West-Riding of Yorkshire. 
INSTRUCTIONS TO CONSTABLES. 
  YOU are the immediate and proper officers to Justices of the 
Peace; and, as such, are bound to execute,with readiness and
dispatch, all warrants, summonses, and precepts, directed to you 
from the Magistrates; or, by their order, from the High Constable 
of your district. 
  The most essential part of your duty is, a general superintendence 
over the peace and good order of your district. Your powers for 
this purpose are great and extensive, and your duty is compulsory. 
On any breach of the peace in your presence, you are bound by 
your oath to interpose, and you are severely punishable for omission. 
You are not only empowered (as all private persons are) to part an 
affray which happens in your presence, but you are, at your peril, 
to use your best endeavours for that purpose. Where any person 
shall threaten to kill, beat, or hurt another, or shall evidently 
be ready to break the peace, it is your duty to interpose ; and if 
the offender persists, you may carry him before a Magistrate, to 
find sureties of the peace. 
  You are to suppress all riots ; and (which is much better) 
prevent them. If you hear disturbances in public-houses, tending 
towards a breach of the peace, it is your duty to enter and restore 
good order. 
  When you are called upon for your assistance to quell, or 
prevent any breach of the peace, you must attend on the spot 
without delay, and you are punishable for neglect. In all such 
cases you should first use persuasion and exhortation; and when 
you find such means ineffectual, you may arrest the offenders; and 
whenever you arrest a man on your own authority, you should 
take him, with all convenient speed, before a Magistrate. But if, 
from the time of night, distance, or other reasonable impediment, 
that cannot conveniently be done, you may keep him in safe 
custody until the morning. But you must particularly observe, 
that in whatsoever case you may have taken a person into your 
custody, you may by no means discharge him by your own 
authority. 
  You are to make pursuit of Hue and Cry at all times, when 
demanded of you, in consequence of a felony recently committed, 
or of any person being grievously and dangerously wounded ; the 
party aggrieved giving, you a reasonable assurance of the fact, and 
..... bing the felon... By pursuit of Hue and Cry, you are to 
............... ..... ... assistance of such persons as you chuse 
.................................................... for the felon 
are also t........ immediate information to the Constables of the 
neighbouring districts, with the like description of the offence and 
the offender, that you have yourself received. 
  In the execution of your office, you are not to be intimidated 
by fear, or swayed by favor or affection. To support you in your 
duty, the law has armed you with extensive powers, as well for 
your assistance, as for your indemnity and protection. You may 
demand the aid and assistance of all His Majesty’s subjects, who, 
on refusal, are punishable by fine and imprisonment. You are, by 
statute, indemnified for what you do, in obedience to the warrant 
of a Justice of the Peace; and it has been determined that a person 
ought to be committed for opposing a Constable, though by words 
only, in the execution of his office; be careful, therefore, to obseve 
strictly the directions of your warrant, and keep it after the service 
for your justification. Should you be assaulted in the execution 
of your office, you are, in a peculiar manner under the protection
of the law, and the offence is liable to a very aggravated penalty, 
or corporal punishment. 
  You are not to suffer any common beggars or vagrants to remain 
within your district; but, without a warrant, to carry them before 
a Magistrate. By vagrants you are generally to understand— 
persons wandering abroad, and begging under false pretences, and 
without certificate or pass; persons lodging in alehouses, barns, 
and out-houses, not giving a good account of themselves; gipseys, 
fortune-tellers, jugglers, and gamesters, or others using any subtle 
craft to deceive or impose on His Majesty’s subjects; venders of 
medicines, or other petty chapmen, or pedlars wandering abroad 
without being duly licensed. These you are entitled to a reward 
for apprehending, and if you refuse or neglect to apprehend and 
convey such persons before a Magistrate, you are liable to a 
penalty. You are also to bring to punishment all drivers of 
waggons, carts, &c. misbehaving in the streets and highways, 
whereby the safety of travellers and passengers is so frequently 
endangered, and so many lives are lost. 
  On reasonable suspicion you are to arrest felons and rogues of 
all kinds, and carry them before a Magistrate. It is your duty to 
keep a watchful eye over strangers of suspicious appearance, who 
continue strolling about within your district; if such are seen out 
of their lodgings at unseasonable hours of the night, and refuse to 
give an account of themselves, you may detain them in custody till 
the next morning, and carry them before a Magistrate; by your 
attention in this particular, house-breaking, felonies, and many 
other malicious practices may be prevented. 
  You ought frequently to inspect the public-houses within your 
district, and to see that the laws and orders of the Quarter Sessions 
are punctually obeyed.  You are bound to present all such 
publicans as suffer gaming, tippling, (which is drinking longer, 
or in greater quantities, than necessary refreshment requires) 
or any other irregularities. You are also to report to the 
Magistrates in their Petty Session, the result of such inspection, 
and return the names of persons found tippling or gaming at 
unseasonable hours. 
  If in any such search you find any disorderly people who 
refuse to give an account of themselves, or have no visible means 
of support, you may arrest them and bring them before the 
Magistrate in the morning. 
  You are to make diligent enquiry and search, to detect persons 
who shall use short weights and measures, or sell unwholesome
provisions, and give due notice to the Magistrates concerning 
them, that His Majesty’s subjects, and especially the labouring 
poor, be not thereby defrauded and injured. 
  It is your duty to inform the Magistrates of persons keeping 
houses of bad fame, suffering unlawful games, and selling ale 
without license, or who lodge vagrants. 
  Pay particular attention to public-houses on Saturday nights: 
many a poor man’s wages are then consumed, and his family 
thereby left to misery and hunger, through the following week. 
  It is also your duty to promote a due observance of the 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
who shall, contrary to the statutes, exercise their worldly callings 
on the Lord's-day, and especially to observe those who resort to 
public-houses, or use sports in time of divine service, that they 
may be proceeded against according to law.  
  It is part of your duty to present the offence of drunkenness, or 
rather to make immediate information thereof before a Magistrate. 
And if in your hearing any person should be guilty of profane 
cursing and swearing, it unknown, you may carry him before a 
Magistrate; if known, you should make information; for on your 
default, you are yourself liable to punishment. 
  You shall make a due return of Jurors according to your 
precept; and it in your list you omit the name of any person 
which ought to be inserted, or insert any one which ought to be 
omitted, or shall take any reward for any such insertion or 
omission, you are liable to a severe penalty, on conviction before 
One Justice. 
   Bear in your mind, that these are duties which you are sworn 
to perform to the best of your knowledge and abilities, and that 
by neglect thereof you incur the heinous sin of perjury. Consider 
that you are the executive officer of justice, and the conservator 
of the peace; and that, by neglecting your duty, you obstruct the 
law in its course, and deprive your fellow subjects of that security 
and protection which every honest man has a right to receive from 
you. In some cases you will be entitled to rewards; and your 
necessary expences, within certain restrictions, will be repaid you 
by the parish, the county, or the parties. 
We approve of the above Instructions.
(Signed) 
HAWKE,
B. FRANK, 
M, A. TAYLOR, 
B. COOKE, 
J. STOVIN, 
F. F. FOLJAMBE, 
J. WILSON, 
B. BROOKSBANK, 
J. SMYTH, 
A. NEWMAN, 
W. WOOD, 
J. DIXON, 
C. MELLISH, 
T. B. BAYLEY. 
WAKEFIELD ADJOURNED SESSIONS, EIGHTH SEPTEMBER, 1796. 
PRESENT, 
B. FRANK, J.SMYTH, Esquires; J. DIXON, W. WOOD, Clerks. 
ORDERED, That the above Instructions to Constables, (produced by Mr. Frank,) be printed and sent annually to the Chief Constables, 
and be by them also distributed among their respective Petty Constables. 
JOHN FOLJAMBE, 
DEPUTY CLERK OP THE PEACE. 
E. Waller, Printer, Northgate, Wakefield.