CONSTABLE, according to some, is a Saxon word, compounded of honing, king, and staple, which signifies stay or support. But as we borrowed the name as well as the office of constable from the French, Sir William Blackstone is rather inclined to deduce it, with Sir Henry Spelman and Dr Cowel, from that language, in which it is plainly derived from the Latin comes stabuli, an officer well known in the empire, and so called because, like the great constable of France, as well as the lord high constable of England, he had to regulate all matters of chivalry, tilts, tournaments, and feats of arms, which were performed on horseback.

The Lord High Constable of England is the seventh great officer of the crown; and he, with the earl marshal of England, were formerly judges in the court of chivalry, called in the time of Henry IV. curia militaris. This court is the fountain of the martial law, and was anciently held in the king’s hall. The power of the lord high constable was formerly so great, and so improper a use was made of it, that, as early as the thirteenth of Richard 11. a statute was passed for regulating and abridging it, as well as that of the earl marshal of England; and by this statute no plea could be tried by them or their courts, which was triable by the common law of the realm. The office of constable existed before the Conquest. After that event, the office became heritable, and, by the tenure of the manors of Harlefield, Newman, and Whitenhurst, in Gloucestershire, was held by grand serjeanty in the family of the Bohuns, earls of Hereford and Essex, and afterwards in the line of Stafford, as heirs-general to that race; but in 1521, the office became forfeited to the king, in the person of Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who in that year was attainted of high treason; and in consideration of its extensive power, dignity, and large authority, both in time of war and peace, it has never been granted to any person, otherwise than pro hac vice, to attend at a coronation or trial by combat. In France the same office was also suppressed about a century afterwards, by an edict of Louis XIII.

The Lord High Constable of Scotland is an officer of great antiquity and dignity. The first upon record is Hugo de Morvelle, in the reign of David I. He had two great prerogatives; first, the keeping of the king’s sword, which the king, when he swore fealty, delivered to him naked, and hence the badge of the constable is a naked sword; secondly, the absolute and unlimited command of the king’s armies while in the field, in the absence of the king; a command, however, which did not extend to castles and garrisons. He was likewise judge of all crimes committed within two leagues of the king’s house, which precinct was called the Chalmer of Peace ; though his jurisdiction came latterly to be exercised only as to crimes committed during the sitting of parliament, which some.
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however, extended to all general conventions. This office was conferred heritably upon the noble family of Errol, by King Robert Bruce; and with them it still remains, being expressly reserved by the treaty of union.

Inferior Constables. From the great office of high constable is derived that inferior order, since called the constables of hundreds and franchises. These were first instituted in the thirteenth year of Edward I. by the statute of Winchester, which, for the conservation of the peace, and view of armour, appointed two constables to be chosen in every hundred and franchise. They are what we now call constabularii capitales, or high constables; because, from length of time and increase of people, others of like nature, but inferior authority, have been appointed in every town, called petty constables, or sub-constabularii, who were first instituted about the reign of Edward III.

In Scotland constables are the officers of the justices of the peace, intrusted with the execution of their warrants, decrees, and orders. They are appointed by the justices at their quarter-sessions, and in royal burghs by the magistrates. It is the duty of constables, without any special warrant, to apprehend offenders against the peace, vagrants, and such as can give no account of themselves, and to take them to the next justice. It is also their duty to suppress riots, and apprehend the rioters; but after the riot is over a constable is not authorized to seize brevi manu any person concerned in it unless some one has been dangerously wounded in the affray.