Pleading; Pleadings.-W. Blake Odgers, K.C. Police, Borough.-W. F. Craies. Police, County.-W. F. Craies. Police Courts.-John Rose, Metropolitan Police Magistrate. *Poor; Poor Law.-W. W. Mackenzie. [Geoffrey Ellis.] Pope.-Sir Thomas Barclay, Knt. [The late R. M. Johns.] Port.-G. G. Phillimore. Portions.-J. D. Israel. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Portugal.-Alexander Pulling. Possession.-John M. Lightwood. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Possessory Lien.-W. Bowstead. [A. Wood Renton, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Posthumous Child.-F. W. Sherwood. Post Office (The).-S. W. Casserly. Poundage.-J. R. M'Ilraith. [Geoffrey Ellis.] *Power of Attorney.-W. Bowstead. Powers.-J. S. Vaizey. Powers in Settlements of Personalty.-M. G. Davidson. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Prayer-Book; Book of Common Prayer.-J. A. Price. Precatory Trusts.-H. A. de Colyar, K.C. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Precedence; Precedency.-G. H. Knott. [Geoffrey Ellis.] Precedents.-D. M. Kerly. [N. G. L. Child.] *Preliminary Act (excluding Forms).-F. A. Stringer, of the Central Office. Prerogative Legislation.-Alexander Pulling. Prerogative Writs.-G. H. B. Kenrick. Prescription.-J. R. V. Marchant. [N. G. L. Child.] Presumptions.-J. G. Pease. *Principal and Agent.-W. Bowstead, Principal and Surety.-J. D. Israel. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Priorities.-J. D. Israel. [C. Johnston Edwards.] Prison.-W. F. Craies. *Private Bill Legislation.-W. Bowstead. Private International Law.-Sir Thomas Barclay, Knt. [G. H. B. Kenrick.] Privilege; Privileged Communications.-W.Blake Odgers, K.C. Privileges, Committee for.-Geoffrey Ellis. Privy Council.-Sir Thomas Raleigh, K.C.S.I., K.C. Prize (or Prize of War).—Sir Thomas Barclay, Knt. [G. H. B. Kenrick.] Probate.-C. A. Montague Barlow. Probation of Offenders.-W. F. Craies. ERRATU M. Vol. IV. p. 355, 1. 22, for the sentence beginning "It is immaterial," and the next sentence, read "Estate duty is payable on the personalty situate in England of a person who died not domiciled in England, but is not payable on the assets abroad of such a person even if he died in England" (Winans v. R., [1908] 1 K. B. 1022). ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND Peace, Bill of.-The bill of peace was the mode of seeking equitable relief when it was desired to definitely establish rights against numerous persons and avoid future controversy. It was similar to but not identical with a bill quia timet. "By a bill of peace we are to understand a bill brought by a person to establish and perpetuate a right which he claims, and which from its nature may be controverted by different persons at different times and by different actions; or where several attempts have already been unsuccessfully made to overthrow the same right, and justice requires that the party should be quieted in the right if it is already sufficiently established" (Story, Eq. Jurisprudence, 11th ed., s. 853). Its name, " bill of peace," sufficiently indicates its obvious purpose-the securing for the person who brings the bill repose from continual litigation; and relief was granted on the well-settled principle of the Courts that multiplicity of suits was against public interest, and must be checked. Accordingly, where a man set up a general exclusive right, and the persons who controverted it were very numerous, and he could not by one or two actions at law "quiet" that right, if he went to a Court of Equity the Court would direct an issue to determine the right, as in disputes between lords of manors and their tenants, or tenants of one manor and another; for in all these cases there would be no end of bringing actions for trespass, each action determining only the particular right in question between the plaintiff and defendant (Lord Tenham v. Herbert, 1742, 2 Atk. 483; 26 E. R. 692). The Court would in such cases grant a perpetual injunction. Instances of cases, besides those above noticed, to which a bill of peace was held applicable, are rights of common, rights of fishery, and claims for tolls or profits of a fair. See, for illustrative cases, Mayor of York v. Polkington, 1 Atk. (where rights of fishery enjoyed by Corporation of York and constantly exercised by them had been from time to time opposed by different lords of manors); Merritt v. Eastwicke, 1684, 1 Vern. 264; 23 E. R. 459; 1 Abr. Ca. Eq. 79 (claim by several tenants to profits of a fair); New River Co. v. Graves, 1701, 2 Vern. 431; 23 E. R. 877 (bill to quiet the company in possession of pipes laid through the defendant's grounds). Another class of cases where the Courts of Equity granted relief was where the plaintiff has repeatedly established his right at law against various parties; the jurisdiction of equity in this respect was at first subject to some doubt, but was clearly enunciated by the House of Lords in the case of Lord Bath v. Sherwin, 1706, Prec. Ch. 261; 24 E. R. 126, this being a case where the plaintiff had previously won five 1 VOL. XI. separate actions for ejectment. The fusion of law and equity and the creation of the High Court have made it possible to grant all appropriate remedies in a single proceeding. On the other hand, the Courts refused to entertain bills of peace for the purpose of settling boundaries (e.g. of two manors or two parishes); or again where the right was in dispute between two persons only (e.g. bill by one tenant of a manor claiming a right by custom on behalf of tenants of his manor against those of another manor). And in no case would the Court decree a perpetual injunction to protect a party against a public right (e.g. where a party claimed an exclusive right to a highway). But a bill would lie by plaintiff to be quieted in possession of a common. The bill usually prayed not only for special relief, viz., that the plaintiff be quieted in his possession of the premises, etc., but also for general relief in the premises, and for a perpetual injunction. Under the Judicature Acts bills of peace have been superseded by actions to declare rights, and by the procedure for dealing with representative actions. The modern statement of claim takes the place of the old bill of peace, and the same relief may be asked for. A precedent of judgment establishing the right to an oyster fishery, and "quieting" the plaintiff in possession, will be found in Seton on Decrees, 6th ed., 740; also a claim for declaration and perpetual injunction. And for a more modern case on the subject, see Sheffield Waterworks Co. v. Yeomans, 1866, L. R. 9 Ch. 8, where it was held that where a large number of persons have similar (though not identical) claims against a party he could, by a bill filed against some of them, restrain the proceedings of all until the question as to the validity of the claims had been decided; for, the rights of the numerous claimants all depending upon the same question, such an action, even if not, strictly speaking, a bill of peace, was clearly within the principle of such bills. And such a case was a fit one for a Court of Equity to interpose (by analogy at least to bills of peace) and prevent the unnecessary expense and litigation which would be occasioned by not deciding once for all the question upon which the validity or invalidity of all the claims depended (see Story's Eq. Jurisprudence, loc. cit.; Seton on Decrees, 6th ed., 740-743; Maddock's Practice of Chancery, vol. i. p. 166, "Bills of Peace," where the old cases are collected). Peace, Breach of.-1. Under the Saxons and Danes there was established in England a kind of mutual insurance system, known as "frith borgh," or "peace pledge," whereby feuds or quarrels arising out of manslaying or other wrongs were settled or compounded by the friends of the offender, i.e. social or communal responsibility was recognised in place of that of the individual (1 Pike, Hist. Crim. 57, 438). After the Conquest, as a means of strengthening this system with a view to obtaining better security for peace, every freeman was required to be in a tithing (in decenna) which was responsible for his good behaviour, and an oath of FRANKPLEDGE was taken twice a year to see that the law was complied with. The system was not effective, and in the reign of Henry III. and Edward I. was supplemented by provisions establishing constables, and setting up watch and ward for highways and towns; a system which, with most of its defects, continued into the nineteenth century, till the establishment of the present police force (see CONSTABLE; HEAD BOROUGH; POLICE). |