Time. No particular time is mentioned for the granting this certificate, it may therefore be presumed, that the Judge may certify at any reasonable time after the trial. Of the Certificate under 13 G. 3. c.51. s. 1. respecting The Welch judicature act was one of those various efforts which the legislature has from time to time employed for the suppression of vexatious suits at West minster. The first section enacts, that in case the plaintiff in any action upon the case for words, action of debt, trespass on the case, assault and battery, or other personal action, where the cause of such action shall arise within the dominion of Wales, and which shall be tried at the assizes, at the nearest English county to that part of the said dominion of Wales in which the cause of action shall be laid to arise, shall not recover, by verdict, a debt or damages to the amount of 107.: in such case, if the Judge who tried the cause, on evidence appearing before him, shall certify, on the back of the record of Nisi Prius, that the defendant or defendants was or were resident in the dominion of Wales at the time of the service of the writ, or other mesne process served on him, her, or them, in such action; on such fact being suggested on the record or judgment roll, a judgment of nonsuit shall be entered against the plaintiff, and such defendant or defendants shall be entitled to and have like judgment and remedy therein, to recover such and the like costs against the plaintiff or plaintiffs in every such action, as if a verdict had been given by the jury for the defendant or defendants, unless the Judge before whom such cause shall be tried shall certify, on the back of the record, that the freehold or title of the land mentioned in the plaintiff's declaration, was chiefly in question, or that such cause was proper to be tried in such English county. Section 2. provides, that in all transitory actions brought in like manner, where the verdict is under 10%., and the Judge certifies the defendant's residence in Wales as above, the plaintiff shall be nonsuited, and shall pay to the defendant his costs of suit, but the plaintiff shall be allowed out of the defendant's costs the full sum he has obtained by the verdict; and such verdict, although no judgment be entered by the plaintiff, shall be an effectual bar to any future action brought by the plaintiff for the same cause. An attorney sued a defendant resident in Wales, by attachment of privilege for words spoken there, and laid his venue in the Welch county, whereby the cause came on for trial at Hereford, and there was a verdict with 5s. damages, and the Judge certified. On a motion to enter this fact on the record, which was opposed, Lord Kenyon observed, that the plaintiff might have exercised his privilege by laying the venue in Middlesex, but as he had laid it where the cause of action arose, and where the defendant resided, the suggestion ought to stand upon the record. (a) The words "other personal action" have not been idly introduced in the statute; and thus an action of covenant against a husband, because his wife had not (a) 6 T. R. 500. Evans, Gent. v. Jones. levied a fine according to the husband's agreement with the plaintiff, was held to be within its provisions. (a) It seems, that the Judge is bound to certify in this case; for in a case for the plaintiff, indorsee of a promissory note recovered 51. damages against the drawer, Lord Kenyon expressed some reluctance to certify, but on considering the subject, he declared himself bound to do so, and that he had no discretion on the point. (b) SECT. II. Of Judicial Certificates which entitled Persons to certain Rewards before the passing of 58 G. 3. c. 70. THERE are well known periods in the history of this country, when offences against the persons and properties of individuals were of such frequency as to excite the most alarming dismay. To so great a height had this mischief arisen, that it was deemed necessary to stimulate the parties injured, by the hope of pecuniary rewards, to become active in the apprehension and prosecution of mischievous felons. The method employed was to empower the sheriff of the county or city where the conviction took place to pay a sum of money, (in many of the acts 40l. is the stated sum,) on the production of a certificate from the Judge who tried the (a) 1 New Rep. 267. Davis v. Jones. prisoner certifying such conviction, to the party claiming under the instrument, as having apprehended and prosecuted the offender to conviction. The distribution of such money in shares was, in cases of dispute, entrusted to the discretion of the Judge. By these means highwaymen (a), counterfeiters and clippers of the coin of the realm (6), burglars (c), housebreakers (d), horsestealers (e), sheepstealers (ƒ), and coiners and utterers of false money (g), were exposed to the influence of a personal interest, which very much urged and awakened the police of the country. Of late years, however, the vigilance of the magistracy and officers acting under that authortiy has been sufficiently spirited and successful to repress the frequent occurrence of outrage and robbery which had once been so much the object and dread, and it has happened, infinitely to the disgrace of persons who have lent themselves to such practices, that false charges have been made, and enforced with effect, for the sole purpose of gaining these pecuniary payments. Instances of this nature being notorious, and there being also satisfactory evidence that the first thefts of youthful depredators had been often winked at in order that the rising thief might entangle himself in some crime which was comprehended in these statutes, and thus, that the reward might be obtained, the legislature resolved to repeal every provision in the acts we have referred to respecting the sheriff's payments of these bounties; and (a) 4 W. & M. c. 8. (c) 5 Ann. c. 1. (d) Ibid. (b) 6 & 7 W. 3. c. 17. (f) 14 G. 2. c. 6. (g) 15 G. 2. c. 28. this has been done accordingly by 58 G. 3. c. 70., which allows the expences of the prosecutor and his witnesses in all grand and petit larcenies. SECT. III. Of the Judicial Certificate, exempting Persons who have prosecuted certain Felons to conviction from Parish and Ward Offices. FOR the better apprehending, prosecuting, and punishing burglars, housebreakers, robbers in shops, warehouses, coach-houses and stables, and horse-stealers, it was enacted by 10&11 W.3. c. 23. s. 2., that any person apprehending and prosecuting to conviction a felon guilty of any one of the crimes above mentioned shall be entitled to a certificate, without fee or reward, under the hands of the Judge or Justice before whom the conviction may take place, certifying such conviction, and within what parish or place the felony may have been committed, and that the party obtaining the certificate has been instrumental in discovering or taking the offender; and it provides further, that in case of any dispute between two or more as to the property of such certificate, it shall be distributed into shares at the discretion of the Judge or Justice, upon or Justice, upon which the person who shall possess the temporary interest in the certificate shall be discharged from all manner of parish and ward offices within the parish or ward wherein the felony shall be committed. It is also declared, that the |