GAOL DELIVERY, COMMISSION me, is one .of the four commissions issued to judges of assize in England, under which they discharge their duties on circuit. See ASSIZE. Commission of G. D. empowers the judges to try and deliver every prisoner who shall be in the gaol when they arrive at the circuit town. It is directed to the judges, with whom arc coupled the sergeants-at-law and queen's counsel on the circuit, the clerk of assize, and the associate. It constitutes the persons to whom it is directed the queen's justices, and orders four, three, or two of them, of whom one must be a judge or sergeant, to proceed to try prisoners. It was anciently the course to issue special writs of goal delivery for each particular prisoner, which were called the writs de bono et male,. but these lking found inconvenient and oppressive, a general commission for all the prisoners has long been established in their stead (Stephen, Comm. iv. 371). Itlis not incumbent on the com missioners to deliver all the prisoners in the gaol, but they cannot try any one who was not in custody or on bail at the opening of the commission. A commission of G. D. has power to order that the•proceedings at any trial shall not be published till all the trials are finisffed. Violation of this order is contempt of court, and is punishable by fine and imprisonment. At common law, a commission of G. D. is suspended by the court of queen's bench sitting in the same county; but by 25 Geo. III. e. 18, the session at New
gate of oycr and terminer and gaol delivery is not to be interrupted by the commence ment of term and sitting of the king's bench at Westminster. By 4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 36, a special court has been created for London and the suburbs, called the central criminal court (q.v.), for which a 'special commission of G. D. is issued.
GAP, a small t. of France, capital of the denutment of, Hautes Alpes, is pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Luie, about 50 s.e. of Grenoble. It is approached through walnut avenues, and surrounded by slopes on which the vine flourishes at the height of 2,558 ft. above sea-level. When seen from a certain distance, the town has a pic turesque 'appearance; but on a closer inspection, it is found to be merely a labyrinth of dirty, narrow, and ill-paved streets. The chief public building is the cathedral, with a mausoleum in marble of the constable de Lesdiguieres. The town has manufactures of coarse woolens, linens, agricultural implements, and leather. Pop. '70, 7,249. G., the ancient Vapincum, was formerly capital of the district of Dauphine, to which it gave the name of Gapeucois. At the commencement of the 17th c., it is said to have had about 16,000 inhabitants. Since that period, however, it has steadily declined in size and importance. It was sacked and almost wholly reduced to ashes, by Victor Amadeus Savoy in 1692.