In the second half of the 20th century, the idea of posse comitatus was influential in the United States among political extremists who argued that no legitimate authority existed above the county level. They claimed that federal and even state governments were illegal and therefore could be legally opposed. Inspired by farce comitatus, they created their own “common law” courts, which they sometimes used to harass political enemies. Many of these activists belonged to armed militias and preached racist and anti-Semitic ideas. There are no constitutional exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act. The law only allows for explicit exceptions, and no part of the Constitution expressly authorizes the president to use the military to enforce the law. This conclusion is consistent with the legislative history of the law, which suggests that its framers chose to include the language on constitutional exceptions as part of a face-saving compromise, not because they believed it existed. The powers of sheriffs in England and Wales for posse comitatus have been codified by section 8 of the Sheriff`s Act 1887, the first subsection of which states: Sheriff, a senior officer in an English county or minor area who exercises various administrative and judicial functions. Officers of this name also exist in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the United States. In the century following 1878, federal uses of the Posse comitatus were rare and rarely contested. Under county sheriffs, farce flourished in its traditional roles of ordinary law enforcement, riot suppression, etc. From Anglo-Saxon times to the present day, a central power of the sheriff was the authority to invoke posse comitatus – “the power of the county”.
Like jury service, posse service is a mandatory duty of the citizen. If the sheriff, in his almost unlimited discretion, calls for a prank, the citizen must react. Traditionally, the group responsible for possible service in a prank was about the same as those responsible for service in the militia – although the upper and lower age limits for the prank are broader and the prank has fewer exceptions (e.g., certain professions) than the militia. In addition, the standing federal army was sometimes used as a comitatus of farce, under the absurd fiction that the soldiers were only volunteers who, as civilians, supported the Federal Marshal. During the reconstruction, the precedents of the slave power were turned against itself, so that the federal army was again used as a comitatus posse, this time in the south. Finally, in 1878, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act to prohibit the use of the military in law enforcement unless expressly authorized by Congress. Unfortunately, the law has been seriously weakened by loopholes created for the “war on drugs,” beginning with the Reagan administration. In most states, the office of sheriff is determined by the state constitution. Most of the remaining states established the office by an act of the state legislature. Alaska is the only state where the sheriff`s office does not exist. In a number of states, particularly in the western United States, sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies have referred to their civilian relief groups as “poses.” The Lattimer massacre of 1897 illustrated the danger of these groups, ending their use in situations of civil unrest.
Posse comitatus in the United States did not become an instrument of royal prerogatives, but an institution of local self-government. The farce worked rather than by the local will of the people. [13] From 1850 to 1878, the U.S. federal government had extended its power over individuals. This was done to protect the national property rights of slave owners, to emancipate millions of African-American slaves, and to enforce the doctrine of formal equality. The rise of the state, like the market before it, had created contradictory but congruent forces of liberation and coercion over individuals. [14] [13] The term is derived from the Latin posse comitātūs (“power of the county”), in late 16th century English usage, abbreviated to posse from the mid-17th century. [2] Although the original meaning refers to a group of citizens gathered by authorities to manage an emergency (e.g., suppressing an uprising or prosecuting criminals), the term is also used for any force or gang, especially those with hostile intentions, often figuratively or humorously. [3] In the language of the 19th century, Posse comitatus also received generalized or figurative meaning. [4] In classical Latin, posse is a contraction of potesse, an irregular Latin verb meaning “can”. [5] [6] [7] The unusual genitive in “-ūs” is a characteristic of the fourth declension.
In its early days, the posse comitatus was subordinate to the king, the country and the local authority. [8] In 1994, after violent bank robbers fled Mineral County, Colorado, to remote Hinsdale County, Colorado, which at the time had two law enforcement officers for its 500 residents. The county sheriff invoked county power; More than 100 seconded civilians and 200 outside police officers were tasked with searching the refugees` homes. The thieves committed suicide as the prank approached its location. [22] posse comitatus, (Latin: “power of the county”) an Old English institution composed of the armed forces of the County of able-bodied individuals called upon to help maintain public order. Originally created and commanded by the sheriff, the posse comitatus became a purely civilian instrument, as the sheriff`s office later lost its military functions. From time to time, the law gave other peace officers and magistrates the power to claim county power. These county properties are complemented by the Colorado Mounted Rangers, a statewide volunteer organization that has letters of intent with more than two dozen local law enforcement agencies to provide assistance when needed. Again, this can include anything from traffic direction during a bike parade to emergency services during a wildfire or flood. During natural disasters, a sheriff may also represent Posse members on an ad hoc basis to prevent looting in temporarily isolated towns.
Most sheriff`s offices have a responsibility for law enforcement, a function that dates back to the office`s origins in feudal England. Although the sheriff`s authority varies from state to state, a sheriff still has the power to make arrests in his or her own district. Some states extend this authority to neighboring counties or the entire state. The Posse service was a common feature of life in colonial America and at the beginning of the republic. Like jury service, it was accepted as the right and duty of a responsible citizen of a republic. Although the power to invoke a prank came from the sheriffs, it was not limited to them. Justices of the peace, judges and marshals are among the officials with farce authority. During the ratification debates, some anti-federalists criticized the proposed constitution for listing a federal militia power, but not a federal farce power; Anti-federalists feared that a government that relied on the militia as its primary means of law enforcement would be too militaristic. Alexander Hamilton`s response (Federalist 29) was that the federal government had authority under the necessary and appropriate posse comitatus clause, and this view seems to have been unchallenged since 1789. In British and American law, a posse comitatus is a group of people mobilized by the sheriff to suppress lawlessness in the county. In any classic western, when a lawyer assembles a “farce” to pursue outlaws, they form a prank comitatus.
The Posse Comitatus Act is so named because one of the things it prohibits is the use of soldiers instead of civilians as posse comitatus. We therefore consider that the powers associated with those of a peace curator and the power to form a “posse comitatus”, which are part of the powers of a peace curator, were powers available to the city by the mayor if due diligence had required their application. In Scotland, the sheriff appears as a minister and bailiff in 12th century records, and despite the later introduction of the Justice of the Peace Office, the sheriff retained considerable powers. The senior sheriffs and sheriffs of the six sheriffs are appointed and removed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for Scotland. The initial jurisdiction of the sheriff`s court is largely exercised by the sheriffs. In some civil cases, the appeal is made to the Chief Sheriff and, through him, to the Court of Session. The civil jurisdiction of the sheriff`s court extends to almost all claims. Only serious crimes are exempt from the criminal jurisdiction of the Sheriff`s Court, which is heard by the High Court of Justice. In the United States, the sheriff is usually an elected official in his or her county, the chief executive officer, and a court officer, with a term usually of two to four years. The deputy is appointed by the sheriff and assigned duties. The sheriff and his deputy are commissioners of the peace and therefore have the power of police officers in the application of the criminal law. They may also assume some of the functions of the local police department and are empowered to proclaim posse comitatus (“county power”, a call by individuals to support peacekeeping).