Jactus

See Jettison. JAUj.* a house or building used for the purposes of a public prison, or where persons under arrest are kept.^ Originally, a place where persons were confined to await further judicial proceeding; as, a debtor, till he paid his debt, a witness, or an accused person, till the trial came on. A "prison" was for confinement as punishment.'' Every county has two gaols; one for debtors,— any house where the sheriff pleases; the other formatters of the crown,— the county or common gaol.'

Jailer.

The keeper of a jail. Formerly, a servant of the sheriff. He keeps safely persons committed to him by lawful authority." Jail delivery. A commission to members of the courts of oyer and terminer and general jail delivery, empowering them to 1 Shattuck V. People, 5 HI. 481 (1843). « L. jaetitare to utter. « [3 Bl. Com. 93; 1 Chitty, Pr. 459. < Formerly, gaol: F. gaole,a, prison: L. 1,. gabiola, gabia, a cage: L. cavea, a cave. « State V. Bryan, 89 N. Car. 533 (1883), Merrimon, J. • [Bouvier's Law Diet. try and to deliver every person held in provisional confinement, when the judges arrived at the circuit town. This commission was at first special, issued for individual cases, but in time became general, or for all persons so confined. Under this practice the jails were cleared, and all offenders tried, punished or delivered, twice each year. A Jail liberties, or limits. A limited region of liberty for a person imprisoned for debt. Equivalent expressions are: "prison bounds," and " rules of the prison, " ^ Compare Intern. See Imprisonment; Prison. JAIflTOR. A person employed to take charge of rooms or buildings, to see that they are kept clean and in order, to lock and unlock them, and, generally, to care for them.' JEOrAIL.* Mistakes in pleading are helped by the statute of amendments and jeofails: so called because when a pleader perceives a slip in the form of his pleadings and acknowledges the error (jeofaile, I have failed), he may amend it." These statutes did not extend to proceedings in criminal cases. They cut off niceties in pleading which had disgraced the courts, and permitted writs of error only for material mistakes.^ See Amesi>-