within the time prescribed, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $500 nor less than $50.a The votes for 'representatives to congress, may be returned to the sheriff, within fourteen days after the election, and it is the duty of the sheriff, to return them to the secretary within 40 days, from the time of the election. The penalty for neglect under this statute, for not returning votes or distributing precepts, is not less than $200 nor more than $2000.

9. To adjourn Courts in certain cases.

Whenever by reason of sickness, accident, or any unforeseen cause, neither of the justices of the supreme judicial court shall arrive before sunset of the day upon which the court should open, the sheriff of the county shall, by proclamation, posted upon the door of the court house, adjourn the court from day to day until one of the justices arrive. So of the court of common pleas: whenever no justice shall attend at the time or place at which said court, by law or previous adjournment, was to have been held, then the sheriff may adjourn said court from day to day or from time to time, as the circumstances may require; and shall make public notification thereof, in writing, or by publishing the same in a newspaper printed in the county.d

10. To regulate the employment of Convicts.

All persons sentenced to hard labour in any house of correction or jail used for that purpose, shall be set to work by the keeper. And it is the duty of the sheriff to oversee the execution of all such sentences, and to make rules and regulations to effect the purposes of the act, which are to be reported to the court of common pleas and municipal court, for the counties where such houses are situated; which courts have power to alter or repeal such rules as they may think e proper. The sheriff has power to order into solitary confinement, after due inquiry, any convict who shall be unruly or disobey any of the rules prescribed for the government of the house, and to cause such convict, so confined, to be fed on bread and water only, for the term of ten days for every offence. Courts of criminal jurisdiction have aConst. ch. 2. sect. 1. 1795. ch. 55. b1822. ch. 22. c1820. 14. dIbid. 79. 1818. 123. fSt. 1818. ch. 123.

power to sentence convicts, conditionally, as by ordering them to pay a fine, within a given period, and in default of payment, to suffer some other punishment; and it is made the duty of the sheriff having charge of the offender to cause such punishment to be inflicted, provided the fine shall not be paid within the limited time.a

11. Of his power in calling out the Militia to suppress insurrections.

Whenever an insurrection shall have taken place, to obstruct the course of justice, or the due execution of the laws, or that there is reason to apprehend, that a dangerous insurrection for these purposes will be excited, it is made the duty of the civil officers of the county, as well the sheriff as the justices of the several courts of judicature, within the county, immediately to give information to the governor, who may order the proper officers of the militia to detach so many troops as may be thought necessary to support the civil authority, and to apprehend and secure those who may be concerned in the insurrection. If in opinion of the sheriff, or of two justices of either of the judicial courts within the county, it should be necessary that such a force should instantly be raised and called forth for the purposes aforesaid, and if by reason of distance, the proper orders could not be obtained from the governor, then the sheriff may certify the fact to the major general of the division or to the commanding officer of some regiment or corps in the vicinity, requesting him to detach the whole, or a competent number of the militia, under his command, as the sheriff may think necessary to defeat the purposes of the insurgents, and to apprehend and bring them to trial, of which, notice is to be forthwith given to the governor. The militia so ordered out are to be under the command of the civil officer, unless in case of rebellion declared by the legislature.

12. Duties in selecting Jurors.

This prerogative of the sheriff, so extensive under most other governments, is confined within narrow limits by the laws of this state.

The courts of sessions are required within one year after every census of the population, to divide their reaSt. 1788. ch. 53. bSt. 1786, ch. 59. clbid.

spective counties into convenient districts, not less than four nor more than twelve in number :—and to give notice of the division to the clerks of the several courts, who are to issue writs of venire facias, directed to the constables of the several towns, for as many jurors as may be deemed necessary at any term of the court, by causing them to be drawn from the jury boxes of the several towns according to law.

It is the duty of the sheriff to forward the venires to the respective constables without delay :-and when from challenges or otherwise, there shall not be a competent number of jurors to try an action, the sheriff or his deputy may fill the panel de talibus circumstantibus; but no person shall be considered as competent to be returned, unless his name is in the jury box of his town; unless the parties consent; and there must be at least seven, on the panel whose names were returned in the venire.a

Any sheriff who shall so neglect the duties enjoined upon him by the act regulating the selection of jurors, as to prevent a compliance with any of its provisions, shall be fined a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, at the discretion of the court.

13. To execute sentences of death.

b

It is the duty of the sheriff to cause execution to be done upon any person upon whom sentence or judgment of death shall be passed or given. The authority in this case must be a warrant from the supreme executive of the state, under the great seal, with a copy of the record of the conviction annexed. In case of a conviction of murder, committed in a duel, the court may at their discretion, order the body of the convict to be dissected and anatomized; in which case, it is the duty of the sheriff to deliver the dead body, to a pro-. fessor of anatomy, in some public college, when required; otherwise, to any surgeon who shall be attending at the place of execution to receive the body and will engage for the dissection and anatomizing thereof. 14. Of the compensation of Sheriffs, and of his duties in destributing certain precepts.

The ordinary fees of sheriffs and their deputies will aStat. 1807. ch. 140. b Mass. Bay, St. 1777. ch. 72. sect. 24St. 1804. th. 123.

be noticed in a subsequent chapter. For services performed by the sheriff personally, he is entitled to the whole fees; but the fee bill enacts, that he shall not demand of his deputies, more than at the rate of twenty five per centum, on the amount of fees for travel and ser

vice.a

A sheriff cannot compound with his deputy and take more than a fourth part of the fees for certain services and travel, and appear to compensate the deputy by releasing the fees for other services, but he is limited to that proportion for services of every description done by the deputy.

A bond from a deputy to the sheriff conditioned that he should pay over one third part of his fees for travel and service, is a void bond.b But a bond, that the deputy should pay over one quarter part of all fees received by him, is a valid and legal contract.c

Sheriffs are required to transmit to the assessors of the several towns, immediately upon receiving the same, the warrants of the state treasurer, for any tax levied by the legislature.d

For this service he is entitled to such compensation as the court of sessions may order, provided the sheriff, shall first produce to the court the certificate of the assessors, or of the town clerk or other satisfactory proof that the warrants have been actually received by the assessors.d

The fee bill further provides, that the sheriff shall receive eight cents each, for dispersing venires for jurymen, treasurer warrants and proclamations of all kinds.

And for the encouragement of the sheriff in each county, to take and use all possible care and diligence for the safe keeping of prisoners committed to his custody, he shall have such annual salary allowed as the court of sessions may order, from the county treasury, not exceeding forty dollars for the county of suffolk, nor twenty five dollars for any other county.f

For returning the votes for governor and other public officers, to the secretary, he shall have eight cents a mile, computing from his place of abode to the secretary's office, to be paid by the state; but one travel to be allowed for the whole.

aSt. 1795. ch. 41. b5 M. R. 395. ch. 46. eSt. 1795. ch. 41. flbid.

c7 M. R. 33. dStat. 1785. glbid.

All courts have power to make a reasonable allowance to the sheriff for his daily attendance upon their sittings.

On every trial in a court of record, he is entitled to fifteen cents, and on every default eight cents. These are accounted for to the crier with the jury fees. So upon the trial of each criminal, some small fees are allowed to the sheriff, at the discretion of the court, which varies in different counties.

C. Of deputy sheriffs.

1. Of the relation of Sheriff and deputies to each other. The deputies are all servants of the sheriff, and he is accountable for their acts; but in relation to each other, they are often considered as several officers having distinct rights and liabilities.b

Therefore controversies between deputies of the same sheriff, respecting attachments at the suits of different creditors, ought to be adjusted by the sheriff, as in settling these rights, he must determine and proceed at his own peril.c

But one deputy sheriff may maintain an action against another deputy to recover possession of goods attached by him, for by the attachment he acquires a special property in the chattels, which entitles him to an action against any person who interferes with his possession.d

But a deputy, in his capacity of keeper of the jail, is not in an ordinary sense a deputy sheriff, nor are other deputies, keepers of the jail, wherefore they may lawfully serve writs when the jail keeper is a party.

The sheriff is not restricted in the number of deputies appointed by him and they may be removed at his pleasure. But while the deputy continues in office, his power cannot be abridged, and a bond given by him to the sheriff, that he would not serve writs over a certain sum, or beyond certain limits within the county, would be a void bond.f

But the sheriff has power to appoint deputies for special purposes, as to execute one or more specific processes, upon completing which their powers terminate.g

If such deputy is appointed at the request of the plain

aSt. 1795. ch 41. b5 M. R. 271. c13 Ibid. 14. d9 M. R. 112. 14. M. R. 269. 16 M. R. 465. f2 Johns. 63.