cannot write, such person, or officer, as the case is, adding the title, addition, and place of abode of such person, and the same shall remain in such court of record. And the proper officer of such court with Certificate good eviwhom the custody of such record shall remain, dence. shall make, subscribe, and deliver a certificate of such declaration and oath having been duly made and subscribed, to the person who shall have made and subscribed the same, if demanded, for which certificate there shall be paid no greater fee than 2s. and such certificate, upon proof of the certifier's hand, and that he acted as such officer, shall be competent evidence of such person's having duly made and subscribed such declaration and oath, unless the same shall be falsified. The other statute, to which allusion was Protestant Dissenters. lately made, is the 52d Geo. 3, c. 155, and was made for the protection of protestant dissenters; the former statutes for that purpose, not having been considered as sufficiently explicit, and, indeed, having given occasion to much controversy, and to what the Court of B. R. considered as misinterpretation.† By the last mentioned statute it is enacted that "No congregation or as- Places of worship of sembly for religious worship of protestants Protestant * 1 Wm. c. 18 and 19 Geo. 3, c. 44. † See Pract. Expos. Title, DISSENTERS, Sect. 2. Dissenters. (at which there shall be present more than twenty persons, beside the immediate family and servants of the person in whose house, or upon whose premises, such meeting shall be had) shall be permitted unless and until the place of such meeting, if the same shall not have been registered under any former act, shall have been certified to the bishop of the diocese, or archdeacon, or to the JusTo be certi-tices at the General or Quarter Sessions; and fied by the all places of meeting so certified by the bishop or archdeacon's court, shall be returned by such court once in each year to the Quarter Sessions; turned annu- and all places of meeting certified to the Quarally to, or by Quarter Ses-ter Sessions shall be returned once in each sions. Sessions or others. To be re ties. year to the bishop or archdeacon and the bishop, or registrar, or clerk of the peace, shall give a certificate thereof to such persons as shall demand the same, on payment, of 2s. 6d. &c. &c." These requisites respecting the house of meeting, having been complied with, the Exemption statute goes on to declare that, "all teachers from penaland preachers, and persons resorting to any place of worship thus certified, shall be exempt from all penalties under statutes relative to religious worship, on condition of taking the oaths prescribed by 19 Geo. 3, c, 44, when may require thereunto required by any Justice of the Peace; dissenting ministers, of which taking of the said oaths, the said Justice &c. to take the oaths. Justice shall give a certificate according to CONSTABLES, AND GRAND JURORS, CALLED. 113 a form therein prescribed, which certificate Any person may require shall be conclusive evidence; and any person a Justice to may require a Justice of the Peace to admi-administer the oaths. nister the said oaths." So that, as the law stands now, all doubts respecting the discretionary power of Justices in Session to judge of the qualifications of persons offering to take the oaths, and to accept, or reject, them, appear to be done away.* called. The ceremony of administering the oaths Constables being concluded, it is usual, in the next place, for the Clerk' of the Peace to call over the Constables of parishes, &c. which is commonly done (with respect to the defaulters on the first call) a second, and even a third time. On Defaulters. their not answering to the name of their respective parishes for which they serve, on the third call, the Court sets a fine upon the defaulters. Next, the same officer calls over the names Grand Juof those, who are returned upon the grand rors called. inquest, who having taken their places in the box assigned to them, the following oath is administered by the Clerk of the Peace, first to the foreman, thus: "You, as foreman of this inquest, shall dili-Oath. gently inquire, and true presentment make, "of all such matters and things as shall be Charge to the Grand Jury. your fellows', and your own, you shall keep "secret. You shall present no man for envy, "hatred, or malice; neither shall you leave "any man unpresented for fear, favour, or "affection, or hope of reward; but you shall "present all things truly as they come to your "knowledge, according to the best of your "understanding. So help you God." Then the rest of the Grand Jury, by three at a time, in order, are sworn in the following manner: "The same oath which your foreman hath "taken on his part, you, and every of you, "shall well and truly observe and keep on your parts. So help you God.” The Grand Jurors having all been sworn, it is the duty of the Chairman of the Session to deliver his charge to them.* * It is much to be lamented that this part of the Chairman's duty is very frequently altogether omitted, and sometimes performed in a very cursory, and even slovenly, manner. The calendar generally presents sufficient occasion for observations on the general state of morals in the particular district; on the activity of Justices, Chief Constables, and all Officers of the Peace; and on other subjects immediately connected with the duties of the day: and there can be few instances of a Session occur, in which there is not some indictment or other to come before the Jurors, on which some information may not be, at least, convenient and acceptable, if not absolutely necessary. Indictments for assault, which frequently originate in a spirit of party, malice, or revenge, and are usually one item in the business of a Quarter Session, present The charge being concluded, the course is Recognizances calto call the recognizances, especially such as are led. to prosecute and give evidence, that so bills may be drawn and prepared. a fruitful source of observation; indictment of roads another; and some modern statutes (ex. gr. those which respect the coin, and embezzlement by servants,) comprehend so many more points of discrimination, as it is no disparagement of the discernment of such persons as usually compose the Grand Juries at Quarter Sessions, to say, must be much above their comprehension, without some explanatory remarks from the Chairman, by way of previous charge, These observations on the necessity for a charge at all events, naturally lead to some consideration of the sufficiency of the Chairman to discharge this duty, and therefore to introduce a decided reprobation of a measure lately introduced into some counties, of the respective Justices taking the chair by rotation. Nothing can be more subversive of regularity, consistency in practice, expedition in business, information to the Jurors, authority over the advocates, or satisfaction to the country, than such a practice. To execute the variors duties of Chairman of a Quarter Session, as they ought to be executed, requires the personal qualifications of some legal knowledge, reasonable experience, an acquaintance with forms and technical proceedings, and a portion of that decision and authority which can only be acquired by a confidence in the possession of these qualities, to at least a certain degree. Unless the Chairman possess these requisites to some extent, the Jury can receive no information, the Advocates will run riot, and the county will not feel that respect for the court, which it is both desirable and useful that it should do. It leads also to another consequence, which ought neither to be agreeable to himself, or the Bench, or the Suitors of the Session, viz. that the Clerk of the Peace being the only permanent and stationary organ of the Court, instead of its minister, he becomes its master. |