Stephen Mash's Case
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1779 |
| Date | 01 January 1779 |
| Court | Court of the King's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 96 E.R. 473
COURTS OF WESTMINSTER-HALL
[805] stephen mash's case. Commitment under special the authority [of an Act of Parliament], concluding " till he shall be discharged by due course of law," is ill: [it should be, till he conform to the requisites of the Act]. Court will not receive the return of a habeas corpus till the return day. Jephson moved, on Friday, 24th of January, on the usual affidavits, for a habeas corpus to the gaoler of the county of Norfolk, to bring up the body of Stephen Mash, 474 HILARY TEEM, 12 GEO. III. C. P. 2 BLACK. W. 806. being committed by Sir Harbord Harbord for an offence against the Smugglers' Act, 9 Geo. 2, c. 35, which was granted. And on Friday, the 31st of January, the prisoner was brought into Court, and Glyn moved, that the writ and return might be filed. But, being read, it appeared that the writ was not returnable till Wednesday next after eight days of the Purification; whereupon the Court refused to file it till the day of the return. On which day (being the last day of the term) the prisoner was again brought up, and the writ and return read and filed; in which the cause of the detention was set forth to be a warrant under the hand and seal of Sir Harbord Harbord, one of the justices of the peace for the county of Norfolk, dated the llth of January, 1772, directed to the constable of Gunton, in the said county, and the keeper of the common gaol for the same ; reciting, " that the prisoner stood charged upon oath before him, that on the second of January instant he was lurking, waiting, and loitering at Cromer, in the said county, being within five miles of the sea coast, and that there was reason to suspect that he waited with intent to be aiding and assisting in the running, landing, and carrying away prohibited or uncustomed goods, against the form of the statute made in the 9th year of His late Majesty King George the Second, entitled 'An Act, &c.'(v). And that he had desired time to make it appear, that he was not concerned in any of the fraudulent or clandestine practices above-mentioned." He is therefore committed to custody in the said gaol, "there to remain and continue until he shall be discharged from thence by due course of law." To this return three objections were taken :-1. That the Act of Parliament is improperly set out, being only described by these words, " An Act, &c.," which leaves the gaoler in uncertainty against what law he has offended...
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