A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis: Containing a Detail of the Various Crimes and Misdemeanors by which Public and Private Property and Security are, at Present, Injured and Endangered: and Suggesting Remedies for their PreventionColquhoun, Patrick
History
A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis: Containing a Detail of the Various Crimes and Misdemeanors by which Public and Private Property and Security are, at Present, Injured and Endangered: and Suggesting Remedies for their Prevention
Colquhoun, Patrick
Crime -- England -- London; Police -- England -- London
"7. That all drivers of Hackney-Coaches, employed to take
fares after twelve o'clock at night, shall be licensed by
the Magistrates of the division; and shall enter into
recognizance for their good behaviour, themselves and one
surety in 50_l._ at least; and that every such coachman
shall be obliged, whenever he carries any goods or
valuables, to make a report of the same, on the following
morning, to the Magistrate of his district, if no suspicion
arises as to any improper or felonious intention; but in all
cases where a felonious intention shall appear, the coachman
to be authorized and required to call the assistance of the
watchmen and patroles, and to seize and apprehend the
parties, and lodge them and the goods in the nearest
watch-house; there to be kept until brought before a
justice, at the Public-Office of the district, on the
following morning: And although it may ultimately appear
that the coachman was mistaken and the parties innocent, yet
where it shall be manifest to the Justice that he hath acted
_bona fide_, he shall not be liable to any prosecution:[80]
and if it shall appear that the goods so conveyed _were_
stolen property, then the coachman shall be entitled,
whether a conviction shall follow or not, to a reward of
_two guineas_; and in all cases where a prosecution shall
follow, he shall be entitled to such further reward as the
Court shall think proper.
[Footnote 80: Vide Act 30 Geo. II. cap. 24.]
"8. That all watchmen or patroles who shall appear upon
proper proof to connive at the commission of felonies[81] in
the night time, or while they are on duty; or shall
knowingly conceal any felonious removal of stolen goods, or
goods suspected to be stolen, and conveying to Receivers'
houses, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable
to be _imprisoned_, _whipt_, or _put in the pillory_.--And
in _all cases_ where such watchmen or patroles shall observe
any goods or other articles conveyed in Hackney-coaches, or
in any other manner, while they are upon duty, from one
place to another, they shall report the same to the Justices
at the nearest Public Office, in the morning: But if they
shall have good grounds to suspect a felonious intention,
and that the property is stolen, the goods and all the
parties concerned shall be conveyed to the nearest
watch-house, for the purpose of being brought before a
Magistrate; and such watchmen (acting _bona fide_) shall not
be liable to any prosecution in case of a mistake; and if a
felony shall have been actually committed, they shall each
be entitled to one guinea, besides their proportion of any
future reward which may be ordered by the Court who shall
try the offenders.[82]"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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