sanctuary

A place of refuge, where the process of the law cannot be executed. Sanctuaries may be divided into religious and civil. The former were very common in Europe, — religious houses affording protection from arrest to all persons, whether accused of crime or pursued for debt. 4 Bl. Comm. 332. This kind was never known in the United States. Civil sanctuary, or that protection which is afforded to a man by his own house, was always respected in this country. The house protects the owner from the service of all civil process in the first instance, but not if he is once lawfully arrested and takes refuge in his own house. See "House;" "Arrest." No place affords protection from arrest in criminal cases. A man may therefore, be arrested in his own house in such cages, and the doors may be broken for the purpose of making the arrest. See "Arrest."

A place of refuge, where the process of the law cannot be executed. Sanctuary existed among the Greeks. The Romans are said to have recognized the peculiar sncredness attached to particular places as well as to the altars of their temples and the statues of their emperors. It is probable that the church sanctuary came into existence from the time of Constantine, A. D. 303. The code of Theodosius, A. D. 392, enacted a law concerning the asylum and church. A later law, about 450, extended the limits to the precincts including the houses of the bishops and clergy, the cloisters, courts and cemeteries. About 680 the King of Wessex in his code of laws provided for sanctuary. Many subsequent acts were passed in England.regulating the subject. In the Dark Ages, the church succeeded in establishing the doctrine that the blood-feud should be suspended during certain seasons (see Holidays) and in certain places. If the accused could reach a place sheltered by the protection of the church, he could evade the challenge to battle. The privilege was confined to the locality and merely suspended the feud. The accused must remain in sanc- Middle Ages, the accused could “abjure the realm” in the presence of the coroner, become an outlaw, and receive a safe-conduct abroad. In 1530, sanctuaries were confined to parish, cathedral and collegiate churches, the greater crimes were excluded from the privilege and the fugitives in any one place were limited to twenty. In 1623 the privilege was abolished; Jenks, Hist. E. L. 157. See Cox, Sanctuaries; Besant’s London. See Arrest. SAN/E MENTIS. Of sound mind. Fleta, lib. 3, c. 7, § 1.

In old English law. A consecrated such as a church or churchyard; exemption inal process in such place of an offender who tection.

' 1. Exemption of a place, consecrated to religious duties, from criminal arrests.' As a plea, introduced at a time when superstitious veneration was paid to consecrated ground. The accused first fled to a church or church yard; within forty days, dressed in sackcloth, he confessed his guilt before the coroner, took an oath to abjure the realm, and went with a cross in his hand to a designated port and embarked. The privilege was abolished in 1624, by ai JamesI, o. 28.» > Bradford v. Manly, 13 Mass. *143 (1816), Parker, C. J. 2 Barnard v. Kellogg, 10 Wall. 388 (1870), Davis, J. ' Story, Sales, § 3T0, cases; 3 Benj. Sales, §§ 900-81, cases; 2 Kent, 480, cases; Hare, Contr. 508, cases; Barnard V. Kellogg, 10 Wall. 383, 388-94 (1870), cases. In Pennsylvania, until 1887, in the absence of fraud or circumstances fixing the character of a sample as a standard of quality, the sample was a guaranty only that the article to be delivered should follow its kind, and be simply merchantable. Boyd v. Wilson, 83 Pa. 334 (1877, Sharswood, J., dissenting); Selser v. Eoberts, 106 id. 242 (1884). The act of April 13, 1887 (P. L. p. 21), provides that unless the parties agree otherwise, there shall be an implied warranty that the property to be delivered is the same in quality as the sample shown. * L. aanctio: sancire, to render sacred, inviolable. » 1 Bl. Com. 34, 56. ' Blocker v. Bumess, 2 Ala. 355 (1841). 'L. aanctuarium, » shrine: sanctus, consecrated, holy. 2. A place where process of law cannot be executed. Civil sanctuary. The protection afforded a man by his own house as against the service of civil process. See Asylum; House, 1.

A consecrated or privileged place, wherein no arrest could be made. v. Abjuration, of the realm. Sane,/r. Sound.

A place privileged for the safeguard of offenders' lives, being founded upon the law of mercy, and the great reverence and devotion which the prince bears to the place whereunto he grants such privilege. Sanctuaries were first granted by King Lucius to our churclies and their precincts; and, among all other nations, our ancient kings of England seem to have attributed most to those sanctuaries, permitting them to slielter such as had committed both felonies and treasons, so as within forty days they acknowledged their fault, and submitted themselves to banishment; during which space, if any layman expelled them, he was excommunicated; and if a clerk, he was made irregular. The immunity of these privileged places was very much abridged by the Stat. 27 Hen.