Posse comitatus (common law)
- Posse comitatus (common law)
Posse comitatus refers to the common law authority wielded by the county sheriff to conscript any able-bodied male eighteen or older to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon; compare "hue and cry". It is the law enforcement equivalent of summoning the militia for military purposes.
Etymology
The term derives from the Latin "posse comitatus", "power (force) of the county", [ [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=posse] [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-posse.html] [http://www.yourdictionary.com/posse] [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/posse] ] but legally means a sort of local militia.
English Civil War
In 1642, during the early stages of the English Civil War, local forces were everywhere employed by whichever side could, by producing valid written authority, induce them to assemble. The two most common authorities used were, on the side of the Parliament, its own recent "Militia Ordinance"; or that of the king, the old-fashioned "Commissions of Array". But the Royalist leader in Cornwall, Sir Ralph Hopton, indicted the enemy before the grand jury of the county as disturbers of the peace, and had the "posse comitatus" called out to expel them.
United States
The power presumably continues to exist in those U.S. states that have not repealed it by statute, however. Resort to the "posse comitatus" figures often in the plots of Western movies, where the body of men recruited is frequently referred to as a "posse". Based on this usage, the word "posse" has come to be used colloquially to refer to various teams, cliques, or gangs. In a number of states, especially in the western United States, sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies have called their civilian auxiliary groups "posses." The Lattimer Massacre of 1897 illustrated the danger of such groups, and thus ended their use in situations of civil unrest.
In the United States, a Federal statute known as the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the military of the United States as a "posse comitatus" or for law enforcement purposes.
The practical disuse of the "posse comitatus", and its continued twilight existence as a theoretical legal power, is, like the militia, a subject for the debates about the meaning of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
See also
* Commandeering
* Vigilante
References
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Posse comitatus — may refer to: Posse comitatus (common law), the authority of a law officer to conscript any able bodied males to assist him Posse Comitatus (organization), a loosely organized far right social movement that opposes the United States federal… … Wikipedia
posse comitatus — the power of the county . The sheriff was able to call together able bodied men to keep the peace. The institution transplanted to the USA, thence into ordinary parlance: round up a posse . Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001. posse… … Law dictionary
Posse Comitatus (organization) — For other uses, see Posse comitatus (disambiguation). The Posse Comitatus (from the Latin phrase meaning force of the county ) is a loosely organized far right social movement that opposes the United States federal government and believes in… … Wikipedia
posse comitatus — /pos ee kom i tah teuhs, tay / 1. the body of persons that a peace officer of a county is empowered to call upon for assistance in preserving the peace, making arrests, and serving writs. 2. a body of persons so called into service. [1620 30; … Universalium
posse — ► NOUN 1) N. Amer. historical a body of men summoned by a sheriff to enforce the law. 2) (also posse comitatus) Brit. historical the men of a county forming a body whom the sheriff could summon to repress a riot or for other purposes. [ORIGIN:… … English terms dictionary
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