WARRANT, crim. law, Practice. A writ issued by a justice of the peace or other authorized officer, directed to a constable or other proper person, requiring him to arrest a person therein named, charged with committing some offence, and to bring him before that or some other justice of the peace.

2. It should regularly be made under the hand and seal of the justice and dated. No warrant ought to be issued except upon the oath or affirmation of a witness charging the defendant with, the offence. 3 Binn. Rep. 88.

3. The reprehensible practice of issuing blank warrants which once prevailed in England, was never adopted here. 2 Russ. on Cr. 512; Ld. Raym. 546; 1 Salk. 175; 1 H. Bl. R. 13; Doct. Pl. 529; Wood's Inst. 84; Com. Dig. Forcible Entry, D 18, 19; Id. Imprisonment, H 6,; Id. Pleader, 3 K 26; Id. Pleader, 3 M 23. Vide Search warrant.

4. A bench warrant is a process granted by a court authorizing a proper officer to apprehend and bring before it some on charged with some contempt, crime or misdemeanor. See Bench warrant.

5. A search warrant is a process issued by a competent court or officer authorizing an officer therein named or described, to examine a house or other place for the purpose of finding goods which it is alleged have been stolen. See Search warrant.

WARRANT OF ATTORNEY, practice. An instrument in writing, addressed to one or more attorneys therein named, authorizing them generally to appear in any court, or in some specified court, on behalf of the person giving it, and to confess judgment in favor of some particular person therein named, in an action of debt, and usually containing a stipulation not to bring any writ of error, or file a bill in equity, so as to delay him.

2. This general authority is usually qualified by reciting a bond which commonly accompanies it, together with the condition annexed to it, or by a written defeasance stating the terms upon which it was given, and restraining the creditor from making immediate use of it. 31. In form it is generally by deed; but it seems, it need not necessarily be so. 5 Taunt. 264.

4. This instrument is given to the creditor as a security. Possessing it, he may sign judgment and issue an execution, without its being necessary to wait the termination. of an action. Vide 14 East, R. 576; 2 T. R. 100; 1 H. Bl. 75; 1 Str 20; 2 Bl. Rep. 1133; 2 Wils. 3; 1 Chit. Rep. 707.

5. A warrant of attorney given to confess a judgment is not revocable, and, notwithstanding a revocation, judgment may be entered upon it. 2 Ld. Raym. 766, 850; 1 Salk. 87; 7 Mod. 93; 2 Esp, Rep. 563. The death of the debtor is, however, generally speaking, a revocation. Co. Litt. 62 b; 1 Vent. 310. Vide Hall's Pr. 14, n.

6. The virtue of a warrant of attorney is spent by the entry of one judgment, and a second judgment entered on the same warrant is irregular. 1 Penna. R. 245; 6 S. & R. 296: 14 S. & R. 170; Addis. R. 267; 2 Browne's R. 321, 3 Wash. C. C. R. 558. Vide, generally, 18 Eng. Com. Law Rep. 94, 96, 179, 209; 1 Salk. 402; 3 Vin. Ab. 291; 1 Sell. Pr. 374; Com. Dig. Abatement, E 1, 2; Id. Attorney, B 7, 8; 2 Archbold's Pr. 12; Bingh. on Judgments, 38; Grah. Pr. 618; l Crompt. Pr. 316; 1 Troub. & Haly's Pr. 96.

7. A warrant of attorney differs from a cognovit, actionem. (q. v.) See Metc. & Perk. Dig. Bond, IV.

WARRANTEE. One to whom a warranty is made. Touchst. 181.

WARRANTIA CHARTAE. An ancient and now obsolete writ, which was issued when a man was enfeoffed of land with warranty, and then he was sued or impleaded in assize or other action, in which he could not vouch or call to warranty.

2. It was brought by the feoffor pending the first suit against him, and had this valuable incident, that when the warrantor was vouched, and judgment passed against the tenant, the latter obtained judgment simultaneously against the warrantor, to recover other lands of equal value. Termes de la Ley, h. t.; F. N. B. 134; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Rand. 141, 148, 156; 4 Leigh's R. 132; 11 S. & R. 115 Vin. Ab. h. t. Co. Litt. 100; Hob. 22, 217.

WARRANTOR. One who makes a warranty. Touchst, 181.

WARRANTY, contracts. This word has several significations, as it is applied to the conveyance and sale of lands, to the sale of goods, and to the contract of insurance.

2. - 1. The ancient law relating to warranties of land was full of subtleties and intricacies; it occupied the attention of the most eminent writers on the English law, and it was declared by Lord Coke, that the learning of warranties was one of the most curious and cunning learnings of the law; but it is now of little use even in England. The warranty was a covenant real, whereby the grantor of an estate of freehold, and his heirs, were bound to warrant the title; and either upon voucher, or judgment in, a writ of warrantia chartae, to yield other lands to the value of those from which there had been an eviction by paramount title Co. Litt. 365; Touchst.; 181 Bac. Ab. h. t.; the heir of the warrantor was bound only on condition that he had, as assets, other lands of equal value by descent.

3. Warranties were lineal and collateral.

4. Lineal, when the heir derived title to the land warranted, either from or through the ancestor who made the warranty.

5. Collateral warranty was when the heir's title was not derived from the warranting ancestor, and yet it barred the heir from claiming the land by any collateral title, upon the presumption that he might thereafter have assets by descent from or through the ancestor; and it imposed upon him the obligation of giving the warrantee other lands, in case of eviction, provided he had assets. 2 Bl. Com. 301, 302.

6. The statute of 4 Anne, c. 16, annulled these collateral warrantees, which bid become a great grievance. Warranty in its original form, it is presumed, has never been known in the United States. The more plain and pliable form of a covenant has been adopted in its place and this covenant, like all other covenants, has always been held to sound in damages which after judgment may be recovered out of the personal or real estate, as in other cases. Vide 4 Kent, Com. 457; 3 Rawle's R. 67, n.; 2 Wheat-. R. 45; 9 Serg. & Rawle, 268; 11 Serg. & Rawle, 109; 4 Dall. Rep. 442; 2 Saund. 38, n. 5.

7. - 2. Warranties in relation, to the sale of personal chattels are of two kinds, express or implied.

8. An express warranty is one by which the warrantor covenants or undertakes to insure that the thing which is the subject of the. contract, is or is not as there mentioned; as, that a horse is sound; that he is not five years old.

9. An implied warranty is one which, not being expressly made, the law implies by the fact of the sale; for example, the seller is, understood to warrant the title of goods be sells, when they are in his possession at the time of the sale; Ld. Raym. 593; 1 Salk.. 210; but if they are not then in his possession, the rule of caveat emptor applies, and the buyer purchases at his risk. Cro. Jac. 197.

10. In general there is no implied warranty of the quality of the goods sold. 2 Kent, Com. 374; Co. Litt. 102, a; 2 Black Comm. 452; Bac. Abr. Action on the case E; 2 Com. Contr. 263; Dougl. 20; 2 East, 31 4; Id. 448, n.; Ross on Vend. c. 6; 1 Johns. R. 274; 4 Conn. R. 428; 1 Dall. Rep. 91; 10 Mass. R. 197; 20 Johns. Rep., 196; 3 Yeates, R. 262; 1 Pet. Rep. 317; 12 Serg. & Rawle, 181; 1 Hard. Kent. Rep. 531; 1 Murphy, Rep. 138; 2 Id. 245; 4 Haywood's Term. R. 227; 2 Caines' Rep. 48. The rule of the civil law was, that a fair price implied a warranty of title; Dig. 21, 2, 1; this rule, has been adopted in Louisiana; Code, art. .247 7; and in South Carolina. 1 Bay, R. 324; 2 Bay, R. 380 1 Const. R. 182; 2 Const. R. 353. Vide Harr. Dig. Sale, II. 8; 12 East, R. 452.

11. - 3. In the contract of insurance, there are certain warranties which are inducements to the insurer to enter into it. A warranty of this kind is a stipulation or agreement on the part of the insured, in the nature of a condition precedent. It may be affirmative; as where the insured undertakes for the truth of some positive allegation: as, that the thing insured is neutral property: or, it may be promissory; as, that the ship shall sail on or before a given day. 6 N. S. 53.

12. Warranties are also express or implied. An express warranty is a particular stipulation introduced into the written contract, by the agreement of the parties; an implied warranty is an agreement which necessarily results from the nature of the contract: as, that the ship shall be seaworthy when she sails on the voyage insured.

13. The warranty being in the nature of a condition precedent, it is to be performed by the insured, before he can demand the performance of the contract on the part of the insurer. Marsh. Inst. B. 1, c. 9. See, generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

WARRANTY, VOUCHER TO, practice. A warranty is a contract real, annexed to lands and tenements, whereby a man is bound to defend such lands and tenements from another person; and in case of eviction by title paramount, to give him lands of equal value.

2. Voucher to warranty is the calling of such warrantor into court by the party warranted, (when tenant in a real action brought for recovery of such lands,) to defend the suit for him; Co. Litt. 101, b; Com. Dig. Voucher, A 1; Booth, 43 2 Saund. 32, n. 1; and the time of such voucher is after the deman-dant has counted. It lies in most real and mixed actions, but not in personal. Where the voucher has been made and allowed by the court, the vouchee either voluntarily appears, or there issues a judicial writ (called a summons ad warrantizandum,) commanding the sheriff to summon him. Where he, either voluntar-ily or in obedience to this writ, appears and offers to warrant the land to the tenant, it is called entering into the warranty; after which he is considered as tenant in the action, in the place of the original tenant. The deman-dant then counts against him de novo, the vouchee pleads to the new count, and the cause proceeds to issue. 2 Inst. 241 a; 2 Saund. 32, n. 1; Booth, 46.

3. Voucher of warranty is, in the present rarity of real actions, unknown in practice. Steph. Plead. 85.

WASTE. A spoil or destruction houses, gardens, trees, or other corporeal hereditaments, to the disherison of him that hath the remainder or reversion in fee simple or fee tail 2 Bl. Comm. 281.

2. The doctrine of waste is somewhat different in this country from what it is in England. It is adapted to our circumstances. 3 Yeates, R. 261; 4 Kent, Com. 76; Walk. Intr. 278; 7 John. Rep. 227; 2 Hayw. R. 339; 2 Hayw. R. 110; 6 Munf. R. 134; 1 Rand. Rep. 258; 6 Yerg. Rep. 334. Waste is either voluntary or permissive.

3. - §1. Voluntary waste. A voluntary waste is an act of commission, as tearing down a house. This kind of waste is committed in houses, in timber, and in land. It is committed in houses by removing wainscots, floors, benches, furnaces, window-glass, windows, doors, shelves, and other things once fixed to the freehold, although they may have been erected by the lessee himself, unless they were erected for the purposes of trade. See Fixtures; Bac. Ab. Waste, C 6. And this kind of waste may take place not only in pulling down houses, or parts of them, but also in changing their forms; as, if the tenant pull down a house and erect a new one in the place, whether it be larger or smaller than the first; 2 Roll. Ab. 815 , 1. 33; or convert a parlor into a stable; or a grist-mill into a fulling-mill; 2 Roll. Abr. 814, 815; or turn two rooms into one. 2 Roll. Ab. 815, 1. 37. The building of a house where there was none before is said to be a waste; Co. Litt. 53, a; and taking it down after it is built, is a waste. Com. Dig. Waste, D 2. It is a general rule that when a lessee has annexed anything to the freehold during the term, and afterwards takes it away, it is waste. 3 East, 51. This principle is established in the French law. Lois des Bit. part. 2,

3, art. 1; 18 Toull. n. 457.

4. But at a very early period several exceptions were attempted to be made to this rule, which were at last effectually engrafted upon it in favor of trade, and of those vessels and utensils, which are immediately subservient to the purposes of trade. Ibid.

5. This relaxation of the old rule has taken place between two descriptions of persons; that is, between the landlord and tenant, and between the tenant for life or tenant in tail and the remainder-man or reversioner.

6. As between the landlord and tenant it is now the law, that if the lessee annex any chattel to the house for the purpose of his trade, he may disunite it during the continuance of his interest, 1 H. B. 258. But this relation extends only to erections for the purposes of trade.

7. It has been decided that a tenant for years may remove cider-mills, orna-mental marble chimney pieces, wainscots fixed only by screws, and such like. 2 Bl. Com. 281, note by Chitty. A tenant of a farm cannot remove buildings which he has erected for the purposes of husbandry, and the better enjoyment of the profits of the land, though he thereby leaves the premises the same as when he entered. 2 East, 88; 3 East, 51; 6 Johns., Rep. 5; 7 Mass. Rep. 433.

8. Voluntary waste may be committed on timber, and in the country from which we have borrowed our laws, the law is very strict. In Pennsylvania, however, and many of the other states, the law has applied itself to our situation, and those acts which in England would amount to waste, are not so accounted here. Stark. Ev. part 4, p. 1667, n.; 3 Yeates, 251. Where wild and uncultivated land, wholly covered with wood and timber, is leased, the lessee may fell a part pf the wood and timber, so as to fit the land for cultivation, without being liable to waste, but he cannot cut down the whole so as permanently to injure the inheritance. And to what extent the wood and timber on such land may be cut down without waste, is a question of fact for the jury under the direction of the court. 7 Johns. R. 227. The tenant may cut down trees for the reparation of the houses, fences, hedges, stiles, gates, and the like; Co. Litt. 53, b; and for mixing and repairing all instruments of husbandry, as ploughs, carts, harrows, rakes, forks, &c. Wood's Inst. 344. The tenant may, when he is unrestrained by the terms of his lease, out down timber, if there be not enough dead timber. Com. Dig Waste, D 5; F. N. B. 59 M. Where the tenant, by the conditions of his lease, is entitled to cut down timber, he is restrained nevertheless from cutting down ornamental trees, or those planted for shelter; 6 Ves. 419; or to exclude objects from sight. 16 Ves. 375.

9. Windfalls are the property of the landlord, for whatever is severed by inevitable necessity, as by a tempest, or by a trespasser, and by wrong, belongs to him who has the inheritance. 3 P. Wms. 268; 11 Rep. 81, Bac. Abr. Waste, D 2.

10. Waste is frequently committed on cultivated fields, orchards, gardens, meadows, and the like. It is proper here to remark that there is an implied covenant or agreement on the part of the lessee to use a farm in a husbandman-like manner, and not to exhaust the soil by neglectful or improper tillage. 5 T. R. 373. See 6 Ves. 328. It is therefore waste to convert arable to woodland and the contrary, or meadow to arable; or meadow to orchard. Co. Lit. 53, b. Cutting down fruit trees; 2 Roll. Abr. 817, l. 30; although planted by the tenant himself, is waste; and it was held to be waste for an outgoing tenant of garden ground to plough up strawherry beds which be had bought of a former tenant when he entered. i Camp. 227.

11. It is a general rule that when lands are leased on which there are open mines of metal or coal or pits of gravel, lime, clay, brick, earth, stone, and the like, the tenant may dig out of such mines, or pits. Com. Dig. Waste, D 4. But he cannot open any new mines or pits without being guilty of waste Co. Lit. 53 b; and carrying away the soil, is waste. Com. Dig. Waste, D 4.

12. - §2. Permissive waste. Permissive waste in houses is punishable where the tenant is expressly bound to repair, or where he is so bound on an implied covenant. See 2 Esp. R. 590; 1 Esp. Rep. 277; Bac. Abr. Covenant, F. It is waste if the tenant suffer a house leased to him to remain uncovered so long that the rafters or other timbers of the house become rotten, unless the house was uncovered when the tenant took possession. Com. Dig. Waste, D 2.

13. - §3. Of remedies for waste. The ancient writ of waste has been superseded. It is usual to bring case in the nature of waste instead of the action of waste, as well for permissive as voluntary waste.

14. Some decisions have made it doubtful whether an action on the case for permissive waste can be maintained against any tenant for years. See 1 New Rep. 290; 4 Taunt. 764; 7 Taunt. 392; S. C. 1 Moore, 100; 1 Saund. 323, a, n. i. Even where the lessee covenants not to do waste, the lessor has his election to bring either an action on the case, or of, covenant, against the lessee for waste done by him during the term. 2 Bl. Rep. 1111; 2 Saund. 252, c. n. In an action on the case in the nature of waste, the plaintiff recovers only damages for the waste.

15. The latter action has this advantage over an action of waste, that it may be brought by him in reversion or remainder for life or years, as well as in fee or in tail; and the plaintiff is entitled to costs in this action, which he cannot have in an action of waste., 2 Saund. 252, n. See, on the subject in general, Woodf. Landl. & T. 217, ch. 9, s. 1; Bac. Abr. Waste; Vin. Abr. Waste; Com. Dig. Waste; Supp. to Ves. jr. 50, 325, 441; 1 Vern. R. 23, n.; 2 Saund. 252, a, n. 7, 259, n. 11; Arch. Civ. Pl. 495; 2 Sell. Pr. 234; 3 Bl. Com. 180, note by Chitty; Anier. Dig. Waste; Whart. Dig. Waste; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

As to remedies against waste by injunction, see 1 Vern. R. 23, n.; 5 P. Wms. 268, n. F; 1 Eq. Cas. Ab. 400; 6 Ves. 787, 107, 419; 8 Ves. 70; 16 Ves. 375; 2 Swanst. 251; 3 Madd. 498; Jacob's R. 70; Drew. on Inj. part 2, c. 1, p. 134. As between tenants in common, 5 Taunt. 24; 19 Ves. 159; 16 Ves. 132; 3 Bro. C. C. 622; 2 Dick. 667; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.; and the article Injunction. As to remedy by writ of estrepement to prevent waste, see Estrepement; Woodf Landl. & T. 447; 2 Yeates, 281; 4 Smith's Laws of Penn. 89; 3 Bl. Com. 226. As to remedies in cases of fraud in committing waste, see Hov. Fr. ch. 7, p. 226 to 238.

WASTE BOOK, com. law. A book used among merchants. All the dealings of the merchant are recorded in this book in chronological order as they occur.

WATCH, police. To watch is, properly speaking, to stand sentry and attend guard during the night time: certain officers called watchmen are appointed in most of the United States, whose duty it is to arrest all persons who are violating the law, or breaking the peace. (q. v.) Vide 1 Bl. Com. 356; 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 14, 20.

WATCH AND WARD. A phrase used in the English law, to denote the superinten-dence and care of certain officers, whose duties are to protect the public from harm.

WATCHMAN. An officer in many cities and towns, whose duty it is to watch during the night and take care of the property of the inhabitants.

2. He possesses generally the common law authority of a constable (q. v.) to make arrests, where there is reasonable ground to suspect a felony, though there is no proof of a felony having been committed. 1 Chit. Cr. L. 24; 2 Hale, 96; Hawk. B. 2, c. 13, s. 1, &c.; 1 East, P. C. 303; 2 Inst. 52; Com. Dig. Imprisonment, H 4; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; 3 Taunt. R. 14; 1 B. & A. 227; Peake, R. 89; 1 Moody's Cr. Cas. 334; 1 Esp. R. 294; and vide Peace.

3. By an act of congress, approved Sept. 30, 1850, the compensation of watchmen in the various departments of government, shall be five hundred dollars per annum.