ny places they
still continue distinct officers from the constable. They are all
chosen by the jury at the court leet; or, if no court leet be held,
are appointed by two justices of the peace[c].

[Footnote y: Salk. 150.]

[Footnote z: Spelm. Gloss. 148.]

[Footnote a: pag. 110.]

[Footnote b: Lamb. 9.]

[Footnote c: Stat. 14 & 15 Car. II. c. 12.]

THE general duty of all constables, both high and petty, as well as of
the other officers, is to keep the king's peace in their several
districts; and to that purpose they are armed with very large powers,
of arresting, and imprisoning, of breaking open houses, and the like:
of the extent of which powers, considering what manner of men are for
the most part put upon these offices, it is perhaps very well that
they are generally kept in ignorance. One of their principal duties,
arising from the statute of Winchester, which appoints them, is to
keep watch and ward in their respective jurisdictions. Ward, guard, or
_custodia_, is chiefly intended of the day time, in order to apprehend
rioters, and robbers on the highways; the manner of doing which is
left to the discretion of the justices of the peace and the
constable[d], the hundred being however answerable for all robberies
committed therein, by day light, for having kept negligent guard.
Watch is properly applicable to the night only, (being called among
our Teutonic ancestors _wacht_ or _wacta_[e]) and it begins at the
time when ward ends, and ends when that begins; for, by the statute of
Winchester, in walled towns the gates shall be closed from sunsetting
to sunrising, and watch shall be kept in every borough and town,
especially in the summer season, to apprehend all rogues, vagabonds,
and night-walkers, and make them give an account of themselves. The
constable may appoint watchmen at his discretion, regulated by the
custom of the place; and these, being his deputies, have for the time
being the authority of their principal. But, with regard to the
infinite number of other minute duties, that are laid upon constables
by a diversity of statutes, I must again refer to Mr Lambard and Dr
Burn; in whose compilations may be also seen, what duties belong to
the constable or tything-man indifferently, and what to the constable
only: for the constable may do whatever the tything-man may; but it
does not hold _e converso_; for the tithing-man has not an equal power
with the constable.

[Footnote d: Dalt. just. c. 104.]