4. In the execution of a warrant a constable acts only as a ministerial officer to the magistrate who signs it. He is the proper officer to a justice of the peace, and is bound by law to execute his war rants, and may be indicted for disobeying them. It is his duty to execute the war rant of a magistrate as soon as it comes to his hands ; and where he arrests or distrains or does any other act, though it is not absolutely necessary that he should show his warrant, he ought always to give notice of it, and he will be wise to produce it in all cases where it is de manded; but as the warrant constitutes his justification, he is not required to part with it out of his possession. If the constable hash legal warrant to arrest for felony, or even breach of the peace, he may break open doors after having demanded admittance and given notice of his warrant ; and if, after such notice, he is resisted and killed, it will be murder. If a warrant be directed to a constable by his name of office merely, he is authorised by the stat. 5 Geo. IV. c. 18, to execute it oat of his own constablewick, provided it be within the jurisdiction of the magis trate who signs it; but he is not bound to do so, and may in all cases choose whe ther he will go beyond his own precincts or not 5. There are several provisions for the indemnity and protection of constables in the proper discharge of their duty. Thus by the scat. 7 Jac. I. c. 5, if an action be brought against a constable for anything done by virtue of his office, he may plead the general issue and give the special matter in evidence ; and if he re covers, he is entitled to doable costs.
Formerly if a magistrate granted a war rant in a matter over which he had no jurisdiction, the officer who executed it was liable to an action of trespass for so doing; but by the stet. 24 George II. c. 44, § 6, it is enacted, that "no action shall be brought against any constable for anything done in obedience to the warrant of a justice of the peace, until he has neglected or refused to show his warrant on being demanded so to do. And if after he has shown his warrant, any action is brought against the con stable alone, without joining the justice who signed the warrant, the defendant, on producing the warrant at the trial, shall be entitled to a verdict, notwith standing the defect of the justice's juris diction ; and if the action be brought against the constable jointly with the justice, the constable is to be entitled to a verdict on proof of the warrant." By section 8 of the same statute, all actions against constables for anything done in the execution of their office must be brought within six months. For the further protection of constables, the stet. 9 George IV. C. 31, § 25, enacts that persons convicted of assaults upon peace officers in the due execution of their duty may be imprisoned with hard labour for two years, and be fined or required to find sureties for keeping the peace. (For fuller information upon the whole of this subject, see Viner's Abridgement ; Bacon's Abridgement ; and Burn's Justice, title " Constable.") For an account of the rural police established in several counties of Eng land, and of the constabulary in Ireland, see POLICE.