to be bailed, a married woman
or an infant would not be accepted. Bail is obligatory in all summary
cases. It is also obligatory in all misdemeanours, except such as have been
placed on the level of felonies, viz. obtaining or attempting to obtain
property on false pretences, receiving property so obtained or stolen,
perjury or subornation of perjury, concealment of birth, wilful or indecent
exposure of the person, riot, assault in pursuance of a conspiracy to raise
wages, assault upon a peace-officer in the execution of his duty or upon
any one assisting him, neglect or breach of duty as a peace-officer, any
prosecution of which the costs are payable out of the county or borough
rate or fund. In cases of treason, bail can only be granted by a secretary
of state or the king's bench division. A person charged with felony is not
entitled as of right to be released on bail. The power of admitting a
prisoner to bail is discretionary and not ministerial, and the chief
consideration in the exercise of that discretion must be the likelihood of
the prisoner failing to appear at the trial. This must be gauged from the
nature of the evidence in support of the accusation, the position of the
accused and the severity of the punishment which his conviction will
entail, as well as the independence of the sureties. The Bail Act 1898
gives a magistrate power, where a person is charged with felony or certain
misdemeanours, or where he is committed for trial for any indictable
offence, to dispense with sureties, if in his opinion the so dispensing
will not tend to defeat the ends of justice. A surety may be examined on
oath as to his means, while the court may also require notice to be given
to the plaintiff, prosecutor or police. A person who has been taken into
custody for an offence without a warrant, and cannot be brought before a
court of summary jurisdiction within twenty-four hours, may be admitted to
bail by a superintendent or inspector of police; and in a borough, if a
person is arrested for a petty misdemeanour, he may be bailed by the
constable in charge of the police-station. Bail in civil matters, since the
abolition of arrest on mesne process, is virtually extinct. It took the
form of an instrument termed a [v.03 p.0217] _bail-bond_, which was
prepared in the sheriff's office after arrest, and executed by two
sufficient sureties, and the person arrested.

In admiralty proceedings _in rem_, bail is often required for procuri