False certificate. Certificate by the Sheriff of By Sheriff of his own return. Other certificates. and there delivering in his return to the certiorari, upon which the writ is ordered to be filed, and the return recorded. (a) In a case of this kind, recent by comparison, Sir Wm. Moreton, upon pleas of two customs and joinder in issue, certified, that there was such a custom as alleged in the former plea, but that there was no such custom as alleged in the latter plea. (b) If the certificate be false, the party shall have his remedy by an action upon the case, not against the Recorder, but the mayor and aldermen, for it is their certificate by their ministerial officer. (c) If the issue be whether the defendant be a citizen of London or a foreigner, on his pleading privilege to be sued only in the city courts, the certificate of the Sheriff of London shall be the final trial (d); but claims of such an exemption are seldom if ever pursued at the present time. Each officer is authorized to certify the peculiar practices or customs of his own court. And so, a ministerial officer may avouch his own record. Thus, a return by the Sheriff, if questioned, shall be tried by his certificate. (e) Other instruments of this nature are: Where the Chancellor of either University claims cognizance of (a) 1 Burr. 252. (b) 1 Burr. 248. Plummer v. Bentham. Sir James Burrow, the reporter of this case, says, that no instance of the kind had happened since the reign of H. 6. in that Court, [the K. B.] although it had in the Court of Chancery; but see Cro. Car. 516., where the Recorder certified in K. B. respecting a manual trade. (c) Hob. 87. 10 H. 6. 10. 9 Rep. 31. (d) 1 Inst. 74. of a cause to be tried by certificate (a); whence an appeal lies to the congregation, convocation, and ultimately, to the King in Chancery: Where a mayor of the staple certifies a statute taken before him to the Lord Chancellor after the party has detained it (b): Where, in like manner, a statute-merchant is certified under a writ for that purpose (c): with many of a similar kind, on the production of which the form or nature of the document never comes in question, and which are not, therefore, proper subjects for this chapter. We may also enumerate here, certificates of a plaintiff' in the Mayor's Court, that he has obtained judgment there, which is exhibited to the garnishee (d); of gaolers, stating the causes for which a prisoner is detained, in order to his discharge, by reason of the plaintiff's negligence in not declaring, or not proceeding to final judgment and execution (e); of the clerk, where a plaintiff in error alleges diminution, and prays a certiorari, which the said clerk awards, and of which, he is bound, upon request, to give a certificate (ƒ); of clergymen, in cases of outlawry, stating the death and burial of outlaws in their respective parishes; which document is fortified by an affidavit of some person who was acquainted with the deceased, and who was present at his death or burial (g); of the clerk of outlawries in cases of amoveas manus, certifying the reversal of an outlawry (a); of the secondaries in the Common Pleas, that no cause has been (a) See Cro. Car. 73. Hardw. 505. (b) Tomlin's Law Dict, (d) 4 Moore, 173. (f) Tidd's Pract. 1217. (h) Id. 164. (c) Ibid. (e) Tidd's Pract. 374. (g) Id. 163. Certificate by the Master in the Court of Exchequer. shown upon a replication of nul tiel record to a plea of abatement (a), &c. &c. There are also certificates of the tenor of indictments, convictions, &c. by the clerks of the Crown, assize, and peace, into the King's Bench, under penalties, by 34 & 35 H.8. c. 14., and 3 W. & M. c. 9. Where an order is made in the Exchequer for the taxation of costs, it is usual for the Master, after taxing them, to produce his certificate of the arrangements which he has made. There was an attempt made on one or two occasions to take exception against report of this officer, without any further formalities. As, where application was made for leave to except to a taxation of costs, without stating the cause of the objection; the Court upon this, finding that no affidavit had been filed in support of the motion, declared their opinion that such an affidavit was necessary, and refused the rule. (b) So, where there was a motion made to the same effect, and the notice was in general terms, it was insisted, that such notice ought to specify the exceptions, and that an affidavit of facts on which they were founded was necessary. On which the Court agreed to the objections, and the Lord Chief Baron denied, that a motion of this kind could be obtained as a mere matter of course. (c) (a) Tidd's Practice, 786. (b) 9 Price. 216. (n.) Oliver v. Court (c) Id. 215. Jenkinson v. Royston, and see 8 Price, 87. n. Donison v. Curry. ་ CHAP. VI. OF PAROCHIAL CERTIFICATES. THIS HIS chapter will be dedicated to the consideration of certificates which enable a man to leave his own parish, and to reside in another, on the condition, that if he become chargeable to the latter place, the officers of the former shall receive him again, and reimburse any expences which have been incurred on his behalf as a pauper. These writings, therefore, were originally contemplated by the legislature as useful indemnities to the respective parishes which received strangers. They helped townships, &c. as the preamble of the act of William attests, to disburthen themselves from the maintenance of robust parishioners, who were capable of labour elsewhere, they threw able-bodied persons into districts where assistance might be wanted for the purposes of husbandry; at the same time being a sufficient guarantee, that little or no loss should fall upon the inhabitants who were thus compelled to receive the new comers. Much litigation, however, arose upon the construction of these certificates; with respect to the form of them, their effect, the number of persons in a family which their provisions embraced, and many other matters springing from their use. Parochial officers were, consequently, discouraged from the practice of granting them, whilst the reasons which led to their first introduction remained unimpaired. Hence it was, that the 35 G.3. c. 101. declared plainly in its preamble, how very ineffectual the remedy intended to have been applied by the use of certificates had been; and by prohibiting the removal of any person, except in particular cases, until such person becomes actually chargeable, the necessity for granting certificates has been almost entirely superseded. Nevertheless, as many points have been recently discussed which have arisen upon old certificates, and as the legislature, so far from abolishing, has expressly recognized them in many statutes subsequent to that of 35 G. 3., the writer of this, after consideration, trusts that it cannot be deemed unadvisable to consolidate the law upon the subject in a work of this kind, it being probable, that several years will elapse before the mention of such certificates will cease altogether in our courts. It is proposed, then, to notice the statutes which gave them birth; the form pursued in creating and making them available; their general and particular effects upon parties and parishes; the mode of determining them, with the subject of reimbursement, as it regards the certified parish, and other incidental matters belonging to them; as, their description, how they are to be given in evidence, &c. |