COMPRISING A SHORT VIEW of the CRIMINAL DUTY, AND OF THE SHERIFFS AND MAGISTRATES OF BURGHS. Br GEORGE TÁIT, ESQ. ADVOCATE. THE THIRD EDITION. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR ANDERSON & Co. 295, ROYAL EXCHANGE, AND LONDON. Alex. Smellie, Printer to the University. PREFACE. I was lately induced to write a short treatise on the Duty of a Constable, from its being suggested to me, that the informa, tion on that subject, in the existing treatises, was not adapted for immediate reference, particularly for persons not accustom-. ed to legal investigation. Having been thus led to look into the information on the duty of a Justice of the Peace in this country, contained in our law writers, it appeared to be liable to the same objections. I was therefore induced to attempt, from our statutes, decisions, and institutional writers, a condensed methodical view, without disquisition or speculation, of some of the principal doctrines on the subject, more, at first, for my own information, and as a useful exercise, than with any serious intention of publication. Upon putting my, name to the Duty of a Constable (for the first edition was anonymous), ą wish was expressed to me, both anonymously and by friends of experience at the bar, that I should attempt. a treatise on the duty of justices, I therefore extended my objeet; and devoted to it all my leisure. And I now offer to the public the result of my attempt (for which I trust a sufficient apology has been made), with that deep conviction of fallibility which the deliberate investigation of a subject necessarily pro duces. |