Volume IX. 1846. The QUEEN V. The Inhabit- appear to have considered that, in such a case, the parties looked to the possibility of persons going from one house to the other. No such ground of interpretation is applicable here. And, as, before the statute, there was a settlement in such a case as the present, the Court will hold that unambiguous words are necessary to destroy such settlement. The settlement is acquired by residing in the parish, though not on the estate; Rex v. Sowton (a). Any other mode of estimating the distance than by the direct line will be fluctuating, according to the direction and state of present or future roads. Marsh, contrà. The meaning of the word "thereof" is doubtful: but, for the purpose of the present case, it may be assumed to refer to "parish." But that affects only the terminus a quo: the terminus ad quem is the new residence: and, if the line be measured according to the nearest mode of access, that is distant more than ten miles from the parish of Furneux Pelham. If the straight line be adopted, a party, though living twenty miles practically from the parish, might literally be said to live within ten miles. The legislature had in view the degree of controul which the owner of an estate would, by means of proximity, retain over the estate. Leigh v. Hind (b) is in favour of the respondents and so is Woods v. Dennett (c), there cited. The enactment in sect. 76 of stat. 6 & 7 Vict. c. 18. was probably founded on political considerations: the object was to designate a constant area. The intention of the legislature here must have been more analogous 1846. The QUEEN V. to that of stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106. s. 3., which prohibits Queen's Bench. (with certain exceptions) the holding of two benefices not within ten statute miles from each other, and, by sect. 129, directs the distance to be computed from church to church "by the nearest road or footpath, or by an accustomed ferry." A direct line could often not be measured without committing a trespass. Lord DENMAN C. J. Some statutes furnish one mode of measurement, some another. In Leigh v. Hind (a) one learned Judge, my brother Parke, thought that the natural mode of estimating the distance was as the crow flies; but there, with reference probably to the object of the contract, the measurement by the nearest accessible route was adopted. Here we are left very much at large, and without materials for judgment: we find no words referring to any particular object. We have therefore to lay down a fixed and absolute rule. Now, abstractedly, the most reasonable rule appears to be that approved of by my brother Parke, namely, a measurement by a direct line. By this we shall avoid the practical difficulty of a settlement being good one day and bad the next. PATTESON J. We have nothing to guide us except the words" ten miles." We must therefore lay down. an arbitrary rule: and I think the best rule will be to take the distance as the crow flies. WILLIAMS J. I think we ought to apply the geometrical sense of the words: "ten miles" can mean (a) 9 B. & C. 774. The Inhabit- Volume IX. only the distance from one point to the other. We are in no danger here of suggesting an act of trespass; 1846. A return to a habeas corpus ad subjiciendum set forth a document, being a conviction and committal under stat. 4 G. 4. c. 34. s. 3., which recited an information by the agent of D., that the In the Matter of SETH TURNER and Others. SETH TURNER, with three other persons (a), was brought, by habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, before a Judge at chambers, who, on reading the return, referred the case to the full Court, admitting the prisoners to bail in the mean time. The writ was directed to the keeper of the house of correction at Kirkdale. He returned that Seth Turner, and complaint, and two other of the prisoners, were delivered into his custody, on &c., "under warrants under the hand and scal" of a justice of Lancashire; "which warrants were and are as follows." The return then set out the following document in Turner's case. prisoner had the contract service, and : "Lancashire, to wit. To Philip Markey, one of the constables" &c., and to all other constables" &c., 66 did thereby then and there neglect to fulfil the same, contrary to the form of the statute &c. and the document added: therefore," it manifestly appearing to me" (the justice) that the prisoner "is guilty of the said offence charged upon him in the said information and complaint, I do hereby convict him of the offence aforesaid: and I do hereby order and adjudge that" the prisoner, "for the offence aforesaid, be imprisoned" &c. Held, that the information shewed no offence, as there might be some lawful excuse for the absence, though the statute simply makes the party's absenting himself from service the ground of complaint; and that the conviction was therefore bad. Prisoner discharged. (a) No distinction having been suggested in the argument or judg ment between the cases of the four prisoners, the report is confined to one case. f 1846. Case. "and also to the governor and keeper of the house of Queen's Bench. correction" &c. "Be it remembered that, on the 21st day of January A. D. 1846, at the parish of Leigh, in the SETH TURNER'S said county of Lancaster, Richard Thompson, of" &c., "underlooker, then and there being the agent for John Darlington, of" &c., "coal proprietor, personally came before me, Thomas Bromiley William Sanderson, Esq., then and there and still being one of her Majesty's justices" &c., "and, upon the oath of him," &c., "informs me, the said justice," &c., "that Seth Turner, the younger, of" &c., "miner, on the 11th day of November then last, to wit A. D. 1845, to wit at" &c., "did contract with the said John Darlington to serve him, the said J. D., as a miner, for the term of eleven calendar months from the said 11th day of November A. D. 1845; and that the said Seth Turner the younger did afterwards, to wit on " &c., "in" &c., "enter into the said service of the said J. D., and did afterwards, and before the term of his said contract was completed, to wit on" &c., "at" &c., "absent himself from his said service, and did thereby then and there neglect to fulfil the same, contrary to the form of the statute in that case made and provided. And I, the said T. B. W. Sanderson," &c.; stating that the justice issued his warrant; in pursuance of which "the said Seth Turner hath this day, to wit" &c., "appeared before me, the said T. B. W. Sanderson, so being such justice as aforesaid, and, having heard the charge contained in the said information, declared that he was not guilty of the said offence. Whereupon I, the said T. B. W. Sanderson, so being such justice as aforesaid, did proceed to examine into the proof of the charge contained in the said information: and, on this the said 12th day of February, A. D. 1846, at" &c., "a Volume IX. 1846. certain document in writing was, in the presence of the said Seth Turner the younger, produced and shewn beSETH TURNER'S fore me the said T. B. W. Sanderson so being such justice as aforesaid; which said document is as follows. Case, 6 Agreement made between the undersigned John Darlington, of'" &c., "coalmaster, and the undersigned Seth Turner, junior, of," &c., "collier, this 11th day of November, 1845. The said Seth Turner junior hereby agrees to serve, and hires himself to, the said John Darlington exclusively as his hired servant, in the capacity of a miner, for the term of eleven calendar months from this date: and he agrees, during such service, to work, as a miner, in all or any of the mines or pits of the said John Darlington, in Astley'" &c., " or elsewhere in Lancashire, and to get the coal mixture and slack in a workmanlike and saleable manner, and in such places, and in such method and manner, as he shall from time to time be directed by the said J. D., or any of his underlookers or agents; and, at his, the said Seth Turner junior's, own expense, to provide himself at all times with a good and sufficient drawer, and also, on every working day, to do a fair and reasonable day's work. And the said Seth Turner junior hereby hires himself to, and agrees to work for, the said J. D., as such servant in mining as aforesaid, at the following wages.'' The contract then set out the wages, being at different rates per basket of 4 cwt. for different produce respectively. "And also, for the purposes and in the course of such workings, to cut and drive the necessary ends, drifts, &c., at such fair and reasonable prices and wages as shall from time to time (as the nature of such work shall vary, and before entering on the same), be fixed by the said J. D. or his underlookers or agents. And, |