Mittimus

From the broadness of the ancient statute it is apparent that in relation to all process, civil or criminal, mesne or final no person could be committed to prison without a mittimus, an instrument stating the cause, ordering the reception, and directing the detention signed by a magistrate, or as the expression is, civil authority.

In Old English Law. A writ inclosing a record sent to be tried in a county palatine. It derives its name from the Latin word mittimus, "we send." It is the jury process of these counties, and commands the proper ofl Bcer of the county palatine to command the sheriff to summon the jury for the trial of the cause, and to return the record, etc. 1 Mart. (La.) 278; 2 Mart. (La.) 88. In Criminal Practice. A precept in writing, under the hand and seal of a justice of the peace, or other competent officer, directed to the jailer or keeper of a prison, commanding him to receive and safely keep a person charged with an offense therein named, until he shall be delivered by due course of law. Co. Litt. 590.

In Old English Law. A writ enclosing a record sent to be tried in a county palatine: it derives its name from the Latin word mittimus, “we send.” It^is the jury pro9ess of these counties, and commands the proper officer of the county palatine to command the sheriff to summon the jury for the trial of the cause, and to return the record, etc. Territory v. Hattick, 2 Mart O. S. (La.) 88. the peace, or other competent officer, directed to the jailer or keeper of a prison, commanding him to receive and safely keep a person charged with an offence therein named, until he shall be delivered by due course of law. Co. Litt..590.

In English law. A writ used in sending a record or its tenor from one court to another. Thus, where a nul tiel record is pleaded in one court to the record of another court of equal or superior jurisdiction, the tenor of the record is brought into chancery by a certiorari, (q. v.t) and thence sent by mittimus into the court where the action is. Tidd, Pr. 745.

In criminal practice. The name of a precept in writing, issuing from a court or magistrate, directed to the sheriff or other officer, commanding him to convey to the prison the person named therein, and to the jailer, commanding him to receive and safely keep such person until he shall be delivered by due course of law. Pub. St. Mass. 1882, p. 1293. Connolly v. Anderson, 112 Mass. 62; Saunders v. U. S. (D. C.) 73 Fed. 786; Scott v. Spiegel, 67 Conn. 349, 35 Atl. 262.

"We send. 1.

In old English practice. The name of a writ for removing a suit for tiial to a particular county. 2.

In criminal practice. The name of a precept or warrant for committing to jail a person accused of crime in a case where bail is not allowed or is not given; a commitment. Mittimus was a writ by which records were transferred from one court to another, sometimes immediately, as out of the king's bench into the exchequer, and sometimes by a certiorari into chancery, and from thence by a mittimus into another court. It is also used to signify a precept that is directed by a justice of the peace to a jailer for the receiving and safe-keeping of a felon or other offender committed by the said justice to the jail. Termes de la Ley.