tend upon warning[1], under pain of fine and impriſonment[2]. But though the ſheriff is thus the principal conſervator of the peace in his county, yet, by the expreſs directions of the great charter[3], he, together with the conſtable, coroner, and certain other officers of the king, are forbidden to hold any pleas of the crown, or, in other words, to try any criminal offence. For it would be highly unbecoming, that the executioners of juſtice ſhould be alſo the judges; ſhould impoſe, as well as levy, fines and amercements; ſhould one day condemn a man to death, and perſonally execute him the next. Neither may he act as an ordinary juſtice of the peace during the time of his office[4]: for this would be equally inconſiſtent; he being in many reſpects the ſervant of the juſtices.
In his miniſterial capacity the ſheriff is bound to execute all proceſs iſſuing from the king's courts of juſtice. In the commencement of civil cauſes, he is to ſerve the writ, to arreſt, and to take bail; when the cauſe comes to trial, he muſt ſummon and return the jury; when it is determined, he muſt ſee the judgment of the court carried into execution. In criminal matters, he alſo arreſts and impriſons, he returns the jury, he has the cuſtody of the delinquent, and he executes the ſentence of the court, though it extend to death itſelf.
As the king's bailiff, it is his buſineſs to preſerve the rights of the king within his bailiwick; for ſo his county is requently called in the writs: a word introduced by the princes of the Norman line; in imitation of the French, whoſe territory is divided into bailiwicks, as that of England into counties[5]. He muſt ſeiſe to the king's uſe all lands devolved to the crown by attainder or eſcheat; muſt levy all fines and forfeitures; muſt ſeiſe and keep all waifs, wrecks, eſtrays, and the like, unleſs they be granted to ſome ſubject; and muſt alſo collect the king's
