1. Warrants are ordinarily granted by justices of the peace on
information or complaint in writing and upon oath, and they must be
indorsed when it is intended they should be executed in another county
by a magistrate of that county (see Indictable Offences Act 1848). A
warrant issued by a metropolitan police magistrate can be executed
anywhere by a metropolitan police officer. Warrants are also granted in
cases of treason or other offence affecting the government by the privy
council, or one of the secretaries of state, and also by the chief or
other justice of the court of king's bench (_bench-warrant_) in cases of
felony, misdemeanour or indictment found, or criminal information
granted in that court. Every warrant ought to specify the offence
charged, the authority under which the arrest is to be made, the person
who is to execute it and the person who is to be arrested. A warrant
remains in force till executed or discharged by order of a court. An
officer may break open doors in order to execute a warrant in cases of
treason, felony or indictable offences, provided that, on demand,
admittance cannot otherwise be obtained. (See WARRANT.)
2. The officers who may arrest without warrant are,--justices of the
peace, for felony or breach of the peace committed in their presence;
the sheriff and the coroner in their county, for felony; constables, for
treason, felony or breach of the peace committed in their view,--and
within the metropolitan police district they have even larger powers
(Metropolitan Police Acts 1829-1895).
3. A private person is bound to arrest for a felony committed in his
presence, under penalty of fine and imprisonment. By the Prevention of
Offences Act 1851, a private person is allowed to arrest any one whom he
finds committing an indictable offence by night, and under the Malicious
Damage Act 1861, any person committing an offence against that act may
be arrested without warrant by the owner of the property damaged, or his
servants, or persons authorized by him. So, too, by the Coinage Offences
Act 1861. s. 31, any person may arrest any one whom he shall find
committing any offence relating to the coin, or other offence against
that act.
A person arrested without warrant must not be detained in private
custody but must be taken with all convenient speed to a police station
or justice and there charged (Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879).
4. The arrest by hue and cry is where officers and private persons are
concerned in _pursuing_ felons, or such as have dangerously wounded
others. By the Fugitive Offenders Act 1881, provision was made for the
arrest in the United Kingdom of persons committing treason, and felony
in any of the British colonies and vice versa; as to the arrest of
fugitives in foreign countries see EXTRADITION.
The remedy for a wrongful arrest is by an action for false imprisonment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive