Bail

“ You got a bad name, Ben, and I ain’t a-goin’ to take any chances.
BEN
I thought I’d get to go to her funeral, anyway, before they got me.
JIM
Well, you could, maybe, if you was to fix a bail bond. You’d take bail for him, wouldn’t you, Judge?
JUDGE
It’s a felony; I’d have to have good security.
JANE
I’m a rich woman, you said just now. Could I give bail for him? ”

“ The essence of bail is that the prisoner should enter into an obligation, together with one or more others of pecuniary responsibility as his sureties, to appear whenever he may be called for in the course of the pending proceeding, on pain of forfeiting a certain sum of money. ”

“ No one has the right. You are out on bail: your bail answers for you till the 20th. Money talks, man; Englishmen always listen to money. It'll do you good with the public and the jury to come back from France to stand your trial. Do come," and I took him by the arm; but he would not move. To my astonishment he faced me and said:
"And my sureties?"
"We'll pay 'em," I replied, "both of 'em, if you break your bail. Come," but he would not.
"Frank, if I were not in Oakley Street to-night Willie would tell the police." ”

“ Thus, if the imprisonment is by virtue of a warrant issued by a State magistrate, any officer in the State, authorized to issue the writ of habeas corpus, may examine into the cause of the imprisonment, and may discharge the prisoner, upon his giving bail for his appearance at the proper court, to answer for the offense with which he is charged, if bail has been required by the magistrate, and the officer who issues the writ of habeas corpus, should be of opinion that the offense was bailable. ”

“ And be it further enacted, Prisoners under indictment, &c., to be discharged on bail.That in case any of such prisoners shall be under indictment or presentment for any offence against the laws of the United States, and by existing laws bail or a recognizance may be taken for the appearance for trial of such person, it shall be the duty of said judge at once to discharge such person upon bail or recognizance for trial as aforesaid. ”

“ When the bail appear, evidence may be heard on oath, and they may themselves be examined on oath upon this point; if they do not appear to possess property to the amount required by the magistrates, they may be rejected, and others must be procured, or the defender must go to prison. Excessive bail must not be required; and, on the other hand, the magistrate, if he take insufficient bail, is liable to be fined, if the criminal do not appear to take his trial. ”

“ The hearing before the committing magistrate, if any contest is made, generally does not take place until some time after the arrest. Each party is apt to wish time to prepare for it. Meanwhile, the defendant can generally claim the privilege of release on bail, unless the crime be capital and the circumstances strongly point to his guilt. Here our practice differs from that of an English court of inquiry. While there bail must be allowed in case of misdemeanors and may be in case of felonies; the amount required is frequently so large as to be prohibitory. ”

“ An Act to make provision in relation to bail in or in connection with criminal proceedings in England and Wales, to make it an offence to agree to indemnify sureties in criminal proceedings, to make provision for legal aid limited to questions of bail in certain cases and for legal aid for persons kept in custody for inquiries or reports, to extend the powers of coroners to grant bail and for connected purposes. ”

“ Where an inferior court withholds bail in criminal proceedings or imposes conditions in granting bail in criminal proceedings, the High Court may grant bail or vary the conditions. (2) Where the High Court grants a person bail under this section it may direct him to appear at a time and place which the inferior court could have directed and the recognizance of any surety shall be conditioned accordingly. ”

“ The magistrate bails (but admits to bail is commoner) a man when he liberates him from arrest or imprisonment upon bond given with sureties. The surety bails a person when he procures his release from arrest by giving bond for his appearance.
Blackstone.
(b) To deliver, as goods in trust, for some special object or purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee, or person intrusted; as, to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier. ”

“ It is a part of the law of the land, that every prisoner who is in custody, no matter what his offence, is entitled to apply to a judge of one of the{238} superior courts, to be admitted to bail. The application is made for a writ of habeas corpus, upon which the prisoner is taken from the prison, where he is confined, before the judge, in whose presence the matter is to be argued. ”

“ The only 'proper security,' then, in a criminal case, is security for the appearance of a prisoner admitted to bail. Within the very terms of the rule, therefore, any justice of this court, although not assigned to the particular circuit, would seem to have the power to permit bail to be taken. But the power rests upon broader grounds. ”

“ The nature of bail has been explained, by Mr Justice Blackstone, to be "a delivery or bailment of a person to his sureties, upon their giving, together with himself, sufficient security for his appearance: he being supposed to continue in their friendly custody, instead of going to gaol." To refuse, or even to delay bail to any person bailable, is an offence against the liberty of the subject, in any magistrate, by the common law. ”

“ And the Court of Queen's Bench will grant a criminal information against the magistrate who improperly refuses bail in a case in which it ought to have been received. It is obviously of great importance, in order to ensure the appearance of the accused at the time and place of trial, that the sureties should be men of substance; reasonable notice of bail, in general twenty-four or forty-eight hours, may be ordered to be given to the prosecutor, in order that he may have time to examine into their sufficiency and responsibility. ”

“ We cannot but doubt the perfection of our criminal code, when we see that almost every criminal eludes the law, either by boldly avowing the crime, or by the tardiness with which legal prosecutions are carried on, or, lastly, by the convenient application of bail in criminal cases. ”

“ Any bail or surety who has entered into a recognizance for the personal appearance of another, and shall afterwards believe that his principal intends to abscond, may apply to a justice of the peace in the county in which such principal resides, produce his bail bond, or evidence of his being bail or surety, and verify the reason of his application by oath or otherwise; and thereupon such justice shall forthwith grant a mittimus, directed to a proper officer or indifferent person of such county, commanding him forthwith to arrest such principal, and commit him to the jail of such county ”

“ And again we have been told—how far it is true we care not to inquire—that one man who professed great friendship for him, and became his bail on the last arrest, two days before his trial, on the following day withdrew his bail, and delivered the unfortunate man up to his adversaries ”

“ The surety is termed bail, because the person arrested or imprisoned is placed in the custody of those who bind themselves or become bail for his due appearance when required. So he may be released by them if they suspect that he is about to escape and surrendered to the court, when they are discharged from further liability. The sureties must be sufficient in the opinion of the court, and, as a rule, only householders are accepted; in criminal cases the solicitor or an accomplice of the person to be bailed, a married woman or an infant would not be accepted. ”

“ All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great.
Sec. 9. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor shall excessive fines be imposed; nor shall cruel or unusual punishment be inflicted; nor witnesses be unreasonably detained. ”

“ A man gets arrested, and because he's taken from his wife and family, and locked up, you must go and trouble your head with it! And you must be mixing yourself up with nasty sheriff's officers—pah! I'm sure you're not fit to enter a decent house—and go running from lawyer to lawyer to get bail, and settle the business, as you call it! A pretty settlement you'll make of it—mark my words! Yes-and to mend the matter, to finish it quite, you must be one of the bail! That any man who isn't a born fool should do such a thing for another! Do you think anybody would do as much for you? ”

“ Where an appeal is not frivolous or taken for delay, bail 'is to be denied only in cases in which, from substantial evidence, it seems clear that the right to bail may be abused or the community may be threatened by the applicant's release.' Leigh v. ”

“ The property of an offender shall only be attached in cases involving pecuniary responsibility, and in proportion only to the extent of such responsibility.
Art. 295. No person shall be committed to prison who shall give sufficient bail, except in cases expressly provided by law. ”

“ To open a way of escape from this handicap and possible injustice, Congress commands allowance of bail for one under charge of any offense not punishable by death, Fed.Rules Crim.Proc. 46 (a) (1) providing: 'A person arrested for an offense not punishable by death shall be admitted to bail * * *' before conviction.
Admission to bail always involves a risk that the accused will take flight. That is a calculated risk which the law takes as the price of our system of justice. ”

“ It is my conclusion that an order denying reduction of bail is to be regarded as a final decision which may be appealed to the Court of Appeals. But this is not because every claim of excessive bail raises a constitutional question. It is because we may properly hold appeal to be a statutory right. ”

“ A rustler might be willing to go through the formalities of giving bail at the county court-house, or even to stand trial, but when it came to turning over stolen property—and doing it without a struggle—that was another matter. ”

“ Section 1014 of the Revised Statutes of the United States provides that, 'for any crime or offense against the United States, the offender may, by * * * any commissioner of the circuit court to take bail, * * * be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before such court of the United States as by law has cognizance of the offense. ”

“ No justification of bail is necessary, when special bail is entered for the purpose of a surrender. Ibid.
Bail may take the principal on a Sunday, or in another state. Johnson v. Tomkins, 1 Baldwin’s C. C. R. 577.
If the defendant be discharged under an insolvent law of the state where the contract is made, after the bail bond has been assigned to the plaintiff, the court will not order an exoneretur to be entered on the bail piece. Bosbyshell v. Oppenheimer, 4 Wash. C. C. R. 317. ”

“ As they proceeded against me, I thought it time to begin with them, and spoke to an acquaintance of mine, a justice of peace, who sent a warrant for the fellow, upon the waiter's oath, for assaulting me, and by a small stretch of power, committed him to the Gatehouse, where he remained some days for want of bail. I believe his bail would hardly have been judged sufficient, if his Irish solicitor had not gone to another justice, and taken a false oath, that the gentleman who committed him was out of town. ”

“ Once the fellow is out of jail—pfft! He is gone, and neither the place nor you know him more. Very likely also he will jump his bail and you will have to make good your bond. One client in jail is worth two at large.
Lawyers exercise much invention in keeping their clients under control. I recall one recent case where a French chauffeur who had but just arrived in this country was arrested for speeding. The most that could happen to him would, in the natural course of events, be a fine of fifteen or twenty dollars. ”

“ Bails′man, one who gives bail for another.—To accept, admit to, allow bail, are all said of the magistrate; the prisoner offers, surrenders to his bail; the one who provides it goes, gives, or stands bail.—To give leg bail, to be beholden to one's legs for escape. ”

“ Anyone who steals at night any cloth or wool or woolen goods set out to dry on racks shall forfeit treble damages, or if he can't pay, be sent to prison for three months without bail. For the second offense, he shall forfeit treble damages and be sent to prison for six months without bail. For the third offense, he shall be transported for seven years. Upon complaint, a Justice of the Peace may authorize a constable or other peace officer to enter and search houses, outhouses, yards, and gardens of a person suspected by the owner. ”

“ It was nearly two o'clock before the chairman of the Bench hinted that the case had better be further adjourned, whereupon the barrister who defended the prisoner protested.
"At any rate, your Worships, I must ask for bail," he said. "I am prepared to admit that appearances are against my client, but nothing has actually been proved against him yet. And there is nothing to connect him with the crime."
"The possession of all that money," the chairman suggested, "The prisoner is a poor man——"
"We can account for that," the lawyer said. ”

“ Demanding excessive bail, where the plaintiff has a good cause of action, or holding to bail where there is no cause of action, if done vexatiously, entitles the party injured to an action for a malicious prosecution. If bail be not demanded, no such action will lie. Ray v. Law, Peters’ C. C. R. 207.
Pennsylvania. The circuit court will discharge, on common bail, a defendant who has been arrested for a debt contracted in the state in which he has, subsequent to the commencement of the suit, been discharged by the insolvent laws of the state. ”