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Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 53, 4 March 1846, Page 3

To the Editor of the "Wellington Independent. Sir,—l Eend you the following extract from Black-tone, in order 10 show our whs authorities that the liw enjoins them to defend the settlers, whatever quibbles may be mude to the contrary :— " There is yet another species of arrest, wh- rein both officers and private men are concerned, and thit is upun a hue and cry raised upon a felony committed. An hue (ftotn huer to thout) ana cry, huct sum et clamor, is ti.e oid common law proens t>7 purging, witii horn and with voice, ail felons, and nuchas hive dangerously wounded another. It v si o mentioned by statute Westm. 1. 3 Edw. 1. c. 9, aid 4. Edvr. 1 de officio cornotoris. But the principal statute relative to this matter, is that of Winchester, 13 E;!w. 1. c. 1. & 4., which directs that from hencefbith every c unty shall be so we*i kept, that immediately upon robberies and felonies committed, pursuit shall be made from town to town, and from county lo county, and that hue and cry {'hall be raised upon the felons, and they that keep the town shall follow with hue and cry, with all the town and the towns near; and so hue and cry shall be made from town to town, until they be taken and delivered to the Sheriff. And that sucb. hue and c:y m&y more effccUnliy be made, the hundred is bound by the same statute c. 3. to answer for all robberies therein committed, unless they take the feloo ; which is the foundation of an action against the hundred, in case of any loss by robbery. By statute 27 Eliz. c. 13, ho hue and cry is sufficient, unless made with both horsemen and footmen. And by statute 8 Geo. 2. c. 16, the constable or like officer, lefusing or neglecting to make hue and ciy, forfeits £b, and the whole vill or district is still in strictness liable to be amerced, according to the law of Alfred, if any felony be committed therein and the felon escape?. An institution which has long prevailed in many of the Eastern countrl s, and has in part been introduced even into the Mogul Empire, about the beginning of the last century ; which is said to have tffeciually delivered that vast territory from the plague of robbers, by making in some places the villiges, in others the officers of justice, responsible for all the robberies committed' wuliin their respective districts. Hue and cry may be raised either by precept of a Justice of Peice, or by a peace officer, or by any private man that knows of a felony. The person raising it must acquaint the constable of the village, with all the circumstiuces he knows of the felony, and the person of the felon ; and thereupon the constable is to search his own town, and raise all ths neighbouring villages, and make pursuit with horse and foot; and in the prosecution of such hue and cry, the constable and his attendants have the same powers, protection and indemnification, as if acting under Ihe wan ant of a Justice cf the Peace." — Commentaries vol. 4. p. 293. I am, yours, &c. Common Sense.