Sheriffs Act 1887

Preliminary

1Short title

This Act may be cited as the Sheriffs Act, 1887.

2Extent of Act

This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.

Appointment and Qualification

3Annual appointment of sheriff and duration of office

(1)A sheriff shall be annually appointed for every county.

(2)Save as provided by this Act, a sheriff shall not hold office for more than one year, and a grant after the passing of this Act of the office for more than one year shall be void.

(3)The office of sheriff or of any officer of a sheriff shall not become void by reason of the demise of the Crown, or in Cornwall of the Duchy of Cornwall, but the person holding the office shall, unless sooner removed or superseded, continue in office for the remainder of his term, in like manner as if such demise had not taken place.

4Qualification of sheriffs

A person shall not be appointed sheriff nor bailiff of a franchise except he have sufficient land within his county or bailiwick to answer the Queen and her people.

5Same person not to be chosen twice in three years

A person who has been sheriff of a county for a whole year shall not within three years next ensuing be appointed sheriff of that county unless there is no other person in the county qualified to fill the office.

6Nomination and appointment of sheriffs

(1)On the twelfth day of November in every year (or if that day fall on a Sunday then on the ensuing Monday) persons fit to serve as sheriffs shall be nominated for every county at the Royal Courts of Justice in the manner that has been heretofore used and observed, and shall be so nominated by the following great officers, namely, the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord High Treasurer, or if there is no Lord High Treasurer, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Lord President and others of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and the Lord Chief Justice of England, or any two or more of such great officers, taking to them the judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, or any two or more of them.

(2)Whenever Her Majesty has duly pricked a person to be sheriff of a county, the same shall be forthwith notified in the London Gazette; and a warrant in the form in the First Schedule to this Act shall be forthwith made out and signed by the Clerk of the Privy Council and transmitted by him to the person so pricked; and the appointment of sheriff so made shall be of the same effect as if made by patent under the Great Seal; and every sheriff so appointed upon making the declaration of office in this Act mentioned shall by virtue of this Act only and without payment of any fee have and exercise all powers, privileges, and authorities usually exercised and enjoyed by sheriffs of counties in England.

(3)A duplicate of the said warrant shall within ten days after the date thereof be transmitted by the Clerk of the Privy Council to the clerk of the peace of the county for which such person is appointed sheriff and shall be enrolled and kept by the said clerk of the peace without fee.

(4)Nothing in this section shall apply to the counties of Cornwall, Lancaster, or Middlesex.

7Declaration of office

(1)Every sheriff shall, before he enters on the execution of his. office, make and subscribe a declaration in the form in the Second Schedule to this Act or to the like effect before one of the judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice or before a justice of the peace for the county of which he is sheriff.

(2)Every sheriff shall continue to be and act as sheriff until his successor has made the said declaration and entered upon office.

Powers, Duties, and Liabilities

8Powers of sheriff for posse comitatus

(1)Every person in a county shall be ready and apparelled at the command of the sheriff and at the cry of the country to arrest a felon whether within a franchise or without, and in default shall on conviction be liable to a fine, and if default be found in the lord of the franchise he shall forfeit the franchise to the Queen, and if in the bailiff he shall be liable besides the fine to imprisonment for not more than one year, or if he have not whereof to pay the fine, than two years.

(2)If a sheriff finds any resistance in the execution of a writ he shall take with him the power of the county, and shall go in proper person to do execution, and may arrest the resisters and commit them to prison, and every such resister shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

9Duties at assizes

In the time of the assizes a court of quarter sessions in the county may direct a sufficient number of police constables to be employed to keep order in and within the precincts of the court of assize, and the chief constable shall comply with such direction, but if such direction is not given the sheriff shall have a sufficient number of men servants in liveries attending upon him for the purpose of so keeping order and of protecting the judges of assize.

10Duties as to execution of writs

(1)A sheriff at the request of a person delivering a writ to him for execution shall give a receipt for that writ stating the day of its delivery.

(2)A sheriff shall not return to a writ that he has delivered it to a bailiff of some liberty not heretofore recorded in the Exchequer.

11Duties on receipt of debt to Crown

(1)Where a sheriff or his officer or other person employed in collecting by process from any court any debt due to the Crown receives from any person a sum due to the Crown he shall give a receipt to such person for that sum ; and the sheriff, at the next account after a sum due to the Crown has been paid to him or his officer, shall procure the effectual discharge of the debtor paying the same.

(2)An officer of a sheriff receiving any such sum shall account for it to the sheriff, and the sheriff shall give a receipt for such sum.

(3)In case of any default under this section, the sheriff and his heirs, executors, and administrators, shall be liable to pay any damages suffered by a debtor in consequence, of such default.

12Duties as to return of jurors

A sheriff or any officer of a sheriff shall not return in any panel for an inquest or jury any officer or servant of the sheriff or of such officer.

13Duties as to execution of judgment of death

(1)Where judgment of death has been passed upon a convict at any court of assize or any sessions of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery held for any county or riding or division or other part of a county, the sheriff of such county shall be charged with the execution of such judgment, and may carry such judgment into execution in any prison which is the common gaol of his county or in which the convict was confined for the purpose of safe custody prior to his removal to the place where such court was held, and shall, for the purpose of such execution, have the same jurisdiction and powers over and in the prison in which the judgment is to be carried into execution, whether such prison is or is not situate within his county, and over the officers of such prison, as he has by law over and in the common gaol of his county and the officers thereof, or would have had if the [28 & 29 Vict. c. 126.] Prison Act, 1865, and the [40 & 41 Vict. c. 21.] Prison Act, 1877, had not passed, and shall be subject to the same responsibility and duties as if the said Acts had not passed.

(2)This section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any power authorised to be exercised by Order in Council under the [39 & 40 Vict. c. 57.] Winter Assizes Act, 1876, and the [42 & 43 Vict. c. 1.] Spring Assizes Act, 1879, or either of them, and of the provisions of the [44 & 45 Vict. c. 64.] Central Criminal Court (Prisons) Act, 1881.

14Duties on arrest of civil debtors

(1)Where an officer being a sheriff, under-sheriff, bailiff, serjeant-at-mace, or other officer whatsoever arrests or has in custody any person by virtue of any action, writ, or attachment for debt, such officer shall not—

(a)convey such person without his free consent to any house licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor, or to the private house of such officer or of any tenant or relation of such officer ; nor

(b)charge such person with any sum for, or procure him to call or pay for, any liquor, food, or thing whatsoever, except what he freely asks for ; nor

(c)take such person to any prison within twenty-four hours of. the time of his arrest, unless such person refuses to be carried to some safe and convenient dwelling-house of his own nomination, not being the private dwelling-house of such person, and being within the borough or town where such person was arrested, or if he was not arrested within a borough or town then within three miles of the place and in the county or franchise in which he was arrested ;

but shall at all times permit such person to send for and to have brought to him at reasonable times in the day any food or liquor from what place he thinks fit, and also to have and use such bedding, linen, and other necessary things as he has occasion for or is supplied with, and shall not purloin or detain the same or require any payment for the use thereof or restrict the use thereof.

(2)Every court of quarter sessions in a county shall from time to time make an order allowing sums which may be taken from prisoners arrested in such county on any action, writ, or attachment, in respect of one or more nights lodging or for a day's diet or for other expenses of such person, and may from time to time vary such order as seems expedient.

(3)A copy of every such order signed by the clerk of the peace shall be fixed in some conspicuous place in the sessions house or other proper place of the county as the court may order, so that the same may be there seen and examined as occasion may require.

(4)For the purpose of making known the provisions of this section a printed copy thereof shall be delivered by every sheriff, under-sheriff, secondary of the City of London, and other person entrusted with causing the execution of any writ or attachment, to the bailiff, serjeant-at-mace, officer, or other person employed to execute the same,

(5)It shall be part of the conditions of every security given to any sheriff, or under-sheriff, by any bailiff, serjeant-at-mace, officer, or other person employed to execute any writ or attachment under him that such bailiff, serjeant-at-mace, officer, and other person will show a printed copy of this section to every person whom he arrests and goes with to any house where intoxicating liquor is sold, and also will permit such person or his friend to read over such copy before any liquor or food is called for or brought to him, and any breach by such bailiff, serjeant-at-mace, officer, or person of such condition shall be a misdemeanor in the execution of the writ or attachment, besides being a breach of the conditions of the security.

15Liability for wrongful imprisonment

A person unlawfully imprisoned by a sheriff or any of his officers shall have an action against such sheriff in like manner as against any other person that should imprison him without warrant.

16Liability for escape

(1)If a person in the custody of the sheriff or any of his officers or of any other person, either in execution or for nonperformance of a judgment or order of the High Court of Justice, or for contempt of that court or otherwise in the course of a civil proceeding, escapes out of legal custody, such sheriff or other person shall be liable to pay the damages sustained by the person at whose suit such prisoner was taken into custody, and all costs of any action or other proceeding to recover the same, but not any further sum.

(2)A sheriff shall not be liable for the escape of any prisoner when confined in any prison subject to the [40 & 41 Vict. c. 21, s. 31.] Prison Act, 1877.

17Disability to act as justice of the peace

A person shall not, while he is sheriff of a county, act as a justice of the peace for that county, and if he does so act, all his acts done as such justice of the peace shall be void.

18Holding of courts

(1)A sheriff shall not be bound to hold a county court except where the holding of such court is required for the purpose of an election or of the due execution of some writ or for any other specific purpose, in which case he shall hold a court at the time fixed for such purpose by law or by such writ, or if no time is so fixed, as soon as is reasonably practicable after he is. informed of the necessity for holding such court, or receives such writ, and where more than one court is required to be held for any such purpose, he shall hold courts at intervals not exceeding one month from each other.

(2)A sheriffs county court shall be held at the place heretofore appointed or authorised by law, or at such other place as the sheriff may from time to time fix with the consent of the authority having for the time being power to divide the county into polling districts for the purpose of parliamentary elections.

(3)A sheriff shall not hold pleas of the Crown; and shall not under any commission or writ take any inquest whereby any person is indicted.

(4)The sheriffs tourn is hereby abolished.

19Letting of county

(1)A hundred or wapentake shall not as respects the powers and duties of sheriffs be severed from the county.

(2)A sheriff shall not let to ferm his county or any part thereof.

20Fees and poundage

(1)A sheriff shall be entitled in respect of all sums due to the Crown, and collected by him under process of any court, to an allowance upon his accounts of one shilling and sixpence in the pound for every sum not exceeding one hundred pounds, and of one shilling for every pound exceeding the first hundred pounds.

(2)Any sheriff or officer of a sheriff concerned in the execution of process directed to the sheriff, other than process for the- recovery of the aforesaid sums due to the Crown, may demand, take, and receive such fees and poundage as may from time to time be fixed by the Lord Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the judges of the Court of Appeal and High Court of Justice, or any three of them, and with the concurrence of the Treasury.

(3)Any sheriff or officer of a sheriff, and any officer arresting or having in custody any person by virtue of any action, writ, or attachment, shall not demand or take any reward to do his office, except such remuneration as is given to the sheriff by the Crown, or is given to an officer of the sheriff by the sheriff, and such fees and poundage as are above mentioned or are allowed by or in pursuance of any other Act, and, save as allowed by this Act, shall not demand or take directly or indirectly any reward for doing his office or duty or for abstaining therefrom, or in respect of the mode in which he does his office or duty.

(4)Where a sheriff seizes any personal estate for any sum due to the Crown and dies or is superseded before he has sold the same and his successor sells the same, the poundage and fees due in respect of the seizure and sale shall be apportioned between the preceding and subsequent sheriffs in such manner and proportions as a judge of the High Court of Justice may on application determine, having regard to the expense and trouble that each sheriff had.

Accounts

21Transmission of accounts of sheriff

(1)Every sheriff shall within two months after the expiration of his office, or in case of the death of any sheriff the under-sheriff by him appointed shall within two months next after the death of such sheriff, transmit to the Treasury a just and true account under his hand—

(a)of all sums received by such sheriff for the use of the Crown, and of all sums paid or claimed by him or on his behalf (including such sums as have been usually inserted in the bill of cravings), with all such particulars as are needful to explain the same, and

(b)of the names and residences of all persons incurring fines, issues, amerciaments, forfeited recognizances, or sums of money which he has been authorised to levy by virtue of any writ issued to him or to any predecessor in office, and if the same have not been levied, the causes of their not having been levied;

and the Treasury may grant a warrant for the allowance of the sums so paid or claimed in the account, or for the payment of such sum of money in respect thereof as they may think reasonable :

(2)Provided as follows:—

(a)a sheriff or under-sheriff shall not be imprisoned upon any process for not finishing his accounts in due time, or for any contempt or neglect in relation to his accounts, except by a warrant naming such sheriff or under-sheriff and specifying his offence, and issued by one of the judges of the High Court of Justice;

(b)an under-sheriff shall not be personally responsible for any sum received by a deceased sheriff, but the same shall be answered by the representatives of the deceased sheriff or otherwise in due course of law ; and

(c)nothing in this section shall alter the right of any body corporate or person under any charter to receive any fines or other sums.

22Audit of accounts of sheriff

(1)All accounts of sheriffs and their under-sheriffs which are transmitted to the Treasury under this Act shall be examined and audited by such persons and in such manner as the Treasury may from time to time by warrant direct; and the Treasury may by any warrant make such provisions in relation to the transmission, examination, verification, and audit of such accounts, and for ascertaining and determining the balances due from and the discharge of the persons accounting, as to the Treasury may seem proper.

(2)Every such warrant shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days after the making thereof if Parliament be sitting, and if Parliament be not sitting then within fourteen days after the next meeting of Parliament.

(3)If under any such warrant it is necessary for a sheriff or under-sheriff to take any oath to any account or any matter relating thereto, such oath, except when the Treasury require his personal examination before the person appointed by them to audit, may be sworn before any judge of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, or before any master of the Supreme Court of Judicature, or before any commissioner for taking oaths in the Supreme Court of Judicature, or before any justice of the peace.

(4)If any officer, clerk, or other person concerned in the passing of sheriffs accounts by his wilful act or default hinders any sheriff in passing his accounts, or obtaining his quietus, he shall make such satisfaction to the party aggrieved as may be ordered by Her Majesty's High Court of Justice or any judge thereof on complaint made in such summary manner as the said court may order.

Under-Sheriff and Officers

23Obligation to appoint under-sheriff and declaration of office by under-sheriff

(1)Every sheriff shall within one month after the notification of his appointment in the London Gazette by writing under his hand appoint some fit person to be his under-sheriff, and shall transmit a duplicate of such written appointment to the clerk of the peace for the county, which shall be filed by him among the records of his office.

(2)For filing such duplicate the clerk of the peace shall be entitled to demand and receive from the under-sheriff such fee as may be from time to time fixed in pursuance of the enactments relating to fees of clerks of the peace, and until any fee is so fixed a fee of five shillings.

(3)Every under-sheriff shall before he enters on the execution of his office make a declaration in the form in the Second Schedule to this Act or to the like effect before one of the judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, or before a justice of the peace for the county for which such under-sheriff is appointed.

24Obligation to appoint deputy resident in London

Every sheriff shall appoint a sufficient deputy, who shall be resident or have an office within one mile from the Inner Temple Hall, for the receipt of writs, the granting of warrants thereon, the making of returns thereto, and the acceptance of all rules and orders to be made on or touching the execution of any process or writ to be directed to such sheriff.

25Execution of office by under-sheriff on death or suspension of sheriff

(1)Where the sheriff of a county dies before the expiration of his year of office or before he is lawfully superseded, the under-sheriff by him appointed shall nevertheless continue in office and shall until another sheriff be appointed for the said county and has made the declaration of office, execute the office of sheriff, in the name of the deceased- sheriff, and be answerable for the execution of the said office as the deceased sheriff would by law have been if living; and the security given to the sheriff so deceased by the said under-sheriff and his pledges shall remain and be a security to the Crown and to all persons whomsoever for such under-sheriffs due execution of the offices of sheriff and under-sheriff.

(2)When it becomes the duty of an under-sheriff to act as sheriff under the provisions of this section he may by writing under his hand appoint a deputy.

26Declaration by bailiffs, &c

Every deputy bailiff and officer of a sheriff or under-sheriff, and every other person who has authority or takes upon himself to impanel or return any inquest, jury, or tales, or to intermeddle with the execution of writs issued by any court of record, shall before he does so make a declaration (which shall be exempt from stamp duty) in the form in the Second Schedule to this Act, or to the like effect before any judge of the High Court of Justice or justice of the peace for the county or borough in which he exercises such authority.

27Sale of offices prohibited

(1)A person shall not directly or indirectly by himself or by any person in trust for him or for his use buy, sell, let, or take to ferm the office of under-sheriff, deputy-sheriff, bailiff, or any other office or place appertaining to the office of sheriff, nor contract for, promise, or grant for any valuable consideration whatever any such office or place, nor give, promise, or receive any valuable consideration whatever for any such office or place.

(2)Any person who acts in contravention of this section, not being an under-sheriff, deputy-sheriff, bailiff or officer of a sheriff, shall be liable to the same punishment as if he were an under-sheriff, deputy-sheriff, bailiff, or officer.

(3)Provided that this section shall not prevent the sheriff or under-sheriff from demanding and taking the lawful fees and perquisites of the office of sheriff or of anyplace or employment belonging thereto, nor from taking security for duly answering for the same, and shall not prevent any officer of a sheriff from accounting to the sheriff for the fees and perquisites received by him in respect of his office, nor from giving security so to account, and shall not prevent a sheriff from giving nor an officer from receiving a salary or remuneration for the execution of his office.

Outgoing Sheriff

28Outgoing sheriff to turn over prisoners and process to incoming sheriff

(1)Every sheriff shall at the expiration of his term of office make out and deliver to the incoming sheriff a correct list and account under his hand of all prisoners in his custody and of all rolls and writs in his hands not wholly executed by him, with all such particulars as may be necessary to explain to the incoming sheriff the several matters intended to be transferred to him, and shall thereupon turn over and transfer to the custody of the incoming sheriff all such prisoners rolls and writs, and all records, books, and matters appertaining to the office of sheriff.

(2)The incoming sheriff shall thereupon sign and give to the outgoing sheriff a duplicate of such list and account, which shall be a good and sufficient discharge to him of and from all the prisoners therein mentioned and the execution of the writs and other matters therein contained; and thereupon the incoming sheriff shall stand charged with the said prisoners and with the execution and care of the said rolls, writs and other matters contained in the said list and account.

(3)A sheriff shall not be called upon to make a return of any writ after the expiration of six months from the date at which he ceases to hold his office.

Miscellaneous

29Punishment for misconduct

(1)If a person being a sheriff, under-sheriff, bailiff, or officer of a sheriff, whether within a franchise or without, does any of the following things, that is to say—

(a)conceals or procures the concealment of any felon ; or

(b)refuses to arrest any felon in his bailiwick; or

(c)lets go at large a prisoner who is not bailable; or

(d)is guilty of an offence against, or breach of the provisions of this Act,

he shall (without prejudice to any other punishment under the provisions of this Act) be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable' on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year and to pay a fine, or if he has not wherewith to pay a fine, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.

(2)If any person being either a sheriff, under-sheriff, bailiff, or officer of a sheriff, or being employed in levying or collecting debts due to the Crown by process of any court, or being an officer to whom the return or execution of writs belongs, does any of the; following things, that is to say—

(a)withholds a prisoner bailable after he has offered sufficient security; or

(b)takes or demands any money or reward under any pretext whatever other than the fees or sums allowed by or in pursuance of this or any other Act; or

(c)grants a warrant for the execution of any writ before he has actually received that writ; or

(d)is guilty of any offence against or breach of the provisions of this Act, or of any wrongful act or neglect or default in the execution of his office or of any contempt of any superior court;

he and any person procuring the commission of any such offence shall, without prejudice to any other punishment under the provisions of this Act, but subject as herein after mentioned, be liable—

(i)to be punished by the court as herein-after mentioned ; and

(ii)to forfeit two hundred pounds, and to pay all damages suffered by any person aggrieved,

and such forfeiture and damages may be recovered by such person as a debt by an action in Her Majesty's High Court of Justice.

(3)Any of the following courts, that is to say, Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, any court of assize, oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, or any judge of any of the said courts, also where the alleged offence has been committed in relation to any writ issued out of any other court of record than those above-mentioned, the court out of which such writ issued, may, on complaint made of any such offence as aforesaid having been committed and on proof on oath given by the examination of witnesses or by affidavit or T)n interrogatories of the commission of the alleged offence, and after hearing any thing which the alleged offender may urge in his defence (which evidence and hearing may be taken and had in a summary manner) punish the offender or cause proceedings to be taken for his punishment in like manner as a person guilty of contempt of the said court may be punished.

(4)The court may order the costs of or occasioned by any such complaint to be paid by either party to the other and an order by the High Court of Justice in any such summary proceeding to pay any costs, damages, or penalty shall be of the same effect as a judgment of the High Court, and may be enforced accordingly.

(5)Any of the said courts being a superior court of record may also proceed for and deal with such offence in like manner as for any contempt of such court.

(6)If any person not being an under-sheriff, bailiff, or officer of a sheriff, assumes or pretends to act as such, or demands or takes any fee or reward under colour or pretext of such office, he shall be guilty of contempt of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, and be liable to be punished in manner provided by this section as if he were an under-sheriff guilty of a contempt of such court.

(7)Any proceeding in pursuance of this section against a sheriff under-sheriff or any other person to whom this section applies shall be taken within two years after the alleged offence was committed and not subsequently, and if the proceeding is in a summary manner shall be taken before the end of the sittings of the court held next after the offence was committed and not subsequently.

(8)Nothing in this section shall render a person liable to be punished twice in respect of the same offence, but if any proceeding is taken against a person under this section for any offence the court or judge may postpone or stay such proceeding and direct any other available proceeding to be taken for punishing such offence.

30Filing and exemption from duty of declaration of office

(1)Every declaration of office made under this Act by a sheriff of a county or his under-sheriff shall be exempt from stamp duty and be transmitted to the clerk of the peace for the county, and be by him filed among the records of his office.

(2)For filing such declaration the clerk' of the peace shall be entitled to demand and receive from such sheriff or under-sheriff such fee as may be from time to time fixed in pursuance of the enactments relating to fees of clerks of the peace, and until any fee is so fixed a fee of five shillings.

Application of Act in Special Gases

31Application of Act to Westmoreland and Wales

Save as otherwise expressly provided by this or any other Act the law relating to sheriffs, inclusive of this Act and of the law relating to the election of members to serve in Parliament, shall extend to the Counties Palatine, to the county of Westmoreland, and each county in Wales in the same manner in all respects as to other counties in England, and the respective sheriffs of the above-mentioned counties, shall have the like powers, duties, jurisdiction, and liabilities, as the sheriff of any other county in England.

32Application of Act to Cambridge and Huntingdon

One sheriff may continue as heretofore to be appointed for the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon as if they were one county.

33Saving for privileges of city of London and approval of election of sheriffs of Middlesex and London

(1)Nothing in this Act shall affect the privilege of the mayor, commonalty, and citizens of the city of London to elect the sheriff of Middlesex and sheriffs of London.

(2)Unless otherwise-directed by order of Her Majesty in Council, warrants signifying the approval by Her Majesty of the election of the sheriff of Middlesex and sheriffs of London shall be prepared under the seal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the central office of the Supreme Court of Judicature, which warrants may be delivered to the said sheriffs or their duly authorised agents without fee on the thirtieth day of September or between that day and the twelfth day of November in every year, and an entry of the grant of such warrants shall be made on the roll of the court, and unless such warrant be stayed by order of Her Majesty in Council on or before the said thirtieth day of September, the election of such sheriff or sheriffs shall be deemed to be approved by Her Majesty.

(3)All warrants and documents relating to the said sheriff or sheriffs which heretofore have been filed and recorded in the central office of the Supreme Court of Judicature shall continue to be so filed and recorded.

(4)Save as aforesaid and save as regards the maintenance of men servants and the duration of office, this Act shall apply to the sheriff of Middlesex and sheriffs of London in like manner as to any other sheriff.

34Application of Act to franchises

Where a lord of a franchise or any other person or body corporate has in any franchise, that is to say, any liberty, hundred, franchise, or other part of a county, the return or execution of writs, or any other of the privileges or duties of a sheriff, the following provisions shall apply to such lord, person, or body corporate (in this Act referred to as the bailiff of a franchise) that is to say—

(a)The bailiff of a franchise shall either hold the office himself, or shall put in bailiffs having land in the bailiwick sufficient to answer the Queen and her people, and shall answer for such bailiffs ; and every such last-mentioned bailiff shall make the like declaration as an under-sheriff;

(b)The sheriff of the county within which such franchise is situate shall within one month after a request made in that behalf by such lord appoint some sufficient deputy at such cost to be paid by the said lord, and to reside at such convenient place in or near the franchise, as may be appointed from time to time by the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Lord Chief Justice of England or one of them ;

(c)Every deputy so appointed shall reside at the said place, and, in the sheriff's name, shall receive and open, when tendered to him, all writs, the execution or return of which belongs to the . bailiff of the franchise, and shall, without delay, issue to the said bailiff under the seal of the sheriff, and in such manner and form as the sheriff himself ought to do, the warrant required by law for the due execution of the said writs ;

(d)The bailiff of the franchise and not the sheriff shall be liable for the non-execution, mis-execution, or insufficient return of any writs, or for any misconduct in the performance of the said office or for any breach of the provisions of this Act; and any fine imposed on the bailiff of the franchise or his bailiff or officer shall notwithstanding any grant be paid to the Crown; and

(e)All the provisions of this Act (except as herein-after mentioned) and every such enactment in any other Act as relates to the return of panels or juries, or to the due execution of any writ, or to. the taking of fees, or to any extortion by sheriffs or their officers, or otherwise to the office and duties of sheriffs or their officers shall, together with all the liabilities, punishments, and forfeitures thereby imposed, extend to such bailiff of the franchise and his bailiffs and officers in like manner as if he and they were a sheriff or sheriff's bailiffs and officers ; provided that the enactment as to the appointment and duration of office of a sheriff shall not apply, and such bailiff of the franchise and his bailiff shall be entitled to hold his office as long as he would have been entitled if this provision had not been enacted.

(f)In the case of the non-return of a writ, if the sheriff returns that he has delivered the writ to a bailiff of a franchise the sheriff shall be ordered to execute the writ notwithstanding the said franchise; and further to cause the bailiff of such franchise to attend before the High. Court of Justice and answer why he did not execute the said writ.

35Duties of bailiffs of liberties and constables

Every bailiff of a franchise within the meaning of the foregoing provisions of this Act, who, in times past, has been used or ought by himself or a bailiff to attend upon justices of assize or of gaol delivery and justices of the peace at large in any county shall continue so to attend and execute all writs directed to him for the administration of justice in such franchise, and shall give his attendance upon and assistance to the sheriff at all courts of gaol delivery from time to time for the execution of prisoners.

36Application of Act to sheriffs of counties of cities and counties of towns

(1)The sheriff of a county of a city or a county of a town other than London shall continue to be appointed in manner provided by the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.] Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and shall hold, office for the term in that Act mentioned, and in the event of the death or incapacity of a sheriff so appointed, the council of the said city or town shall forthwith appoint another fit person to execute the office;

(2)A person may be appointed to be such sheriff if he have sufficient property, whether of land or personalty, to answer the Queen and her people ;

(3)Every such sheriff shall perform the same duties as heretofore, and may receive such fees and remuneration out of the borough fund or other accustomed fund as have heretofore been accustomed;

(4)Save as aforesaid this Act shall apply to a sheriff of a county of a city or a county of a town in like manner, as nearly as may be, as it applies to the sheriff of a county, and any jurisdiction by this Act vested in the justices in general or quarter sessions may be exercised, so far as regards constables, by the council, and so far as regards other matters by the recorder of the said city or town.

37Saving for Duchy of Cornwall

Nothing in this Act shall be prejudicial to the rights of the Crown in right of the Duchy of Cornwall, or to the Duke of Cornwall when there is a Duke of Cornwall.

Definitions and Repeal

38Definitions

In this Act unless the context Otherwise requires—

• The expression " the Treasury " means the-Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.

• The expression " county " means a county at large, and does not include a county of a city or a county of a town.

• The expression " writ " includes any process.

• The expression " quarter sessions " includes general sessions.

39Repeal

The Acts specified in the Third Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent in the third column of the said Schedule mentioned :

Provided that—

(1)This repeal shall not affect,—

(a)anything duly done or suffered under any enactment hereby repealed; or

(b)any right acquired, or obligation or liability incurred under any enactment hereby repealed ; or

(c)the right of any city or borough under any charter; or

(d)any such power, right, privilege, obligation, liability, or duty of any sheriff or officer of a sheriff as exists by common law at the passing of this Act; or

(e)any penalty or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed against any enactment hereby repealed ; or

(f)any legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, obligation, liability, power, right, privilege, duty, penalty or punishment as aforesaid; and any such legal proceeding and remedy may be carried on and had as if this Act had not been passed; and

(2)This repeal shall not revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, duty, franchise, liberty, custom, privilege, practice, or procedure, or other matter or thing not existing or in force; and

(3)Every sheriff, under-sheriff, bailiff, and officer holding office at the passing of this Act shall continue to hold such office, and be subject to be discharged therefrom in like manner, and shall have the same privileges, and be subject to the same duties and liabilities, as if this Act had not passed; and

(4)Any warrant, order, rules, or other matter or thing made in pursuance of any enactment hereby repealed shall continue and be of the same effect as if made in pursuance of this Act; and

(5)Any fees or poundage authorised to be taken by or in pursuance of any enactment hereby repealed may continue to be taken until altered in pursuance of this Act.

40Saving for courts leet, &c

(1)Notwithstanding the repeal of any enactment by this Act every court leet, court baron, law day, view of frankpledge, or other like court which is held at the passing of this Act shall continue to be held on the days and in the places heretofore accustomed, but shall not have any larger powers, nor shall any larger fees be taken thereat than heretofore, and any indictment or presentment found at such court shall be dealt with in like manner as heretofore.

(2)Where any enactment repealed by this Act applied to any coroner, escheator, or other officer, he shall continue to be governed by such enactment in like manner as if it had not been repealed ; Provided that any enactment of this Act which is substituted as regards a sheriff or sheriffs officer for the enactment so repealed, shall apply to such coroner, escheator, or officer, in lieu of the enactment so repealed.