Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/384

 372 FSDEBAIi BEFORTKB. �nature of a recognizance, where the parties sign their names, I can see no absolute necessity for the principal being present before the person authorized to accept such bond. During the absence of the principal the magistrate might refuse to accept such bond, but if he is satisfied that the bond was duly signed and sealed, and the sure- ties are suEficient and he accepta the bond, I am of the opinion that it is valid. At the common law, eren in the case of a formai recog- nizance, where the defendant is an infant or in prison, and so absent, sureties were allowed to enter into l'ecognizance of bail, and a war- rant called a liberate, was issued by the person taking bail for the enJargement of the defendant. 2 Haie, P. C. 126. �If the bond in this case was as good as a recognizance, I am of opinion that it operated as a supersedeas of the warrant in the hands of the deputy marshal without any formai supersedeas writ, At the common-law an apprehension under a warrant could, in many cases, be prevented by a party going before a justice of the peace and find- ing sufiicient sureties for his appearance to answer any indictment, and obtaining the supersedeas of the magistrate. This could be done even after an indictment found in a court. 1 Chit. Crim. Law. 46. �If proeess of arrest from a court after indictment could thus be Buperseded by a justice of the peace, I see no reason why a commis- sioner, having the powers of a justice of the peace in such matters, cannot supersede a warrant which he has issued to bring a person before him for an examination upon a charge of crime, by accepting a bond with sufficient sureties to secure an appearance in a bailable case, and where the defendant is entitled to have his witnesses heard upon the investigation. �I do not approve of this practice of accepting bail to prevent an apprehension upon legal proeess, and I will instruct the commission- ers of this district not to adopt it, as I think it most proper and reg- ular for defendants to enter into bond or recognizance in person be- fore the magistrate, and that other proceedings should be in accordance with the usual course and practice of the courts. No justice of the peace can supersede the warrant of another without a formai and legal examination, (1 Chit. 36,) but we may reasonably suppose that a justice with whom a complaint was filed and who had issued the warrant, may supersede such warrant when the appearance of the defendant had been secured by him in taking a sufficient bond. �Commissioners are invested with many of the powers and f unctions of justices of the peace, and they act within the seope of such, powers upon their own judgment and reaponsibility. A district attomey has ��� �