The Sun. — 1867-12-23 (London, England)

THE LATV OP ARP. M 1 FOR TREASON  FELONY.  necent acts of violence to ponstables engaged in the arrest of persons charged with treason-felony, seem so ikely to be repeated for want of a clear understanding of the law, that a statement of the conditions under which sn accused or suspected person can lawfully be taken into sustody and detained for trial may be useful. Such a statement by " an eminent legal authority" has been pubished. It lays down that the want or invalidity of a warrant does not justify a prisoner in resistance, or reduce us the least the offence of killing a constable ; nor does it entitle him to a discharge upon habeas corpus. A private individual is not justified in arresting for misdemeanour without a warrant, nor, indeed, is an officer, unless the )ffence be committed in his presence. For felony, bowever, and treason, the law gives extensive powers of arrest without warrant, both to the police and private persons. A. private individual may justify an arrest for felony without warrant if he can show either that a felony was in fact committed by the party arrested, or that a felony was committed by some one, and that he had probable cause from his own observation, or the credible information of another, to suspect the person arrested of being the felon. A. constable, has, of course, a larger authority than a private individual, as he must act on the charge and information of others. He is not merely justified in arresting, but is bound, under pain of indictment, to arrest any person whom he has probable cause to suspect, even from the information of another, of having committed a felony. The constable is protected in the discharge of his duty, even though in the end the person arrested is found not guilty, and even if it turn out that no felony was, in fact, committed by anybody. An absurd assumption has lately obtained that there was no common law power of arrest in one part of the kingdom for an offence committed and to be tried in another, and that warrants must be backed in England for Irish officers to act here. This has raised other questions. Suppose a murderer were arrested in Ireland for an offence committed in Liverpool, the officer arresting having no warrant. Would he be justified in killing the officer? Might his friends lawfully storm the gaol? The law is not so absurd. The constable would assuredly be justified in arresting the accused and detaining him until a warrant, either under the statutes, or of the LordLieutenant, or Secretary of State, as conservator of the peace, was obtained. The assumption to the contrary is without authority 3 applied to felonies, and inapplicable to arrest for treason or treason-felony, common to different parts of the kingdom. Even before the Union fugitives from justice might be and were arrested in England and sent to Ireland for trial, and rice versa. As to Scotland, Lord Sanchar, or Sanquire, in James L's time, having procured one Carlish to murder, in London, Turner, a fencing master, who had accidentally put out the said lord's eye, Carlish was, upon proclamation and reward offered by the King, taken in Scotland and sent to England for trial, and he and his noble employer were convicted and executed. Hence the supposition that there can be no legal arrest unless by some one who holds a backed warrant is erroneous. In cases of treason the law clearly lays down that every subject of the Crown is justified in arresting and detaining for trial, without warrant, a person against whom there is a probable charge of treason, wheresoever committed. No distinction can be drawn between treason and treason-felony in any form which the latter offence may have assumed. The Treason-Felony Act was passed mainly to relieve the Crown from the necessity of cumbersome State trials, and it must not be forgotten that until the trial the charge against a treason felon is really treason (if arms have been resorted to), if the Crown chooses to treat it as such. Applying these rules of law to the case of Sergeant Brett, he was bound at his peril to retain the prisoners though their warrants were not backed in England. The law may be thus summed up : A person charged with treason-felony, wheresoever found within the kingdom, may be taken and detained for trial upon probable cause of suspicion, without warrant ; and that if he resists to the death of a known officer of the law he will be guilty of murder.