Odger's English Common Law

REFUSAL TO ACT. 189
II. Refusal to Act.
Our law not only condemns abuse of power by a public
official : it also punishes all wbo refuse or neglect to dis-
charge the duties of their office.
Every public officer, who wilfully refuses or neglects to
perform any duty which he is by common law or by statute
bound to perform, commits a misdemeanour, provided that
such duty is not attended with greater danger than a man of
ordinary firmness and courage might reasonably be called
upon to encounter. Eor example, if a sheriff refuses to
execute a criminal sentenced to death, he commits a mis-
demeanour ;
1 so does a justice of the peace who refrains from
reading the proclamation set out in the Kiot Act, or from
ordering soldiers to disperse a mob, because he is afraid to do
so in circumstances in which a man of ordinary courage would
not have been afraid. 2
Every person, who unlawfully refuses or omits to serve
any public office which he is by law required to accept if
duly appointed, commits a misdemeanour. But this does not
apply to cases in which the law imposes some other penalty
for such refusal or neglect, or to cases in which a person is
permitted by law or custom to make a composition in place
of serving the office.
One *of the greatest protections, which our law affords for
the liberty of the person, is the writ of Habeas Corpus. If
a man complains that he is illegally imprisoned, he or some
one on his behalf is entitled to obtain this writ. It commands
the person, in whose custody he is, to bring him bodily before
the Court in order that it may be ascertained whether such
imprisonment is illegal or not. Any act or contrivance by
which a person so imprisoned is deprived of the protection of
the writ will be severely punished. Thus a judge, who
refuses to grant the writ on application made to him for
good cause, is liable to a penalty of £500. Any gaoler, who
refuses to make a return to the writ or neglects to deliver
1 R v. Antrobus (1835), 2 A. & E. 798.
2 R. v. Pinney (1832), 5 C. & P. 254.