Constable

In medievallaw. The nameé given to a very high functionary under the French and English kings, the dignity and importance of whose office was only second to that of the monarch. He was in genernl the leader of the royal armies, and had cognizance of all matters pertaining to war jecisdiction. He was also charged with the vonservation of the peace of the nation. Tlius there was a “Constable of France” and a “Lord High Constable of England.” In English law. A public civil officer, 4ose proper and general duty is to keep the peace within his district, though he is frequently charged with additional duties.

1BI. Comm. 356.

High constables, in England, are officers ap pated in every hundred or franchise, whose proper duty seems to be to keep the king’s peace within their respective hundreds.

1 Bl. Comm. 856, 3 Steph. Comm. 47.

Petty eoustables are inferior officers in every town and parish, subordinate to the high constable of the hundred, whose principal duty is the preservation of the peace, though they also have other particular duties assigned to them by act of parliament, particularly the service of the summonses and the execution of the warrants of justices of the peace. i BL Comm. 3856; 3 Steph. Comm, 47, 48. Special constables are persons appointed (with or without their consent) by the magistrates to execute warrants on particular occasions, as in the case of riots, ete. ‘ In American law. An officer of a municipal corporation (usually elected) whose duties are similar to those of the sheriff, though bis powers are less and his jurisdicdiction smaller, He is to preserve the public peace, exeente the process of mayistrates’ eourts, and of some other tribunals, serve writs, attend the sessions of the criminal courts, have the custody of juries, and dissharge other functions sometimes assigned to him by the loeal law or by statute,