Warrant

WARRANT, in law, indicates an authority in writing empow ering a person to do an act or to execute an office. The term is applied to a great variety of documents of very different kinds.

Executive and Administrative.

While the royal preroga tive was insufficiently defined and limited, a great many execu tive acts were authorized by royal warrant (per speciale manda turn regis) which now either depend on statute or are dealt with by departments of State without the need of recourse to the per sonal authority of the sovereign. There is hardly any exercise of the royal will which does not depend on the issue of a warrant at tended with the strictest formalities designed to secure the re sponsibility of some minister for it, in illustration of the great constitutional principle that "the King cannot act alone." (See PREROGATIVE ; PRIVY COUNCIL.) Under present constitutional practice royal warrants are as a general rule countersigned by a member of the cabinet or other responsible officer of State. By an act of (18 Hen. VI. c. I) letters patent under the great seal must bear the date of the royal warrant delivered to the chancellor for their issue. This act still applies to all patents, except for inventions. The form and countersignature of warrants for affix ing the great seal is regulated by the Great Seal Act 1884. Par don, which was granted for centuries only by letters patent under the great seal, has since 1827 in England and 1828 in Ireland been granted in case of felony by warrant under the royal sign manual countersigned by a secretary of State (7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, s. 13; 9 Geo. IV. c. 54, S. 33). The prerogative of the crown with reference to the control of the navy and army is largely ex ercised by the issue of warrants. In 1871 the purchase of com missions in the army was abolished by royal warrant. The con vocation of naval courts-martial and the appointment of judge advocate and provost-marshal at such court is by warrant of the Admiralty or of the officer on foreign or detached service who by his commission is entitled to convene such a court. (See Naval Discipline Act 1866, s. 58; Army Act 1881, s. 179.) A general court-martial for the army is constituted by royal warrant or convened by an officer authorized to convene such court, or his lawful delegate (Army Act 1881, s. 48). Appointments to certain offices under the crown are made by warrant of the king or of the appropriate department of State. In the navy and army the officers called warrant officers are so styled because they are appointed by warrant and do not hold commissions. Certain tradesmen to the court are described as "warrant holders," because of the mode of their appointment. Abuses of claims to this dis tinction are punishable (Merchandise Marks Act 1887, s. 20; Patents Act 1883, s. 107). The issue of warrants under the hand of a secretary of State, so far as they affect personal liberty, de pends in every case on statute, e.g., as to the surrender of fugitive criminals (EXTRADITION), or the deportation of undesirable aliens (see ALIEN ) , or the bringing of prisoners as witnesses in courts of justice. The right of a secretary of State by express warrant in writing to detain or open letters in the post office was recognized by orders in council and proclamations in the 17th century and by various acts, and is retained in the Post Office Act 1836 (s. 25).

Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Warrants.

Unless a statute otherwise provides a judicial warrant must be in writing under the seal, if any, of the court, or under the hand and (or) seal of the functionary who grants it. Committal for breach of privilege of the House of Commons is by warrant of the Speaker. During the Tudor and Stuart reigns frequent attempts were made by the crown and great officers of State to interfere with personal liberty, especially as to offences of State. The legality of these proceedings was challenged by the judges in Elizabeth's reign. On the aboli tion of the Star Chamber it was enacted (16 Car. I. c. 1o) that if any person be imprisoned by warrant of the king in person, of the council board, or any of the privy council, he is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus, and the courts may examine into the legality of the cause of detention. This enactment, and the Habeas Corpus Act 1679, put an end to the interference of the executive with matters belonging to the judicature; but until 1763 there survived a practice by which a secretary of State issued warrants to arrest individuals for State offences, and to search or seize the books and papers of the accused. The latter practice was examined and declared illegal in the famous case of Entick v. Carrington (19 How. St. Tr. 1030) where it was held that a secretary of State is the king's private secretary and has not, as such, the authority of a magistrate to issue a warrant. Still more important were the cases of Leach v. Money (19 St. Tr. 'co') and Willus v. Wood which declared the illegality of "general" or "uncertain" warranty, i.e., warrants which do not testify the name of the person to be arrested. All privy councillors are included in the commission of the peace for every county. The council itself is said to have power to issue warrants of arrest for high treason, but the power, if it exists, is in abeyance in England. As a result of the gradual restriction of the royal prerogative, the term warrant has come in modern times of tenest to be used of documents issuing from courts of justice. Few documents issuing from the superior courts are called warrants. In these courts writs and orders are more generally used. In courts of record which try indictments a "bench warrant" is sometimes used for the arrest of an absent defendant, but the word warrant has for judicial purposes become most closely associated with the jurisdiction of justices of the peace. As a

general rule no one can be arrested for a misdemeanour. But to this rule there are many statutory exceptions, as in the case of street offences, gambling, cruelty to animals, offences against the person, profanity and other misdemeanours, also of a breach of the peace actually committed in the presence of a constable. In the case of felonies, no warrant is necessary. At common law a justice of the peace, a sheriff, a coroner, a constable and even a private person, may arrest any one without warrant for a treason, felony or breach of the peace committed, or attempted to be committed, in his presence. A constable (whether a constable at common law or a police constable appointed under the Police Acts) may arrest a person indicted for felony; a constable or a private person may arrest on reasonable suspicion that he who is arrested has committed a felony. But in the latter case he does so at his peril, for he must prove (what the constable need not) that there has been an actual commission of the crime by some one, as well as a reasonable ground for suspecting the particular person. What is a reasonable ground it is of course impossible to define, but, in the case of a constable, a charge by a person not mani festly unworthy of credit is generally regarded as sufficient. An accused person who has been bailed may be arrested by his bail, and the police may assist in the arrest. In neither case is a warrant necessary. Nor is it necessary for the apprehension of one against whom the hue and cry is raised. The king cannot arrest in person or by verbal command, as no action would lie against him for wrongful arrest. In those cases in which arrest without warrant is illegal or is found inexpedient, information in writing or on oath is laid before a justice of the peace setting forth the nature of the offence charged and to some extent the nature of the evidence implicating the accused; and upon this information, if sufficient in the opinion of the justice applied to, he issues his warrant for the arrest of the person incriminated. The warrant, if issued by a competent court as to a matter over which it has jurisdiction, becomes a judicial authority to the person who executes it, and resistance to such a warrant is a criminal offence. The issue of a warrant by a justice of the peace is a judicial act, and provided he is acting within his jurisdiction, he cannot be sued for a "false imprisonment" by the person arrested, even though he has acted unreasonably in issuing it and the prisoner is acquitted. Speak ing generally, a constable to whom a warrant is issued is pro tected from any action at law for executing it if it was appar ently legal on the face of it, because he is bound to obey it. But if he arrested the wrong person or arrested without having the warrant in his possession, he is liable in an action for "false imprisonment." Entry upon the land or seizure of property can not as a rule be justified except under judicial warrant. The only common law warrant of this kind is the search warrant, which may be granted for the purpose of searching for stolen goods. Special powers for issuing such warrants are given by the Army, Merchant Shipping, Customs, Pawnbrokers and Stamp Acts, and for the discovery of explosives or appliances for coining and forgery. The Official Secrets Acts of 1911 to 1920 are remarkable in that they disperse with the necessity of the intervention of a justice of the peace in the case of a search for official documents and enable the constable to make such a search on the order of a superin tendent of police if it appears that "immediate action is neces sary." The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 allows the issue of search warrants where it is suspected that a female is unlaw fully detained for immoral purposes. Execution of the decisions of a court of summary jurisdiction is secured by warrants, part of the process of the court, such as warrants of distress or com mitment. A warrant may also issue for the apprehension of a witness whose attendance cannot be otherwise assured. The forms of warrants used by justices in indictable cases are scheduled to the Indictable Offences Act 1848. Those used for summary juris diction are contained in the Summary Jurisdiction Rules of 1886. As a general rule, warrants must be executed within the local jurisdiction of the officer who issued them. Warrants, etc., issued by a judge of the High Court run through England, in criminal as well as in civil cases : and the same rule applies as to courts having bankruptcy jurisdiction. The warrants of justices of the peace can be executed on fresh pursuit within 7 m. of the boundary of the jurisdiction, and if properly backed by a local justice or officer in any other part of the British Isles. (See SUMMARY JURISDIC TION.) There is also a special provision as to executing warrants in the border counties of England and Scotland. Under the Extra dition Acts and Fugitive Offenders Act 1881 provision is made for the issue of warrants in aid of foreign and colonial justice ; but the foreign and colonial warrants have no force in the United Kingdom. The word is used as to a few judicial or quasi-judicial matters of civil concern, e.g., warrant to arrest a ship in an ad miralty action in rem; and in the county courts warrants to the bailiffs of the court are used whue in the High Court a writ to the sheriff would be issued, e.g., for attachment, execution, possession and delivery.