is given to any police magistrate or one of the justices 1865. Governor of FIELDS for the county of Middlesex to issue a warrant for the The QUEEN apprehension of the person making default, and to commit him "to the common gaol or house of correction for the county for any time not exceeding three calendar months, unless the said rate, assessment, &c., shall be sooner paid." The house of correction for the county of Middlesex is situated in Coldbath Fields, in the parish of Clerkenwell, in that county, T. H. Colvill being the keeper thereof; and is not a common gaol but is a house of correction of the ordinary kind, and was built in pursuance of stat. 26 G. 3. c. 55. There is another prison in the same parish called the House of Detention, which was erected under letters patent of James 1st, but this prison is not a common gaol or house of correction. There is not now and never was a common gaol for the county of Middlesex locally situate in the county, except as after stated. The Queen's Gaol of Newgate, which is situate in the city of London or the suburbs thereof, has been from time immemorial and is now the common gaol both for the county of Middlesex and the city of London, which is a county within itself and is under the government of the Corporation of London. It was rebuilt under stats. 7 G. 3. c. 37. and 18 G. 3. c. 48. Under the provisions of stat. 52 G. 3. c. ccix., the new prison, called the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex, was erected. It is situate in Whitecross Street, in the city of London. The justices of Middlesex and the Metropolitan Police Magistrates have always exercised the right of committing Middlesex prisoners to the Queen's Gaol of Newgate, B. & S. VOL. VI. 2 B PRISON. 1865. The QUEEN V. Governor of as the common gaol of the county, and they are daily in the habit of committing them there under The Central Criminal Court Act, 4 & 5 W. 4. c. 36. Since the passing of stat. 52 G. 3. c. ccix., the justices of Middlesex have from time to time committed persons for nonpayment of rates to the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex in Whitecross Street, and the keeper thereof has received them into it, and detained them there, but of late years he has declined to receive them into it, and still refuses so to do. There is no other prison either in London or Middlesex except the Queen's Gaol of Newgate and the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex which can be deemed to be the common gaol of the county of Middlesex. On the 24th May, 1860, the Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex made an order, purporting to be in pursuance of stat. 4 G. 4. c. 64. s. 4., whereby the prison or gaol called the Middlesex House of Detention, at Clerkenwell, was declared to be applicable to "prisoners committed for want of sureties, and to prisoners committed on charge of suspicion of felony, and to prisoners committed for trial, and to prisoners committed, detained or remanded for examination, &c., to all other prisoners not convicted of any felony, misdemeanour or other crime or offence and being prisoners who may by law be committed to a prison or gaol." And the Middlesex House of Correction at Westminster was declared to be applicable to female prisoners convicted of misdemeanour or other crime or offence, and to all other female prisoners who may by law be committed to a house of correction, and being persons not included in the classes of prisoners to which the Middlesex House of Detention was declared to be applicable. And the Middlesex House of Correction at Coldbath Fields was declared to be applicable to male On the 14th January, 1864, at the Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex, another order was duly made and signed, and was duly notified, published and advertised as required by stat. 4 G. 4. c. 64. s. 4., and a copy of it was duly served upon T. H. Colvill, the keeper of the House of Correction, and upon the keepers of the other prisons, shortly after the same was made and before it came into operation. This order, after reciting, among other things, that the House of Detention was, by letters patent of James 1st, to be used for the restraining, custody and safe keeping of all offenders and malefactors (other than for capital crimes of treason or felony) committed by justices 1865. The QUEEN V. Governor of of the county, that there were two houses of correction for the county, one in the city of Westminster and the other at Coldbath Fields, and that under the powers in stat. 52 G. 3. c. ccix., which recites that "the Gaol of Newgate is not only the common gaol both of and for the city of London and of and for the county of Middlesex for the confinement of felons and other offenders, but is also a prison for the confinement of other persons in the custody of the sheriffs of London and of the sheriff of Middlesex," the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex had been erected, declared that from and after the 29th February, 1864, the Middlesex House of Detention at Clerkenwell should be applicable to prisoners committed for want of sureties, and to prisoners committed on charge or suspicion of felony, misdemeanour or other crime or offence, and to prisoners for trial, and to prisoners committed, detained or remanded for examination, and to all other prisoners not convicted of felony, misdemeanour or other crime or offence who may not by law be committed to the common gaol for the county or to the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex. This order has been, since the end of February, 1864, in full force and effect. T. H. Colvill, in refusing to receive and detain R. Spraggs under the warrant of A. Ballantine, Esq., acted in professed obedience to the order of Sessions of the 24th May, 1860, which was then in full force and effect, so far as it in law may justify the keeper of the House of Correction in his refusal. And it was contended, on behalf of the defendant, that R. Spraggs ought to have been committed either to the Queen's Gaol of Newgate, or the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex, or the House of Detention, and not in any event to 1865. The QUEEN COLDBATH FIELDS PRISON. the House of Correction. It was also contended, on behalf of the defendant, that the justices had power to make the orders before mentioned, and that the keeper Governor of was justified in not receiving R. Spraggs into the House of Correction. It was contended, on behalf of the Crown, that the defendant was bound to receive R. Spraggs into the House of Correction, there to imprison him for the space of three calendar months unless the sum mentioned in the warrant should be sooner paid, and that the justices had no power to make the orders or either of them for the purpose of excluding poor rate defaulters from the house of correction. It was admitted for the purposes of the case that the warrant of commitment was good in form and was to be treated as if it were addressed alone to "The keeper of the House of Correction for the county of Middlesex, situate at Coldbath Fields, Clerkenwell, in the said county," and omitted all mention of the "common gaol." It was also agreed that no objection was to be taken to the form of the two orders made by the justices in Quarter Sessions, which, as well as the Acts of Parliament referred to, were to form part of the case. The question for the opinion of the Court was, Whether a mandamus ought to go to the keeper of the House of Correction at Coldbath Fields to compel him to receive R. Spraggs under the warrant of A. Ballantine, Esq., and to imprison him in that house of correction for the space of three calendar months. Stat. 4 G. 4. c. 64. s. 2. enacts that there shall be maintained, at the expense of every county in England and Wales, one common gaol, and at the expense of every county not divided into ridings or divisions, and of |