all officers' fees and

day of

But he must be annually recommended and commissioned, and annually give bond. See 4 Hen. & Munf. Rep. The Commonwealth. Fairfax and

others.

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